Dave Kopel
柯大為研究論壇 >
西弗勒斯‧史內普
西弗勒斯·斯内普：
哈利波特第七本书中靠不住的英雄
作者： 柯大為
不要读其它文章除非你看完了哈里波特和混血王子。预报第七册书包含关于第6册中重要情节的细节披露。
约翰
罗琳的书"哈里波特隐藏的钥匙"的许多优点之一是它强调人物姓名的重要性。几年前在一个国家评论在线review上我发现罗琳对名子“格兰芬多”和“哈利波特”基督教含义的兴趣及似是而非的原理。其它人物名子也有有趣的基督教根源。例如哈利热爱并保护的猫头鹰Hedwig名子就同名于中世纪基督教圣人，一个“主要宗旨为教育孤儿和弃儿”的小型慈善组织
St. Hedwig姐妹的女捐赠人。一个波特迷网站包含了许多人物名子及含义的概要（贯穿卷4）这个网站的全部有趣的信息没有耗尽可以从名子中吸取的意义。
罗琳指出，“西弗勒斯斯内普”的丝丝声使读者想到一条蛇，这个狡诈，深疑的蛇具有许多蛇一样的特征。而且西佛勒斯是一个不寻常的严厉的教师。但我想这个名子有一个更有趣的意义，也许它包含了即将问世的第七册书的内容的关键。“西佛勒斯”是一个不同的“sever”-----切断。如果你把他名子的两个词放一起，协调一致的关连就出来了，然后我们听到的“西佛勒斯斯内普”就很象“切断一条蛇。”
最后，我预测斯内普会牺牲自己摧毁蛇一般的伏地魔,
伏地魔的个人象征（黑暗标志）是从一个死亡头颅中伸出的一个蛇舌头。（这个象征无意中讲授了错误语言是一种死亡形式的课程）。在表面上，刚出版的第六本书中的事件好象完全和我的论题相反，但从另一个角度看，他们是相符的。让我们从第二章“蜘蛛尾巷”，
斯内普
向纳西莎．马份,发了一个牢不可破的誓约开始看。这章的标题表面上是涉及斯内普住的街道。
但是这一章也是斯内普试图在街道两边玩欺骗和双重游戏生活结束的开始。在他向纳西莎和贝拉特里克斯解释时，他曾“编造”了一个精制的“深深自责的故事”来博得邓布利多的保护。（31页）。当纳西莎问他关于牢不可破的誓约时，贝拉特里克斯嘲笑说：“斯内普只会提供“平常的空词，平常的脱离行动…”(35).但是，也许是他生命中的第一次，斯内普为别人而放弃自己。打破牢不可破的誓约的结果是死亡。
婚姻在它认可的国家是一个牢不可破的誓约，魔法典礼很象一个婚礼：斯内普注视着纳西莎含泪的眼睛，跪在她面前，他们紧紧握手。当着“联接人”面，斯内普被问了唤起婚礼誓约节奏的一些问题:
“你，西佛勒斯会看守我的儿子。。。吗”每一个问题，斯内普都回答“我会的”------婚礼牢不可破誓约的“我做”回忆。
随着每一个“我愿”，舌焰缠绕着他们紧握的手。（37-39）。我认为斯内普
爱纳西莎，他深爱的人是个自我陶醉者。但是在她生命的是关键时刻----：她的儿子处在致命的危险中，她的丈夫不能保护他们的儿子，纳西莎冒着所有风险-----甚至背叛黑魔王
招来他的可怕的愤怒---而想尽办法来挽救她的德拉科.(32).
因为纳西莎
和斯内普的爱，他们最终不是黑魔王忠实的奴仆。
几个月后，海格告诉哈利关于最近无意中听到的邓布利多
和斯内普间的争论：“我只听到斯内普说邓布利多太想当然，也许他，斯内普不想再做它了…邓布利多叫他出去,他同意了。这就是那儿的全过程。”（405-406）
高潮在邓布利多和德拉科天文塔上的面对面情景，邓布利多提示了他知道全部关于马份谋杀他的计划。然而邓布利多并没有行动上反对德拉科,因为邓布利多仍然希望通过让德拉科自己证明他不是凶手来救他，从而把马份引到正道上来。（585，591-92）
知道黑魔王命令马份设法杀掉邓布利多的是与邓布利多
有联系的
西弗勒斯斯内普.
我相信斯内普向邓布利多揭露了黑魔王的阴谋。斯内普还向邓布利多揭露了斯内普对纳西莎做了牢不可破誓约。当斯内普渐渐厌倦了保护德拉科的努力时，他和邓布利多出现了争执，邓布利多坚持斯内普必须保守他的誓约。
邓布利多对斯内普的誓约第三部分的了解----杀掉邓布利多，如果马份不能-----解释了邓布利多临死前发生的事情。邓布利多
想死（稍后我会解释为什么），他知道斯内普正是可以并且必须行使这件事的人。
考虑邓布利多和哈利冲回霍格华兹时邓布利多说话时的含糊其词：“斯内普教授是我需要的人。”（580）。这一次邓布利多没有希望斯内普会象去年夏天邓布利多从激战中受重任回来一样救他。
当斯内普到达天文塔时，他先视察了现场，但没有行动。邓布利多是无防备的。但是德拉科不能让自己杀邓布利多.塔上其它食尸人很高兴去杀邓布利多,但他们不敢去杀，因为黑魔王
下了命令：德拉科必须是是处决邓布利多的人。因为邓布利多知道，
---（-如果德拉科不能杀他的话。已许下了牢不可破誓约的斯
内普将杀掉邓布利多。）-----只有斯内普会违抗黑魔王的命令，而亲自杀邓布利多.
