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There is an argument that is often made by Snape detractors stating that Severus is selfish and morally degraded because he only asked for Lily's life, and not those of James and Harry as well. I was going to post a short comment regarding this argument in a discussion on terri_testing's LJ, but it turned into something a bit...longer. 7500 words longer, to be exact. I'll have to post it in parts. Usual apologies for insane length and all.
Love Thine Enemy: Severus’ Request in Context
Now, when I come across this argument it usually (not necessarily always, but usually) seems to me to be given with the clear but unspoken implication that, after the prophecy was reported and he knew who Voldemort had targeted, Severus held the lives of three people in his hands and could have saved them all, but callously ignored, tried to discard (or even trade) two of them in favor of the third, who he liked.
This is an assumption that I believe is unsupported by the facts, though it is encouraged by Dumbledore's disingenuous comment to Severus on the hilltop about "exchanging" Lily's life for that of her son.
(Let me emphasize that my argument does not concern the morality of Severus' decision to report the prophecy in the first place - clearly something he was wrong to do, regardless of the fact that he did not know to whom it referred.)
To recap: Severus reports what he heard of the prophecy - supposedly only the first half, though it could conceivably have been that same part when it was repeated at the very end of the prophecy. He apparently did not know the central portion, concerning Voldemort's "equal." (At least, he did not report it, and we have nothing to indicate that he had anything to gain by knowingly keeping half of the prophecy back, leading to the reasonable supposition that he in fact simply did not know it.) At some later point he discovers that Voldemort has targeted the Potters, specifically the child. He begs Voldemort to spare Lily, then (not trusting Voldemort to do as he asked) goes to Dumbledore and begs him to protect her, broadening his request to specifically include James and Harry when Dumbledore brings them up. When Dumbledore asks what he will do in return, he is taken aback, and then replies that he will do "anything."
There are I think two things that generally bother me about this "he only asked for Lily = he's selfish and bad" argument as usually given. One is the apparent assumption that Severus could have 'chosen to save' all three people, that is that he had the ability to save them all. The other is his demonization for only apparently caring for Lily. This latter point also leads to issues concerning the Potter books more generally, but I will get to those at the end.
Ability: who could he have saved?
Introduction
To begin with, let's be clear about which request we are talking about in each case, since Severus in fact makes two requests: one of Voldemort, and one of Dumbledore. This is something not usually specified in the 'he only asked for Lily, etc.' argument. We do not actually see Severus making the request of Voldemort, so we do not know how he phrased it exactly, but the evidence we do have seems to indicate rather unambiguously that he asked specifically for Lily's life. (I will deal with Dumbledore's accusation that he offered an exchange in a moment. I find it a problematic part of the scene even in logical terms, regardless of the morality of Dumbledore's actions here). We do see him with Dumbledore, at which point his anxious request is seemingly to protect Lily from Voldemort, apparently extended to include James and Harry when they are brought up. Here is the scene as written:
“I – I come with a warning – no, a request – please – ”
Dumbledore flicked his wand. Though leaves and branches still flew through the night air around them, silence fell on the spot where he and Snape faced each other.
“What request could a Death Eater make of me?”
“The – the prophecy…the prediction…Trelawney…”
“Ah, yes,” said Dumbledore. “How much did you relay to Lord Voldemort?”
“Everything – everything I heard!” said Snape. “That is why – it is for that reason – he thinks it means Lily Evans!”
“The prophecy did not refer to a woman,” said Dumbledore. “It spoke of a boy born at the end of July – ”
“You know what I mean! He thinks it means her son, he is going to hunt her down – kill them all – ”
“If she means so much to you,” said Dumbledore, “surely Lord Voldemort will spare her? Could you not ask for mercy for the mother, in exchange for the son?”
“I have – I have asked him – ”
“You disgust me,” said Dumbledore, and Harry had never heard so much contempt in his voice. Snape seemed to shrink a little, “You do not care, then, about the deaths of her husband and child? They can die, as long as you have what you want?”
Snape said nothing, but merely looked up at Dumbledore.
“Hide them all, then,” he croaked. “Keep her – them – safe. Please.”
“And what will you give me in return, Severus?”
“In – in return?” Snape gaped at Dumbledore, and Harry expected him to protest, but after a long moment he said, “Anything.”
Anyway,NEVER Dumbledore treated someone so cruelly like he treats Snape here -neither Voldemort himself,nor Lucius Malfoy or the Carrows.Even the disgusting Greyback he treats with more politeness.
Regarding the accusation that he offered an exchange: in the second part of the essay I point out that not only is it an unproven accusation, it's a specious one as well. Severus COULDN'T have made any sort of exchange - he didn't HAVE Harry's life to give! Voldemort was going to kill the child no matter what Severus did or said.
Dumbledore's allegation here is merely a means of guilt-tripping and manipulating the young man into a position where Dumbledore can take advantage of him (i.e. get him to promise "anything"). With a touch of malicious authorial insertion for good measure. IMHO.
Oh, I don't know; he treats Severus pretty cruelly when he pulls out the fact of Harry having Lily's eyes as emotional blackmail in the middle of the young man's grief over her death...
