The Great Snape Debate

Okay, so we're officially under a month- practically only three weeks, until "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" comes out. It feels like it's been 10 years since I finished "Half-Blood Prince", so I'm starting to froth at the mouth. So I was psyched when my husband came home with "The Great Snape Debate"- a series of essays dedicated to Snape's guilt and then FLIP! even more essay's dedicated to proving his innocence.

One of the biggest questions the book asks is "Why do we care about Snape? Why do we insist that he's good?" And then it attempts to answer them. I read it pretty quickly, finding small parts of the "Innocent" side to be repetitive, but thoroughly enjoyed Orson Scott Card's essay. It seems that JK Rowling is the rare author (who's still living anyway) whose writing and characters have captured the hearts of other writers. Card has nothing but nice to say about her writing ability and growth he's seen in it over the past few books. He even talks about Stephen King calling Dolores Umbridge the "best make-believe villain since Hannibal Lector." That's right- not Voldemort, not Snape, but Umbridge (who is really the only character we've seen do despicable things, Snape's "murder" of Dumbledore aside). King has made it no secret that he loves the "Harry Potter" series. He's even got some cool homages to it in the "Dark Tower" series.

Having read both sides, I still can't say for sure which I believe. A bigger part of me wants to believe that Snape is good, and that he killed Dumbledore at the wizard's request (for after all, Harry never would be ready to face Voldemort alone if he thought someone was coming to save him). Who doesn't like a seemingly bad guy turn out to be the good guy- after all, that's really why women fell for Han Solo. Not because he was an ass, but because he was an ass with a heart of gold. But the argument is just as convincing for Snape's guilt. I mean, it's obvious isn't it? The man KILLED DUMBLEDORE...or did he?

You'll just have to read it for yourself to see which you believe.


Books BookTeens Reading