Hello, gentlefolk, ferals and domesticated crypts! One of the most overrated characters in the Harry Potter universe is Severus Snape This blog can be summarized in one simple sentence: Severus Snape is a terrible person that does not deserve the love that the fans give him. So, here I’m gonna explain why I believe this and you hopefully will enjoy it.
Beginnings
I’m gonna summarize his backstory real quick so we all are in the same page. He is a half blood (wizard mother/muggle father), who grew up in an abusive household, and became "friends" with Lily Evans, Harry Potter’s mother, when he was a little kid.
I’m putting the word “friend” between quotation marks because Snape doesn’t really care about Lily’s loved ones. Petunia is her sister, and the one who raised Harry before he went to Hogwarts, and Snape didn’t like her so he decided to drop a tree branch on her head.
Petunia was a little kid at the time and that could have killed her, or at least seriously injured her. The branch missed her head and when Lily confronted Snape about it he refused to apologize or to it he was wrong in any way. Here we can see how Snape doesn’t care about Lily's family. Which is going to be a big problem in the future.
One of the most common arguments about why Snape should be forgiven for everything he has done is because he had a bad childhood. But you know who also had a terrible childhood and is not running around trying to hurt people? Harry. He also grew up in an abusive household. Other characters had rough lives and their are great, just look at Remus and Hagrid.
School years
Snape got bullied by James Potter, Harry’s father, and many people use this as an argument in favour of Snape. They say that, because he was bullied, he can do whatever he wants without consequences, including using racial slurs against Lily and other muggleborns, practicing dark magic and ing a hate group trying to commit genocide.
I’m not saying that bullying isn’t bad. James Potter was obviously in the wrong, but people can change with time. He became a good father and husband, more than willing to give his life to save his family. Snape became a bully, which is something I’m gonna talk about in a moment.
Time as a death eater
Snape s Voldemort because he believes in blood purity, genocide, blood supremacy and all that death eater stuff. It was his decision, no one forced to do that. He probably killed and tortured lots of innocent people during the First War. That’s what death eaters do.
Once someone tried to tell me that Snape wasn't really a death eater because he only ed the movement to impress Lily. Why on Earth she would be impressed by him ing a group that is trying to destroy her and all of her kind?
When the prophecy arrives, he realizes that Lily could be a victim and asks Voldemort to not kill her if that's the case. I want you to notice that he doesn't care at all about Harry or James. He is more than willing to let Lily's whole family die if there is a possibility that he can have a chance with her. That is so mess up. It’s like one of those situations in which a creepy guy thinks that “if I can’t have her no one else can”
This kind of obsesion, not love, is not normal. It's not okay to be so centered in a person that everything else becomes secondary. It's the behaviour of a crazy person. He didn’t love her, he was obsessed. It's like those horror movies in which a poor woman has to deal with a stalker.
In the books, Harry was the one who had to defeat Voldemort, but there was a strong possibility that Neville Longbottom was also the Chosen One because they had similar characteristics. Snape doesn’t care about the Longbottoms, only about Lily’s safety, they end up tortured to insanity by other death eaters.
Has anyone considered that if Voldemort had tried to kill the Longbottoms instead of the Potter then Snape would have lived and died as a death eater?
His values didn’t change, he still believed in blood purity. Snape didn’t fought the evil because it was the right thing to do, he fought it because the evil had pissed him of. He started the war the same way he ended it, on the side of the people that fought for blood supremacy.
Time as a teacher
Snape was a terrible teacher. Not only his method of teaching was to let the students copy from the board without explaining, but he also bullied his students. He has very clear preferences. He only gives points to Slytherins and punishes other houses for no reason. If Draco answers a question right he gets 10 points, if Hermione answers the same question she gets called a know-it-all.
He tries to humiliate Harry, an 11 year old boy, on his first day at school by asking very hard questions. He continues to degrade him and his work through all the school year. Lets not forget how horribly he also treats Hermione, he made fun of her front teeth. What kind of adult does that?
Let’s some of the horrible stuff he said to his students:
-"Tell me, are you incapable of restraining yourself, or do you take pride in being an insufferable know-it-all?"
-"Yes, it is easy to see that nearly six years of magical education have not been wasted on you, Potter. ‘Ghosts are transparent.'"
-"I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death — if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach."
-"That is the second time you have spoken out of turn, Miss Granger,” said Snape coolly. “Five more points from Gryffindor for being an insufferable know-it-all."
Speaking of horrible things let’s talk about Neville.
His boggart (the thing that fears the most) was his own teacher. The kid which parents were tortured to insanity by death eaters worst fear is his own teacher.That is so messed up. By the way he treated him it's not a surprise. He wanted to kill Neville's toad because he could not make a potion. How would you feel if your teacher killed your dog because you failed a test?
Later on, Snape forced Neville to disembowel toads as a punishment. This is very cruel because Neville's pet is a toad. Are there any rules in Hogwarts about what can a teacher use as a punishment? Did any of the students ever complained about Snape? Probably, but Dumbledore wanted to keep an eye on him so he let Snape work at Hogwarts regardless of how bad he was.
Has anyone realized that he also ruined Remus Lupin’s life. In the Harry Potter universe, werewolfs suffer from lots of discrimination. No one knew he was a werewolf until he told his students. Remus was not able to find a job after that. That is a horrible thing to do to someone.
Snape did one good thing, he became a spy against Voldemort. He is a well written character but not a hero or a good person.
What do you guys think? Let me know in the comments below.
Comments (1)
I totally agree with everything you said! Great analysis of his character. :blush: