Some time ago, a discussion sprang out of our Half-Blood Prince read-through about Snape’s love for Lily: is it a devoted, virtuous love that moved him to courageous self-sacrifice, or some sort of unhealthy, obsessive infatuation?

I think the discussion merits its own post. I’ve looked back to try to summarize all the arguments for and against, and it’s not easy to do. A lot of excellent points were made. I’m going to post the initial comment that sparked the discussion and make a few summary points, but it’s definitely best for you to go back to the read what’s already taken place. Conversation started here and also resumed here.

Red Rocker made the initial challenge to applying the term “obsessive” to Snape’s feelings for Lily:

Why are Snape’s feelings for Lily so frequently stylized as “obsessive love”? Why not “devoted love”? How about “selfless love”? Or “undying love” Or “love that transcends death?” How about “the purest love a man can have for a woman”?

Did JKR tell us that there was something morbid or pathological about Snape’s love? Was there some supra-textual comment I missed about how Snape’s feelings for Lily were really creepy?

Didn’t Snape’s love for Lily redeem him from evil and set him on a heroic course? Did he not daily risk his life in order to do the right thing for her sake? Did he not give his life for her son?

Doesn’t that make his love truly a thing to wonder at and admire and be moved by, instead of pathologizing it like the psychiatrists who would include “bitterness syndrome” in the new Diagnostic Manual of mental disorders?

My own struggle with the portrayal of Snape’s love has been his inability to love anyone other than Lily. If self-sacrificial love is ultimately a choice, then it’s a choice one should be able to make even against one’s inclinations, and for someone who is unlovable (in Snape’s view, Harry). I’m also fairly cynical about the power of eros, romantic love.

Contra this position, several good arguments have been made, along with Red Rocker’s:

• Dadezzz argued that the “obsessive” love was love for the Dark Arts, which clouded his judgment, and love for Lily was redeeming, a la John Granger’s argument about the Lily/Beatrice parallels.
• Lily Luna, agreeing that Snape only ever loved Lily, argued that he came to care for Harry by the end.
• Red Rocker continued by saying that if someone is incapable of love, but finds it within himself to love one person, that love is not obsessive, but a healthy thing.
• revgeorge strikes a via media by saying it’s still appropriate to call it an obsessive love, but it does motivate him toward good and courageous actions.
• Red Rocker and revgeorge agree that Snape’s true motivations are shrouded in the mystery of his unpleasant behavior.
• Hermione Luna, in her debut comment at The Hog’s Head (!), places Snape in the interesting position of being not the hero, but one who helps the hero on his journey, and looks at the whole question from a different angle.

Like I said, there’s more to this, so it’s best to go back and re-read. My own thoughts on Snape have been shifting, especially as a result of John Granger’s Lily/Beatrice argument. (It’s been out there for over a year, but I was too unfamiliar with Dante at the time to conclude anything one way or the other.)

There are still lots of questions to discuss and debate concerning Snape. Here are a few:

• Snape’s capacity to love just one person: Is that a good and healthy thing, or an indicator that he’s unable to love entirely, and therefore his love for Lily was not love at all?
• Are we observing an in-text tension, a clash between Rowling’s feelings about Snape (she doesn’t like him much and hesitates to call him a hero) and her symbolism – Beatrice’s green eyes pointing to Snape’s redemption?
• Does Snape really not feel for anyone other than Lily? Or must he force himself not to feel (think of his Occlumency lessons) in order to be safer and more believable in front of Voldemort? Is it ultimately his double-agent role that causes him to not be allowed to feel (and therefore to heal emotionally)?

These questions, anything from the previous discussion, and anything new are all up for discussion.

Related Posts

• Sorcerer’s Stone Week, Day 4: The Snape Story
• The Snaped Crusader (#2): The Rise and Fall of Harry’s Nemesis

Update: Move along to another essay. JKR destroyed this theory a couple days ago. So much for my attempts at predicting things!  Rowling’s statement doesn’t entirely annihilate the theory, since my particular version of the theory doesn’t have Snape hiding under the cloak at the house while the Potters were killed, but I’m moving on to other things for now, rather than scrambling to edit.

You’ll need to read my first shot at this to understand this second post, so make sure you read here first. This is probably really wrong. I’m just having a bit of fun, ’cause my HP work today has all been literary criticism (mythlogical archetypes), and that has been broken up by articles on the history of education.