正是在那时邓布利多乞求斯内普履行他的誓约：校长说：“西佛勒斯”“第一次，邓布利多在请求。”(595).
“西佛勒斯…请…”
如果斯内普随了他邓布利多的意愿的话，为什么在杀掉邓布利多之前斯内普的脸“厌恶并充满憎恨地”盯着邓布利多?
首先是厌恶必须执行一个不可原谅的诅咒，死亡符咒阿瓦达索命咒.在后来讨论这次杀戮的时候，霍格华兹的师生一致认为他们从不相信：斯内普的全部过错是可以杀一个人。为了完成牢不可破誓约和邓布利多的愿望，斯内普做出了与他的本性相反的反抗行为。
至于“憎恨”，斯内普知道：一个男巫必须带着憎恨行动以成功地投放一个不可原谅的诅咒。憎恨就很容易地上了斯内普身上，他集聚了脑中所有的怨恨---也许包括邓布利多使哈利波特成为校长的最爱。然后就是对自己悲惨童年及长大后许多残忍行为的满腔自恨。
但是我的猜测“厌恶和憎恨”的主要来源是斯内普知道邓布利多在几分钟前邓布利多从伏地魔隐藏了魂器的秘密湖的水池里
喝下魔力药丸知道的同样一件事情。（注意“娼妓/可怕的十字”的意义------克服死亡解救灵魂物体的不正当版本。_）
邓布利多在喝了十酒杯魔剂后忍受着痛苦。哈利推测邓布利多仅是在喝的时候产生了幼觉。但我相信却是邓布利多看到了一些可怕的事实。
哈利看到邓布利多变得害怕起来。他呻吟着“不想…想停止…我不想…让我走….让它停止…让它停止…”(最后一句随声附合着女孩Regan可怕的尖叫“让它停止”这个女孩被招魂者魔鬼占有.)邓布利多继续道：“我不能，不要逼我，我不想…”然后，“这是我的错，都是我的错…我知道我做错了，啊请让它停止吧，我永远不再，
不再…不要伤害他们…都是我的错，来伤害我吧…”(最后一句随声附合着年轻的驱邪牧师父卡拉斯对魔鬼的叫喊：“向我来吧”)恶魔立即离开了女孩的身体，附在卡拉斯身上。卡拉斯立即自己投向窗外而死-----因为有恶魔的横档，卡拉斯在接收完最后的仪式后，才安详地死去。
邓布利多请求“让它停止，让它停止，我想死！”
然后就在哈利
给邓布利多第十杯也就是最后一杯前，邓布利多吼道：“杀了我！”“这---这个人会”哈利喘息着。（573）。
我相信邓布利多认识到他犯了一个可怕的错误：使伏地魔有权力。那么只有死，邓布利多才可以停止错误造成的伤害。因为邓布利多很久以前告诉过哈利,“我象下个人一样犯一些错误。事实上，--原谅--远比大多数人聪明，我的错误往往会相对更大。”（197）
什么错误？它可能与伏地魔数年前安排的与邓布利多的会议有关，表面上是邓布利多申请霍格华兹的教授职位。邓布利多被会议阻碍，因为伏地魔(a/k/a汤姆·里德尔)明白地知道邓布利多决不会雇用他，邓布利多也知道里德尔也知道。
然而邓布利多让里德尔进入邓布利多自己的办公室。看会议重放。哈利注意到会议最后的一些邓布利多好象没有注意到的事情：“瞬间，哈利几乎要喊出一个无意义的警告：他肯定,伏地魔的手急扯向他的口袋和他的棍；但片刻过去后，伏地魔就走开了，门关上了，他离开了”（446）。
无论那天伏地魔秘密地施了什么样的恶性咒语---（在邓布利多自己的办公室迷惑什么，或对邓布利多本人所产生的结果）邓布利多只是在岛上喝了魔剂后才认识到。符咒可能与插入霍格华兹（以深深的，不可思议的伪装）的四个在镇上霍格华兹外等候的伏地魔的信徒有关。因为邓布利多
在会见中告诉里德尔,如果里德尔只想和邓布利多说话的话，里德尔让这四个人陪着没有什么意义。
无论如何，邓布利多明白为了挽救无辜者，他必须很快死去。原因我们还不清楚。
斯内普的最后情景与主题斯内普不是黑魔王的真正奴仆是一致的。
值得注意的是，
从某种意义上斯内普
保护了哈利。斯内普及时的用符咒阻止了哈利
发出无法宽恕的咒语。斯内普
在第五册书结束时，魔法部摊牌时不在场，所以他可能不知道
哈利已经施了一个不可宽恕的咒语。贝拉特里克斯(指女战士，以及猎户星座的右肩的明星的名字)确实知道哈利施了不可宽恕咒语，但考虑到她自己在部里失败的困窘，或许没有把战斗的每一方面详尽对斯内普说明。
和哈利在学校操场外的摊牌时，斯内普的脸充满了憎恨是可以理解的。哈利
试图施咒于斯内普。这个咒语是斯内普作为霍格华兹的学生，自己发明的.
