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We all remember the great Snape debates before DH came out. About where his loyalties were as of the end of HBP, when they changed if ever, how many times they changed. I think we agree that DH settled this question (even if we don't know the exact time-point we know which events triggered the turning points in his path). Another question was how far he went as Death Eater. After DH the consensus in this forum seems to be that canon suggests either at that he did not go as far as killing, or that if he did he fully repented for such killings and healed his soul to the extent that is possible. It is clear from canon that whatever he was as a Death Eater, the man we see during Harry's Hogwarts years is a man with a strong conscience, with a clear view of right and wrong (despite having to act on the edge due to his role as a spy), who does not make light of having to commit harmful acts for a long-term beneficial goal.
But even without ever killing anyone directly, with his own hand/wand, there is much he could have done. The most obvious is the brewing of poisons and other harmful potions that were then administered to innocent victims by others. Then there is the invention of new harmful, potentially lethal spells, and teaching such spells to other DEs, thus resulting in injuries and deaths among their victims. I think the worst I have seen in fanfics is Mengele!Snape - Snape in his DE days using captives (mostly Muggles) to test properties of newly invented potions. Some scenarios get extremely gruesome, with a team of DEs at Snape's command cutting through a still living victim so that Snape could observe damage to internal organs as it took place.
So my question is, would knowing something like that change anything in your attitude to Severus Snape? Is his complete repentance enough for you as a reader to disregard anything, however cruel, he may have done in his dark period, or would the thought that this was a man who may have been capable of such horrors disturb you enough to feel you cannot forgive him completely? Do you think a man who had commited such actions is capable of abandoning them for good or would he always be at risk of backsliding?
But even without ever killing anyone directly, with his own hand/wand, there is much he could have done. The most obvious is the brewing of poisons and other harmful potions that were then administered to innocent victims by others. Then there is the invention of new harmful, potentially lethal spells, and teaching such spells to other DEs, thus resulting in injuries and deaths among their victims. I think the worst I have seen in fanfics is Mengele!Snape - Snape in his DE days using captives (mostly Muggles) to test properties of newly invented potions. Some scenarios get extremely gruesome, with a team of DEs at Snape's command cutting through a still living victim so that Snape could observe damage to internal organs as it took place.
So my question is, would knowing something like that change anything in your attitude to Severus Snape? Is his complete repentance enough for you as a reader to disregard anything, however cruel, he may have done in his dark period, or would the thought that this was a man who may have been capable of such horrors disturb you enough to feel you cannot forgive him completely? Do you think a man who had commited such actions is capable of abandoning them for good or would he always be at risk of backsliding?
I cannot accept what you call Mengele!Snape; any kind of this is unforgivable to me, but it's so out of character for the Severus I've seen in the books that I've refuse reading any fanfic with this sort of thing. I've been certainly fed an overdose of the Viking honour thing to respect anyone who did the same thing as Karkaroff for simply saving their own sorry hide, but that's also completely out of character for Severus. In real life I never got along with those who were in denial of what happened or claimed the Muggle version of Imperious curse 'only followed orders'. As a teenager I shared Barty Crouch's attitude about Death Eaters who walked free, not just because I thought they deserved punishment for their crimes, but also because I thought, if they really believed in what they did, they should hold on to their own standards and admit it. I once met with the man who set fire to the synagoge in my birth town with a 12 year old boy inside. I was about 6 and refused to shake his hand, courtsey or speak one word to this man. My family was quite annoyed about my lack of manners. Killing children outside combat sitiuations seems unforgivable, too. The man also got away without imprisonment by denying any involvement, so it's probably the cowardice as much as the crime itself which disgusts me.
I also have a problem with the seemingly unavoidable conclusion that a Death Eater must have done some atrocities. I remember a high SA member, my husband's grandfather, the commander of a slave workers camp who was put to trial and acquitted 3 times, because his former prisoners testified that he never did torture or kill anyone and tried everything to provide for them. I've read the files. He was a firm believer in the Nazi ideology, but killing and torture for him was no part of it. He was one of those who later did their best to prepare the young ones against making the same mistakes he had made.
The only things I cannot forgive are those for which I can honestly say I wouldn't have been tempted to do them in the same situation. I can't imagine Severus doing anything like that; I never could.
I hope I have not offended anyone with this post. I'm not excusing anything, but I had the rare opportunity to hear the lies and the confessions first hand. The maternal side of my family were in the socialist resistance, my grandfather imprisoned by the GESTAPO. I heard their side of the story, too.