What's your favorite headcanon?

[AvatarVecna]

I don't think it's ever actually specified in the books, but I'm pretty sure that the reason Harry started having visions from Voldie's/Nagini's point of view starting during summer before 4th year is because his piece was bigger than either of theirs.

We know that the idea of even making more than one horcrux was (at least during Riddle's time) more or less unthinkable, so if anybody had done it they probably weren't advertising it or sharing their research. So voldie is more or less going beyond the bounds of necromancers that came before him and is kinda fumbling in the dark a bit. All that together, combined with how the creation of a horcrux isn't exactly soul surgery, and you get the impression that Voldie probably wasn't capable of slicing off a 7th of his soul and stuffing it into an object, but rather that he was just tearing apart what he still had in him and stuff one of the remaining pieces inside the new container.

This seems like it checks out with what we see in the books/films: the diary was either the first or second horcrux created (he has the Gaunt Ring when he talks with Slughorn about them, but it's unclear if it was a Horcrux at that point or not), and when you compare the diary's antics to those of the locket, both are clearly driven by a malignant intelligence, but one seems to be a lot more directed and (for lack of a better word) sapient. The locket was influencing Ron by being on his person gradually over time, playing on his worst traits, but then you look at the official timeline for Chamber of Secrets, and...Ginny got the diary August 19th, and Harry first hears the Basilisk in the walls September 5th. It didn't even take the diary two weeks before it could possess Ginny enough to let the basilisk out for a slithery stroll. This also lines up with the diary more or less planning things out and executing the plans without much outside interference, while the locket was a lot more passive (either through a lack of motivation, or a lack of ability to use powers without being opened/worn).

So there's evidence to suggest that earlier horcruxes had more power and more sapience to them, that the more soul within them, the more "human" they are. This suggests that the first horcrux got roughly half Riddle's original soul, leaving roughly half in the body...and then the second horcrux got half of the remainder (so a quarter of the original), leaving a quarter of the original in the body, and so on. Then you get to when Voldie murdered the Potters. It's unclear what item he intended to put the Horcrux in, or how Horcruxes are even created, but the one thing we do know is that murder is a requirement. So he gets to the point in whatever ritual he's doing that he needs to murder, points his wand at Harry and tries to AK him...and it bounces. Voldie dies...and that death fufills the ritual, splitting his soul with one piece going into Harry. This is great, because it means not only did Voldemort metaphorically "mark [Harry] as his equal" (by considering Harry the most likely threat of the two July babies due to his semi-similar mixed parentage, thus having Voldie kinda acknowledge Harry as the one capable of beating him), but also literally marked Harry (with his curse scar) as his literal equal (in that they now both had approximately equal portions of Voldemort's original soul within them).

Later, when voldemort is planning on returning to life, one of the loose ends he's tying up is that (as far as he knows) his soul is currently only in six pieces instead the preferred Prime Number 7, so he makes another Horcrux with Nagini as the host this time. However, not only does this mean that his soul was now in 8 pieces (not only "not a prime number", but the smallest natural cube), but now the piece inside Harry was about as big as the pieces in Voldemort and Nagini combined. This is part of why Harry seemed confused about the snake dream in Year 5, thinking that "Voldemort was the snake" - at the time, it was played as is Voldemort was possessing Nagini, or was an animagus, but then we learn in Book 6 that it's horcruxes. This also explains why he never got visions from the point-of-view of any other soul pieces - not just because they don't have eyes and ears or whatever (since they can clearly perceive and interact with their environment to some degree), but because they were all bigger pieces of the soul than Harry's was. It's entirely possible that the Soul fragment in the Locket wasn't merely able to manipulate them because of passive mindreading powers, but because it got to spend months seeing the three of them from the point-of-view of Harry's mind (since it doesn't have much better to do).

[Lvl 2 Expert]

Diplomatic immunity only works if you are in some way invited by the host country for diplomatic purposes though. You can't just sneak into a country, kill a guy and when you get arrested claim you're a diplomat, or a pretty prince(ss). You have to come in as a diplomat. Even actual ministers sneaking in uninvited get arrested for that. That's why spies are so often embassy personnel, because those are the people enjoying diplomatic immunity. Do Atlantis, the amazons and the green lantern corps have official diplomatic ties with any regular countries?

