Re-reading HP and the HBP this week and a thought came to me. (major Spoilers here)
Let’s take Dumbledore’s word and believe that Snape has come back to the good side. After the fall of Voldy, Snape comes back to the Order. Dumbledore testifies on his behalf in front of the Wizengamot and tells them that, at great risk to his own life, Snape turns spy against the dark side.
And we know from reading that it was Snape who overheard the Prophecy and told Voldemort. Then once Lily and James die, he realizes what a mistake he made and comes back.
So, if we take all of that… Does that mean that Snape knew that Wormtail was the traitor? And if so, when Sirius was locked in jail for 13 years, doesn’t that mean that Snape knew Sirius was charged incorrectly and did nothing about it? That doesn’t seem like the workings of a good guy.
Don’t get me wrong, I fully believe that Snape is actually working for the Order and doing everything under the orders of Dumbledore. But in book 3, he seems very determined to put Sirius away. For someone who is on such close terms with the Dark Lord, he must have known what the plan was that night, right?
5 comments
Comments feed for this article
February 27, 2007 at 6:25 pm
Janet
See, not necessarily! Voldemort doesn’t tell everyone everything, and plays things close. It’s very easy to believe that Snape had no idea Wormtail was involved because of that … I can’t picture Voldy sitting around shooting the shite with Snape.
February 27, 2007 at 8:59 pm
Diana
Even if he did know, since he hated Sirius and James so much, he might have kept it to himself anyway. But it’s a point I hadn’t thought about before. Interesting.
I’m not sure where I stand on Snape. Some days I think he’s good, some days I think he’s evil. I can prove either point if I try. I guess only the final book will hold the truth.
February 27, 2007 at 9:00 pm
michelle
wow. this is really deep and i have no idea what you are talking about
February 27, 2007 at 10:06 pm
leslie r
Janet – that is true, I guess we can claim that Voldemort didn’t tell him. But we see how high up the ranks Snape is with Voldemort now, I would think that was the same case 16 years ago.
Diana – it’s hard to believe that JKR will be able to answer all our questions in this last book. It would have to be huge, but I heard that it’s not as thick as OoTP
Michelle – you weren’t supposed to read this because you haven’t even finished book 5 yet!!
March 6, 2007 at 3:08 pm
Patrick
Well, I think yes and no on this theory, though I’ve had the exact same thought myself as a potential (huge) inconsistency in Snape’s double-agent role. I’ve come to conclude that Voldemort didn’t tell Snape how he came by the location of James and Lily, but Snape, who already hated Sirius from school, had to assume it was the Black family because of their historical favor of pureblood families and their relation to the dark end of wizarding. We should also remember that during Snape’s Worst Memory, Wormtail is noticeably absent, and Sirius was a prefect who did nothing — one thing which Severus continued to despise about him even though they are/were working “together” for the Order. We know literally nothing about the Pettigrew family and we have no indication from JKR that they are important to book 7.
Leslie you have some good theories on HP in general. You need to draft a “final chapter” for book 7 and post it or link it to my collection. I have instructions in the original post I created.
Cheers.