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Dec. 8th, 2014 02:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lizzardgirlOkay I have a crazy HP theory that I have to share with you, even though HP-theorising is like, so 2006. ;)
I was re-watching OotP last night when I realised something: Snape's Occlumency lessons really *are* shitty. It's not just through the filter of Harry's perception, but they are. Harry doesn't really learn Occlumency until much, much later. Now, I propose that Snape has actively not been putting much effort into the teaching of Occlumency to Harry as he should have, because he just couldn't be bothered.
You could argue, of course, that that doesn't make sense much, because Snape, we know now, was on Dumbledore's side all along and did want Voldemort defeated and Harry to succeed, even though he hated the sight of Harry. Why then would he manipulate Harry's lessons so? It's not sheer incompetence, like it would have been in the case of, say, Lockhart. Snape *can* analyse the mistakes people make pretty sharply, as his Potions classes show, he just doesn't have much of a teacher personality, at least not with people he doesn't like. However, in the Occlumency lessons, pretty much all the instructions he gives Harry are 'close your mind' and then 'you're doing it wrong' and 'you're not closing your mind.' Hence, my thinking that he just can't be bothered to put much of an effort into teaching Harry.
But why would he?
I think the clue lies in the Pensieve. We know that Snape puts memories into the Pensieve before lessons so that Harry can't access them. One of these memories we know to be a key moment for the relationship between Snape and Lily as well as a moment of utter humiliation for Snape at the hands of Harry's father. We don't know what the other memories are. It can't be all Snape ever remembered of Lily and James - much as he'd probably not like Harry to see that - because that would mean erasing more or less all of Snape's Hogwarts memories, and we know it's only a few others. My guess is that Snape removes memories like the night when he swore Dumbledore loyalty for love of Lily, and the night Dumbledore tells him that he needs to continue protecting Harry for Lily's sake. His purpose in that is probably two-fold: He never wants Harry to find out how he felt about Lily, and he can't risk Voldemort getting access (through Harry) to those memories, because even Voldemort, who has no idea of what people will do for love, might realise that they mean that Snape has been loyal to Dumbledore for a long long time.
However, once you've put your memories into a Pensieve, I guess they're gone from your mind. They're not just locked away, but effectively gone. Hence, all the impact they have on your personality must also be gone, at least to a certain extent. And that means that during the Occlumency lessons, Snape doesn't remember that Dumbledore told him that protecting Harry was vital in order to make Lily's sacrifice worth it. He doesn't remember that he promised Dumbledore he would do everything for Lily. He does remember he's fighting for Dumbledore, sure - he has enough memories of the Order, etc, and I guess love for Lily can't be his only motivation to side with them after all these years; he has come to appreciate Dumbledore and the morals he stands for to a certain extent - but he doesn't remember the importance of Harry, and that Dumbledore impressed it upon him. What he does remember is how much he hated James, and how much like his father Harry is, and that Lily died for that worthless kid. Thus, he does teach Harry Occlumency, because Dumbledore asked it of him, but he can't really bothered to put too much effort into teaching Potter's kid Occlumency.
Thoughts? I think I'm overanalysing stuff far too much. Like we used to do back in 2006 ;-)
I was re-watching OotP last night when I realised something: Snape's Occlumency lessons really *are* shitty. It's not just through the filter of Harry's perception, but they are. Harry doesn't really learn Occlumency until much, much later. Now, I propose that Snape has actively not been putting much effort into the teaching of Occlumency to Harry as he should have, because he just couldn't be bothered.
You could argue, of course, that that doesn't make sense much, because Snape, we know now, was on Dumbledore's side all along and did want Voldemort defeated and Harry to succeed, even though he hated the sight of Harry. Why then would he manipulate Harry's lessons so? It's not sheer incompetence, like it would have been in the case of, say, Lockhart. Snape *can* analyse the mistakes people make pretty sharply, as his Potions classes show, he just doesn't have much of a teacher personality, at least not with people he doesn't like. However, in the Occlumency lessons, pretty much all the instructions he gives Harry are 'close your mind' and then 'you're doing it wrong' and 'you're not closing your mind.' Hence, my thinking that he just can't be bothered to put much of an effort into teaching Harry.
But why would he?
I think the clue lies in the Pensieve. We know that Snape puts memories into the Pensieve before lessons so that Harry can't access them. One of these memories we know to be a key moment for the relationship between Snape and Lily as well as a moment of utter humiliation for Snape at the hands of Harry's father. We don't know what the other memories are. It can't be all Snape ever remembered of Lily and James - much as he'd probably not like Harry to see that - because that would mean erasing more or less all of Snape's Hogwarts memories, and we know it's only a few others. My guess is that Snape removes memories like the night when he swore Dumbledore loyalty for love of Lily, and the night Dumbledore tells him that he needs to continue protecting Harry for Lily's sake. His purpose in that is probably two-fold: He never wants Harry to find out how he felt about Lily, and he can't risk Voldemort getting access (through Harry) to those memories, because even Voldemort, who has no idea of what people will do for love, might realise that they mean that Snape has been loyal to Dumbledore for a long long time.
However, once you've put your memories into a Pensieve, I guess they're gone from your mind. They're not just locked away, but effectively gone. Hence, all the impact they have on your personality must also be gone, at least to a certain extent. And that means that during the Occlumency lessons, Snape doesn't remember that Dumbledore told him that protecting Harry was vital in order to make Lily's sacrifice worth it. He doesn't remember that he promised Dumbledore he would do everything for Lily. He does remember he's fighting for Dumbledore, sure - he has enough memories of the Order, etc, and I guess love for Lily can't be his only motivation to side with them after all these years; he has come to appreciate Dumbledore and the morals he stands for to a certain extent - but he doesn't remember the importance of Harry, and that Dumbledore impressed it upon him. What he does remember is how much he hated James, and how much like his father Harry is, and that Lily died for that worthless kid. Thus, he does teach Harry Occlumency, because Dumbledore asked it of him, but he can't really bothered to put too much effort into teaching Potter's kid Occlumency.
Thoughts? I think I'm overanalysing stuff far too much. Like we used to do back in 2006 ;-)