哈利的爸爸，詹姆波特已经警告他的小学生要用斯内普发明的咒语反对斯内普。（这是在书5中，斯内普回忆哈利看着斯内普的冥想盆）
如果斯内普一直玩反对伏地魔的复杂的双重游戏（或至少在街道的两边，打开他的选择权，确定他可以跳入赢的一边），“迄今为止世界上看到的最成功的摄神取念？”（象许多符咒一样，摄神取念只是拉丁文的变体；在这里是“阅读-思想”）
答案是简单的。斯内普是玄幻魔法的一个极好的从业者。这个玄幻魔法可以阻止阅读思想的企图。记得在第五册书中，
哈利
被命令从斯内普那学习玄幻魔法-----就是想如果波特学得好的话（他甚至几乎没试着学过），波特可以防止伏地魔阅读哈利的心智，尽管在哈利
和伏地魔之间有强烈的精神链接。确实，从一个隐喻性的判断中，玄幻魔法-是斯内普的性格的本质。他是一个表情难以理解的人。（35）。
甚至从第一册书后，罗琳一直展开对斯内普的好奇。以致于读者从不能确切地知道
斯内普的真正意图。
考虑斯内普知道全部的预言的可能性。在第五册书中，邓布利多向哈利
解释寻职者女巫特里劳妮在哈利出生前不久一天晚上进入一种恍惚状态（她自己记不得）说出的预言。（427）（她的第一个名子来自于希腊语“女巫”意思是“女预言家。”她和爱德华约翰特里劳妮（19世纪英国“”自我保护…有才华的故事作家…这个人是虚构的）同一个姓。特里劳妮教授通常是自我保护骗子，但她有时候也做正确的事，如书6中，在一个塔上，卡片一直发送即将毁灭的信息。）
特里劳妮告诉哈利她和邓布利多的工作会见被斯内普在偷听这个发现打断了。（545）。邓布利多认为斯内普只告诉伏地魔预言的前半部。（549）（第一部分确定一个孩子7月31号出生---或是哈利波特或是纳威·隆巴顿----是伏地魔的一个危险的敌人）。邓布利多的假定是正确的，因为伏地魔显然不知道预言的第二部分，而且在整个第五册书中都在茫然地想了解它。斯内普明白地告诉伏地魔预言的第一半。
因为伏地魔后来开始计划杀小哈利,尽管他只是成功地杀了他的父母。
因此，邓布利多和哈利认为斯内普不知道预言的第二半，因为斯内普
在是一个食尸者时会告诉伏地魔他知道的一切。但是也许邓布利多和哈利的假设都错了。也许斯内普甚至在那时就在玩双重游戏，决定通过自己严守预言第二半的秘密来保留一些选择权。特别是因为预言暗示伏地魔这边从长远看，可能不是赢的一边。
预言的第一半是：“这个人必须有征服伏地魔方法的能力。公然不服从伏地魔三次的人生他，出生于第七个月死去。伏地魔把他标为他的对手，但他会有伏地魔没有的能力。”第二半预言解释说，我认为哈利必须在第七册书中死去是因为这样伏地魔可以被摧毁：其中一人必须在死于另一个人之手，因为两个人活着的时候没有一个人能生存。有征服伏地魔方法的能力会出生在第七个月死去。
“另一个人活着时没人可以活着”就这个事实来说，陈述是错误的。伏地魔和哈利都是活着的，都幸存，同时我们往往认为“活着”和“幸存”是同义词。但是，如果两个词是同义词的话，预言是不正确的。
可被争论为：如果一个人不属于人类，从意义上他不是真正地活着。不朽的傀儡（也就是无尽存活的人）我们看成是鬼或幽灵。他们每个人都存在，但没一人活着。
这样，只要哈利活着，伏地魔就不属于人类。因此从这个意义上，伏地魔没有活着。也许是以一些不为人知的方法活着，只要伏地魔存活，哈利就是不朽的。
在提及戈德里克格兰芬多的剑时，邓布利多声明：“克格兰芬多仅知的遗物在伏地魔试图灌输一个魂器时是安全的。（505）
但是可能有一个霍格沃茨共创者不知道的遗物吗？如还存在的戈德里克格兰芬多的子孙（比如象伏地魔,斯莱特林的继承人是萨拉查斯莱特林的最近的继承人）？”
哈利出生在高锥克山谷。有许多的原因约翰罗琳在书中详细描述过。
认为哈利
是格兰芬多的继承人。当芙蓉德拉库尔用她的法国口音叫他哈利时，他的名子听起来甚至象“继承人”。
哈利必须死而使伏地魔“活着”（作为人类）而不是“幸存”（作为不死的灵魂）的原因是最后的魂器被包括在哈利自己以内。
在第六册书结束的时候，哈利宣布他计划暂时回到德思礼夫妇那（根据邓布利多先前的指令），然后在他的生命中第一次去高锥克山谷（在开始寻求魂器前他幼年时的家）。回到他父母被杀害的这个家的旅行对哈利的寻求比哈利现在认识到的甚至更有意义。
在他16岁这年的夏天回到他复活、然后出生的不快乐的地方之前，哈利将概述汤姆·里德尔在他自己16岁那年夏天做的事。（363）。
“我肯定他想用你的死来制造他的魂器，”邓布利多向哈利
解释说。（506）。
但是伏地魔的死/魂器
咒语发在小哈利身上是非常错误的，毁灭伏地魔的身体而消失。也许伏地魔（他自己不为所知）确实创造了那个最后的魂器：在哈利波特自己身上。哈利前额上一小块霹雳似疤痕显然远不是一次袭击所留下的伤痕，因为我们知道它神奇地连接着哈利
和伏地魔.
