<p>Snape thought again: I think that Snape’s last act let us see who he really was. There was no longer a Lily, there was no DD, there was nothing left except a man who knew he was dying, and here was a chance to show Harry that he was on the side of good. Maybe this is why Harry gave his son his name. Harry was able to really see that Snape, (faults too numerous to mention), was good in the end. </p>
<p>Side note and just to confuse myself more, (cuz I want to believe in Snape): Could even that last act be misconstrued as being selfish. Could Snape only have wanted to look into Lily’s (Harry’s) eyes one more time?</p>
<p>I don’t think so. I think that Snape, in the end, was good. And DD knew it all along.</p>
<p>I agree that Snape appears to have a selfish love for Lily when he asks DD to help save her life but not her family’s. On the other hand, DD was not able to save Lily. Yet for the next 18 years, despite losing the person he loved, Snape was faithful to the cause of the good guys at considerable risk to himself. If he let down his guard even for a moment, V would have been able to read his mind and Snape would have suffered under all those terrible curses. So really, even though a flawed person, Snape’s soul is still saved as a result of the fact that all his actions stemmed ultimately from his love of a person worthy of love. </p>
<p>I also am not sure that Snape hated Harry because he conflated him with James, or because Lily died because of Harry (if Harry didn’t fit the prophecy, Lily would not have died). If, as some of you have speculated, Snape wanted to see Lily’s eyes once more by looking into Harry’s eyes in that last scene, why wouldn’t he have felt a similar tug whenever he looked at Harry before? I can’t figure that out yet.</p>
<p>Hayden,
do we know if Snape ever actually looked into Harry’s eyes before his final death scene? Certainly his relationship with Harry was more adversarial than anything else… I agree with Conyat that the death of Lily and James before Snape had accepted that Lily had chosen James instead of him, did leave him without closure. Snape knew he was different…his time with Lily was the only time in his entire life where someone was his friend. His friendship became an obsession…hers was always friendship…until she realized he was obsessed and “normal” James seemed even more appealing by comparison. At least, that is how I see it.</p>
<p>and how long was it supposed to have taken him to accept that? they’d graduated hogwarts, gotten married and been married long enough to have a one year old child. this was not a man for whom closure was about to come any time soon!</p>
<p>Finally finished the book (read the ending 150 pages twice).</p>
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<p>Since I had fully expected Harry to die in the end (had figured out that Harry was a horcrux in Book 6), and had prepared myself for it–I loved the ending. Anti-climatic and under-done? This was no Sopranos ending!</p>
<p>My D’s biggest fear was that BOTH Weasley twins were going to die!</p>
<p>Having Snape and Dumbledore give long explanations at the end could be seen as a well-worn literary device–like in a Hardy Boys mystery, where the villian has Frank and Joe tied up, waiting for some reason before escaping or killing them–and to pass the time, the villian explains all the mysteries involved in the story. Still, I’m glad for the explanations. I’m slow to catch on…</p>
<p>But Harry was an unintended horcrux on the part of LV and I don’t think that LV knew he was a horcrux. Perhaps LV wanted to split his soul seven ways, with the 7th piece being the piece of soul left in his body.</p>
<p>To me, the relationship between the Malfoys and the Potters/Weasleys in the epilogue didn’t smell like antagonism, not like in Books 1-6…more like a detached respect on the part of Malfoy.</p>
<p>Dumbledore was a secret-keeper till the very end. He didn’t let Snape or Harry know until nearly the end that Harry must die at the appointed time at the hand of LV–and then didn’t tell either of them his strong suspicion that Harry would survive the attack.</p>
Voldemort wanted to split his soul 7 ways. So there would be 6 horcruxes and then the one piece of his soul still inside of him. Harry was an inadvertent 7th hocrux. So Voldemort actually split his soul 8 ways. Harry learns this when looking into Snape’s memory and Dumbledore comfirms it at Kings Cross.</p>
<p>vyse - thanks for posting that. I’m probably in the minority, but it didn’t sound convincing to me. Reading the writer’s anaylsis didn’t resonate with me as the thought processes of JKR. </p>
<p>I think at this point, I’m leaning toward Snape’s coming to grips with the fact that V, whose power attracted him so strongly, killed the person he loved. Therefore, he must respond by being against V. A little too simple for the person who wrote that essay, but simple justice sounds more like JKR than his/her analysis.</p>
<p>As for why Snape hated Harry - I read all the essayist’s rationale. But the one thing he never dealt with seems more like Snape to me: jealousy. Harry, “the boy who lived”, had far more power than Snape did. JKR says he was attracted to power, which was the reason for his fondness for the dark arts. He was insecure and wanted to shine. He initially thought the power from the Dark Arts would in fact make him more attractive to Lily. But the oppressed, taunted child wanted more power. So along comes Harry, who showed himself more powerful than V himself. He had two things that Snape didn’t: Lily’s love, and more power than V. What’s not to hate with that combination?</p>
<p>ellenemonpe, I wondered about that; why DD didn’t tell Harry or Snape that he thought Harry might survive. I think part of the key to Harry surviving is that he had to go willingly to his death in order to survive it (we know at least that this provided protection for the resisters). If Harry thinks he might live, it might stop the ancient magic from working.</p>
<p>Throughout the books, Dumbledore seems to tell Harry what he needs to know when he needs to know it. The lessons in Book 6 needed to be given over the year because Harry needed to digest all the information he needed. And Harry needed to find out some of this stuff for himself - after all, how many of our 17 year olds believe what we tell them?</p>
<p>The most heartwarming parts of the book for me were when Snape acknowledges Harry’s bravery and Harry acknowledges Snape’s. Naming his kid after Snape–who would have thunk it?</p>