Tonight I’m going to a drum corps show with Jen, who was a drum corps member herself back in the day. I haven’t been to one in ten years (10? whoa!), since the time that I was deeply entrenched in the…drumroll….Myers Park High School Marching Mustang Band!!! And the crowd goes wild…
I fully admit that I was a band geek. Many of my best memories from high school are directly related to either marching band or the people in it, and so I will be going to this show tonight fully prepared to resurrect a bunch of those memories. Among the most vivid is standing next to the field at the end of the show while the Cavalier trumpet line stood in a semicircle and blasted us with sound. I’m sure Jen will be paying close attention to the drumlines, but I was always partial to the trumpets and mellophones.
In other news, I finished Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince last night. Though I was prepared for what happened, I was also somehow surprised. I have a few theories though, read on if you’ve already finished the book.
Ok, first of all, Shape is the Half Blood Prince. DUH. It seemed pretty obvious considering that the book was Potions, was in the dungeon, and was marked up by someone who was very competant at the subject. That part didn’t surprise me at all.
Sirius and Snape have been my favorite characters in the series. Now one of them is dead and the other is apparently evil, and I’m going into denial. I have always thought of Snape as the evil character who, underneath, is actually not evil. Despite the fact that everyone suspected him of being up to no good, I always wanted to believe that he’d turn out to be good in the end. You know, be redeemed and all that. I like Snape, I like his character, I like the idea that no matter how picked on and abused he was as a kid and how misguided he may have been during Voldemort’s first go-round, he’s good. And that the nastiness was an act.
So even though I accept that he killed Dumbledore, I am already trying to figure out what happens next. I still want to think that somehow Snape will figure in Voldemort’s downfall.
I’m thinking…everyone talks about what a skilled Occlumens Snape is…Dumbledore is not the type to plead… What if it was a show, and a trick? A deadly trick, but still a trick? Dumbledore’s dead, but what if he was prepared to do that, to be killed, in fact even planned on it, in order to keep up appearances that Snape is loyal to Voldemort? I mean, hell, nobody on Voldemort’s side can really doubt Snape at this point.
I guess I like the idea that Snape will prevail in the end and do the right thing. That even though he hated Sirius and hated Harry’s dad, he’ll be strong enough and good enough to save Harry.
You know, Darth Vader-ish. 😉
I think Snape is evil – I mean, when has Harry and the gang ever been wrong about someone being evil? I think the redemption story will be Draco Malfoy’s.
Though, I could see that you think it was all a show — at the beginning of the book there’s lots of talk about Death Eaters impersonating people and needing to have a secret question for identification – maybe a Death Eater was impersonating Dumbledore. Also, it was weird we never learned why Dumbledore trusted Snape so much. Was it simply because D is so good that he accepted Snape’s regret without question? That doesn’t explain the amount of faith he put in him.
Though it would be weird if D. came back to life, I was ready for him to die (makes the last book more interesting). I would more like Sirius to come back to life. His death was SO sketchy (falling through the archway with the voices… totally within the realm of a magical rescue!)
Sarah-
I will be there as well! I actually use to march corps myself so I am still very close to the activity. I’m actually writing an article about the show for Drum Corps World…yes i’m a nerd too. Small world, ehh? Maybe I will see you there. I think I am wearing a blue polo shirt and i’ll have a name badge/lanyard thing on too. woohoo!
-Jessica
I dunno, I like Snape, I really want to think he’s just misguided.
I think a lot of this comes from what you mentioned — Dumbledore’s reason for trusting Snape so completely is never explained!! This seems like a major oversight. Why don’t we ever hear WHY D trusts him so much? I don’t buy the “D is so good, he just accepted it” argument. I mean, D mistrusted Tom Riddle, etc etc.
Nah, I think Dumbledore is totally dead, no coming back. Impersonating him? Highly doubtful. I’m thinking more of a Dumbledore-sacrified-himself-for-the-good-of-the-cause storyline.
I could be wrong though.
If Sirius came back that would rock. Sirius is awesome.
So I found Snape being bad a huge shock – a real suprise ending. I too totally thought he was good – and I think she intended us to think he was good. Since he had murdered Dumbledore, though, I’ve reconciled myself to him being bad. Now you’ve planted a seed of doubt.
When they landed on the roof and Draco burst out, I realized that his job was to kill Dumbledore. Which meant that if he didn’t do it, Snape would have to. Unbreakable Vow and all. Which would explain why Bellatrix was so aghast when Snape actually made the vow, since she thought he was lying about being back on the Death Eater side.
Since I am still determined to believe in Snape for some reason, I find myself thinking that he and Dumbledore were planning for the worst the whole time…
The only bad part is that Dumbledore DID act a bit surprised as Draco explained what he’d done to get the Death Eaters in… Did Dumbledore know about the Unbreakable Vow?… Could Dumbledore use occlumancy to see what Snape was thinking when Snape burst onto the roof, and thus realized that he had to die?… Did he want to somehow make sure Snape killed him and not Draco?…
Oh, I don’t know what’s going on!!
Have fun at the show. As a former percussionist I too am still a fan of drum corps. I look forward to every Thanksgiving and the PBS broadcast of finals.
