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Pondering JKR's reason to let Harry live...
Tuesday, 11 December 2007 12:13 pmThis is from Leaky's preview of ITV's Rowling documentary, which I would actually love to see but am technically unable to...
“I felt that it would be a betrayal of the character if I showed Harry doing anything other than living, what all along, he has discovered to be true, which is that love is the strongest power there is. I thought a lot of people that had been through terrible things like wars, and having to come home and rebuild normality after seeing horrors has always seemed to me like such a courageous thing to do.Climbing back to normality after trauma is much harder, it’s much harder to rebuild than to destroy.
“In some ways it would have been a neat ending to kill him [Harry], a neater ending to kill him. But I felt that would have been a betrayal, because I wanted my hero, and he’s my hero, to do what I think is the most noble thing. So he came back from war and he tried to build a better world I suppose – corny as that sounds – both on a small scale for a family and on a larger scale.”
These words of Rowling's really struck a cord with me. The reason that they did is because this is exactly how I felt about Snape. My incentive for writing stories about Snape has always been, from the beginning, an urge to create a new and viable existence for a character who has seen too many horrors. I refused to let him give up. I wanted him to show everyone - especially those people who had hurt, despised, or used him - that he could construct for himself something new, that the talents he had used to destroy could also be used to the opposite end.
That is why I wanted Snape to live, and why I wanted him to have a family. It was not going to be a sugar and spice family, because Snape is not a sugar and spice person; but after all he had been through, he would say he'd had enough and prove that he was made for other things. For me, that scenario was even more valuable for Snape than for Harry - because Snape has simply known darker darkness and deeper lows than Harry. Harry has never done anything criminal, never hated as fiercely, never succumbed to utter evil. Harry has never at any point been tempted to become a Death Eater. Ever. So what's to rebuild? The world, yes - which will always take rebuilding - but not himself. He has made all the right choices. Just how much courage does it take to live your life after having made all the right choices? But coming to terms with all you did wrong - now that is what I wanted to see. Snape - oh boy, he has been as wrong as can be. Even when he is right, he is so bitterly and spitefully. He is a good enough person to understand what a thoroughly bad person he has been. It's him I wanted to see wrestle with life. I mean, did anybody think Harry was not going to be fine at being a daddy and a useful member of the community? I didn't. But Snape- HA! That is why he is fun to fic. He is so challenging a problem to solve. Killing him is by far the easiest way out and, in my humble opinion, a bit cheap. But then again, Harry is the hero.
It was obvious to Rowling that Snape had to die in order to fulfil his destiny. It was obvious to me that Harry had to die in order to fulfil his destiny. Ah well. It is natural: everyone wants their own hero to survive. I knew chances were slim, but hoped against hope that Rowling cared little enough about Snape not to be fussed about his end, and so pretty much to forget about him, allowing him to slink off somewhere into the mist. Unfortunately he was just that bit too important, and JKR's fictional killer instinct is stronger by far than my own.
“I felt that it would be a betrayal of the character if I showed Harry doing anything other than living, what all along, he has discovered to be true, which is that love is the strongest power there is. I thought a lot of people that had been through terrible things like wars, and having to come home and rebuild normality after seeing horrors has always seemed to me like such a courageous thing to do.Climbing back to normality after trauma is much harder, it’s much harder to rebuild than to destroy.
“In some ways it would have been a neat ending to kill him [Harry], a neater ending to kill him. But I felt that would have been a betrayal, because I wanted my hero, and he’s my hero, to do what I think is the most noble thing. So he came back from war and he tried to build a better world I suppose – corny as that sounds – both on a small scale for a family and on a larger scale.”
These words of Rowling's really struck a cord with me. The reason that they did is because this is exactly how I felt about Snape. My incentive for writing stories about Snape has always been, from the beginning, an urge to create a new and viable existence for a character who has seen too many horrors. I refused to let him give up. I wanted him to show everyone - especially those people who had hurt, despised, or used him - that he could construct for himself something new, that the talents he had used to destroy could also be used to the opposite end.
That is why I wanted Snape to live, and why I wanted him to have a family. It was not going to be a sugar and spice family, because Snape is not a sugar and spice person; but after all he had been through, he would say he'd had enough and prove that he was made for other things. For me, that scenario was even more valuable for Snape than for Harry - because Snape has simply known darker darkness and deeper lows than Harry. Harry has never done anything criminal, never hated as fiercely, never succumbed to utter evil. Harry has never at any point been tempted to become a Death Eater. Ever. So what's to rebuild? The world, yes - which will always take rebuilding - but not himself. He has made all the right choices. Just how much courage does it take to live your life after having made all the right choices? But coming to terms with all you did wrong - now that is what I wanted to see. Snape - oh boy, he has been as wrong as can be. Even when he is right, he is so bitterly and spitefully. He is a good enough person to understand what a thoroughly bad person he has been. It's him I wanted to see wrestle with life. I mean, did anybody think Harry was not going to be fine at being a daddy and a useful member of the community? I didn't. But Snape- HA! That is why he is fun to fic. He is so challenging a problem to solve. Killing him is by far the easiest way out and, in my humble opinion, a bit cheap. But then again, Harry is the hero.
It was obvious to Rowling that Snape had to die in order to fulfil his destiny. It was obvious to me that Harry had to die in order to fulfil his destiny. Ah well. It is natural: everyone wants their own hero to survive. I knew chances were slim, but hoped against hope that Rowling cared little enough about Snape not to be fussed about his end, and so pretty much to forget about him, allowing him to slink off somewhere into the mist. Unfortunately he was just that bit too important, and JKR's fictional killer instinct is stronger by far than my own.
