He had to die

[The Mauled Avenger]

this may have already been discussed in another topic but i dont want to go through over 2000 posts to check so here's my theory:

Snape is not evil but he had to kill dumbledore to stay alive, perhaps he is so valuable having a place amongst the death eaters that Dumbledore allowed himself to be murdered

[Augusta Longbottom]

You're right TMA, this is discussed elsewhere but since there's so much evidence about it, it will be good to have this thread that you started to continue with the discussion of this.

There are quite a few of us who are thinking the same thing as you so I think others will chime in before long.

Other things that have been mentioned that go along with this line of thought are:

* when DD and Snape are overheard by Hagrid at the edge of the forest. They could have been discussing this. Perhaps DD made Snape vow to finish him off if the situation arose.

* Then that explains why DD insisted Harry fetch Snape rather than Madam Pomfrey when he was so weak after returning from the cave. DD may have known he wasn't long for this world after drinking up at the cave and may have expected Snape to finish the task at hand by killing him.

* OR, DD made a pact with Snape that Snape was to kill DD in order to keep Draco from doing it himself. DD wouldn't want that to be on Draco's shoulders forever, so perhaps Snape had to do it to save Draco.

* others still pointed out that when HP chases Snape and Draco, Snape opts not to curse or jinx HP at all, he merely repels HP's curses but doesn't once make one back at HP leaving us to believe he is still working as a double agent and concerned about keeping HP alive.

At any rate, there are quite a few people who are thinking along the same lines as you, so I will be curious to hear everyone else's point of view on this.

[rsc]

I'm definintely on board with this theory. And, I'd add to this last one--

* others still pointed out that when HP chases Snape and Draco, Snape opts not to curse or jinx HP at all, he merely repels HP's curses but doesn't once make one back at HP leaving us to believe he is still working as a double agent and concerned about keeping HP alive.

Snape not only did not curse HP at all, he actively stopped the others from doing it.

The whole thing makes me feel quite bad for Snape, actually!

[Augusta Longbottom]

I hadn't realized just how much I love Snape as a character until he did the Avada Kedavra curse on DD. I sobbed at that part...broke my heart because I had held Snape in such high esteem but hadn't realized I'd felt that way.

I too feel badly for Snape. Not even for what he's dealing with now, but for his childhood and coming of age at Hogwarts...what a troubled childhood he had...that alone breaks my heart.

[daisymae]

Snape is the one who is going to kill Voldemort...not Harry...Dumbledore made him promise to murder him so that Snape can put a part of his soul in a (whatever) and then not die when facing Voldemort...

this explains why Dumbledore was *pleading* with Snape...he wasn't pleading w/Snape not to kill him..but instead he was pleading w/Snape to do what he had promised...to kill Dumbledore.

Now that we know Snape is a *half blood* this sets up the whole thing..

as for the prophecy "either must die die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives"... Harry could be the one who *kills* the last bit of Voldemorts saved soul and then Snape kills Voldemort...

[The Mauled Avenger]

yeah, the prophecy doesn't actually say that harry kills Voldemort

[silverserpent]

I agree with the theory that Snape killed DD due to a promise, which DD made him keep.
The pleeding at the top of the tower did not seem like an act that DD would complete out of fear. He does not appear to be a man who would fear death, which goes along with the comment he made in the first book about death being the next stage to a well organzised mind.

I also felt that throughout the last battle in the pages that Snape was repeatedly attempting to save Harry. By not cursing him, preventing the and others from doing so.

Also the fact that Snape does not seem to be a man that looses his cool often suggest that he is indeed very upset by possibly being forced to kill DD by means of a promise that was made when Hagrid overheared the argument between DD and Snape. Snape yelling that he was not a coward, does point to his guilt and the obvious blame he would recive for killing a man that everyone loved.

Although, then again.... this could all be random wishes by me considering that Snap was on eof my favorite characters. I hope he comes up as an ally to Harry in the next book

[Deedra Malfoy]

DD was a martyr in every sense of the word. He sacrificed for the cause. Snape did it, but maybe he felt very little remorse because of.... well, whatever?

[thestral]

i'm really caught in the middle with this one. all these little clues, that make me doubt, while every ounce of reason i have i telling me that the truth is plain and simple, that snape is bad.

i hadn't realised how much i liked snape until i was so disappointed and sad that he was actually bad. (or may not be, but you know what i mean!). but yes i still have that little voice inside hoping he's good and will be revealed as good in the next one. but i'm trying to crush that voice. i don't want to get my hopes up.

but i don't think that the majority of people realised how much they liked snape until they started desperatly scrambling for loopholes in his killing DD. we all have that little voice inside us.

[marvolo]

Snape is the one who is going to kill Voldemort...not Harry...Dumbledore made him promise to murder him so that Snape can put a part of his soul in a (whatever) and then not die when facing Voldemort

I disagree with this, horcruxes were said to be the worst of any magical inventions or sumink, and DD is GOOD and would never advise someone to make one and live in the shattered existence.
And also the prophecy basically tells us it will be Harry...

on the subject of liking snape: yeh i always get fed up with harry when he complains and is rude all the time. Other than Dd hes probably the best teacher in Hogwarts withy the most to offer. give it a rest.

yeh snape's good, DD needed to die to let harry to complete his 'task alone'. But then im not sure about the pleading...
oh yeh, its because DD is making sure snape does it.

Done! my first post! yay.

[thestral]

hello to all the millions of new members, there's been so many!! and yay on your first post marvolo. first posts are monumental!!!

and yes i agree with you. i got fed up of harry being rude to snape when snape wasn't being rude to him. sometimes i wanted to tell him to shut up and listen. but then snape was so hateful towards him it was sorta 50/50.

[Evil Wizard Petting Zoo]

i really want to believe that snape had to kill dd to complete some sort of big plan. i dont think dd would beg not to be killed-he has said that there are worse things than death, also, did dd know about snapes unbreakable vow with malfoy's mom? and dd always trusted snape so much he even got angry with harry for pushing the matter too far

[thestral]

i know it's my internal battle between what i want to be true (snape to be good) and what is true (i don't know what's true anymore!!)

[Stumpy]

but DD never got that angry at anything really! so he could've not wanted to restrict Harry's inquisitive nature

[Enchanter]

I think Snape killed Dumbledore because he believed Dumbledore was on the losing side. I think Snape's allegiance is only to himself. I think he was spying on both Dumbledore and Voldemort, waiting to see what side would win. When he saw that Dumbledore was cornered and was going to be killed no matter what,he figured that Voldemort would prevail without Dumbledore to stop him. He then decided to squash any rumours of his disloyalty to Voldemort by killing Dumbledore.