I’m going to make an attempt at constructing an order of events for the handing off of James’ invisibility cloak that is (a) faithful to the canon (i.e., that James actually left the cloak in Dumbledore’s possession, and not a third person who picked it up on the night of the Potters’ deaths), and (b) ties significant plot points together, so as to be a “crucial” part of the plot.

Chronology
Dumbledore informed James and Lily that Voldemort was after them, based on information passed to him by the “spies he had in place, and that it would be best to go into hiding under the Fidelius charm. It is highly unlikely that the Potters ever knew Snape was spying on Lord Voldemort, or that he was ever a death eater. It’s just as unlikely that they ever knew about the prophecy. So we have a chronology of events like this (with some of my own speculation scattered in there):

1. Sometime in 1979, Wormtail starts passing information to Voldemort.
2. In Winter/Spring late 1979 or early 1980), Trelawney makes the prophecy, the first part of which is overheard by Snape, who runs and tells Voldemort immediately.
3. 1980: Two children are born “as the seventh month dies” – Neville Longbottom and Harry Potter. Voldemort selects Harry as the most likely candidate for prophecy fulfillment.
4. Snape, being one of Voldemort’s most trusted DEs, learns of this, and for reasons both explained and yet to be revealed, flees to Dumbledore in repentance. We do not have an exact timeline for this, but it was sometime in between August 1980 and September 1981. We’d want to favor an earlier date, probably August 1980, because there would need to be time for (a) Snape’s repentance, (b) that repentance to be believable to Dumbledore, and (c) Snape to turn spy for some time against Voldemort.
5. September 1981, Snape begins teaching at Hogwarts. As far as Voldemort is concerned, it’s on his orders, and as far as Dumbledore’s concerned, he’s been hired in order to fool Voldemort and remain a spy. Two people at this point know why Voldemort is specifically targeting the Potters: Snape and Dumbledore.
6. During this time, Dumbledore and the Order are doing everything to hide the Potters, whom Dumbledore has informed that Voldemort is specifically targeting (though he hasn’t told them why). But Voldemort is finding, torturing, and killing Order members to try to find the Potters. James and Lily want to remain in the battle against Voldemort, but Dumbledore finally advises them that the best course of action, especially for Harry’s sake, would be to hide under a Fidelius charm.
7. Even with Dumbledore’s offer on the table, James selects his best friend Sirius as Secret-Keeper; but at the last minute takes Sirius’s advice and makes Wormtail Secret-Keeper.
8. Prior to going under the Fidelius charm, James gives Dumbledore the invisibility cloak for use in the Order (we’ll explain the “use” below), since he’ll no longer need it hiding under the Fidelius charm.
9. October 24, 1981, the Potters are hid, and Wormtail is appointed Secret-Keeper of their location.
10. Sometime between October 24 and 31, Wormtail betrays the Potters to Voldemort.
11. On October 31, Voldemort attacks the Potters, killing Lily and James, but he meets his temporary demise with Harry.

So there we are, then. I think James’s passing the cloak to Dumbledore before going under the charm is best explanation for how it got into his possession. But why is that significant?

Invisibilty Cloaks Galore?

It’s been suggested that James wouldn’t have given Dumbledore the cloak just to be “used” by the Order, because, as Felicity notes, “The Order had several Invisibility Cloaks at their disposal.” Mundungus certainly refers to multiple cloaks in Order. At the same time, invisibility cloaks are really rare, so it’s highly unlikely they had a whole stockpile of them, certainly not as many as they might want for the war on Voldemort.

Felicity’s suggestion is that it was given to Dumbledore specifically for use of a person planted close by the Potters to take care of them, bring them groceries, etc., and be able to report to Dumbledore that all was well. Arabella Figg is as good an option as any, and probably the best choice – as a squib, she’s be invisible to someone like Voldemort even without a cloak, and it also fits her later appointment at Privet Drive as well.

I’ll say right from the start: I like Felicity’s theory. A lot. It’s more likely than what I’m about to construct, perhaps. I’m not entirely certain it’s “crucial.” It does give us a plausible explanation as to how Dumbledore knew where to find Harry. But let’s do some wild guesswork and see what else we can dig up, again, just for fun.

