From: bdesham@gmail.com   
      
   Igenlode Wordsmith wrote:   
      
   > > Benjamin Esham wrote:   
   > >   
   > > > [Snape's death]   
   >   
   > His sole plot function seems to have been to conceal from Harry (and of   
   > course Voldemort) the information that Dumbledore will need to have the   
   > boy killed in order to achieve Voldemort's downfall, in order to reveal it   
   > at the appropriate moment -- and in the event he very nearly fails even in   
   > this simple task by falling foul of Voldemort himself before he can pass   
   > the vital message on, a contingency that both he and Dumbledore really   
   > might have anticipated given the death rate among members of the Order the   
   > last time round. (Perhaps Dumbledore reckoned that if anyone could be   
   > relied upon to survive at all costs it would be Snape?)   
   >   
   > We'll never know what Snape's original plan would have been, but it can't   
   > have involved Harry happening to be on the spot and feeling sympathetic at   
   > the moment of his death...   
      
   Snape's death scene always came across as implausible to me for just this   
   reason. It seems impossibly lucky that Voldemort kills Snape slowly (using   
   Nagini) instead of instantly (using the AK curse), as he does *every single   
   other time we see him kill anyone*. I get that Voldemort thought that using   
   the Elder Wand against Snape wasn't safe, but I still find it hard to   
   believe that Harry just happened to be there waiting the *one* time   
   Voldemort decided to kill someone without sticking around to see it through.   
   Maybe I'm just being too critical...   
      
   --   
   Benjamin D. Esham  |  bdesham@gmail.com  |  www.bdesham.info   
   “Live as if you were to die tomorrow.  Learn as if you were to   
   live forever.”                                 — Mohandas Gandhi   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)