Ramble (Pt. 1 of 2)
(Anonymous)
Huh! That DOES explain a lot of the series.
To some extent, I think it's a "Justice Being Served" thing, which is fine. It's the way JKR takes it to such ludicrous extremes (Gallant Crucio!) that's the disturbing part. I keep making jokes about how, if Aberforth had spat on Albus, Gellert Grindelwald would have been a Total Gryffindor Hero for Cruciating him, but I didn't quite grasp HOW far that went. This... really is a pattern, isn't it?
Hm. This also explains Aberforth, come to think of it (noooo, darn it, I want Aberforth to be FREE of this). He gets to complain about Albus so that the vengance-chain is satisfied, and so Harry can forgive Albus when they meet again. (Of course, because he's also doing it for himself, Harry gets to act all indignant and Albus-loving...) So it really is consistent - note also the similarities between Ariana and Harry, both the ones Harry mentions (getting kept in the house for quite a while for being, erm, unusual, to put it mildly), and the ones he DOESN'T mention for some odd reason (permanent psychological damage from abuse by Muggles, inability to "help" certain misbehavior, mistreatment by Albus, etc.). Thus, when Aberforth complains that he loved Ariana but Albus neglected her, and protests that she couldn't help her, em, issues or inability to assist in defense of her loved ones [during the three-way duel], he's, in a way, getting Harry's complaints about the boy's own abuse by Albus and Muggles and incompetence out of the way for him. Generous man, in a meta sense. (The more I think about Ariana and Harry, the more I wonder if JKR is snarking on herself, consciously or unconsciously. The non-surface similarities are disturbing... But that's a whole 'nother ramble, and one which I subject my friends-list to unfortunately frequently. :P)
He keeps wanting to settle his own accounts, whether with James or with Voldemort.
Exactly! Now, imagine if Snape still hated Harry because of his resemblance to James, but Snape had hated James because, say, he had bullied Mulciber and Avery. Now, wouldn't that be GallantTM of him? And his suspicions re: Harry=James-clone probably would have been borne out, too.
(Also, methinks that if Severus had not been a bigoted idiot and called Lily a Mudblood, and Severus/Lily had replaced James/Lily, James the Transfiguration Professor would have bullied Harry just as much as Snape bullied James's son, and probably set the Weasley twins on him to boot. Yet, in JKR's world, that probably would have been ~*justified*~ due to James supposedly hating Snape due to Snape's Dark Arts knowledge, and thus just doing his Gryffindor duty by both galloping off to preemptively defend against the Dark wizard and, later, to defend against the son. Ignoring that this would likely as not push the son into Dark Arts as a means of self-defense, but anyway.)
Then Harry nobly approaches his dying enemy and saves the day by accepting his memories.
And FORGIVES him! That shows what an especially good boy he is, yes? (Ignoring that he's conveniently forgiving a corpse...)
To some extent, I think it's a "Justice Being Served" thing, which is fine. It's the way JKR takes it to such ludicrous extremes (Gallant Crucio!) that's the disturbing part. I keep making jokes about how, if Aberforth had spat on Albus, Gellert Grindelwald would have been a Total Gryffindor Hero for Cruciating him, but I didn't quite grasp HOW far that went. This... really is a pattern, isn't it?
Hm. This also explains Aberforth, come to think of it (noooo, darn it, I want Aberforth to be FREE of this). He gets to complain about Albus so that the vengance-chain is satisfied, and so Harry can forgive Albus when they meet again. (Of course, because he's also doing it for himself, Harry gets to act all indignant and Albus-loving...) So it really is consistent - note also the similarities between Ariana and Harry, both the ones Harry mentions (getting kept in the house for quite a while for being, erm, unusual, to put it mildly), and the ones he DOESN'T mention for some odd reason (permanent psychological damage from abuse by Muggles, inability to "help" certain misbehavior, mistreatment by Albus, etc.). Thus, when Aberforth complains that he loved Ariana but Albus neglected her, and protests that she couldn't help her, em, issues or inability to assist in defense of her loved ones [during the three-way duel], he's, in a way, getting Harry's complaints about the boy's own abuse by Albus and Muggles and incompetence out of the way for him. Generous man, in a meta sense. (The more I think about Ariana and Harry, the more I wonder if JKR is snarking on herself, consciously or unconsciously. The non-surface similarities are disturbing... But that's a whole 'nother ramble, and one which I subject my friends-list to unfortunately frequently. :P)
He keeps wanting to settle his own accounts, whether with James or with Voldemort.
Exactly! Now, imagine if Snape still hated Harry because of his resemblance to James, but Snape had hated James because, say, he had bullied Mulciber and Avery. Now, wouldn't that be GallantTM of him? And his suspicions re: Harry=James-clone probably would have been borne out, too.
(Also, methinks that if Severus had not been a bigoted idiot and called Lily a Mudblood, and Severus/Lily had replaced James/Lily, James the Transfiguration Professor would have bullied Harry just as much as Snape bullied James's son, and probably set the Weasley twins on him to boot. Yet, in JKR's world, that probably would have been ~*justified*~ due to James supposedly hating Snape due to Snape's Dark Arts knowledge, and thus just doing his Gryffindor duty by both galloping off to preemptively defend against the Dark wizard and, later, to defend against the son. Ignoring that this would likely as not push the son into Dark Arts as a means of self-defense, but anyway.)
Then Harry nobly approaches his dying enemy and saves the day by accepting his memories.
And FORGIVES him! That shows what an especially good boy he is, yes? (Ignoring that he's conveniently forgiving a corpse...)