[khadgar567]

Diplomatic immunity only works if you are in some way invited by the host country for diplomatic purposes though. You can't just sneak into a country, kill a guy and when you get arrested claim you're a diplomat, or a pretty prince(ss). You have to come in as a diplomat. Even actual ministers sneaking in uninvited get arrested for that. That's why spies are so often embassy personnel, because those are the people enjoying diplomatic immunity. Do Atlantis, the amazons and the green lantern corps have official diplomatic ties with any regular countries?

heck that's kinda why supes open an embassy in earth for justice league.

[Traab]

Diplomatic immunity only works if you are in some way invited by the host country for diplomatic purposes though. You can't just sneak into a country, kill a guy and when you get arrested claim you're a diplomat, or a pretty prince(ss). You have to come in as a diplomat. Even actual ministers sneaking in uninvited get arrested for that. That's why spies are so often embassy personnel, because those are the people enjoying diplomatic immunity. Do Atlantis, the amazons and the green lantern corps have official diplomatic ties with any regular countries?

I believe aquaman and wonder woman both represent their nations on a diplomatic level. Im not sure how official it is, like if they are full members of the UN for example, but both have spoken to it on various issues. That being said, its basically an official unofficial nod where they let the justice league do what it does because they have great pr and far too much power to shut down if they refuse a demand to stop being heroes outside the local governments authority. And they arent entirely happy about it either. Remember cadmus may be a black ops but it was still an official government agency looking into countering the league at need.

[Lvl 2 Expert]

That being said, its basically an official unofficial nod where they let the justice league do what it does because they have great pr and far too much power to shut down if they refuse a demand to stop being heroes outside the local governments authority.

Plus, you know, in that universe they're the only people who can stop certain disasters from destroying the world, which they regularly do (the stopping, not the destroying). Governments would be mad to try and shut them down.

Just saying that if they ever were to be sued for screwing something up their defense might be less "diplomatic immunity" and more like "you never asked us to stop, in fact I think you liked being alive and should be a little more grateful." Although I do appreciate that writers have thought about the idea and used it to some degree.

[Lord Raziere]

Plus, you know, in that universe they're the only people who can stop certain disasters from destroying the world, which they regularly do (the stopping, not the destroying). Governments would be mad to try and shut them down.

Just saying that if they ever were to be sued for screwing something up their defense might be less "diplomatic immunity" and more like "you never asked us to stop, in fact I think you liked being alive and should be a little more grateful." Although I do appreciate that writers have thought about the idea and used it to some degree.

Yeah trying to sue Superman for saving the world is kind of like being angry at firemen for putting a fire on a massive scale.....if the firemen can also pretty much obliterate all of civilization if they ever feel if its not worth protecting anymore. like, being angry at them is pretty much suicide.

In a sane world you don't have people getting angry at godlike superheroes for doing this, your lying awake at night, in pure terror knowing that your safety isn't reliant upon some lawful organized institution with rules and regulations that you can be certain are designed for everyone's safety, but rather a small informal group of people whom you don't know, are incredibly powerful without any real checks upon their power other than each other, who could turn tyrant at any time if they decide thats the right thing to do, if they did, no one would be able to do anything about it, and if they fail to save the world even once, the result is probably even worse than them being tyrants. (Because say what you will about the Justice Lords, they're still a lesser evil than Darkseid, or the Starro, or Brainiac, or Emperor Joker or any other number of crazy doomsday scenarios that superheroes face on a regular basis). Thats the nightmare your facing, even with someone like Superman, shining paladin that he is at the helm- just because you have the best of intentions doesn't mean your not terrifying, as AU versions of Superman have shown.

Imagine the same for universes where the heroes DON'T have the best interests in mind! Imagine if people knew of Goku being cavalier and risking things for a good fight in the same position, people would be even more concerned than him! Its why when he endangers the world with his stunts people give him flack for it, because they are in positions of power over all of humanity without any real checks upon that power or rules regarding it and thus no guarantee for society that things that should be rules for someone in that position, should be upheld to ensure their safety. Because the only thing keeping people like Goku in check? is personal bonds and those ain't exactly always reliable.

If anything, the Justice League proclaiming diplomatic immunity wouldn't be for actual legal protection, it would be reassure everyone in a PR move that yes there are legitimate authorities among us and rules we adhere to, and yes there are places we care about and are connected to, we're not just a bunch of misfits with no rules and discipline on how to protect the world, don't worry we got this under control.

