the sword
(Anonymous)
" Dumbledore left the sword to Harry in his will. Morally the sword belonged to Harry"
Nonsense. It wasn't Dumbledore's to give. It was school property, not Dumbledore's property.
"he already had won it under conditions of valour."
Presumably Dumbledore knows how the sword works, and he made a point of reminding Snape that he *must* provide conditions of need and valour for Harry.
" I think throwing the sword into the pond was an error on Snape's part."
The pond was icy, but not particularly dangerous. Harry provided the danger himself by not having the brains to remove the Horcrux before going in.
"He just didn't plan very well when he didn't have Dumbledore to advise him. The portrait didn't have the true Dumbledore's depth of understanding."
It's pretty obvious that live-Dumbledore's plan required that Snape take orders from the portrait in lieu of the man. So it's Dumbledore you should be blaming. If he'd been amenable to Snape making the plans, he'd have given him enough information to make plans with.
"Dumbledore knew that Harry would need to learn fast and learn young. That knowledge could not be taught in a classroom."
Erm, no. Dumbledore knew that Harry was a Horcrux and would have to die for Voldemort to die. That's why he doesn't immediately start looking for more Horcruxes after realising in CoS that the diary wasn't the only one; he thinks he already knows perfectly well where the other is and it's so susceptible to his suggestions it will die whenever he needs it to. It's only after Voldemort tries to kill Harry in GoF that he deduces that Harry isn't the *only* other one, and starts to look for more.
He doesn't bother to make sure Harry learns *anything* until HBP.
"This was a necessity as Harry had been marked by Voldemort himself as the only one who could defeat him. I'm not to sure what Snape had to do with that, to tell the truth."
The reason Harry survived was that Snape loved Lily and asked Voldemort to spare her. The fact that she had a choice - she could have saved herself but chose to try to save Harry instead - turned her death from a foregone conclusion into a powerful sacrifice that rebounded on Voldemort.
duj
Nonsense. It wasn't Dumbledore's to give. It was school property, not Dumbledore's property.
"he already had won it under conditions of valour."
Presumably Dumbledore knows how the sword works, and he made a point of reminding Snape that he *must* provide conditions of need and valour for Harry.
" I think throwing the sword into the pond was an error on Snape's part."
The pond was icy, but not particularly dangerous. Harry provided the danger himself by not having the brains to remove the Horcrux before going in.
"He just didn't plan very well when he didn't have Dumbledore to advise him. The portrait didn't have the true Dumbledore's depth of understanding."
It's pretty obvious that live-Dumbledore's plan required that Snape take orders from the portrait in lieu of the man. So it's Dumbledore you should be blaming. If he'd been amenable to Snape making the plans, he'd have given him enough information to make plans with.
"Dumbledore knew that Harry would need to learn fast and learn young. That knowledge could not be taught in a classroom."
Erm, no. Dumbledore knew that Harry was a Horcrux and would have to die for Voldemort to die. That's why he doesn't immediately start looking for more Horcruxes after realising in CoS that the diary wasn't the only one; he thinks he already knows perfectly well where the other is and it's so susceptible to his suggestions it will die whenever he needs it to. It's only after Voldemort tries to kill Harry in GoF that he deduces that Harry isn't the *only* other one, and starts to look for more.
He doesn't bother to make sure Harry learns *anything* until HBP.
"This was a necessity as Harry had been marked by Voldemort himself as the only one who could defeat him. I'm not to sure what Snape had to do with that, to tell the truth."
The reason Harry survived was that Snape loved Lily and asked Voldemort to spare her. The fact that she had a choice - she could have saved herself but chose to try to save Harry instead - turned her death from a foregone conclusion into a powerful sacrifice that rebounded on Voldemort.
duj