它也可能是最后的魂器？也是最终摧毁伏地魔,
哈利
自己也必须死的魂器。
也许有什么办法可以只摧毁魂器，而不杀哈利.但从我们迄今所看到的为止，为了摧毁一个魂器，如tom
里德尔日记里所记的，一个人必须也要摧毁魂器的运送者。（在密歇根州法律系学生海蒂本德马修斯的信的博客中包含了关于哈利有一个魂器理论的广泛的讨论）
一个最后的神秘：远在邓布利多和哈利到达试图来取魂器之前，谁是在伏地魔湖岛上的水池里偷走魂器的“R.A.B”（我们不知道哈利教父已故的弟弟雷古勒斯·布莱克中间名子的首字母。但我估计妙丽是一个彻底的研究者，她不会没有发现这样一个明显可疑人中间名子的首字母。）
记得在他们成功地从伏地魔湖的洞穴返回的途中，邓布利多对哈利说的话：“一个人独自不可能做它…”(577).
那么“R.A.B”可能是拿了魂器小盒的三个组男巫的首字母。而必须从岸上穿过到岛上的施了魔法的船可以发现魔法。这船上只允许有一个成年男巫乘客。船没有阻止哈利与邓布利多搭乘是因为哈利还是个未成年人，这样他的能力显然没有以船客发现者记录。如果这样的话三个成年男巫乘船似乎不可能。“R.A.B”三人组中至少两个未成年人吗？或者他们带上扫帚就可以飞？
而且不管谁拿了魂器都需要通过喝掉它所有的魔剂而倾空水池。在哈利和邓布利多到达之前水池是怎样又装满魔剂的？
我的意见是：R.A.B全部或部分指西弗勒斯斯内普.
当妙丽汇报她的关于带有词首大写字母R.A.B的男巫的档案研究时，这些男巫似乎都不可能是魂器的提取者，她断言：“不，事实上，是关于…对，斯内普”(636).她指的是在她查找”R.A.B”时说的话，她偶然发现小报上关于斯内普的妈妈曾有个未婚用名“王子”并和一个麻瓜结婚的文章；妙丽已经发现为什么西弗勒斯斯内普叫他自己“混血王子”。（636-37）。但当她说”R.A.B”是关于斯内普时，妙丽说的比她知道的多。
作为魔药的天才，斯内普也许已经知道吃了魔药压制它的办法。同样他也可能已经知道在他倒空水池，拿走魂器以后怎样用新鲜的魔药再装满水池，
我相信哈利在他的预言中是正确的:“如果我路上遇到西弗勒斯斯内普，对我越有利，对他越糟糕”（651）但斯内普
和哈利之间的事怎样解决会比哈利现在理解的超乎平常地更为复杂。
我在网上搜索“R.A.B”时加了“传说”。我发现RAB的克罗地亚人的岛和它的资助圣人的故事，和金色传说中说的一样。金色传说的作者是杰科伯德卫格尔尼。是一本15世纪圣人传记及其它虔诚的传说。
在这本书的鼎盛时期，用所有欧州主要的语言出版发行，声望仅次于圣经。这本畅销书提供了神奇的魔法故事-----以神奇的遗迹形式增加了基督教信念。
这是Rab的资助人的故事：从前有一个迦南人叫罗伯比斯，是一个有着“健康伟大身材”的巨人，他厌烦了“糟糕可怕的”面容。他决定“去寻找这个世界上最伟大的王子并侍候和服从他。”这样罗伯比斯就开始为世界上最有能力的国王服务。但后来他了解到国王害怕恶魔。于是罗伯比斯离开了国王去找魔鬼。在遇到魔鬼时，罗伯比斯“为了他的主人和王抓住了它。”后来，罗伯比斯发现魔鬼害怕耶稣基督。这样，罗伯比斯离开了魔鬼去求一个隐士告诉他如何为耶稣基督服务。隐士让他用他的巨大的力量运送人们渡过附近的一条河。一天，他扛着一个孩子，“河水上涨，越涨越高：并且这个孩子象铅一样重…当他费尽力气脱身过了河，把孩子放在地下时，他对孩子说：孩子，你刚才把我放在极度危险中；你几乎比整个世界加在我身上都重，我也许从没有如此负重过”这个过客显示了基督幼年时的形象，并给他一根可以履行奇迹的棒子。
罗伯比斯这个名子（“邪恶的人”）被变成克里斯琴“基督搬运者”是那个名子的第一个用法。克里斯琴和他的棒子执行了许多奇迹，改变了上千人的心灵，勇敢地面对牺牲更改变了更多人。
我怀疑J。K.罗琳计划把金色传说直接写进第七册，但是从她极为深厚的文学功底，博览并精通广泛的令人振奋的神话及欧洲传说来看，她不知道金色传说几乎不可能。
无论如何，我期望哈利波特系列的最后一册会完成西弗勒斯斯内普的故事。作为邪恶的人，他一开始为平凡的权力服务，然后邪恶化身，最后----通过勇敢地冒着生命的危险和使用他巨大的才能面对正义，当他从自己的罪过的负重中解脱出来时，也解脱了许多其它同样的罪人。
科伯关于波特更多：
催狂魔
肖特
。麻瓜偶然的破坏哈利有个骗局。原因在线。2004年6月4日哈利波特及阿茲卡班的囚徒电影评论
解析罗琳。国家评论在线。2003年6月20号哈利波特隐藏的答案评论极具说服力地说明了作品是一个基督教小说系列在Tolkein和
Lewis的传统中
流言：取消一个，燃烧一个。当揭示了哈利波特作者的撒旦的引证时，一些消息详细提出了药的“作用”。落基山新闻/丹佛post.2001.12.2.
