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I just found your essay, and I'm so glad that I did. I felt totally awful after I finished reading DH, and I spent a lot of time thinking about why. I came to many of the same conclusions that you did, but I could never have put them into words as well as you have. I love your parable about Heaven and Hell.
Yes, I was complicit in the twisted morality at first. I enjoyed it when Hagrid terrorized the Dursleys and gave Dudley a pig's tail. That sort of thing. But I started to get uncomfortable during POA. And as the books proceeded, I kept waiting for Harry to start taking some responsibility, or at least start doing his homework, but it never happened. And by the end of DH, I found that I'd grown to dislike Harry. I squirmed when Harry tried to rip off Griphook, and I felt sick after he cruciated Amycus. Torture is okay when it's the Good Guys who are doing it?
Snape, in contrast, recognized his mistakes, bad as they were. He regretted them, took responsibility for them, and tired to make amends. He was doing pretty well, too. He saved those whom he could save, healed those whom he could heal, and killed (painlessly) those whom he had to kill, but he didn't cruciate anybody, and he got the job done. He was the only character that showed any serious moral development, even though (or maybe because) he was the only character who had to get his hands dirty.
Meanwhile, Harry was apparently going downhill. It's pretty weird when, by the end of the series, one of your supposed villains appears to have higher moral standards than your supposed hero. But in the eyes of many fans, Snape will always remain unforgiven because he was mean™ to Harry. Well, by the end of DH, I think maybe Harry deserved it.
Yes, I was complicit in the twisted morality at first. I enjoyed it when Hagrid terrorized the Dursleys and gave Dudley a pig's tail. That sort of thing. But I started to get uncomfortable during POA. And as the books proceeded, I kept waiting for Harry to start taking some responsibility, or at least start doing his homework, but it never happened. And by the end of DH, I found that I'd grown to dislike Harry. I squirmed when Harry tried to rip off Griphook, and I felt sick after he cruciated Amycus. Torture is okay when it's the Good Guys who are doing it?
Snape, in contrast, recognized his mistakes, bad as they were. He regretted them, took responsibility for them, and tired to make amends. He was doing pretty well, too. He saved those whom he could save, healed those whom he could heal, and killed (painlessly) those whom he had to kill, but he didn't cruciate anybody, and he got the job done. He was the only character that showed any serious moral development, even though (or maybe because) he was the only character who had to get his hands dirty.
Meanwhile, Harry was apparently going downhill. It's pretty weird when, by the end of the series, one of your supposed villains appears to have higher moral standards than your supposed hero. But in the eyes of many fans, Snape will always remain unforgiven because he was mean™ to Harry. Well, by the end of DH, I think maybe Harry deserved it.