Poll: Which Regret Do You Think Snape Would Undo, If Given The Power?
Suppose Snape gets a chance to undo one of his regrets. Which one would he choose? Note that changing this regret would cause butterfly effects and change the timeline completely so it is kind of a 'what if'. State your choice and elaborate upon it.
For me it's the prophecy due to the grief and guilt it brought on Snape. He couldn't get over it till his death and lived with perpetual regret.
He would gladly undo this regret by not giving the Voldemort prophecy and thus wouldn't led to Lily's death.
Now, not giving the prophecy doesn't mean Lily may not die, she may die due to a different cause. And perhaps this timeline's Snape may not switch sides due to lack of a direct threat to Lily's life. He has changed the timeline and would have to live with the consequences of different choice.
A great question, Krystal. You will notice that I have modified your title for clarity.
Personally, I think that he would undo calling Lily Evans a "Mudblood", especially his subsequent refusal to disavow Lord Voldemort and the Death Eaters. If he could go back, knowing what he did in the future canon timeline, he would have realised that the Death Eaters were not his true friends and their cause was repellent. If he had done so, then he might have gotten through to Lily Evans about James Potter's atrocious behaviour, and while she was his closest friend, he had some protection against the powerful urge to join Lord Voldemort.
None of this is any guarantee that Lily Evans would have survived Lord Voldemort's attack, however.
@mmlf, he is not allowed to go back, he can only change one of his regrets. So while he would not call Lily a 'mudblood, in that case, he was still hanging around junior Death Eater gang and eventually would've lost her because their friendship would have fallen apart.
In the title that's what I meant, in the changed timeline, Severus is not going back, he is changing his regret by making a different choice.
I chose "Becoming a Death Eater" for the following reasons:
- Taking back "Mudblood" might've been gratifying in the short term, but that wouldn't address what wss ultimately a much larger issue. The word itself wasn't the problem… it was everything that word represented/Lily's recognition of the dark path Severus was on.
- Similarly, taking back the prophecy would be insufficient. Yes, it would save Lily's life (or at least ensure that Severus wouldn't be responsible for her death). In both these cases though, the focus is solely on Lily. Choosing either of those options would suggest that his regret is largely selfish/doesn't extend beyond her.
Becoming a Death Eater (and regretting it enough to take it back) is different. It would suggest (and I personally believe) that his regret went much deeper than Lily, especially later in life when he saw so many horrors inflicted by Voldemort and his followers. I think he came to despise Voldemort and everything he represented, so much that he was disgusted with himself for joining him in the first place. Not just because of Lily (though of course, she remained a big factor). It's because Severus himself became a better person, to the point where he rejected many things he might've once found acceptable.
So yeah, I definitely think he would've chosen not to become a Death Eater. Even if it meant losing Lily's friendship, even if she never spoke to him again after the Mudblood incident, I think (in his eyes) it would've been worth it. Not just for his sake, but for hers, too. He knew (at least as an adult) how much he'd hurt her by becoming a Death Eater. Not calling her a Mudblood… as stated above, him wanting to join Voldemort was the real issue. I think he would've jumped at the chance to spare both of them that pain.
Severus has many flaws, but no one could accuse him of being selfish. I just don't see him taking back "Mudblood"… not if there were other options that would've been far more beneficial to her (and himself) in the long run.
Went with the death Eater option for the reasons mentioned by @heatherlly