And the horrible thing about Severus' situation is that had Voldemort granted his request, had he say, stunned Lily - he would have been able to kill Harry, and Severus would have had to act the role of Lily's rapist one way or another (unless he managed to arrange for the Order to smuggle her out of the country or something) to keep his credibility with Voldemort.
The only explanation I can offer is one I've already mentioned briefly in a previous discussion; Severus asked for Lily to be protected prior to Voldemort's decision who to target, as a reward for reporting the prophecy. This timeline works for a couple of issues raised in this essay.
- Why not ask for James' and Harry's lifes?
Because there was no reason for it. Harry hasn't been born and James was in no more danger than any other opponent of Voldemort.
- Why does Severus readily accept Dumbledore's accusation of trading the life of the boy for the life of the mother?
Because in his slightly exaggerated sense of responsibility for every consequence of his actions, that's what he did. He might have reported the prophecy having in mind to take the chance to ask for a special favour. Lily's life for that of the subject of the prophecy which unfortunately turned out to be her unborn son. He could not possibly have known this, but the standard excuse in Potterverse "I didn't mean to..." has never been Severus' style.
I do agree Dumbledore's accusation was unfair, but it is exactly what Severus himself believes he has done.
And while the idea of having her spared as a reward for reporting the prophecy is interesting, it only works if she was otherwise definitely targeted for death soon (which I'm not sure is clear - she was a member of the Order, yes, but Voldemort does not take every single opportunity to simply kill members of the Order as they go about shopping - in the early years of the war it is much more single, strategic strikes against figures of power, and defense against attacks by the Order.) But he could not have offered the subject of the prophecy as an exchange in any case, as he didn't have the life of anyone it could refer to to offer! That would only work as an exchange if it were his own life!
Lily was otherwise in danger of being targeted not by Voldemort himself but by DEs in general for her blood status and more in danger than any other order member or political opponent, most of the others were pureblood or halfblood.
Not offered in the literal sense like being able to hand the unknown subject of the prophecy over, but the reporting made this unknown wizard a target.
I said that Severus sense of resonsibility is exaggerated, in RL nobody would make such a drama of the fact that a 19-20 year old boy delivered an obscure piece of information he didn't really understand.
I said that Severus sense of resonsibility is exaggerated, in RL nobody would make such a drama of the fact that a 19-20 year old boy delivered an obscure piece of information he didn't really understand."
True. I guess I don't really see Severus thinking himself in a position to bargain with Voldemort anyway, but that makes a little more sense.
And yes, Severus' own exaggerated sense of guilt combined with the fact that Dumbles and just about everyone else in the WW wants to rub his nose in his mistakes are more at issue here.
Yes exactly. Asking for the cute little red-haired mudblood of no real importance to be spared is a lot less than asking for the life of the mother of the Chosen One. The former is a little favour and mildly amusing to the Dark Lord; the latter is asking for quite a lot and we are given no reason why Voldemort should have granted such a reward.
Because there was no reason for it. Harry hasn't been born
This scene is probably taking place ca. the winter of 1980 (that is, at the end of the year, November or December), so Harry is a few months old. In any case both Severus and Dumbledore speak of Harry as already a live child. I suppose it's possible that Severus could have figured out the likely targets of Voldemort's action while Harry was yet in the womb and sat on it for several months wondering what to do about it, but I think it's more likely the events were close together in time. He certainly seems to be in a rushed panic.
More than Harry being born yet or not, though, the reason Severus can't ask for Harry's life is far more direct than that: "Wait, my Lord, give up your plan and don't kill the one who is prophesied to be able to defeat you"? What insanity that would be!
and James was in no more danger than any other opponent of Voldemort.
Again, there's something more direct: why on earth should a Death Eater ask for the life of an old enemy who is working against Voldemort? It'd bring up all sorts of suspicions about Severus's loyalty. The "desire" is the only excuse Voldemort would likely understand for this request, and that can only logically apply to Lily (well, slash-goggles aside ;) ).
And yes, wrt requests made of Voldemort and all, there is nothing Severus can do to save Harry other than exactly what he does do: warn Dumbledore of Voldemort's interpretation of the prophecy. Severus can't defeat Voldemort himself, and asking for Harry's life to be spared is simply pointless suicide.
You've read
Er? You can put somewhere in the vicinity of 10,000 words in a post. It's comments that have the 4300 character limit or whatever it is.
“You know what I mean! He thinks it means her son, he is going to hunt her down – kill them all – ”
You know, I just noticed... this is Severus's language, here. His primary concern is that Voldemort will hunt Lily down, naturally, and he speaks of that first. But in the same breath, as yet unprompted by Dumbledore, he goes right on to kill them all. "All" requires at least three (exactly three, in this case). He is in fact expressing upset at the fact that he believes all of them are going to die, before Dumbledore goes off accusing him of the opposite.
And of course Dumbledore cuts him off when he says "I have, I have asked him", making it seem like Severus is agreeing with the suggestion that he had asked for Lily in exchange for Harry, but in fact we don't get to hear precisely what he asked. And then Dumbledore adds James into it, which not only isn't what Severus said, it wasn't even what Dumbledore said two seconds ago! (disingenuous of him, as you said.)
And yes, Severus' language indicates that he is already asking (somewhat stumblingly) for all of them to be protected. He can't quite keep the child, the mother and the family straight as separate units in his head - he fears for them all and Lily is just the central focus of the family unit here.