Quote:
Originally Posted by ccollinsmith
Yes, if Snape had been the person you believed he was, he could have bided his time and waited for the right moment to strike - and then possibly usurped Voldemort's position and become the next Dark Lord or something. But in DH we learn that that's not who Snape is. Instead, we learn that he's a man of deep loyalties looking to redeem the damage he had done by becoming a Death Eater.
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And in the end, Snape did not care for power. He cared about lives - all that he could save. To debate how and why Snape was or wasn't able to take the most powerful position in the Wizarding world, is to miss the point of this character and miss a the point in the whole series, IMO. Redemption and the "power" of Love.
I believe JKR would argue that true power is not about controlling other people. I have no doubt that Snape had latent potential for "great things" from early on in his youth but through his series of memories we see how Snape was a fully changed man by the 6th book. In each step he took towards the light, towards seeing the greater picture- the greater picture being the value of human life and redemption.
This is how he grew more powerful. It is because of Love that Snape went from a man who was bent down, spying at doorways, to a man who could make his own plan and literally fly on his own.
After it was all said and done, Snape's true power came from Love and how he was able to expand upon that to feel some kind of compassion and concern for all people.