Is Snape Really Evil?

[Asphodel]

Yeah... he paused befor he vowed.... as if he was hesitant....

[Bextra]

Come on, who wouldn't be hesitant? I mean you would be about to swear to do something on your life.

[Phoenix in the Ashes]

That's true.

I mean, it's an Unbreakable Vow. Okay, technically not true, you can definitely break it... but who would have the guts?

Snape? I don't think so.

But I do think that most members of the OTOP would have had they been in his position, if DD didn't interfere at all.

[Bextra]

Why would members of the OTOP be in Snapes position? Its not like any of them are evil.

[Phoenix in the Ashes]

Yes, well that's what we're discussing, isn't it...

I don't think Snape's evil.

[Bextra]

Then why did you drag the other members into this? Its not like they killed DD.
Why would anyone even make the Unbreakable Vow? What would make someone think to themselves, 'Hey, I think I'll bet my life on me doing something for another person, on penalty of death!' Only an idiot would do that. Aka: Snape, the coward.

[SunsetG|rl]

I think he wasn't a coward/ I think you need exremly much courage to do such a thing. To agree to take the unbreakeble vow. And I think at some point he was ready to give his life instead of Dumbledore's.

And as for pausing before the final statement, it was more of a pause of surprise.(He twitched) I still think he wasn't expecting it. And never thought it could get that seriously.

[Asphodel]

Then why did you drag the other members into this? Its not like they killed DD.
Why would anyone even make the Unbreakable Vow? What would make someone think to themselves, 'Hey, I think I'll bet my life on me doing something for another person, on penalty of death!' Only an idiot would do that. Aka: Snape, the coward.

Yes, but Snape didn't want to kill DD. He was willing to break the vow and die himself. But DD made Snape kill him. Because he knew Snape was a valuable allie and shouldn't be killed. I would also like to mention the many times in which the trio accused Snape of being bad, but he was always the good guy.

[Bextra]

Do you have proof that DD made Snape kill him?
The trio may have been wrong many times before, but when Harry did suspect something abaout Snape again, look what happened, DD was killed by him.

[SunsetG|rl]

How about DD pleading for his life. Do you see that happenning? Someone who is not afraid of death, who jumps in front of the enemy just to ask him nicely "please don't kill me"?

I think he sacrificed his life first for Draco. If Snape had died for the unbreakeble vow, LV would have punished Draco. Then DD knew he was pretty weak and maybe he thought Snape as a spy would be more important for the future war. He just chose the best way for things to happen and tried to save as many lives as he could. And maybe he was going to die anyway from the potion he took.

And I saw somewhere on the forum another argument, some time ago, I'm just going to remind it: It was about repetition in the book. So many times we thought Snape was evil, and we were always wrong to blame him, In the end he proved to be on the good side. And another repetiton was the hate on Snape's face killing DD, just like the one on Harry's face feeding him the potion. (Sorry can't find the topic right now so I don't know who actually said this before.)

Then maybe JKR is just plannig not to repeat things but turn around dramatically.

[Asphodel]

Yeah, Snape's a good guy, J.K.R's just trying to turn us against him by making him mean to Harry. Oh and by the way, that moment before DD died, when Snape and DD looked into each other's eyes, they must have been doing legilimency because J.K.R never puts in an uneeded detail.

[Bextra]

Yeah she does, you just have to read deeper into the book. J.K.R's trying to turn us against Snape because he is evil. She's just preparing us for the worst.

[Phoenix in the Ashes]

If Snape was really evil (well, okay... I'll rephrase... if Snape was really working for Voldemort) then J.K.R would have waited until the last book to spring it on us.

Why would she reveal it to us now?

To give herself time to:

a) Put it beyond doubt, or

b) Once and for all declare that Snape is not on Voldemort's side.

She now has plenty of time to write in Snape's real path.

Remember, life is defined by the choices we make in each moment.

Hindsight may be blurring our vision now, but think for a moment about how we'll look at the end of the books if Snape is really evil...

Will you feel cheated?

What if Snape does turn out to not be working for Voldemort? Or maybe working for Voldemort but with good still in him?

I know I could accept that ending.

[Snow_Crystal]

There are so many arguments going on here - cool!

DD and Snape might have already discussed Malfoy's little quest before Narcissa asked him to make the unbreakable vow.

I assumed Malfoy's quest was to kill DD rather than just to get the DE's into Hogwarts...so...

I think that DD knew Snape would be put in this position at some point and asked Snape to go along with this position against DD including making the Unbreakable Vow to kill DD if Malfoy failed. I think Snape however would have happily accepted Death though rather than kill DD himself.

When DD and Snape argued in the Forest I think DD was trying to get Snape to follow through on the vow he had made. i.e. convince Snape to kill him rather than accept death himself. I think Snape wanted to die not kill and DD was pleading with Snape to kill DD on the top of the Tower.

DD is not the sort of person to plead for his life and I think he is more likely to plead for his death if it were for the greater good. He was not afraid of death, in fact in the first book he said that death is but the next journey for the wizard who is prepared...

[SunsetG|rl]

And had it been the true purpose of Snape to kill Dumbledore, why wait until he pleads and so on. Why bother to do legilimens (cause that's what they were doing.) Why not just do it as quick as you can and get it over with? And why that hate on Snape's face? And why did Snape botherd to give advices to Harry when he was cursing him if not as a sort of signal "Hey. I'm still on your side. But still have to play on this side for a while."