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In the Deathly Hallows Part 2 movie, Harry was looking in the Pensieve from the vial Snape gave him and he saw Voldemort killing Lily. How could Snape have known what it looked like?

Also you could see Harry looking at Snape's Patronus in the forest. How could Snape have seen that?

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    because the movie took liberties with the subject matter... Mar 10, 2016 at 20:09
  • @thegiantoflannister that is literally the answer. Write it as one and whore all the delicious rep! :D
    – Mac Cooper
    Mar 10, 2016 at 20:36
  • @TheGiantofLannister Although I'm wholeheartedly on the "the HP films are trash" train, I think this particular problem can be explained a bit better than that - see my answer below :-)
    – Rand al'Thor
    Mar 10, 2016 at 20:48
  • @randal'thor I rewatched this just now. I do not agree with your supposition! It is clear that the footage shown is meant to be Snape's memories and Snape's alone. And in near 4 mins of footage, the video of Voldemort killing Lily is the only snippet that cannot be linked to Snape's presence. Mar 10, 2016 at 21:29
  • Hi sluger, if you want to edit your question (as I guess you do, judging from the other question you posted), you can follow this link (or just click the "edit" button below your post) to do so.
    – Rand al'Thor
    Mar 10, 2016 at 21:51

2 Answers 2

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Not all of the scenes we (the viewers) see are from the Pensieve.

In the section of the film which deals with Harry's numerous revelations while in the Penseive experiencing Snape's memories, there are some scenes which are what Harry is actually seeing at that moment (Pensieve memories) and others which are flashbacks or shots of related events.

The scene with Harry seeing the doe Patronus is a flashback to an earlier scene in the film. We see this because it's what was crossing Harry's mind at that moment: he sees the scene with Snape, Dumbledore, and the Patronus in the Pensieve, and then for a split second he recalls seeing the same Patronus himself. Because the film is following his thought processes, we share this flashback at the same moment.

As for the scene of Voldemort killing Lily, that's probably just included for drama and pathos, to make this whole section of the film more gripping. If you want it to make sense on a level different from simply "some random crap they stuck in to make the film more exciting", then maybe it's a repressed childhood memory of Harry's own! After all, he was the only other person present when Voldemort killed Lily, and therefore the only witness.

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    I think there is a flashback of Lily's death from Voldermort's point of view in one of the bits where Harry ends up inside Voldermort's head in the books. The films probably cut this bit from earlier in the books and threw it in later. Mar 10, 2016 at 21:17
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It is unclear how Snape could have known how this scene looked, however we can infer artistic license on the part of the filmmakers.

A clip of the act of Voldemort killing Lily was probably deemed to be a lot more impactful than any other way of representing the events to a film audience.

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