[Traab]

Plus, you know, in that universe they're the only people who can stop certain disasters from destroying the world, which they regularly do (the stopping, not the destroying). Governments would be mad to try and shut them down.

Just saying that if they ever were to be sued for screwing something up their defense might be less "diplomatic immunity" and more like "you never asked us to stop, in fact I think you liked being alive and should be a little more grateful." Although I do appreciate that writers have thought about the idea and used it to some degree.

That is the other side of it yeah. Too be honest, it always felt oddly jarring when I would see a story based on the concept of trying to hold the various heroes responsible for the collateral damage done while they were saving the world/nation/city/cat in a tree. Its like, "Well would you rather I had stepped back and let the threat carry on? No? Then shut up about what it took to stop it as its was a tiny fraction of the cost NOT stopping it would have been." At least the paranoia of "what if the heroes decide to stop being heroes? Make a plan to deal with them!" Makes sense as paranoia is fully justified considering every single person in power got there by stepping over the backs of the person they stabbed to get there. When you are a thief, everywhere you look you see thieves, or however that old saying goes.

[Rogar Demonblud]

That brings up the old line about destroying the village to save it. Just because you saved the day doesn't mean you did it the best way possible. Half the point of AARs is finding better ways of getting the job done (the other half is figuring out what happened). If the capes can't figure out a way with less collateral damage, you need a way to nudge them into doing so. Hence, lawsuits.

[Lord Raziere]

That brings up the old line about destroying the village to save it. Just because you saved the day doesn't mean you did it the best way possible. Half the point of AARs is finding better ways of getting the job done (the other half is figuring out what happened). If the capes can't figure out a way with less collateral damage, you need a way to nudge them into doing so. Hence, lawsuits.

I mean your talking about a society-based method that has no supernatural power backing it trying to corral in people who keep their identity secret and has punches that make nukes look like firecrackers and the most human of them is someone whose intelligence is greater than the entirety of civilization while their opposition is literally the god of all evil, despair and hatred trying to oppress all of reality with an equation. lawsuit doesn't really have enough teeth to really be a believable thing to hold them in check, thats more trusting the heroes to actually give you time of day when they could be alert for the next disaster to strike.

I mean what are you even going to do if they just ignore you and do whatever, fire a nuke at them? thats not even a problem for people like the Justice League. thats a fly they swat before getting back to the real threats. in a more low-powered universe you might have an argument but as it is, DC is a universe of kindhearted gods who humor the lowly mortals with illusions of relevance and stability while they keep the dark truth of overpowered monstrosities from shattering what good they have.

[Rogar Demonblud]

DC is a universe where half the JL create a quantum singularity any time they take it out of first gear. It doesn't work on pretty much any level.

[Traab]

DC is a universe where half the JL create a quantum singularity any time they take it out of first gear. It doesn't work on pretty much any level.

Even Marvel is a stretch at times. I mean yeah the perennial threats against the xmen from the eeeevil government have teeth to an extent, but its literally only the morals of the good guys that let it happen. Sure someone like, i dunno, MARROW could be handled by a government task force, but when the headmaster of the school can rewrite the brains of everyone on earth if he bothers to boot up his machine, a lawsuit seems, a bit weak of an option. God help them if its magnetos week to be a "good" guy and lead the xmen. Its a lower tier of power by far (unless we are talking full phoenix) but still one that surpasses whatever the various governments can do. The only other mitigating factor that constrains them is the threat to random unknown mutants out there who might fall to mob violence and such because their only power is identifying north or having bug eyes. Speaking of similar things, has dc ever had its own "civil war" arc with the league? I know there have been times when various characters have turned on the league but its always been solo actions, has there ever been a storyline where a significant portion of the league says, "You guys are wrong, we need to do this instead, LETS FIGHT ABOUT IT!"

[The Glyphstone]

The only examples I can think of were books or arcs of subversion rather than violent disagreement. Batman: Prep Time JL: Tower of Babel, GL: Blackest Night, etc. Maybe is an editorial mandate of some kind.

Edit: Injustice probably counts, but it takes place in a parallel universe instead of the 'main' reality.

[Rogar Demonblud]

Marvel's at least two significant camps in terms of story beats and atmosphere: Avengers (superpowers are neat!) and X-Men (superpowers make you a monster). DC, for better or worse, is far more homogeneous.

