Snapedom

My questions:

1
If Sev is truthfully, deeply concerned about his soul, how can he really SINCERELY serve Voldemort, who commands him to (directly or, through potions and information given, indirectly) participate in the torture and murder of people he knows to be innocent of any crime deserving these things? Unless you see him as also to some degree sincerely bigoted against Muggleborns, and of the belief that torturing and murdering them does not harm one's soul?

That is, for the first year or so of his life as a DE, I can see him feeling conflicted about this but rationalizing it away somehow. But the man who reacts with such horror to the idea of raising Harry to die, or who hates the idea of killing his mentor even out of wartime necessity and mercy? It seems to me in those scenes that he is not objecting on purely personal grounds, but out of some sense of a larger moral code (concern for his soul being damaged by violating some moral law, doing something he knows is WRONG). And I'm sorry, but I just can't see how that man could sincerely serve a murderer like Voldemort (unless, again, he thinks it's ok to kill Muggleborns). Sincerity would imply that on some level he does not see Voldemort's actions/commands as wrong. (I'll get to him serving sincerely out of a desire for Voldemort's affection/acceptance later.)

So how do you reconcile that, without giving him a psychic split deep enough to qualify him as having Multiple-Personality-Disorder? After years of being on the inside as a DE, I think a reasonably clever and observant man like Sev would eventually lose any illusions he held as to the true nature of what Voldemort’s goals and methods were, whatever the rhetoric was originally used to lure him in was. At some point he would have had to decide whether what he was doing was wrong or right according to his own internal moral compass. The psyche can perhaps sustain such contradictions for a limited period of time (with the help of rationalizations and other short-term fixes). But at some point it must, in order to remain relatively healthy/whole, attempt to reconcile such deep contradictions in itself, and this is one of the truly major ones. I'm really curious as to how you see this.

2

I can certainly see Sev as feeling loyal to his fellow Slytherins/DEs, and thus conflicted about betraying them (in an objective sense, he IS betraying them by giving information to the Order). However, it is entirely possible to feel loyal to someone, to care about them, without agreeing with them or condoning all of their behavior. That is, it is possible for him to feel sympathetic for the DEs and want their acceptance/friendship, etc., and still not be loyal to Voldemort himself. For example: he could (we have no evidence for or against this in canon) be subtly encouraging his Slytherin students not to follow Voldemort, and see this as helping and being loyal to his friends by attempting to save their children from a lifetime of service to a paranoid psychopath who happily tortures his OWN followers (another thing, BTW, that makes me wonder how Sev could sincerely serve Voldemort, considering his experience with a master who does not Cruciate him for every failing. Is he a masochist?)

Also, while a deep-seated need for approval, acceptance and human connection is definitely something I see in him, to the point where even the DEs are better than nothing, I think that by the time he’s in his mid-thirties Sev (unless he’s truly more damaged than canon depicts him as being) would be socially aware enough to distinguish sincere acceptance and affection from a false imitation of these things. And it is certainly the latter that Voldemort HIMSELF (as opposed to the other DEs) offers, unless everything we’re told about him and see of him is false. Voldemort is a user - a very skilled one, but a user nonetheless. He will do and say almost anything to manipulate people into doing what he wants, including play on their need for acceptance by showing them favor. Sev might have fallen for his routine as a needy, angry young man, but again, I think he’s observant and intelligent enough that after years on the inside he would eventually get the picture.

Take the drama with Draco 6^th year. In the Pensieve memories, Sev clearly believes that Voldemort means for him to kill Dumbledore, implying that he believes that Voldemort thinks Draco will fail. If Voldemort does believe this, the only reason consistent with the other facts at Sev’s disposal for assigning the mission to Draco is that it will be punishment for Lucius. This is a clear example of Voldemort using someone, and Sev’s perspective on and ability to analyze Voldemort’s actions indicates that he understands this. For him to honestly believe that Voldemort himself truly cares for him would require either 1) that he thinks he is above everyone else, is the special one, the only one the Dark Lord truly cares about (rather than simply using him), or 2) that he is in a pathological state of denial about Voldemort’s real feelings about him. And honestly, I can’t see Sev as depicted in canon as having either of these views. He seems too psychologically healthy for 2), and too lacking in hubris for 1). At the absolute very least, the incident in the Shack at his death would have made this clear to him. Voldemort believes him to be a “good and faithful servant,” yet is willing to murder him in cold blood out of sheer expediency, in order to get one possession of one more wartoy-superpower. He might say he “regrets” it, but clearly not enough to spare the life of someone he believes his loyal, devoted servant. This is not the perspective of someone who views Severus as having worth simply for being human; this is a perspective that sees only in terms of use, and see human beings as tools. And Sev is not stupid, but realistic. He may want Voldemort’s affection, but he knows at some point that he’s not going to get it. Why then would he be sincere in serving him?

