My last (maybe) Half-Blood Prince meta.

[amanuensis1]

We're nearing the end of the time I can meta on this: I've said (oh, how I've said) that Snape's loyalty to Dumbledore isn't remotely in question because of the structure of Book 6 and the series as a whole, and that I dislike how Harry's been left in the dark at the end of Book 6, since it's unfair to make the answers plain to the reader but leave the protagonist unenlightened at the conclusion of a volume. (To clarify, this does not mean that Harry is stupid not to have seen it--Harry didn't get to read the Spinner's End chapter.) But here's another way that cheats us: do you realize, if Snape's motives had been revealed to Harry--if Snape or a glimpse into Dumbledore's pensieve or his will or what have you had communicated this to Harry at the end of Book 6, and Harry as well as the reader saw that Snape had gone into deep cover at Dumbledore's command--does everyone realize that that ending would actually have made Snape's ultimate loyalties ambiguous? That the "is Snape good or is Snape evil?" stickers and debates and contests would actually have had meat, if that had occurred?

Seriously, a third of us would be saying, "Snape killed Dumbledore at Dumbledore's command; we now know that the last book will be about Harry and Snape being on the same side, and if they will triumph over Voldemort and live." Another third would say, "Snape's pulled the wool over everyone's eyes--Dumbledore thought Snape was reluctant to kill him, but in reality Snape's been on Voldemort's side all the time, and just wait until Harry confronts Voldemort expecting Snape to have his back and Snape starts to laugh, 'What, you didn't believe that claptrap I told you, Potter? I've never been so delighted to cast a spell in my life as the day I killed that Slytherin-hating old fool.' It'll be amazing!" And the last third would still be insisting, "Snape is his own man, and his actions at the end will do what is best for Snape."

Another reason to resent the ending of Half-Blood Prince. I would have loved seeing all the sides of that debate.

Comments

[ausmac.livejournal.com]

I'd love to the know the truth-not necessarily about Snape, but whether JK did indeed know the story from beginning to end. I don't know that I believe its possible to know every detail of a 7 book series from the moment you start writing book one. I'm not even sure I believe she originally intended to write 7 books. Did JK know that what started as a fairly light story with book 1 would end up a very dark story by book 7? Did she intend that Harry would be as wounded, both in body and mind, as he has been?

And I like to think that she never revealed the truth in regard to Snape, not necessarily to be secretive as part of the story, but because to do so would be to tie herself to a particular outcome - and I think she wanted to leave herself room to write with the last book. How Snape's and Voldemort's and Harry's story resolved would then be more fluid. Since she would be tying up all the storylines in the ultimate novel, by leaving certain things untold she would have room to manouver.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

We know that she wanted to plant the Half-Blood Prince plot within Book 2, and I keep wondering how that particular reveal would have changed things that early on for Harry's perspective of Snape!

There are certainly a few things that are convincingly set up early on (Sirius Black's name appears in book one, but his story isn't told until book 3, and because of his name we know he was always meant to be a dog animagus) and a few that reek of "You just retconned that!" (Arabella Figg beginning as a nasty neighbor but later turning out to be Harry's protector and excusing the way she treated Harry with, "Well, the Dursleys wouldn't have let you come if they thought you liked being there"). But the retconning is not too overwhelmingly bald, I think.

[lady_songsmith]

As far as the overall planning of the story goes, the stuff that stands out tends to be magic inserted for the purpose in one book that could have been used to solve problems in an earlier book. Apparition and Veritaserum come to mind - they were pretty clearly invented late in the story, and they could have been used in the earlier books to clear matters up. Veritaserum, for instance, is introduced in Goblet -- had we known about it in Prisoner, the Sirius problem would have had an easier solution. Apparition could have had a whole host of uses in earlier books, although the "you can't apparate at Hogwarts" does provide an excuse.