Wormtail, the Secret Death Eater

What if James gave Dumbledore the cloak, not for that specific reason, but for use in whatever way Dumbledore saw fit. After going into hiding, Wormtail passes the information along to Voldemort.

But why doesn’t Snape know Wormtail is a Death Eater? If Snape knew this, he would have told Dumbledore, who would have warned James and Sirius long ago to stop associating with Pettigrew.

But what if Wormtail is to Voldemort what Snape was to Dumbledore? Wormtail is a secret Death Eater, just as Snape is a secret Order member. It’s a powerful parallel – Snape is what he is to Dumbledore out of loyalty, because of forgiveness; Wormtail is what he is to Voldemort out of fear because of Voldemort’s power. A significant irony that they now co-exist at Spinner’s End!

I see no other way that Snape could be a spy and not know of Wormtail’s association with Voldemort.

The Betrayal

This is where I have to start stretching a bit and where I doubt my own theory; I’d be glad for help here! (Or for you to tell me I’m “barking” – whichever is most appropriate).

I agree with Felicity that Wormtail did not wait until Halloween night to betray the Potters. He gave the information to Voldemort as soon as he could, but we can’t be sure of when this happened. Likely earlier in the week. But how? I submit that Wormtail was using owls to communicate to Voldemort, and that the Potters’ location was given to Voldemort in the same way Harry learned about the location of the Order: on a scrap of parchment.

Halloween
Voldemort begins making plans for the Potters’ deaths, and he concludes that Halloween night is the best night. Even though he knows Dumbledore is not aware of the Potters’ location, he’d have wanted to be absolutely certain Dumbledore was entirely out of the way for that night. He had two reasons, then, for Halloween: (a) he knew the Halloween feast would be taking place at Hogwarts, so Dumbledore would be detained, and (b) he could command Snape to be certain that no matter what, Dumbledore remained at Hogwarts and did not interfere. Voldemort is all too aware of Dumbledore’s “omniscience,” his ability to know things he’s not supposed to know. Snape would insure that Dumbledore stayed at Hogwarts, and if anything funny happened at all, he would rush to Voldemort to let him know.

But if Snape is going to know where to find Voldemort should something go wrong, Snape has to know the Potters’ location as well. Dumbledore has planned to send Snape back into Voldemort’s camp after classes are over on Halloween day; Snape has not been with Voldemort since he was doing his “spy” work at Hogwarts. The next appointed Voldemort-Snape meeting was Halloween evening. Wormtail’s passing of the information occurred in between Voldemort-Snape meetings. Voldemort waited until Snape arrived and showed him the piece of parchment from Wormtail. Given Moody’s insistence that Harry burn the parchment telling of the Order’s location, this seems like a strong possibility.

If, on the other hand, Moody was just being paranoid, and anyone who picked up the parchment couldn’t read it properly, or whatever, because it wasn’t intended for that person, then the solution is simple: Voldemort forced Wormtail to write once again, this time a parchment intended for “my spy at Hogwarts.” OR, Wormtail had told Voldemort face to face, and Voldemort, in order to inform Snape of the location without giving away Wormtail’s identity as secret Death Eater, made him write it on parchment for the Hogwarts spy.

Either way, Snape learns (a) the location of the Potters, and (b) that Voldemort will be going to attack them that very night just hours, or perhaps even less than an hour before Voldemort heads off towards Godric’s Hollow. This also explains how Snape never found out it was Wormtail and naturally thought the letter was from Sirius.
Snape immediately heads back to Hogwarts (disapparating and apparating just outside the grounds) on Voldemort’s orders, but informs Dumbledore of what Voldemort plans to do later that night. Three problems to overcome:

1. Only Snape knows the Potters’ location, and he cannot tell Dumbledore, not being the Secret-Keeper.
2. Snape can’t blow his cover.

What to do? “Go warn the Potters,” Dumbledore commands. “And take the invisibilty cloak. Do not let yourself be seen by Voldemort. Go!”

Snape runs from Hogwarts grounds and disapparates, apparating instantaneously at Godric’s Hollow. There are a few ways this could have gone down:

1. Snape arrives in time to warn the Potters, but leaves immediately, citing Dumbledore’s orders to get out quickly. He leaves before Voldemort arrives just moments – even seconds – later. The Potters, though warned about Dumbledore, have not had enough time to gather everything up and go. Too late.
2. Snape arrives just moments too late. Under the invisibility cloak, he enters the house, sees James dead on the floor, and before he can even think of what to do, he sees the AK flash in another room.
3. Snape arrives to find the house at Godric’s Hollow destroyed and Harry alive and alone, having not made it in time at all.

