The metaphor predates Star Wars; it's a classical hero's journey. the mentor has to die in order for the hero to continue on and achieve the ultimate victory alone.
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Originally Posted by shakran
I think Snape is, while perhaps conflicted about it, working for Voldemort. To use a bad chess analogy, you don't kill the red queen in order to save the black pawn. If snape were on the good side, he wouldn't want to lose their most powerful wizard just to save Draco. Not only does Draco have unfortunate dark leanings, but he's also not that great of a wizard. Dumbledore seems to be a huge strategic sacrifice just to save someone that, by all appearances anyway, can't help in the fight against Voldemort.
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That works for the chess analogy, which is likely how Snape would perceive the whole conflict. Dumbledore's mind works differently, however; Dumbledore would be far more likely to conclude that if he could sacrifice his life to save that of a student, that he should do so. Dumbledore was 150 years old when he died, Draco was 16. Dumbledore's the sort of man to figure that he's had his time, while Draco still has his life to lead and his choices to make. This would inevitably lead to conflict between Snape and Dumbledore, since Snape disagrees. However, Snape's loyalty to Dumbledore seems in prior books to be unwavering, meaning that ultimately he would be likely to carry out Dumbledore's wishes even if he disagrees with them.
I think the escape is very telling. Why settle for eliminating one of the order's key figureheads when you could eliminate two? There's no denying that Snape hates Harry and that he most definitely has the power to kill him. He is an occlumens and legilimens outclassed possibly by only Voldemort himself, now that Dumbledore is no longer in the picture. He's also shown an aptitude for charms and curses in HBP beyond what I ever would've imagined. He could've bested Harry and killed him easily in that duel, so why didn't he? Further still, why did he say the things he did? He was clearly very much upset at the time, but Snape's not the type to let his emotions get the better of him to that extent. I'd say it's more in character that he would obliquely try to help Harry by telling him what he'll need if he's going to be able to ultimately defeat Voldemort (think of Snape at the end of Order of the Phoenix, when he outwardly seemed to be supporting Umbridge but contacted the Order to relay Harry's message at the earliest opportunity).
Snape is not a nice guy, make no mistake about that. He's callous, he's downright mean and he seems to have few redeeming qualities. He's definitely not the sort of guy I'd want to go out for beers with, but I certainly don't think he's evil.