I do wonder about James and Lily--or did Snape's Patronus change from whatever Lily was before to a female version of James' animagus? I'd bet they were just super suitable. That way it's easier for everybody to find their true love without having to talk to each other.
I think it's more that the Patronus thing is just kind of badly thought through. When you get right down to it, not everybody has an animal that perfectly encapsulates their happiest memory. Snape's Patronus needed to be an animal that we could readily associate with Lily, and the only Lily --> Animal connection we've got is via James' animagery.
It's yet another example of Rowling's reverse construction of her world (like the whole business with the Prophecy in book 5 only making sense if you view it as something designed *specifically* to get Harry into the Ministry of Magic, or how the Cup Portkey thing in Book 4 only works if you view it as being *specifically* designed to make Harry Triwizard champion). Snape's patronus has to reveal to us that he was All About Lily, which means it needs to be an animal which the *audience* will instinctively know is code for "Lily Potter". Hence deer.
If the whole thing had been constructed *forwards*, Snape's Patronus would have been something which he, personally associated with his happy memories of Lily (which he ... apparently had, I guess) not something designed as a "clue" for the reader.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2008-09-22 04:40 pm (UTC)I think it's more that the Patronus thing is just kind of badly thought through. When you get right down to it, not everybody has an animal that perfectly encapsulates their happiest memory. Snape's Patronus needed to be an animal that we could readily associate with Lily, and the only Lily --> Animal connection we've got is via James' animagery.
It's yet another example of Rowling's reverse construction of her world (like the whole business with the Prophecy in book 5 only making sense if you view it as something designed *specifically* to get Harry into the Ministry of Magic, or how the Cup Portkey thing in Book 4 only works if you view it as being *specifically* designed to make Harry Triwizard champion). Snape's patronus has to reveal to us that he was All About Lily, which means it needs to be an animal which the *audience* will instinctively know is code for "Lily Potter". Hence deer.
If the whole thing had been constructed *forwards*, Snape's Patronus would have been something which he, personally associated with his happy memories of Lily (which he ... apparently had, I guess) not something designed as a "clue" for the reader.
-- Dan Hemmens