I totally agree with you, and not (I think!) just because I'm a dyed-in-the-wool Redemptionista :-) These were my thoughts after HBP...
Poor Dumbledore ::sniff:: I had a growing feeling that it was going to happen - all that withered hand stuff seemed awfully ominous - but it still pushed the right buttons. RIP, dude. (Or not, as the case may be. All that phoenix stuff also seemed to be awfully significant, no? And why is his new portrait ASLEEP at a time like this?? Methinks he may be pulling an Obi-Wan Kenobi somewhere along the line).
If he is actually dead, then I think it was a pre-arranged plan. I had an immediate gut reaction of NOOO! SNAPE CAN'T REALLY HAVE BEEN EVIL ALL ALONG OMG!!, quickly followed by a mental reaction of pretty much the same thing. There have just been too many concrete statements of trust given by Dumbledore over the course of the series. He *knew* something, something that we don't. Yes, he has been shown to make mistakes - but if that was where we were going, then we would have been given the information so that we could see why/how he was wrong. There's simply no inherent dramatic potential in 'I trust this person totally for not good reason whatsoever. Oh, I was wrong. Oops.'
I think Dumbledore was dying anyway - either from the curse that withered his hand, and/or from drinking the potion (and why, exactly, did he have to drink it? Couldn't they have just poured it in the lake? There's more to that than meets the eye.) I think he intended to die, for whatever reason, and made Snape agree to do it. (They were overhead arguing about something, weren't they? About something Snape didn't want to go through with?) Dumbledore obviously knew what Draco had been told to do, and wanted to save him from having to do it. *That's* why he says 'Severus...' in a pleading tone - he's not pleading for Snape to spare him, but to do what he has to do. And the look of 'revulsion and hate' on Snape's face isn't directed at Dumbledore but at the act he's being forced to carry out. ::pets poor, brave Snape:: No wonder he freaked out about being called a coward, poor woobie. And now, of course, the Order still has a fantastically well-placed spy. Snape will find out the location of the other Horcruxes and tell Harry, and be in position to betray Voldemort when it really counts.
Or maybe I'm just altogether too fond of 'going deep undercover and looking into the abyss' stories. I guess we'll find out come Book 7 :-)
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branchandroot
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Date: 2005-08-09 11:49 am (UTC)Poor Dumbledore ::sniff:: I had a growing feeling that it was going to happen - all that withered hand stuff seemed awfully ominous - but it still pushed the right buttons. RIP, dude. (Or not, as the case may be. All that phoenix stuff also seemed to be awfully significant, no? And why is his new portrait ASLEEP at a time like this?? Methinks he may be pulling an Obi-Wan Kenobi somewhere along the line).
If he is actually dead, then I think it was a pre-arranged plan. I had an immediate gut reaction of NOOO! SNAPE CAN'T REALLY HAVE BEEN EVIL ALL ALONG OMG!!, quickly followed by a mental reaction of pretty much the same thing. There have just been too many concrete statements of trust given by Dumbledore over the course of the series. He *knew* something, something that we don't. Yes, he has been shown to make mistakes - but if that was where we were going, then we would have been given the information so that we could see why/how he was wrong. There's simply no inherent dramatic potential in 'I trust this person totally for not good reason whatsoever. Oh, I was wrong. Oops.'
I think Dumbledore was dying anyway - either from the curse that withered his hand, and/or from drinking the potion (and why, exactly, did he have to drink it? Couldn't they have just poured it in the lake? There's more to that than meets the eye.) I think he intended to die, for whatever reason, and made Snape agree to do it. (They were overhead arguing about something, weren't they? About something Snape didn't want to go through with?) Dumbledore obviously knew what Draco had been told to do, and wanted to save him from having to do it. *That's* why he says 'Severus...' in a pleading tone - he's not pleading for Snape to spare him, but to do what he has to do. And the look of 'revulsion and hate' on Snape's face isn't directed at Dumbledore but at the act he's being forced to carry out. ::pets poor, brave Snape:: No wonder he freaked out about being called a coward, poor woobie. And now, of course, the Order still has a fantastically well-placed spy. Snape will find out the location of the other Horcruxes and tell Harry, and be in position to betray Voldemort when it really counts.
Or maybe I'm just altogether too fond of 'going deep undercover and looking into the abyss' stories. I guess we'll find out come Book 7 :-)