Of course, the power levels for mutants are ridiculous too. Beta tier mutants can destroy the planet by accident; Alphas can frack up the whole solar system.

[Themrys]

Now for a real hot take;

Harry Potter: before her death, Snape’s feelings toward Lily were entirely platonic. It was only after she died that Snape’s grief and guilt caused him to start seeing her in a romantic light, and to start believing that he always felt that way about her, subconsciously modifying his memories in accordance to that.

This is probably impossible to fit with the text, but it came to me and I wanted to get it of my chest.

I'm not sure it is stated in canon, explicitly, that his feelings are not platonic. Harry interprets them as not being platonic, but that's just his interpretation. Snape himself, as I recall, does not state it one way or the other.

The only other person whose patronus changes is Tonks, and her feelings for Lupin are not platonic, but that's by no means a proof that it has to be romantic love.

I mean, people interpret his feelings as being romantic, because we don't think a man could truly care about a woman he is not related to without wanting to get into her pants, but that's a rather bleak worldview.

Some men even claim Snape must be an incel, despite there being zero indication in the text for that, simply because that's how men are in the real world (and probably some of the men who claim that have an incel mindset themselves).


So yeah, I could totally see your interpretation work. Fancying himself in love with Lily would give him an excuse to never try to find a girlfriend, without him having to face the unpleasant fact that most women would probably reject him, if not due to his personality and looks, then because of his reputation as death eater.

[137beth]

For what it's worth, the only thing said about Lily/Snape in Cursed Child is

Spoiler

Show

SCORPIUS: You loved his mother. I don’t remember everything. I know you loved his mother.
Harry’s mother. Lily. I know you spent years undercover. I know without you the war could never
have been won. How would I know this if I hadn’t seen the other world . . . ?

Scorpius says this to Snape, and presumably Scorpius only knows what Harry told everyone. Snape has to recognize that what Scorpius says is true, or his reaction doesn't make sense. However, it could still be platonic love.

[LibraryOgre]

Chief Miles O'Brien is his given name. His rank is Lieutenant.

[No brains]

Shouldn't we be discussing a terrible pun to use for chapter 2 of this thread?

I vote for 'What's your favorite headcanon? 2' Deliberately foregoing a pun.

[Gnoman]

Chief Miles O'Brien is his given name. His rank is Lieutenant.

Since there doesn't seem to be any other NCOs or other enlisted-level crew in Starfleet, this is shockingly plausible.

[Kitten Champion]

I've just assumed Miles' name was actually Job.

[gomipile]

Shouldn't we be discussing a terrible pun to use for chapter 2 of this thread?

How about "What's your favorite headcanon? 2: Headcanon Fodder."

[Lvl 2 Expert]

How about "What's your favorite headcanon? 2: Headcanon Fodder."

Any cannon pun would have the advantage of letting people know the headcannon joke has been done already, making it fresh again for thread three.

Other options:
What's your favorite headcanon? 2: Fire at will (or Fire away, or Feuer frei, or Fire!, or...)

What's your favorite headcanon? 2: The bombardment (probably too farfetched)

What's your favorite headcanon? 2: Headcanoneers unite

Or we could stick with actual canon puns, maybe something tvtropesy?

What's your favorite headcanon? 2: Word of god? I'm a Nietzsche fan. (Too real world religionous, also too farfetched probably.)

And I'm tapped out.

[Themrys]

For what it's worth, the only thing said about Lily/Snape in Cursed Child is

Spoiler

Show

Scorpius says this to Snape, and presumably Scorpius only knows what Harry told everyone. Snape has to recognize that what Scorpius says is true, or his reaction doesn't make sense. However, it could still be platonic love.

My headcanon of the Cursed Child is that it is a nightmare Harry had after doing drugs.

But yeah, if someone told Snape to his face that he loved Lily, he would of course think this person is in on his secrets, regardless of whether he loved her as a friend or in a romantic way. After all, it was the one thing he had to keep secret from Voldemort. In fact, platonic love was more likely to get him murdered than the sexual attraction he presumably convinced Voldemort was all he felt towards Lily.