In whichever instance you prefer, what happened afterwards is the same: Wormtail, hiding in the bushes, gathers up Voldemort’s wand and rushes away, having never known that Snape was there. Snape, perhaps by Patronus message, informs Dumbledore of what has happened.

Those 24 Hours
This is where things get really mysterious, because of a few particulars. Hagrid arrives to pick up Harry “before the Muggles started swarming ’round.” What caused them to swarm? Surely if the destruction of the house had caused the Muggles to stir and head to the house, that leaves a very small window of opportunity for (a) Dumbledore to find out about the Potters’ death and instruct Hagrid to pick up Harry, (b) Hagrid to get there, and (c) the same goes for Sirius finding out and getting there, on a flying motorcycle, no less.

That suggests to me that the Potters’ house was not right in the thick of Godric’s Hollow. Perhaps it’s somewhere on the outskirts of town, or in a wooded area? We can’t know, but we do know that an exploding house would draw attention in any town, so it’s unlikely, given all that happened prior to Harry’s being picked up, that the Muggles were immediately drawn to the house.

And then Hagrid doesn’t meet Dumbledore at Privet Drive until late the next night (Nov. 1), so we have the infamous “missing 24 hours.”

So here’s a potential reconstruction. Dumbledore actually arrives at the Potter’s house before anyone else, because Snape saw it happen and contacted him immediately. Dumbledore began the process of invoking the ancient magic right there in the house’s ruins, took care of Lily and James’s bodies (perhaps he even needed Lily present in order to begin the ancient magic process?), and then contacted Hagrid to go to the house, get Harry, do not let anyone else take him no matter what (because as far as Dumbledore knows, Sirius is the betrayer), and keep him safe and hidden until they meet at 4 Privet Drive the next evening. (The biggest problem here is that Hagrid’s discussion with Dumbledore and McGonagall on that night makes it sound like he picked him up and brought him right over. But that would be quite the plothole, wouldn’t it?)

During those 24 hours, Dumbledore arranges for Mrs. Figg’s move into the neighborhood, invokes the ancient magic over the Dursley house, and then meets Hagrid at 4 Privet Drive.

Why I Like This Theory

Lots of interesting things come of this theory, which would certainly fit the “crucial” category. “Crucial” is a big word. Snape’s loyalty, for example, is “crucial” to the story. It’s gotta be big. This theory explains:

• How Dumbledore got the invisibility cloak directly from James.
• How Hagrid was able to get to Harry so quickly. Snape on the scene set motions in action quickly.
• More about Snape’s loyalty to Dumbledore and Dumbledore’s trust in Snape.
• Why Snape still feels so much rage against James. It’s because it’s rooted in his own guilt. James saved Snape’s life. Snape’s actions while in Voldemort’s service result in putting James’s life in danger, causing his repentance, and a radical turnaround, and yet Snape is unable to save James’ life in return and is even forced to see him die (or just after he died).
• What Dumbledore didn’t tell Harry on the night of the cave. While I agree that Dumbledore’s “Snape was sorry that he had put the Potters in danger” story isn’t enough, I don’t think it’s a lie. I just think there’s much more to it. Snape’s obvious attempts to save the Potters’ lives by going straight to Dumbledore prove Snape’s loyalty, because he could have simply follow the Dark Lord’s orders that night and kept Dumbledore from ever knowing that Voldemort had discovered the location. But can you imagine Dumbledore explaining to Harry that Snape was actually there on the night his parents were killed? Even if Snape couldn’t have done anything about it, Harry would be convinced, especially having just found out that Snape was the snoop.
• Why Snape is the way he is. For Snape it was perhaps the most tragic moment of his life. It buried him in guilt forever. It is why he is the way he is. As far as storytelling goes, a repentant Snape on the scene, trying but failing to save the Potters’ life, is about as tragic as it gets.

Why This Theory is Wrong

It’s a bit complex (though not overly so, maybe). I just wrote it off the top of my head, so there’s bound to be holes. And finally, I wrote it, and I’m no good at the prediction thing.