麻瓜热
哈利波特是个只想挽救文明的行动自由论者。国家评论在线。2000年7月22-23
Severus Snape:
The Unlikely Hero of Harry Potter book 7
By
Dave Kopel
魔王 Dark
Lord =
伏地魔Voldemort
格兰杰
Hermione
Granger
Don’t read the rest of this article unless you’ve finished Harry Potter
and the Half-Blood Prince. The predictions for book 7 will necessarily
involve the revelation of some important plot details from book 6.
One of the many virtues of John Granger’s book The Hidden Key to Harry
Potter is its emphasis on the importance of characters’ names. In a
National Review Online review a
couple years ago, I noted Granger’s interesting and plausible theories of
the Christian subtext in the names “Gryffindor” and “Harry Potter.” Other
character names also have interesting Christian roots.
For example. Harry’s devoted and protective owl
Hedwig shares a name with a medieval
Christian saint, who is the patroness of the Sisters of St. Hedwig, a small
charitable order whose “chief aim is the education of orphaned and abandoned
children.” A Potter fan website contains a
compendium of many character names and their meanings (up through
volume 4), and the site, while full of fascinating information, does not
exhaust the meanings that can be drawn from the names.
Granger
points out that the sibilance of “Severus Snape” makes the reader think of a
snake, and the crafty, mistrustful Snape has many snake-like qualities.
Also, Severus is an unusually severe teacher. However, I think there is a
more significant meaning of the name, which perhaps holds the key to the
dénouement of the forthcoming book 7. “Severus” is a variant of
“sever”—to cut. If run the two words of his name together, so that the
consonants link up, then we hear “sever-uh-ssnape,”
very much like “sever a snake.”
In the end, I predict, Snape will sacrifice himself in order to destroy the
snakelike Voldemort, whose personal symbol (the Dark Mark) is a snake tongue
projecting from a death’s head skull. (The symbol unintentionally teaches
the lesson that false speech is a form of death). At a surface level, the
events of the just-published book 6 seem entirely contrary to my thesis, but
looked at from another angle, they confirm it. Let’s begin with chapter 2,
“Spinner’s End,” in which Snape makes the Unbreakable Vow to
Narcissa Malfoy. The
chapter’s title ostensibly refers to the street where Snape lives.
But the chapter is also the beginning of the end of
Snape’s life of deceptions and double games, of trying to play both
sides of the street. As he explains to Narcissa
and Bellatrix, he once “spun” an elaborate “tale
of deepest remorse” in order to gain Dumbledore’s protection. (Page 31).When
Narcissa asks him for the Unbreakable Vow,
Bellatrix sneers that Snape will offer only “The
usual empty words, the usual slithering out of action…” (35). But, perhaps
for the first time in his life, Snape surrenders himself for another. The
consequence of breaking an Unbreakable Vow is death.
Marriage is, in its sanctified state, an unbreakable vow, and the
enchantment ceremony is remarkably like a wedding: Snape looks into
Narcissa’s tearful eyes, kneels before her, and
they clasp hands. In the presence of a Bonder, Snape is asked questions
which evoke the rhythm of the wedding vows: “Will you, Severus, watch over
my son…” To each question, Snape responds, “I will”—reminiscent of the “I
do” of the unbreakable vows in a wedding.
With each “I will,” a tongue of flame coils around their intertwined hands.
(36-37). Snape loves Narcissa, I suggest. His
beloved is a narcissist, but at the greatest crisis of her life—when her son
is mortal peril, and her husband is unable to protect their son,
Narcissa risks everything—even betraying the
Dark Lord and incurring his terrible wrath—in a desperate attempt to save
her Draco. (32).
Because Narcissa and Snape love, they
ultimately, not true servants of the Dark Lord.
Months later, Hagrid tells Harry about a
recently overheard argument between Dumbledore and Snape: “I jus’ heard
Snape sayin’ Dumbledore took too much for
granted an’ maybe he—Snape—didn’ wan’
ter do it anymore…Dumbledore told him out he’d
agreed to do it an’ that was all there was to it.”
(405-06).
In the climactic confrontation between Dumbledore and Draco, on the
The one person who knows that the Dark Lord has ordered
Malfoy to attempt to kill Dumbledore and is a person who has
any contact with Dumbledore is Severus Snape. I believe that Snape revealed
the Dark Lord’s plot to Dumbledore. And that Snape also revealed to
Dumbledore that Snape had made an Unbreakable Vow to
Narcissa. The argument between Dumbledore and Snape had occurred when
Snape grew weary in his efforts to protect Draco, and Dumbledore insisted
that Snape must keep his vow.