Hey, this makes a surprising amount of sense. The only way he could have fooled Voldemort was pointing at the hundreds and thousands of books and movies where a man promises eternal love to a woman, then goes on his merry way. "Yeah, she was pretty, but I found someone prettier, now"

Voldemort not understanding love surely helped, but Voldemort rationally knew love existed and informed the behaviours of other people. Convincing him that a man's romantic love for a woman was empty, hollow and fickle would have been much easier (especially since in his mind it might have mirrored Tom Riddle senior and Merope's relationship) than to convince him that, while Snape valued Lily as a friend before Voldemort's defeat, he didn't really miss her anymore a couple of years later.

Perhaps Severus trained himself into believing his love for Lily to have been romantic to fool Voldemort. He could have modified his memories on purpose.

[Aedilred]

Perhaps Severus trained himself into believing his love for Lily to have been romantic to fool Voldemort. He could have modified his memories on purpose.

He is a great Occlumens. Though we don't see many in the series, we don't see any better than him. Whether hiding his affection for Lily proved good training for the later spy work, or vice versa, it must have helped.

That said, I suspect Voldy didn't push too hard. He doesn't really understand or value love, and while he is able to treat it as a puzzle to be solved, the idea that it could provide a serious motivating factor, worth keeping an eye on, doesn't seem like it would occur to him. He almost certainly did probe Snape's brain on a couple of occasions but even if he did see beyond whatever Snape wanted him to, I suspect he would have been satisfied by the overwhelming hatred for James, which if presented upfront would conceal any affection for Lily (or protectiveness of Harry).

In fact Voldemort doesn't really seem to value anything in his subordinates. That might be partly because so many of them are Imperius-ed but even the true believers he doesn't treat all that well. He says he values loyalty, but after Barty Crouch gets Kissed he never mentions him again. At the first return, he says he's going to reward the Lestranges, but we never see that, and Bellatrix is as scared of his wrath as anyone. He thinks Snape is his MVP and he casually murders him. (This does rather beg the question as to why he has any followers at all).

The motivation and wellbeing of his followers just doesn't seem to concern him, so I get the impression that so long as he's convinced Snape isn't actively working against him with Dumbledore, he's not going to delve too deeply on an ongoing basis into what's making him tick.

[Traab]

Too be fair he murders snape at the end of the series because he (wrongly) believes snape is the master of the elder wand and wants its power for his own. It wasnt done for no reason, or a random fit of pique. Also, from a coldly logical outlook he doesnt need snape anymore. Dumbledoore is dead, so he doesnt need a spy, he is about to crush the final resistance so he doesnt really need snape as headmaster of the school, really any death eater will do there, and again, his life is the only thing stopping voldemort from claiming the super wand. (Probably utterly unaware that it even CAN casually trade masters outside of murdering the current holder)

[gomipile]

What's your favorite headcanon? 2: Fire at will (or Fire away, or Feuer frei, or Fire!, or...)

Sperrfeuer! Los!

What's your favorite headcanon? 2: Word of god? I'm a Nietzsche fan. (Too real world religionous, also too farfetched probably.)

What's your favorite headcanon? 2: Jossed.

[Bohandas]

In Discworld, Albert Malich's eventual cause of death is alcohol poisoning from the several thousand glasses of sherry he drank when he and Death were filling in for the Hogfather. If he ever reenter's normal time it's all going to crash down on him and by the end of his five remaining seconds he'll be dead for real

[Themrys]

He is a great Occlumens. Though we don't see many in the series, we don't see any better than him. Whether hiding his affection for Lily proved good training for the later spy work, or vice versa, it must have helped.

That said, I suspect Voldy didn't push too hard. He doesn't really understand or value love, and while he is able to treat it as a puzzle to be solved, the idea that it could provide a serious motivating factor, worth keeping an eye on, doesn't seem like it would occur to him.

Doesn't it say in the books that Dumbledore is similarly skilled at Occlumency (but fears Voldemort might see his secrets through Harry)? I always assumed Dumbledore taught him Occlumency after he begged for Lily's life. That's why I think he would have had to alter his own memories - something everyone can do, see Slughorn - to avoid suspicion.


Voldemort did try to kill off Draco to punish the Malfoy parents, so he must have some concept of how love affects other people.

Snape wanting to protect Lily would have caused him to use her as leverage against Snape some time later. (Actually, I think that's why he initially tried to stick to that promise.) So Snape setting the whole thing up to later say "Actually, she's gotten old and fat and I don't care about her anymore" would make sense.

And while, yes, Voldy might not have pushed too hard, I do think it is entirely plausible Snape did everything in his power to play down his feelings. Voldemort can't understand love, but I don't think anyone else can understand, and thus rely on, his lack of understanding.

