The kids watched the first Harry Potter movie this morning, The Sorcerer’s Stone. While watching the end, it occurred to me there’s a bit of a plot hole created by the circumstances of the first movie.
I’ll assume if you’ve read this far, you’re somewhat familiar with the Harry Potter-verse and I’ll get right to it.
At the end of the story, Harry Potter is convinced that Professor Snape is the culprit behind all the mysterious happenings at the school and is, in fact, trying to help Voldemort return to power. This turns out to be spectacularly wrong, as the villain is in fact Professor Quirrell, working in league with Voldemort. During the final confrontation between Quirrell/ Voldemort and Harry, it is revealed that Professor Snape was, in fact, consistently thwarting Quirrell’s plans behind the scenes. It was Snape whom thwarted Quirrell during the Moutain Troll episode, and we’re also allowed to see through Harry’s spying eye’s a clandestine exchange between Quirrell and Snape where Snape challenges Quirrell and his motives. In short, Snape seemed to know what was going on with Quirrell and wasn’t helping Quirrell/Voldemort to succeed.
Now, given that Quirrell and Voldemort are joined at the head, it seems logical that Voldemort would also be aware of Snape’s meddling and consistent interruptions of his (Voldemort’s) plans to return to power. Given Snape’s role at the end of the saga, where he poses as Voldemort’s right-hand man presumably with Voldemort’s full trust, these circumstances seem like a pretty big inconsistency. That is, it seems implausible that Voldemort should be unaware of Snape’s double-agent status given what Snape does in the first book. Yet, that is exactly the case.
I recognize the difficulty in keeping details like this straight over the course of 7 books and 10 or so years worth of creating a world and story. It just struck me as interesting inconsistency in the story. One that I couldn’t think of a plausible explanation for.
For instance- perhaps Voldemort suffers from some sort of amnesia after he returns to corporeal form, one might argue. But that seems pretty selective given everything that he clearly does remember, including all of his Deatheaters, Harry himself, the Elder wand and so forth.
Another argument might be that Snape is skilled at blocking Voldemort’s mind reading powers. I’d agree- but Voldemort shouldn’t have to read Snape’s mind. He simply has to assess Snape’s actions as they pertain to Professor Quirrell.
There are other possibilities I can come up with, but I don’t consider any of them convincing explanations. I think it’s just one of those plot holes that any epic tale, even LOTR has them, picks up along the way. Anyone else agree with my assessment, or am I off base entirely?
2 replies on “A Harry Potter Conundrum”
Good points all…I am probably mistaken, but I remember some type of a “prove it” moment by Snape, maybe when he kills Dumbledore, that shows Voldemort that he is loyal to him. That might be your loophole, where Snape can say he had to do everything to truly bring Voldemort to power and ultimately killing Dumbledore is the proof.
Not sure, but if I am wrong, I tend to agree with you…
I was under the impression that Harry’s ‘education’ and potential as a wizard would not be realized until he completed his Hogwart’s education. While it wasn’t ever really alluded to in any of the books …. Voldemort could have eliminated the threat of Harry by terminating him at any point.
The plot line in each segment of the story as it progress through the seven or so years seems to rely on the culminating epic battle between H and V … I don’t recall anything that was stated in so many words except that as Harry’s skills grew, so did Voldemort’s strength – he had great powers, but apparently needed a body to realize his full potential …. the two main characters were running on a parrallel that led to the ultimate battle for power.
Snape’s background was not revealed until the final story … his relationship with Harry’s parents, his love for Harry’s mother, and the powers that Harry’s aunt had were all kept until the final story … I suspect the author had to create plausible and viable story lines that gave her the tools necessary to bring all the characters to the conclusion she reached …. poetic license is just that … license to do whatever she felt necessary to end her story line … It spans such a long period of time and includes so many side stories with additional characters that it is not possible to tie everything together NOW.
I feel this is because our MINDS are now colored by the images of the characters as they were created in the movies … the actors who took on each role have clouded our ability to separate what they individually did in the written pages of each book. Snape was always sinister, authoratative, and certainly capable of great evil … but we never knew his full history and could only judge him on a one dimensional level.
It will be interesting to see if this epic children’s saga sustains its popularity and becomes a subject of study for its literary value … The author certainly created a unique universe of characters that might stand the test of time …