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I'm going to take a slightly different tack here (and I am very impressed by all the thoughtful responses, especially Sionna Raven's and Sylvanawood's.) I had assumed that all the Christian symbolism in the books, and all of Rowling's talk about these being moral tales, actually meant something. In Christianity, we are forgiven only as we forgive. And none of us is without fault. That is why I was so certain that Harry would have to forgive Severus fully and freely *before* he was able to conquer Voldemort. I really expected the Harry/Severus relationship to mirror the Harry/Sirius one. That didn't happen. Harry never had to apologize about anything, and he certainly did not have to reconcile or forgive in order to conquer. So much for Rowling's Christian message.
Getting back to Severus, I knew, at least from the fourth book, that he had been a Death Eater. I assumed he must have done terrible things, but that he was truly repentant. That was why I loved the character. To change one's path in life takes courage and resolution; to do so with as little support as Severus got (as we now know after DH) is truly heroic.
But it is also true that the character, as written, is not particularly sadistic (no mater what JKR says) and definitely not a Mengele type. At the end of HBP, I was certain he had killed, but thought he'd killed other Death Eaters - which was why the four on the tower were so afraid of him. After DH, I am not sure he ever killed anyone directly.
So, the short answer is that, though I might struggle to forgive Severus if I knew, for example, that he had tortured innocent children (and no, he did *not* do this in the classroom!), if he remained the brave, sensitive and repentant character he was written as, I think I would still love him in spite of his dark side. And yes, of course there would be a danger of his backsliding. There is for all of us. We are all human, and all imperfect. But I think that there would be rather less danger of his backsliding than of Dumbledore or Harry doing so, because he had acknowledged his own sinfulness in ways they had not.
Just my two cents.
Getting back to Severus, I knew, at least from the fourth book, that he had been a Death Eater. I assumed he must have done terrible things, but that he was truly repentant. That was why I loved the character. To change one's path in life takes courage and resolution; to do so with as little support as Severus got (as we now know after DH) is truly heroic.
But it is also true that the character, as written, is not particularly sadistic (no mater what JKR says) and definitely not a Mengele type. At the end of HBP, I was certain he had killed, but thought he'd killed other Death Eaters - which was why the four on the tower were so afraid of him. After DH, I am not sure he ever killed anyone directly.
So, the short answer is that, though I might struggle to forgive Severus if I knew, for example, that he had tortured innocent children (and no, he did *not* do this in the classroom!), if he remained the brave, sensitive and repentant character he was written as, I think I would still love him in spite of his dark side. And yes, of course there would be a danger of his backsliding. There is for all of us. We are all human, and all imperfect. But I think that there would be rather less danger of his backsliding than of Dumbledore or Harry doing so, because he had acknowledged his own sinfulness in ways they had not.
Just my two cents.