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Why Are People So Quick to Defend Snape?

Everyone has their opinion on Severus Snape, some see the good in him and some see the bad. But why is it such a serious topic?

By Amy WalkerPublished 6 years ago 8 min read
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We are introduced to Severus Snape in the first book and we automatically believe that he's a borderline evil character. Then as the series progresses, we find that he is far more complex than we first thought. This makes his character more challenging to fully understand.

Snape, in my view, has the Potterheads split in two minds more than any other character in the franchise. Some people think that he's the good guy and just misunderstood, but the others think that he's shouldn't be sympathised with and was as bad as he started out way back in Philosopher's Stone.

So why do some fans think that he's the good guy in everything? There are certainly moments that can back that up. But, to me, he isn't a character that should be seen in a good light. Sure, when we hear about him as a child, we find out that he and Lily Potter (then Evans) were the closest of friends before they started Hogwarts and it was clear they brought out the best of each other.

However, when they finally got to Hogwarts, Lily got sorted into Gryffindor and he into Slytherin. There's certainly a rivalry between the two houses and has been well documented for centuries, but they still maintained their friendship as best they could. Lily sympathised with her friend as he was bullied and tormented at school as she stuck up for him and stood by his side.

It was when he started to fall into a group within the Slytherin house whos values and morals faltered from his own. He offended his only true friend in the world the worst name anyone could possibly call a muggle-born: Mudblood.

After he called her such an awful name, Lily realised that he'd changed and that he was no longer the kid that she'd first met. This was the point when Snape pretty much pushed Lily straight into James's arms, which started a feud of epic proportions.

As Snape left Hogwarts and joined the Death Eaters, he heard about the prophecy about 'the Chosen One.' He found out that Voldemort thought this to be Lily's child Harry. He knew that this would sign Lily's death warrant. He did go to Dumbledore to get help with the matter and try to protect Lily.

When Albus asked if there was a scenario that Lily could survive, but James and Harry died, would he have been okay with that. When Snape answered yes straight away, Albus was disgusted that he'd let Lily's husband and child die just because he was still obsessed with her.

I use the word 'obsessed' instead of 'loved' because that's what it ended up as. If he loved her, he would have tried to understand that she was happy and that should have been enough for him, but it wasn't. He would have let a man and a newborn child perish just so he could have her quicker and easier than snapping your fingers.

That, to me, is not love — it is serious jealousy crossed with brutal obsession. He had a chance to keep his friendship strong with Lily through school, yet he let himself slip into the Death Eater group regardless of how much she told him that his new friends were tearing them apart.

When Snape had heard that Voldemort had murdered Lily and James, he does go to the ruins of the house. This could be considered the point where he realised how dark side he'd turned. He then made a deal with Albus that he would watch over Harry in memory of Lily.

When Harry starts school, he instantly takes a dislike to him. He is verbally abusive towards him, always undermines him during class and bullies him at every opportune moment. If Snape loved Lily he would have tried to help Harry strive at school, rather than making Harry's life 10 times harder than it already was.

Another aspect of Snape's character was his behaviour towards Neville. It transpires that the prophecy could have been about Neville as he was also born at the end of July. Neville had also gone through his own personal trauma by his parents being tortured into insanity by Bellatrix and they no longer recognised who he was when he and his grandmother visited them at St. Mungo's.

Regardless of Snape knowing this, he still puts the poor boy through hell and back. It's known that Neville can struggle with the work he's given in his lessons and the strain Snape puts him under obviously did not help things in the slightest.

After it was revealed that Neville's Boggart turned into Snape, this would have been a turning point in anyone's character to make them more of an understanding person. However, after hearing what happened, Snape hated Neville even more. As we all learn, Neville becomes stronger and proves all of his doubters wrong. He shows everyone that he develops the courage and confidence to help in any way he can.

He is the one that finds the room of requirement so they can practise magic without being detected. He understands the room so well that he can form it into anything that is needed. This outcome could be from years of torment from people like Snape, telling him that he would never amount to anything. You could argue that because of the verbal batterings that he took off Snape on a regular basis, it moulded him into a stronger person, resulting in him going against Voldemort and killing Nagini.

Even though Snape does flit between the Order and the Death Eater's, it's at his own great 'personal' risk. He flits back and forth to the strongest group, yet making sure he's greatly involved in both. He does tell Voldemort certain things out of Albus' order, such as the real move date of Harry out of the Dursley's house.

You can also argue that he was powerless when he was with the Death Eater's because he couldn't show any weakness by just letting what horrid thing happen, such as the murder of the muggles studies professo

r. When he's in a meeting for the Order, he still makes his hatred known towards Sirius and that the childhood rivalry is still very much alive. However, when Sirius got captured in the ministry and Harry warns Snape when he'sin Umbridge's office, he does have the decency to warn the Order.

When Snape gives Harry his memories and tells him to put them in the Pensive, we see his past. His past that involves Lily and how Snape was a part of getting Albus to protect his family when he found out they were marked for death. It does indeed show a human side to Snape, like when he helped Albus keep the curse of the Horcrux ring confined within his hand to slow the spreading.

Also, when Snape learns that Harry himself was a Horcrux and he had to die. He found out that Albus brought him up to die 'at the proper moment' and we finally see that Albus was a manipulative man that only saw an end goal and it didn't really matter to him who he stepped on. This is obvious when we find out about Albus as a young man, but I digress. The memories can show that Snape had a human side once, it also showed him turn into.

I felt that Harry naming his child Albus Severus, then saying that Severus was one of the 'bravest' men he's ever known was a complete insult. The child was named after a man who could manipulate great minds and one who was a coward and threw a mass tantrum when he couldn't get the girl and took it out on her son.

If Harry considered that as 'bravery', he should have taken a step back and saw who else was involved in his life. For example, Ron sacrificed himself on a giant chessboard when he was just 11, along with facing a nest of deadly spiders the year after. Ron went to hell and back with Harry from day one and if Harry didn't class his best friend as brave, then he was an idiot.

There was a long list of names that deserved to be classed as brave over Snape. A short list of names included Remus, Fred, George, Neville and so on. All of those names fought at the battle of Hogwarts and some died because they stood up for what was right. Albus only stood for power and Snape only stood mainly for himself.

So, in conclusion, Snape was an awful man who didn't deserve the recognition of the 'good guy' status that a lot of people reward him at the end of the series. This is obviously one of millions of views around the world about Snape.

Everyone has the right to make up their own mind about Snape, but to me, he was one of the most overrated character in the wizarding world.

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About the Creator

Amy Walker

Just a simple lass with a passion for writing, music, movies and TV series!

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