Also on this point, I have to agree with whoever commented that Sev might have taught Voldemort how to fly. He is creative and we know he writes his own spells, but we have no such direct evidence of Voldemort's creativity. He seems rather...uncreative to me, in fact, what with his reliance on Crucio and blatant threats for discipline and all. Sev could have gotten the idea from Lily, and shown Voldemort how to do it as a way of currying favor, or even as a sincere gift to his lord if he was still a young, completely loyal DE at the time. Voldemort, paranoid and control-hungry as he is, honestly does not strike me as the kind of person who would give away knowledge that 1) could so easily be used against him (as a strategic maneuver - Sev could teach others, and then any advantage it might have in a battle would be lost) and that 2) makes him special, set him yet further above the ordinary witch/wizard, unique. Voldemort is a narcissist - he would want to be the only one with this power, as yet further proof of his superiority. He might say all sorts of nice things to Sev, and let him sit at his right hand, but that's all symbolic. Sharing real knowledge and power is something else entirely.

3

Also, if Sev is happy with Voldemort, why serve Dumbledore at all? If he’s willing to risk his life (and the possibility of an excruciating death) in order to help people who have always treated him badly, he must feel truly, deeply concerned about something. Perhaps his soul (in which case see above), perhaps Lily (but then why is she not a more major motivation for him?)…what is his motivation to turn at all? I can understand the dislike of seeing Lily as his sole motivation (I personally don’t think it was his only motivation, though I do see it as playing a part, especially early on, when he’s young and conflicted and before he develops a wider moral sense). However, my honest question then is: where does the “terrible emptiness devoid of chance or hope” you speak of come from? You speak of his fear of being “cast aside:” where does this fear come from, if losing Lily is not such a terribly major event in his life? To someone who is so emotionally needy and who feels as attached to his DE friends as you depict him as being even into adulthood, the loss of his first real friend would be a major psychic wound that would not heal quickly, particularly without clear support (and somehow I don’t see the Slytherins, however welcoming of HIM, as going so far as to comfort him over the loss of the friendship of a Gryffindor “Mudblood”). This doesn’t mean that Lily becomes his one-and-only motivation for ever doing anything other than be a good little DE, but it also doesn’t mean that it doesn’t still affect him and influence him. So what exactly is Lily’s role? How DOES he feel about her, a decade and more after she’s gone?

4

Finally: I’m really, really curious as to how or why you claim the DEs are NOT terrorists? A terrorist is, by definition, a member of a group that commits acts of terrorism. Terrorism itself is defined (dictionary.com) as:

The DE’s kidnap, torture, and kill both civilians and members of law enforcement and the Order, and generally spread fear (through the Dark Mark above houses, etc.), as part of a program of violence whose stated aim is gaining control of wizarding society (by resisting and overthrowing the current government) in order to reshape it according to a bigoted ideology of who counts as a member of society/human being. These are political goals, and are pursued with violence and the deliberate creation of an atmosphere of terror. How is this NOT terrorism? Yes, an individual DE like Sev might SEE it as being a ‘freedom fighter’ or some such thing, but according to objective definitions, how is this anything other than terrorism? (Or were you writing from the perspective that Sev himself would not see it as such, and I am mistaking that for an objective statement?)

Sorry for the length. Again, I hope you don’t feel that I’m attacking you, Janus - I’m not, I’m very intrigued by your essay and agree with it more than I disagree. I just was really, really confused on these points. Your take on Sev is very compelling and original. Please do write more!