Dumbledore’s knowledge of the third part of Snape’s
vow—to kill Dumbledore if Malfoy could
not—explains what happened shortly before Dumbledore’s death. Dumbledore
wanted to die (I’ll explain why in a little bit), and he knew that Snape was
the man who could—and must—perform the deed.
Consider the ambiguity of Dumbledore’s words as Harry and he rush back to
Hogwarts: “It is professor Snape whom I need.” (580). This time, Dumbledore
is not looking for Snape to heal him, as Snape had done the previous summer,
when Dumbledore had returned badly injured from a fierce battle.
When Snape arrives at the
It is then that Dumbledore begs Snape to fulfill his vow: “Severus,” says
the headmaster. “For the first time, Dumbledore was pleading.” (595).
“Severus…please…”
If Snape were following Dumbledore’s wishes, why were “revulsion and hatred
etched” in Snape’s face as a gazed at Dumbledore
just before killing him? Firstly, revulsion at having to perform an
Unforgivable Curse, the death spell
Avada Kedavra.
Discussing the killing afterwards, the Hogwarts teachers and pupils agree
that they had never believed that Snape, for all his faults, could kill a
man. To fulfill the Unbreakable Vow and Dumbledore’s wishes, Snape had act
in revolt against his true nature.
As for the “hatred”, Snape knows that a wizard must act with hatred in order
to successfully cast an Unforgivable Curse. Hatred comes easily to Snape,
and he had all sorts of resentments which he could bring to mind—including,
perhaps, hatred of Dumbledore for making Harry Potter into the headmaster’s
favorite. And then there is a full reservoir of self-hatred from his
miserable childhood, compounded by his many cruelties as an adult.
But my guess is that the primary source of the “revulsion and hatred” is
that Snape knows the same things that Dumbledore had learned just a few
minutes before, when Dumbledore drank the magic potion--from the basin in
the secret lake where Voldemort had hidden a Horcrux.
(Note the meaning of “whore/horrible cross”—a perverted version of the
soul-saving object which overcomes death.)
Dumbledore
suffered agony while drinking the ten goblets of potion. Harry presumed that
Dumbledore was simply hallucinating while he drank, but I believe that
Dumbledore instead was seeing some terrible truths.
Harry saw Dumbledore become frightened. He moaned “…don’t like…want to
stop…I don’t want to…Let me go… Make it stop, make it stop.” (The last
phrase echoes the frightened scream “make it stop” of the girl Regan, who is
possessed by a demon in The Exorcist.)
Dumbledore continued, “I can’t, don’t make me, I don’t want to…”
Then, “It’s all my fault, all my fault…I know I
did wrong, oh please make it stop and I’ll never, never again…Don’t hurt
them…it’s my fault, hurt me instead…” (The last phrase echoes what the young
exorcizing priest Father Karras yelled at the
demon: “Take me” The demon immediately left
the girl’s body, and inhabited the Karras, who
immediately hurled himself out the window to his death—thereby thwarting
the demon; he survived just long enough to receive last rites, and die
peacefully.)
Dumbledore implored “Make it stop, make it stop, I want to die!”
Then, as just before Harry gave Dumbledore the tenth and final goblet,
Dumbledore yelled “Kill me!” “‘This—this one will!’ gasped Harry.” (573).
Dumbledore, I believe, realized that he had made a terrible mistake which
had empowered Voldemort, and that only by dying
could Dumbledore stop the harm from that mistake. As
Dumbledore had told Harry long before, “I make mistakes like the next man.
In fact, being—forgive me—rather cleverer than
most men, my mistakes tend to be correspondingly huger.” (197).
What was the mistake? It likely has something to do with the meeting that
Voldemort arranged years ago with Dumbledore, ostensibly to apply for a
professorship at Hogwarts. Dumbledore was baffled by the meeting, since
Voldemort (a/k/a Tom Riddle) plainly knew that there was no chance that
Dumbledore would hire him, and Dumbledore knew that Riddle knew.
Yet Dumbledore let Riddle into Dumbledore’s own office. Watching a replay of
the meeting in Dumbledore’s Pensieve, Harry
notices something at the very end of the meeting, which Dumbledore, it
seems, did not: “For a second, Harry was on the verge of shouting a
pointless warning: He was sure that Voldemort’s
hand had twitched toward his pocket and his wand; but the moment had passed,
Voldemort had turned away, the door was closing, and he was gone.” (446).
Whatever malignant spell that Voldemort secretly cast on that day—enchanting
something in Dumbledore’s own office, or even Dumbledore himself--had
consequences which Dumbledore only realized when he drank the potion on the
island. The spell may have involved inserting into Hogwarts (in a deep
magical disguise) the four followers of Voldemort who were waiting gathered
in the town outside Hogwarts. As Dumbledore told Riddle during the
interview, it made no sense for Riddle to have been accompanied by the four,
if Riddle only wanted to speak with Dumbledore.
In any case, Dumbledore understood, for reasons that are still unclear to
us, that he had to die soon in order to save innocents.
Snape’s
final scene is consistent with the thesis that Snape is not a true servant
of the Dark Lord.
Significantly, Snape protects Harry, in a sense.
Snape’s timely spell-casting prevents Harry from uttering an
Unforgivable Curse. Snape was not present in the showdown at the Ministry of
Magic at the end of book 5, so he may not know that Harry has already cast
an Unforgivable Curse. Bellatrix (meaning female
warrior, and also the name of the bright star that is Orion’s right
shoulder) does know that Harry uttered an Unforgivable Curse, but—given her
embarrassment at her own failure in the Ministry—may not have given Snape a
blow-by-blow account of every aspect of the battle.
