Severus Snape. The man we all hated. Then loved. Then went back to hating. And then we positively loathed him. But, after, we found out hi story. And, when we knew the truth, what did we feel? Love.
Yes, we ended up loving Severus Snape. Because, once we knew HIS side of the story, it was clear.
Snape had a difficult childhood, which probably led to his disturbed adulthood. But we knew nothing about this until we read The Deathly Hallows. And after we found out, found out exactly what he had suffered through, our emotions changed. Snape is one of the deepest characters in Harry Potter, and here is his story. If you know the story and want to get to the conclusions, you can skip this.
As a child, Snape had always loved Lily Potter. Always. The first time he ever actually tried to talk to her ended in total failure. As you all should know, Lily Evans was a witch. And Snape was a wizard. Lily’s sister Petunia, however, was just a Muggle. A Muggle with a bad attitude. petúnia hated Lily for being a witch, because she was jealous of Lily. petúnia Evans tried to cover up her jealousy por calling Lily a ‘freak,’ and I have to say, she covered up her tracks pretty well.
So, for being a witch, Lily Evans was hated for the rest of her life por the sister who was once her best friend. Now, Snape plays a major part here. Because now, he steps in and becomes Lily’s best friend.
Why is this important? It will be later; nothing Rowling ever put in her books was insignificant. Then, their lives pass on. At the age of fifteen, the splitting happens.
James Potter, Harry’s father, loathes and is loathed por Snape. The two 15 ano old boys hate each other. James’s best friend, Sirius Black, also hates Snape. James and Sirius called Snape “Snivellus” and tortured him in front of everyone. The worst scene was in their O.W.L year, when James hung Snape upside down in front of the school at recess. Lily Evans came to Snape’s defense, but, in his humiliation, Snape shouted at her: ‘Mud-Blood,’ (meaning Muggle-born). This caused Lily and Severus to be enemies – although Severus still loved her.
They grew into adults and the one woman Snape ever loved married the man he hated and could never forgive. Now, see what his life had become? They had a child and his name was Harry Potter. Snape hated the child for being Lily and James’ child. [1]
And, of course, there came the dia he heard the prophecy. He was a Death Eater por that time [2] and the few lines of the prophecy he heard he told at once to his master, Lord Voledemort. The lines he did here were these: The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches...Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh mês dies [3]
Now, he hastened to tell his master at once. It was a mistake he regretted for the rest of his life. Now knowing what the prophecy was, The Dark Lord naturally set out to find the one child this prophecy mentioned. He [Voldemort] came to the conclusion that Harry Potter was the child. We can only imagine Snape’s reaction when he heard this. He begged Voldemort not to kill Lily Potter; the child and her husband, NO, who cares about them, just save Lily Potter. Voldemort agreed to what Snape was saying.
And then came 31rst October of 1981. The fateful day, when Lily Potter cast aside her life for her son Harry. Snape wanted to die once he heard that Lily Potter was dead. Instead, he took up the case of protecting her son. [4]
Even after she was dead, Snape continued to amor Lily. His patronus was a doe, same as hers. [5] He worked valiantly to protect Harry, like when in Philosopher’s Stone; he saved Harry form falling of his broom.
So they go about their normal lives until Harry turns seventeen. That’s when Severus Snape receives the shocking truth. The truth that Harry was not meant to live. He was meant to die, and when he dies, Voldemort will too. Snape’s reaction to this is impressive. He gets very angry at Dumbledore. [6] He truly wanted to keep Harry alive,[7] because of Lily Potter. That’s when he reveals that he has always loved Lily, until the end of his life. [8]
So, Snape’s life has been misery until he died. [9] Unlike so many other characters, whose lives improved later onward, Snape spent his life, first at a failed attempt to achieve Lily’s love, then at a not-so-failed attempt to bring down Voldemort. Snape would have wanted to see Voldemort die – but he himself died bringing down Voldemort.
Now, finally, the conclusions.
1,6,7,8 It is a known fact that Harry Potter has Lily’s eyes – EXACTLY her eyes. Is this a reason Snape helped to protect Harry, or was it just because Harry was Lily’s son?
9 The last words that come out of Snape’s mouth are “Look at me…” Then, it says “The green eyes found the black…” Snape wanted to look in Harry’s eyes because it reminded him of Lily?
2,3,4 Snape was a Death Eater when Lily married James – was it because he thought being a Death Eater could lessen his grief? Once he heard the prophecy, however, he was devastated. Now, you should know that the prophecy could have applied to two wizarding boys – Harry and Neville. Snape did not know this. Had he known it, that Neville could also have been a child of the prophecy, would his amor for Lily over lapse his hatred for James, and would he protect them por telling Voldemort to go after Neville? But, when Voldemort killed Lily Potter, Snape switched to the good side, and helped protect Lily’s son. Did he do it as a favour to Lily? Or was it something else? In the Philosopher’s Stone, we know that Snape saved Harry’s life to repay James from saving his. Had James not saved Snape, would Harry have died in the first book?
5 Snape’s Patronus was a doe. If Snape’s patronus was a doe, because of his amor for Lily, then why would he have made fun of Tonks’s Patronus being a lobo because of her amor for Lupin? Unless it was his Slytherin side coming out, the perhaps he was jealous of Tonks, because Lupin could accept her, yet since Lily was dead, she could – and would – never accept him?
Now, the final question:
How??? Whenever Snape used Legilemency, which requires eye contact, he would have been reminded of Lily. So then how could he look into Harry’s eyes without weeping or getting sad? How could he have performed Legilemency, and give Harry all those detentions, while being reminded of Lily? Was it, once again, his Slytherin side coming out? Or was it the fact that apart from the eyes, Harry looked just like James?
