1) I'm of two minds about Snape, but then, I'm almost always of two minds about Snape -- there's enough ambiguity in his behavior (probably because he's jerked about by plot requirements) to support several interpretations of his motives. Some days I prefer one, some days another, but I definitely see where you're coming from... and while I think it's nicely ironic that a guy who never repented could nonetheless help save the day for the side of good, I do agree that it gives a very different moral spin to the story.
2) WORD on Umbridge. I think Rowling's failure to address the systemic corruption and lack of the rule of law in the wizarding world is one of the most disappointing (and problematic) aspects of the series. Because it gives readers the impression that bad government is either inevitable or not that bad, because 'heroes' will save us despite ourselves. *grumble*
3-4) Yes. Harry gets away with things that, for example, Draco or Snape would be narratively condemned for trying, because Harry is the hero and his motives are pure, or whatever. To which I say, the ends do NOT justify the means -- even in cases where you may have to do something morally reprehensible to prevent a bigger crime/tragedy, you still have to face the consequences afterwards. Yet Harry rarely seems to have to deal with the mess in his wake. (Even his trouble getting people to believe him about Voldemort's return isn't really his fault -- that's fallout from GoF, and Draco, Rita Skeeter, and Polyjuice!Crouch were responsible for most of Harry's growing bad reputation in that book.)
Snakes are cool. :-)
But anyway, something about CoS really snags my attention and imagination. Most of my HP fanfic traces back to that book, more than to any other volume -- even stories overtly sourced in another volume (like "Fixation" is sourced in HBP) have threadroots in CoS. Part of that, I'm sure, is because I wanted to fix it, but I think it's also because CoS is at heart a very dark story -- it's just that Rowling tries very hard to pretend it isn't -- and I find that darkness (Tom Riddle, memory erasure, possession, finding echoes of yourself in a sociopathic killer, witch hunt social paranoia, pureblood prejudices, our first view of the dysfunctional wizarding government) fascinating.
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1) I'm of two minds about Snape, but then, I'm almost always of two minds about Snape -- there's enough ambiguity in his behavior (probably because he's jerked about by plot requirements) to support several interpretations of his motives. Some days I prefer one, some days another, but I definitely see where you're coming from... and while I think it's nicely ironic that a guy who never repented could nonetheless help save the day for the side of good, I do agree that it gives a very different moral spin to the story.
2) WORD on Umbridge. I think Rowling's failure to address the systemic corruption and lack of the rule of law in the wizarding world is one of the most disappointing (and problematic) aspects of the series. Because it gives readers the impression that bad government is either inevitable or not that bad, because 'heroes' will save us despite ourselves. *grumble*
3-4) Yes. Harry gets away with things that, for example, Draco or Snape would be narratively condemned for trying, because Harry is the hero and his motives are pure, or whatever. To which I say, the ends do NOT justify the means -- even in cases where you may have to do something morally reprehensible to prevent a bigger crime/tragedy, you still have to face the consequences afterwards. Yet Harry rarely seems to have to deal with the mess in his wake. (Even his trouble getting people to believe him about Voldemort's return isn't really his fault -- that's fallout from GoF, and Draco, Rita Skeeter, and Polyjuice!Crouch were responsible for most of Harry's growing bad reputation in that book.)
Snakes are cool. :-)
But anyway, something about CoS really snags my attention and imagination. Most of my HP fanfic traces back to that book, more than to any other volume -- even stories overtly sourced in another volume (like "Fixation" is sourced in HBP) have threadroots in CoS. Part of that, I'm sure, is because I wanted to fix it, but I think it's also because CoS is at heart a very dark story -- it's just that Rowling tries very hard to pretend it isn't -- and I find that darkness (Tom Riddle, memory erasure, possession, finding echoes of yourself in a sociopathic killer, witch hunt social paranoia, pureblood prejudices, our first view of the dysfunctional wizarding government) fascinating.