I think that AD kept SS from DADA in order for SS to have a reason (more a rationale) for his dislike of AD --sort of a cover for his remaining at Hogwarts and a “see, AD and I are not ‘friends’ or ‘friendly’–and AD knows to fear me-he’s never put me in DADA.” for Snape to the other DEs.
I keep coming back to AD’s(and Rowling’s) emphasis on love and forgiveness. He stresses with Harry that it is his ability to empathize with others and to love that separates him from LV. Also, in HBP, there is a scene, very small, where Harry either mentions or refers to Draco in some way. AD glances sharply at HP and says something like, “feeling sorry for Draco, now?” I think that instead of that meaning (as it could),“don’t weaken your defenses against DM”, it could be AD assessing Harry’s progress on empathy and Golden Rule type stuff.
Maybe I’m not making alot of sense, but in another book, AD looks satisfied and says something like"aha!" when told that LV could now touch HP. I think that means that AD was pleased that LV will now weaken in some crucial way, due to his ability to feel for others-however marginally. Some mistake or slip will be made. With Harry’s blood in him, LV can no longer be as ruthless manipulative killer as he needs to be. I’m not saying he’ll turn into a Smurf, but something besides actual blood was transmuted from HP to LV.
I do think that all along, AD has known more of the big pic than he ever let on and that there must be more backstory that we just don’t know yet. Take James and Snape–ok, so they didn’t like each other at school. There has to be more to it–or Snape is mentally ill OR James was really NOT a nice guy when all is said and done. Since to deepen James’ character etc at this point would be awkward and almost irrelevant, and Snape hasn’t been mentally ill for 6 books (maybe a touch of OCD. And projection)–I plump for more to it than meets the eye.
In GoF, after Harry tells Dumbledore that Voldemort used Harry’s blood to help in the resurrection, Harry sees a brief “glimmer of triumph” in Dumbledore’s eyes. JKR has confirmed that it’s important and the reason for it will come out in the next book.
On that note, there was a bit in HBP that I found very interesting. In the cave, Harry offers to use his blood to open the door instead of Dumbledore’s, but Dumbledore says something to the effect of “your blood is worth rather more than mine.” I’m certain that’s significant.
Nah, I don’t really buy this. I’m sure AD has been holding out on us in some ways, but I think the James/Snape thing is fully fleshed out. James bullied him pretty badly, and Snape had a serious crush on Lily. James and Lily getting together (somewhat at Snape’s expense) would be plently to make Snape completely irrational in his hatred of James. As far as we know Snape is probably still a virgin and has pined for her his whole life.
I thought that Rowling had debunked the Snape in love with Lily stuff–don’t have a cite, but I remember reading that she had found the thought of Snape in love appalling.
I DO think that Snape had unrequited and perhaps even unrecognized (by himself) feelings for Lily-what does Rowling know-she only wrote it! Rysto --thanks for the info; I wasn’t aware of current Rowling thought (I almost never go onto HP sites–I am 43, afterall!). I wasn’t sure if I was being too abstract in that post, but AD keeps coming back to love as a major theme and power…
Hey! Idea: what if Harry in the end, spares LV in some way–thereby inadvertently ensuring his demise (LV can’t endure the mercy–sorta like the water burning the Wicked Witch).
Of maybe Harry does a Dirty Harry…guess we’ll find out.
I don’t follow the fansite stuff, so you could be right, but I’m almost positive that there was some not-so-subtle allusions to Snape pining for her and her showing compassion to him which Snape seemed to get worked up about.
Except that it’s bleedingly obvious that Voldemort did screw up a well-planned magical maneuver, as evidenced by the fact that Harry lived to see his second and subsequent birthdays. The only question is exactly how he screwed up. And given what we know did happen, if Harry ended up as a Horcrux as a result, that’s not exactly a bad outcome for Voldemort, since a Horcrux is a Horcrux, after all, and it makes it more difficult for his worst rival to destroy him.
Where in the world are people getting the Snape-had-a-crush-on-Lily theory? There isn’t so much as a hint of it in the Pensieve scene, where he calls her by the vilest racial epithet that exists in his culture. And then he went off and joined a terrorist group expressly dedicated to murdering people like Lily. It makes no sense for him to have been in love with her.
On the other hand, I’m willing to believe he had feelings for Narcissa, and maybe still does.
Snape has saved (or attempted to save) Harry’s life too many times for him to be totally evil. He tried when Quirrel was bewitching the broom stick during the Quidditch match (the fire through him off, but it also did Quirrel), tried again when he thought Sirius was trying to kill him, provided training to Potter in legilimancy (sp?), etc… He could easily have killed Harry (or at least let him die) any of these times without blowing his cover.
