Having started the most recent Harry Potter adventure In Australia and been forced to abandon it, I decided to borrow the same substantial tome from Sanda library. With a three week deadline for its return, I managed the last chapter this morning. A good read with a few surprises, as usual.
Of course, I think everyone knew about the death of Dumbledore within minutes of the novel's release, but the manner of his death had, luckily, thus far evaded me. I was surprised and somewhat shocked that the ghastly deed was the work of Severus Snape, whom Dumbledore had implicitly trusted. Despite his past history as a Death Eater and servant of the unmentionable one, we had, I believe, been given some reason to believe that Snape had undergone some kind of transformation of character. At first reading, this change appears to now to have been deluded good-will one behalf of the readership.
But therein lies to problem. Having sought out the opinion of other Potter readers at a fan site (not something I make a habit of, incidentally) I discovered that a lot of folks felt the same way. That is, despite his somewhat irksome nature, Snape was seen as redeemable. Further, that the murder of Dumbledore was a shocking incident, given the absolute trust that the latter had had in Snape. And. no doubt, the complex feelings that readers had about the sardonic wizard.
This has, in turn, spurned some elaborate theories about the reality of the act itself. One theory, supported by events and quotations from the novels, argued that Snape was obeying Dumbledores plea to kill him in order to save the (hidden) Harry Potter. It fits quite a lot of the facts, but the central argument against it is simply this. Dumbledore abhored killing of any sort and to ask one of his staff members to murder him, even as a sacrifice, seems well beyond the fundamental philosophy of the man.
Is there redemption after all? Is it possible? I guess we will find out soon enough.
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