Who is the villain?

I am eagerly anticipating the arrival of the next Harry Potter book. So eager, in fact, that I re-read the last one this week. Now I’m all set.

But I still don’t think Snape is the bad guy. I don’t think Dumbledore (in spite of his name) was that dumb. I think that he was ‘transfigured’ as Snape in the beginning of the book to have the conversation with Malfoy’s mother and that the ‘bond’ was what caused his hand to wither, which would mean that Snape himself was under no unbreakable bond to her. (Coming up for air… and here we go again:) I’m not sure how Marvolo’s ring played into that but I think that Dumbledore knew that he might return to the castle too ‘broken’ to be saved and that Snape was ‘pre-arranged’ to finish him off in that event, rather than blow his cover and that Harry has been wrong about him all along – as has been proven in every book so far.

There.

Basically, I think that in a discussion about Good vs. Evil, there is a need for the concept that good and evil aren’t always transparently evident.

And that Good can win.

Mark thinks I’m wrong.

So there is room for speculation that Harry is finally right about Snape – as a way of having him (Harry) supplant Dumbledore as the greatest wizard. Maybe the comments from Dumbledore about how he isn’t always right about things are true. Maybe this is just resolving some old questions once and for all as the series winds down. Maybe this book was the revelation of the true Snape after all.

This is deep stuff. Big questions. Pressing issues. Terrible mysteries. (Or, not.)

Well, I always hated literary analysis – but give me a good problem to solve and I’m right on it.