The ending of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows really challenged my previous
conceptions of the characters of Dumbledore and Snape. I think that they are
the two most exciting characters, and I love the moral ambiguity that arises in
their character development during the course of this book.
Previously with Snape, I was
relatively certain that he was not as purely evil as Voldemort, but I had some
serious doubts about whether or not he could be redeemed in my eyes after
killing Dumbledore at the end of the sixth book. Still, my overarching opinion
of Snape going into this book was a negative one. Even throughout the book,
when the only glimpses of Snape we got were with Voldemort or mentions of him
being horrible at Hogwarts, I had few conflicted feelings about him. Then, once
he was killed and gave Harry his memories to view in the pensieve, everything
changed for me. The realization that Snape, while still not a particularly
pleasant person to be around, was actually on the “good” side all along was
really mind-blowing to me. I had wondered whether or not he would make a choice
to try to redeem himself, but I never imagined that he would have been
legitimately good for the whole story. This made me rethink everything that
happened in the series in regards to Snape, and it made me really sad,
honestly, because I can’t think of anyone (besides Lily) who actually appeared
to be his friend in the entire book series. Someone so self-sacrificing
deserves at least a friend or two. It was amazing how believable this was
though. It did not feel like Rowling was throwing me for a loop.
Psychologically, Snape’s character makes so much sense after this book. All of
his misplaced anger toward Harry makes perfect sense when I think about his
unrequited love for Lily and jealousy and resentment toward James.
Where I disliked Snape but was
then converted into sympathizing and respecting him, my experience with the
character of Dumbledore was nearly the exact opposite. I was devastated when
Dumbledore died in the sixth book. He had always appeared as a God-like
character to me. Just like the religious saying, “God works in mysterious ways,”
most everyone seemed to just take his opinion for granted like, “Well,
Dumbledore works in mysterious ways, but he’s always right.” However, this book
made Dumbledore appear way more human than he ever did in the previous six
books. All of the information about Ariana and his dabbling with the dark arts
really made him more complicated. Also, meeting Aberforth was a fantastic moment,
especially when he complained about Dumbledore being a master of lies of
secrets to further his own cause. While I did not begin to dislike Dumbledore
after this book, I did become a bit more irritated with him. The hero-worship
given to Dumbledore was not quite earned. Yes, he was a brilliant wizard who
figured most things out far faster and more efficiently than everyone else, but
I truly believe he could have saved everyone some heartache if he had been more
forward with Harry about things like the horcruxes and the hallows. A lot of
time could have been saved if Harry, Ron, and Hermione were not forced to
figure so much out for themselves when Dumbledore had the information all
along. Still, this is all very humanizing information. It proves that
Dumbledore was flawed, and flawed characters are the best characters since they
seem more relatable and believable.
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