Sarah, you are not alone in these theories. I personally am having a very hard time believing that Snape is evil. He will have to be evil for the whole of book 7 before I accept it. And on some of the book forums I am on there are lots of theories like the ones you suggested. A lot of people do not want Snape to be evil.
The unbreakable vow has been brought up as well as the argument that Dumbledore and Snape had. I remember reading that but can’t find out now. Some people speculated that they were arguing about what may have to happen.
I finished it last night too. I was crying at the end and turning pages quickly in hope that it wouldn’t end as I thought it would, but as I kept going and fewer and fewer pages remained I knew Dumbledore would be dead for good. I too can’t help but want Snape to really be good. I keep thinking like you that Dumbledore and Snape had planned it out. When Hagrid overheard them talking and Snape protesting that didn’t want to do something- Hagrid said Snape must be feeling overworked- I think that is when D and S were planning what would have to happen in the end. The only part I found hard to take was when Dumbledore kept asking for Snape and then when Snape appeared D begged him. I think when he said “Severus, please” he meant “please do it, you have to.”
Anyway- I was totally enthralled in it!
I was also struck by how chatty Dumbledore became at the end of the book. Harry has always had to tease information out of him in the past. Admittedly, Dumbledore is supposed to be bringing Harry into a fuller understanding of what has to happen to defeat Voldemort. But, Dumbledore’s character did seem to do a 180 there at the end.
One other thing that bothered me in this book was the weird and sudden “horcrux” theory. While I like the idea of Voldemort’s immortality being tied to splitting his soul when he kills, I found the lead-up and the evidence that Dumbledore dug up a bit circumstantial.
On a related topic, here’s my own little theory: Harry himself is one of Voldemort’s horcrux’s. What a conundrum that sets up!
Harry as a Horcrux — very intriguing — but didn’t Voldemort have to have a killing to make a Horcrux? Dumbledore thought he meant to make one from Harry’s death; perhaps he made one from his mom’s death! And Harry as a horcrux…would explain why he’s got Voldemort’s powers…cause he’s got part of his soul…ooh, very intriguing!
Actually, I think there are a lot of people out there who thinks Harry is a Horcrux … I’ve read it on several blogs.
It also sets up what I think has to happen – Harry is going to die at the end of the 7th book. He has to die to destroy the last horcrux.
Harry dying might not be so bad either — there are things worse than death, right? — so maybe if he dies he can go to some wizard afterlife where he’s with his mum and dad and Sirius!
I’ve heard all these theories. You can find them all and more at: http://www.leakylounge.com/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?s=7f622c2522c951c77f5f5583c7d9f344;act=SF;f=89
Personally, I like the idea that Dumbledore was begging Snape to remember the Unbreakable Vow and not for his life; seems more in line with Dumbledore. Also, I think that the hatred on Snape’s face when he killed Dumbledore was for the act, not the man, and that he actually had to throw Dumbledore out the window, and not via the incantation because, remember in Book 5, Bellatrix tells Harry, “You have to mean it”. Snape didn’t, couldn’t, so sent him out the window and it was really the fall that did it.
Oh, and I don’t think Harry will die. I really don’t. Especially now because of Ginny. Even if he is a Horcrux, and *that* I can believe, he’ll still be able to live somehow. That’s the most popular theory of what happens at the end, and I think that J. K. Rowling is having a good laugh.
Cari I can’t follow that link, it needs a login.
I may be posting too late to be noticed, but I think this is a good discussion. Unfortunately J.K. Rowling may not have given it that much thought, since there are many serious problems in her plot lines. Consider these things:
1. In the past, Snape has been subservient to Dumbledore, always recognizing his leadership. An argument between them is huge. This is almost unthinkable. It must have been regarding the book’s end events.
2. The lessons of book six were clearly designed to help Harry go forward without Dumbledore. Whether D is dead, or doing something else is unclear. In order for Valdemort to think D is dead, everyone else would have to believe it too.
3. Why was Harry frozen by D at the critical moment? Just happy accident for the bad guys? Harry and D together would have way overmatched anyone coming up the stairs. Clearly H could have dispatched the shaky sniveling Draco.
4. One big question is how much do we trust D? If he’s just a kindly, failing, old gent then okay, he may have misjudged Snape, but that’s not who he is. He is Valdemort’s equal. He didn’t make a mistake on his home turf that led to his death. Remember, he expressed absolute confidence in S to Harry.
5. Was the death eater impersonation deal, just another wasted Rowling plot line? Or does it figure in?
6. The “death” of D makes Snape the trusted one, the top death eater and positions him to help H in the final show down.
7. If H, R, and Hermoine, have to overcome V and S, plus a string of other bad guys in book 7, without D’s aid, we are in for a very unrealistic and disappointing finish. However if it’s H, R, Hermione, Snape, and either unexpected natural or supernatural aid from Dumbledore, all against Valdemort, Then we have a pretty good fight.
What do you think?
One more thought. Page 591, last line. “He cannot kill you if you are already dead. Come over to the right side Draco, and we can hide you more completely than you can possibly imagine.” That’s the key line isn’t it?