[Aedilred]

Too be fair he murders snape at the end of the series because he (wrongly) believes snape is the master of the elder wand and wants its power for his own. It wasnt done for no reason, or a random fit of pique. Also, from a coldly logical outlook he doesnt need snape anymore. Dumbledoore is dead, so he doesnt need a spy, he is about to crush the final resistance so he doesnt really need snape as headmaster of the school, really any death eater will do there, and again, his life is the only thing stopping voldemort from claiming the super wand. (Probably utterly unaware that it even CAN casually trade masters outside of murdering the current holder)

Oh, sure, there was a reason, but I think it speaks volumes about his mental process. Snape is the guy he's made fairly clear he trusts above all others, who personally killed your most dangerous opponent, who served up your greatest enemy on a plate (leading directly to the death of your next-most dangerous opponent), who was instrumental in your retrieving the most powerful weapon in the world.

By the time he summons Snape, his troops are all over Hogwarts. Victory appears inevitable, and the capture of Harry seems only a matter of time; once he's finished off he's supposedly invincible. He doesn't actually need all the power of the Elder Wand. He's not even taking part in the fight. Becoming the true master of the Elder Wand is just a "nice-to-have", and he kills Snape for it anyway.

Which does make me wonder why anyone would actually follow this guy. If it becomes convenient, he's going to kill you no matter how loyally or usefully you serve him. If you fail him, even if it's not your fault, he'll show no mercy. He's all stick and no carrot. While that begs the question of his followers, it also says a lot about him: he doesn't care about motivating his followers except through fear, and by extension he doesn't care what their motivations are so long as they're doing what he wants. Which in turn makes it easier for the disloyal (like Snape, and, eventually, the Malfoys) to survive under his rule, because so long as they look like they're doing what he wants, he probably doesn't care why.

I know he's not exactly meant to be a complex or sympathetic character.

[Themrys]

Which does make me wonder why anyone would actually follow this guy. If it becomes convenient, he's going to kill you no matter how loyally or usefully you serve him. If you fail him, even if it's not your fault, he'll show no mercy. He's all stick and no carrot. While that begs the question of his followers, it also says a lot about him: he doesn't care about motivating his followers except through fear, and by extension he doesn't care what their motivations are so long as they're doing what he wants. Which in turn makes it easier for the disloyal (like Snape, and, eventually, the Malfoys) to survive under his rule, because so long as they look like they're doing what he wants, he probably doesn't care why.

I know he's not exactly meant to be a complex or sympathetic character.

It is hinted at that he was less insane before his comeback. He did make a fair attempt to spare Lily.

After his comeback, well, his ex-followers can't really ask Dumbledore for protection, and he's crazy powerful, so they probably follow him out of fear.

A "if you aren't for us, you are against us" movement can gather momentum really fast. The cowards will flock to the powerful leaders before the resistance really has a chance to even form. At the point there is a resistance the cowards could flock to, they have likely already cut off all ties to old friends and family, as demanded by the movement.

Likely, Voldemort lured his followers in, at first, by portraying wizards as this poor oppressed group who has to hide from muggles. Then, after he had taken over Slytherin, it was a matter of peer pressure. Most probably didn't even realize they were threatened with violence, they just thought they'd be outcasts if they didn't agree that wizardkind was oppressed by evil muggles.

The fact that Regulus Black was shocked out of following Voldy by the way Voldy treated Kreacher hints that Voldy did his evil against house elves (and Dobby claims Voldy's reign was horrible for them) where Regulus didn't see it. (Though really, any fanatic follower of an ideology will deny until he is blue in the face that the ideology's movement is violent. Even when confronted with video evidence, he will claim that was just some crazy people, nothing to do with the ideology he worships. Now, how very convenient that the death eater robes hide faces and it could always have been someone else pretending to be them ...)

[Kantaki]

It is hinted at that he was less insane before his comeback. He did make a fair attempt to spare Lily.

Errr... What?
Fair attempt to spare her?
When?

Using a stunning spell first would count, but immediately jumping to murder?

I mean okay, the murder-spell is the only bit of magic snake-face* knows, but that's neither in favour of his sanity nor a fair attempt at sparing Snape's crush.

*By the way, what is it with snake-themed baddies and being obsessed with (pre)teens?
Orochimaru, Voldemort, Coil...