OTOH, if he knew that Harry’s blood was required for Voldemort to live again, it might explain why he was saving him.
The whole “Is Snape evil?” thing is reminiscent of Wallace Shawn in Princess Bride. It’s so obvious that Snape isn’t evil that the real twist would be for him really to be evil, but then that would be an unexpected twist…
As regards the “gleam of triumph” i’ve heard the theory that this is important because it means that Voldemort is now protected by the same sacrifice that Harry is - the magic is now also in his veins, and he too is now potentially untouchable. Normally this would be a bad thing, but the whole idea of Voldemort’s actions is to avoid fulfilling the prophecy - and as the prophecy states that only they can kill each other, Voldy’s just fulfilled another part of it.
Oh, and Dumbledore pretty much has to be dead; if he wasn’t, Snape would die from the the Unbreakable Vow.
I. too, am going to write under the assumption that everybody who has read this far has caught themselves up on the books. This might get lengthy. Sorry.
Remember that everybody but DD thought Voldy was dead. So the UV was unnecesary in their eyes. The Ministry didn’t even accept that Voldy had returned until the very end of OotP. Until it was too late.
As for Snape taking an unbreakable vow with Dumbledore to off him. I think it’s possible, but he’d already made one unbreakable vow to kill DD with Narcissa. Why is another one needed? But I do strongly believe that DD intended to die. He knew about Snape’s unbreakable vow. Remember in HBP that DD and Snape are arguing about something. Snape doesn’t want to do something, but DD insists. This could mean that DD considers Snape more important in the scheme of things than DD himself. In other words. Snape is still a good guy. He’s a total prick, but he’s a good guy.
I think there’s a history with Snape and Lily that we don’t know about. I think he was in love with her despite his hatred of “mudbloods.” She stuck up for him back when they were kids, after all. How could there not be some significance there? Snape has been a bit too appraising of Harry’s eyes that look so much like his mother’s. Plus Snape talks smack about James all the time. He never says anything bad about Lily.
As for the horcruxes. Harry can still be a horcrux and not die. It’s been said before. The Gaunt ring was not destroyed as far as we know. Dumbledore said, “The ring is no longer a horcrux.” I don’t believe that Harry stopped being a Horcrux when Voldy was reborn. Remember that the reason he needed Harry’s blood was otherwise Voldy couldn’t even touch him. He needed Harry’s blood so that he could kill him. Otherwise the AV curse would backfire again. We can assume that in the ritual of creating a horcrux a spell has to come before the killing. It’s the killing part that splits the soul. You would need a vessel ready to receive that soul portion before you split it. I would guess, anyway. There are shrunken heads in HP books. They are dark magic. But why? I think that Harry is a decendent of Griffindor and Voldy intended to take Harry’s head once he killed him. Hence the lightning scar on his head. The scar DIDN’T come from the AV curse. That curse leaves on visible wounds, after all. It came from the spell to create a horcrux. THAT is why his scar burns when Voldy feels happy-happy. Therfore, Voldy fulfills his Hogwart’s fetish and creates a horcrux out of a Griffindor item, and thus it makes sense that some of Voldy’s powers are transferred to Harry.
I don’t buy into the Harry is a horcrux theory. I don’t want to belive she would do that. It’s a children’s book, for crying out loud.
However, if Voldie did indeed accidently and unknowingly put a part of his soul into Harry, and it gave Harry something more than we’ve seen so far that will enable him to beat LV, then it would certainly be " power the Dark Lord knows not."
Dumbledore explains all of this pretty well. Voldemort transferred some of his power, emtions, even looks, into Harry (but suuuuuure, that can’t pooooosibly involve a soul, right? He’s grown up as Voldemort, in a miserable life. And yet, despite this influence on Harry, Harry is protected. Protected because he can love.
One more (really convincing, IMO), piece of evidence that Dumbledore wanted Snape to kill him - the very fact that Dumbledore made Snape the DADA teacher for the year.
There’s clearly a curse on it that won’t be broken until Voldemort is - I think Dumbledore said so explicitly, and it’s certainly clear to someone as smart (and vengeful) as Snape.
Why else would he allow Snape the position? He knew Snape’d have to leave anyway.
Might be anti-climactic, but could LV’s wand be a horcrux? He’d want to keep it always near him, and if he sees it as being his “key” to magic when he was young, that would make it a special object to him.
