Snapedom

"I would just add that Harry's comment in the epilogue actually has nothing to do with the issue of Severus' *moral* status - obviously something key for the question of his redemption. As Susan Sontag points out, bravery is morally neutral. One can be brave in the service of an evil ideology, after all."

I agree that bravery has no morality.

But neither you nor I wrote the story. JKR *does* see bravery as a very high virtue. So when Harry calls Snape "the bravest man" JKR is having her protagonist call Snape the highest standard of what *she* (not you or I) considers the greatest virtue.

That is extremely important. You and I may not think that Snape's bravery is an indication of his redemption, but JKR would think so and she appears to have tied the two together in her comments about wanting to show redemption. That is, she specifically said she wanted to show redemption (and who else but Snape could be redeemed in the scene?) and yet what she does is have her protagonist attest to Snape's bravery. I think it's one and the same for JKR. I'm sure she would never consider Bellatrix brave.