In the showdown with Harry outside the school grounds,
Snape’s face is full of hatred, but it’s understandable. Harry
attempts to cast a spell on Snape which Snape, as a Hogwarts student, had
invented himself. Harry’s father, James Potter, had bullied his fellow
student Snape by using a Snape-invented spell against Snape. (This is the
Snape memory that Harry watched in Snape’s
Pensieve, in book 5.)
If Snape has always been playing a complex double game against Voldemort (or
at least working both sides of the street, and keeping his options open, to
make sure he can jump to the winning side), why doesn’t Voldemort know?
After all, the Dark Lord is, as Snape says in chapter 2, “the most
accomplished Legilimens the world has ever
seen?” (Like many spells, Legilmens is just a
Latin variant; in this case, for “read-mind.”)
This answer is easy. Snape is a superb practitioner of
Occlumency, which blocks an attempt to read one’s mind. Remember that
in book 5, Harry was ordered to take Occlumency
lessons from Snape—with the expectation that if Potter learned well (he
barely even tried), Potter would be able to prevent Voldemort from reading
Harry’s mind, despite the intense mental link between Harry and Voldemort.
Indeed, Occlumency, in a metaphorical sense, is
the essence of Snape’s character. He is the man
of the “unreadable” expression. (35). Ever since book 1, Rowling has been
pulling surprises about Snape, so that readers never know for certain what
are Snape’s true intentions.
Consider the possibility that Snape may know the full prophecy. In book 5,
Dumbledore explains to Harry how job applicant Sybil
Trelawny entered a trance, which she does not remember, and uttered
the prophecy one night shortly before Harry was born. (427) (Her first name
comes from the Greek “Sibylla,” meaning
“prophetess.” She shares a last name with
Edward John Trelawny, a 19th century English
“self-promoting…brilliant story-teller…[who]…was
far from truthful.” Professor Trelawny is mostly
a self-promoting fraud, but she does get things right sometimes, as in book
6, when the cards keep sending message of impending doom on a tower.)
Trelawny
tells Harry that her job interview with Dumbledore was interrupted by the
discovery that Snape was eavesdropping. (545). Dumbledore
presumes that Snape only told Voldemort the first half of the
prophecy. (549) (The first part identifies a baby born July 31—either Harry
Potter or Neville Longbottom—as a dangerous foe
of Voldemort.) Dumbledore’s presumption is accurate, since Voldemort clearly
does not know the second half of the prophecy, and spent all of book
Accordingly, Dumbledore and Harry presume that Snape does not know the
second half of the prophecy, because they assume that Snape, who at the time
was a Death Eater, would have told Voldemort everything that Snape knew. But
maybe Dumbledore and Harry are wrong in their presumption. Perhaps Snape was
playing a double game even then, and decided to retain some options for
himself by keeping the second half of the
prophecy to himself. Especially because the prophecy suggests that
Voldemort’s side might not be the winning side
in the long run.
The
first half of the prophecy is:
“The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches.
born to those who have thrice defied him, born as
the seventh month dies . and the Dark Lord will
mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not”
The second half of the prophecy explains, I suggest, why Harry must die in
book 7, so that Voldemort can be destroyed:
and
either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the
other survives. The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be
born as the seventh month dies.
“[N]either
can live while the other survives.” On the face of it, the statement is
absurd. Voldemort and Harry are both alive, and both survive,
simultaneously. We tend to think of “live” and “survive” as synonyms. Yet if
the two words are synonyms, the prophecy is incorrect.
It could be argued, if a person is not mortal, he is in a sense not truly
living. The immortal creatures (that is, creatures which survive endlessly)
which we have seen are ghosts and inferni. Each
of them survives, yet neither of them lives.
Thus, as long as Harry survives, Voldemort is not mortal. Accordingly,
Voldemort is, in a sense, not living. And perhaps, in some as-yet unknown
way, Harry is immortal as long as Voldemort survives.
Referring to Godric
Gryffindor’s sword, Dumbledore states, “the only known relic of
Gryffindor remains safe” from Voldemort’s
attempt to implant a Horcrux.
(505) Yes, but could there be an unknown relic of the
co-founder of Hogwarts? Such as the last living
descendant of Godric Gryffindor (just as
Voldemort, the Heir of Slytherin, is the last
descendant of Salazar Slytherin)?
Harry was born in Godric Hollow. There are
numerous reasons, detailed in the book by John Granger, to believe that
Harry is the Heir of Gryffindor. His name
even sounds like “heir” when Fleur Delacour
call him 'Arry with
her French accent.
The reason that Harry must die in order that Voldemort may “live” (as a
mortal) rather than “survive” (as a deathless immortal) is that the final
Horcrux is contained within Harry himself.
At the very end of book 6, Harry announces his plans to return briefly to
the Dursleys (pursuant to Dumbledore’s previous
instructions), and then to go for the first time in his life to
Godric Hollow, the home of his infancy, before
setting out on a quest for the Horcruxes.
(630-31). The journey to the home where his
parents were murdered will be even more significant to his quest than Harry
currently realizes.
By
returning in the summer of his 16th year to the unhappy home where he was
raised, and thereafter to the place where he was born, Harry will
recapitulate what Tom Riddle did in the summer of his own 16th year. (363).
