What I don’t understand, though, is why Voldemort wouldn’t say anything. Breaking Snape’s ties to Lily specifically and the Light in general was obviously to his benefit.
Snape blames the messenger even more than every other human does. We saw Snape’s massive overreaction when Harry suggested even the abstract hypothetical student was pathetic. If he was told directly that he was pathetic—regarding the aspect of himself that he worships—it would not be beneficial to the speaker.
So, I’m confused. Are you suggesting that Voldemort was afraid of Snape’s reaction to being told he was pathetic—but not afraid of Snape’s reaction to Lily’s meaningless death?
I mean, given that he randomly murdered the woman Snape loved more than life itself, I think it’s pretty obvious Voldemort didn’t particularly care what Snape thought.
So, I’m confused. Are you suggesting that Voldemort was afraid of Snape’s reaction to being told he was pathetic—but not afraid of Snape’s reaction to Lily’s meaningless death?
Yeah… that wasn’t terribly smart on Voldemort’s part, was it? Although on the other hand this was a big deal to Voldemort. He was outright terrified by the prophesy and may have been willing to sacrifice Snape’s loyalty to get his bane out of the way. The mistake, then, is that he didn’t kill Snape at the earliest opportunity after he rose back to power. It’s ok to betray allies from time to time if necessary but you don’t let them live!
It may not be an entirely trivial task for the currently-weakened Voldemort to murder Snape. Snape is something of a Skilled Player of Magic: the Gathering, and Voldemort would have to not only win in a fight but also prevent Snape from escaping to safety or getting out a message or leaving evidence he couldn’t cover up. We know that he was able to do it to a random guard in Azkaban, but we haven’t seen him in a real fight against any wizard more powerful than that. He lost on purpose when he fought Snape, but that doesn’t mean he would have been able to win on purpose
It may not be an entirely trivial task for the currently-weakened Voldemort to murder Snape.
“Hey guys, I killed the woman Snape loves so now he’s like… on Dumbledore’s side. So, kill him if you see him, mmmk? Ooh, ooh I’ve got a plan. I’m calling a death eater meeting. Lucius, set up some anti apparition wards before it starts and you guys all cast Avada Kedavra at him. Also, put a land mine with a shaped charge under Snape’s chair.”
Or you could let one of your greatest enemies hear all your secrets, feed you misinformation and be standing near you where he might try an assassaination attempt. That’s an option too.
Magic power is nothing compared to the power of people do what you say.
That seems like it would fall under the category of “leaving evidence he couldn’t cover up”? He doesn’t command an army of death eaters, because an army of death eaters being commanded is something Dumbledore or Mad-Eye Moody or Harry Potter will notice. You don’t want to mobilize your troops until you’re ready to fight your war, and you probably don’t mobilize death eaters unless you want to fight your war against Harry Potter.
I have no doubt that Voldemort could kill Snape if he bent all his powers and genius to the task and was prepared to commit all his resources. I just doubt he could do it costlessly.
I was assuming that Voldemort would start worrying about whether his army of deatheaters contained double agents at a time when he had an army of deatheaters.
Of course the right time to eliminate snape would have been before Snape was even aware that Voldemort was considering the possibility of killing Lilly.
Well, you said he made a mistake letting Snape live after he rose back to power—he hasn’t risen back to power enough to have an army of death eaters yet, so he still has a chance to avoid that mistake.
Snape blames the messenger even more than every other human does. We saw Snape’s massive overreaction when Harry suggested even the abstract hypothetical student was pathetic. If he was told directly that he was pathetic—regarding the aspect of himself that he worships—it would not be beneficial to the speaker.
So, I’m confused. Are you suggesting that Voldemort was afraid of Snape’s reaction to being told he was pathetic—but not afraid of Snape’s reaction to Lily’s meaningless death?
I mean, given that he randomly murdered the woman Snape loved more than life itself, I think it’s pretty obvious Voldemort didn’t particularly care what Snape thought.
Yeah… that wasn’t terribly smart on Voldemort’s part, was it? Although on the other hand this was a big deal to Voldemort. He was outright terrified by the prophesy and may have been willing to sacrifice Snape’s loyalty to get his bane out of the way. The mistake, then, is that he didn’t kill Snape at the earliest opportunity after he rose back to power. It’s ok to betray allies from time to time if necessary but you don’t let them live!
It may not be an entirely trivial task for the currently-weakened Voldemort to murder Snape. Snape is something of a Skilled Player of Magic: the Gathering, and Voldemort would have to not only win in a fight but also prevent Snape from escaping to safety or getting out a message or leaving evidence he couldn’t cover up. We know that he was able to do it to a random guard in Azkaban, but we haven’t seen him in a real fight against any wizard more powerful than that. He lost on purpose when he fought Snape, but that doesn’t mean he would have been able to win on purpose
“Hey guys, I killed the woman Snape loves so now he’s like… on Dumbledore’s side. So, kill him if you see him, mmmk? Ooh, ooh I’ve got a plan. I’m calling a death eater meeting. Lucius, set up some anti apparition wards before it starts and you guys all cast Avada Kedavra at him. Also, put a land mine with a shaped charge under Snape’s chair.”
Or you could let one of your greatest enemies hear all your secrets, feed you misinformation and be standing near you where he might try an assassaination attempt. That’s an option too.
Magic power is nothing compared to the power of people do what you say.
That seems like it would fall under the category of “leaving evidence he couldn’t cover up”? He doesn’t command an army of death eaters, because an army of death eaters being commanded is something Dumbledore or Mad-Eye Moody or Harry Potter will notice. You don’t want to mobilize your troops until you’re ready to fight your war, and you probably don’t mobilize death eaters unless you want to fight your war against Harry Potter.
I have no doubt that Voldemort could kill Snape if he bent all his powers and genius to the task and was prepared to commit all his resources. I just doubt he could do it costlessly.
I was assuming that Voldemort would start worrying about whether his army of deatheaters contained double agents at a time when he had an army of deatheaters.
Of course the right time to eliminate snape would have been before Snape was even aware that Voldemort was considering the possibility of killing Lilly.
Well, you said he made a mistake letting Snape live after he rose back to power—he hasn’t risen back to power enough to have an army of death eaters yet, so he still has a chance to avoid that mistake.
If you are talking about Quirrell I don’t expect him to get an army of death eaters ever. He is at least a level or two beyond that.