Back to literary criticism for me.

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Rowling has given a belated answer to a query about which question she’s never been asked but wished she was asked:

Why did Dumbledore have James’ invisibility cloak at the time of James’ death, given that Dumbledore could make himself invisible without a cloak?

Prior to posting this I had a quick look on-line, and realised that some fans have been speculating about this question. However, nobody has ever asked me about it, and they really should have done. Just to allay the fears of the justifiably suspicious, this isn’t what we in the know call ‘a Mark Evans situation.’ There IS a significant – even crucial – answer.

This is probably quite the shocker to a lot of people, especially since she says it is “significant – even crucial”! I’m going to give it some thought on the drive home, because it had never hit me as significant before. I don’t know how I missed that, as there has been some discussion on the ‘net about it. I just have never come across any of it.

There has been speculation that it got to Dumbledore because someone (Snape?) was under the cloak in Godric’s Hollow when the murder happened. Snape might fit. He had “turned spy” by then, and having found out that Voldemort had discovered the Potters’ location and was heading there, rushed to warn them. Voldemort showed up before Snape or the Potters could leave, and, in order to save Snape’s life and cover (being more important to the cause against Voldemort than pretty much anybody else), covered him with the cloak.

Update: LaShawn Barber is working with this issue as well. I started constructing a theory there and then refuted myself. I’m going to put the content of that below (click “Read More”). The caveat here is that this is the first time I’ve come across this issue, and I’m trying to work it out a bit myself before looking up other theories.

Here was my first response to LaShawn’s post:

Snape wouldn’t do anything [to stop Voldemort killing the Potters] for the same reason Dumbledore preferred that he die instead of Snape. James wouldn’t let Snape do anything because James knew Snape, being the spy, was more important in the war against Voldemort than he was.

Here’s the whole deal (I’m putting this together as I go; I haven’t read this anywhere else, though I’m sure others have constructed similar scenes):

After James, Lily, and Harry are put under the protection of the Fidelius charm, James decides he no longer needs his cloak, because he’s hidden by the charm. So he gives it to Dumbledore for use by members of the Order.

The night that Pettigrew betrays the Potters, Snape is on the scene and overhears the betrayal. Snape goes straight to Dumbledore with the information, but there is now only one person who can warn the Potters – Snape himself. Snape overheard Wormtail giving the Potters’ location. And Snape can’t tell Dumbledore because of the Fidelius charm. So Dumbledore gives Snape the invisibility cloak and tells him to go straight to the Potters and warn them.

Snape arrives just moments before Voldemort, warns the Potters…but too late. Voldemort arrives on the scene. Snape is inclined to do something about it, but James won’t let him, convincing him that it would be too big of a loss for his cover to be blown. So Snape observed the whole thing, under the cloak.

This explains (a) how and why James gave the cloak directly to Dumbledore, (b) the mystery about whether or not anyone else was at Godric’s Hollow that night (I think Pettigrew was there too), (c) more the of the mystery of why Dumbledore trusted Snape, and (b) [I meant (d)] why Snape still feels so much rage against James – James saved his life, and Snape was unable to do so in return. Indeed, it was ultimately his fault that Voldemort went after the Potters, and he had to stand by and watch the evil deed he put into place go down with no ability to do anything about it.

Immediately after posting, I ran into this problem:

One potential flaw in this line of thinking: this means that all through PoA, Snape actually knew that Pettigrew was the secret keeper, not Sirius – which means he and Dumbledore would both have known of Sirius’ innocence, and that certainly doesn’t fit their behavior.

I guess that’s a pretty fatal flaw…back to the drawing board. I’m going to try to construct my own theory on this prior to looking up others.

It does seem to me that James’ passing along the cloak to Dumbledore for use in the Order just prior to going under the Fidelius charm makes sense, and I’m still quite attracted to the idea that Snape was there under the cloak – it just fits, explains, and magnifies his tragic story. What happened in between is the question.

And another question that I’ve wanted to ask that comes out of this: Just how is it that Snape didn’t know Pettigrew was the betrayer? Wouldn’t Snape have known Wormtail was a Death Eater? Unless Voldemort had Wormtail working as a DE spy without the knowledge of the other Death Eaters. Which doesn’t make a lot of sense.

Like I said, back to the drawing board.

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