“I am sure he was intending to make his final Horcrux
with your death,” Dumbledore explained to Harry. (506).
But Voldemort’s death/Horcrux
spell on baby Harry went terribly wrong, and blasted
Voldemort’s body out of existence. Yet maybe Voldemort did,
unbeknownst to himself, create that final Horcrux:
in Harry Potter himself. The lightning bolt scar on Harry’s forehead is
clearly more than a wound from the attack, since we know it magically links
Harry and Voldemort. Could it also be the final Horcrux?
And so for Voldemort to be destroyed with finality, Harry himself must die
too.
Perhaps
there’s some way to destroy only the
Horcrux, without killing Harry. But from what
we’ve seen so far, in order to destroy a Horcrux,
such as the one contained in Tom Riddle’s diary, one must destroy the
Horcrux-carrier too. (The
Letters of Marque
blog by Michigan Law student Heidi Bond contains an extensive
discussion of the “Harry has a Horcrux” theory.)
One final mystery: who is the “R.A.B.” who had already swiped the
Horcrux from the basin on the island on
Remember Dumbledore’s words to Harry, as the two of them successfully
returned from their journey through Voldemort’s
lake in the cave: “One alone could not have done it…” (577).
So “R.A.B.” might be the initials for a team of three wizards who took the
Horcrux locket. Yet the enchanted boat which is
necessary to cross from the shore to the island can detect magic, and will
only allow a single adult wizard passenger. The boat does not prevent Harry
from riding with Dumbledore because Harry is still underage, and thus his
powers apparently do not “register” with the boat’s passenger detectors.
(564). If so, it would seem impossible that three adult wizards could have
ridden the boat. Were at least two of the “R.A.B” trio
underage? Or did they just bring brooms so they could fly?
Moreover,
whoever took the Horcrux would have needed to
first empty the basin by drinking all its potion.
So how did the basin get refilled with potion by the time Harry and
Dumbledore arrived?
Here’s my theory: R.A.B. refers, in whole or in part, to Severus Snape. When
Hermione reports on her archival research about wizards with the initials
R.A.B., none of whom seem plausibly to be the Horcrux-taker,
she concludes, “No, actually, it’s about…well, Snape.” (636). What she means
is that while looking up “R.A.B.,” she ran across a small newspaper article
revealing that Snape’s mother had the maiden
name “Prince” and she married a muggle; Hermione
has discovered why Severus Snape called himself “The Half-blood Prince.”
(636-37). But perhaps Hermione has said more than she knows when she says
that “R.A.B.” is about Snape.
As a potions genius, Snape might have known a way to neutralize the potion
while consuming it. He likewise might have known how to re-fill the basin
with fresh potion, after he had emptied it, and taken the
Horcrux.
I believe that Harry is correct in his prediction, “if I meet Severus Snape
along the way, so much the better for me, so much
the worse for him.” (651) But how things work out between Snape and Harry
will be immensely more complex than Harry now understands.
I
searched the web for “R.A.B.” plus “legends.” What I found was the
Once there was a Canaanite named Reprobus, a
huge man of “right great stature” who bore “a terrible and fearful”
countenance. He decided “that he would seek the greatest prince that was in
the world, and him would he serve and obey.”
So first Reprobus served the
most powerful king in the world. But then he learned that the king
was afraid of the devil. So Reprobus left the
king and went to find the devil. Upon meeting him,
Reprobus “took him for his master and Lord.” Later,
Reprobus discovered that the devil was afraid of
Christ.
So Reprobus left the devil, and asked a hermit
to tell him how to serve Christ. The hermit ordered him to use his great
strength to carry travelers across a nearby river. One day, he was carrying
a child, “And the water of the river arose and swelled more and more: and
the child was heavy as lead… And when he was escaped with great pain, and
passed the water, and set the child aground, he said to the child: Child,
thou hast put me in great peril; thou weighest
almost as I had all the world upon me, I might
bear no greater burden.” The passenger revealed himself as the Christ-child,
and gave Reprobus a staff which could perform
miracles.
The name of Reprobus
(“wicked person”) was changed to Christopher (“Christ-bearer”),
the first usage of that name. Christopher and his staff performed many
miracles, converted thousands of souls, and, in facing martyrdom bravely,
converted still more.
I doubt that J.K. Rowling plans to work the Golden Legend directly
into volume 7, but—given her extremely broad knowledge of literature and of
the inspiring myths and legends of Europe—it is almost impossible that she
doesn’t know the Golden Legend.
In any case, I expect that the final volume of the Harry Potter series will
complete the story of Severus Snape as a wicked man who first served
ordinary power, then Evil incarnate, and finally—by courageously risking his
own life and using his enormous talents—will come face-to-face with the
Right, as he is liberated from the burden of his own sins, and liberates
many other sinners as well.
Also by Dave Kopel:
A Dementor Short.
Mugglewear Casual mars Harry hat trick.
Reason Online.
Deconstructing Rowling.
National Review Online.
Rumors: Quash one, fuel one.
While debunking Harry Potter author's Satanist 'quotes,' News promotes
drug's 'role' in deaths. Rocky Mountain
News/Denver Post.
Mugglemania.
Harry Potter is the ur-libertarian who just
might save civilization. National Review Online.
July 22-23, 2000.
Copyright © 2024 David Kopel 柯大為