To end this article, I will just say, that Severus Snape is the bravest man I never knew. His favourite line should be on here, so here it is: “50 points from Gryffindor."
Yes, we ended up loving Severus Snape. Because, once we knew HIS side of the story, it was clear.
Snape had a difficult childhood, which probably led to his disturbed adulthood. But we knew nothing about this until we read The Deathly Hallows. And after we found out, found out exactly what he had suffered through, our emotions changed. Snape is one of the deepest characters in Harry Potter, and here is his story. If you know the story and want to get to the conclusions, you can skip this.
As a child, Snape had always loved Lily Potter. Always. The first time he ever actually tried to talk to her ended in total failure. As you all should know, Lily Evans was a witch. And Snape was a wizard. Lily’s sister Petunia, however, was just a Muggle. A Muggle with a bad attitude. petúnia hated Lily for being a witch, because she was jealous of Lily. petúnia Evans tried to cover up her jealousy por calling Lily a ‘freak,’ and I have to say, she covered up her tracks pretty well.
So, for being a witch, Lily Evans was hated for the rest of her life por the sister who was once her best friend. Now, Snape plays a major part here. Because now, he steps in and becomes Lily’s best friend.
Why is this important? It will be later; nothing Rowling ever put in her books was insignificant. Then, their lives pass on. At the age of fifteen, the splitting happens.
James Potter, Harry’s father, loathes and is loathed por Snape. The two 15 ano old boys hate each other. James’s best friend, Sirius Black, also hates Snape. James and Sirius called Snape “Snivellus” and tortured him in front of everyone. The worst scene was in their O.W.L year, when James hung Snape upside down in front of the school at recess. Lily Evans came to Snape’s defense, but, in his humiliation, Snape shouted at her: ‘Mud-Blood,’ (meaning Muggle-born). This caused Lily and Severus to be enemies – although Severus still loved her.
They grew into adults and the one woman Snape ever loved married the man he hated and could never forgive. Now, see what his life had become? They had a child and his name was Harry Potter. Snape hated the child for being Lily and James’ child. [1]
And, of course, there came the dia he heard the prophecy. He was a Death Eater por that time [2] and the few lines of the prophecy he heard he told at once to his master, Lord Voledemort. The lines he did here were these: The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches...Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh mês dies [3]
Now, he hastened to tell his master at once. It was a mistake he regretted for the rest of his life. Now knowing what the prophecy was, The Dark Lord naturally set out to find the one child this prophecy mentioned. He [Voldemort] came to the conclusion that Harry Potter was the child. We can only imagine Snape’s reaction when he heard this. He begged Voldemort not to kill Lily Potter; the child and her husband, NO, who cares about them, just save Lily Potter. Voldemort agreed to what Snape was saying.
And then came 31rst October of 1981. The fateful day, when Lily Potter cast aside her life for her son Harry. Snape wanted to die once he heard that Lily Potter was dead. Instead, he took up the case of protecting her son. [4]
Even after she was dead, Snape continued to amor Lily. His patronus was a doe, same as hers. [5] He worked valiantly to protect Harry, like when in Philosopher’s Stone; he saved Harry form falling of his broom.
So they go about their normal lives until Harry turns seventeen. That’s when Severus Snape receives the shocking truth. The truth that Harry was not meant to live. He was meant to die, and when he dies, Voldemort will too. Snape’s reaction to this is impressive. He gets very angry at Dumbledore. [6] He truly wanted to keep Harry alive,[7] because of Lily Potter. That’s when he reveals that he has always loved Lily, until the end of his life. [8]
So, Snape’s life has been misery until he died. [9] Unlike so many other characters, whose lives improved later onward, Snape spent his life, first at a failed attempt to achieve Lily’s love, then at a not-so-failed attempt to bring down Voldemort. Snape would have wanted to see Voldemort die – but he himself died bringing down Voldemort.
Now, finally, the conclusions.
1,6,7,8 It is a known fact that Harry Potter has Lily’s eyes – EXACTLY her eyes. Is this a reason Snape helped to protect Harry, or was it just because Harry was Lily’s son?
9 The last words that come out of Snape’s mouth are “Look at me…” Then, it says “The green eyes found the black…” Snape wanted to look in Harry’s eyes because it reminded him of Lily?
2,3,4 Snape was a Death Eater when Lily married James – was it because he thought being a Death Eater could lessen his grief? Once he heard the prophecy, however, he was devastated. Now, you should know that the prophecy could have applied to two wizarding boys – Harry and Neville. Snape did not know this. Had he known it, that Neville could also have been a child of the prophecy, would his amor for Lily over lapse his hatred for James, and would he protect them por telling Voldemort to go after Neville? But, when Voldemort killed Lily Potter, Snape switched to the good side, and helped protect Lily’s son. Did he do it as a favour to Lily? Or was it something else? In the Philosopher’s Stone, we know that Snape saved Harry’s life to repay James from saving his. Had James not saved Snape, would Harry have died in the first book?
5 Snape’s Patronus was a doe. If Snape’s patronus was a doe, because of his amor for Lily, then why would he have made fun of Tonks’s Patronus being a lobo because of her amor for Lupin? Unless it was his Slytherin side coming out, the perhaps he was jealous of Tonks, because Lupin could accept her, yet since Lily was dead, she could – and would – never accept him?
Now, the final question:
How??? Whenever Snape used Legilemency, which requires eye contact, he would have been reminded of Lily. So then how could he look into Harry’s eyes without weeping or getting sad? How could he have performed Legilemency, and give Harry all those detentions, while being reminded of Lily? Was it, once again, his Slytherin side coming out? Or was it the fact that apart from the eyes, Harry looked just like James?
To end this article, I will just say, that Severus Snape is the bravest man I never knew. His favourite line should be on here, so here it is: “50 points from Gryffindor."
