Friendly reminder that Snape is NOT a good person as he did the following:
Immediately started to single out Harry on his first day of school. Itâs unacceptable that he allowed his anger towards James determine the way he treated Harry.
When he had to teach the DADA class for Remus, instead of continuing where they had left off he jumped straight to learning about werewolves and set the class an essay on how to kill them.
Wanted to watch Sirius get the dementorâs kiss. Thatâs messed up.
He only came back onto the good side after Lily was murdered. If she had stayed alive he wouldâve stayed on Voldemortâs side.
He, a man in his 30s, unnecessarily bullied students. He was Nevilleâs boggart and continued to make fun of Hermioneâs appearance and intelligence throughout the series.
And yes, he was bullied by the marauders as a teen, but they grew out of it and he clearly didnât.
He didnât care if Harry and James died, as long as Lily lived.
Called Lily a mudblood, became upset when she refused to speak to him afterwards and tried to apologise and say her blood status didnât matter despite the fact that the organisation he was a part of believed the opposite
Ignored Jamesâ body and Harry crying so he could cling onto Lilyâs corpse. Creepy? Very.
Showed favouritism towards Slytherins to a ridiculous level
Has no personal hygiene. Wash your greasy hair please.
Forced Neville to use his potion on his toad, assuming Neville has messed up the potion and it would poison his toad.
As a teenager he created a spell to slash up his enemies??
Didnât respect Lilyâs choice to be with James and not him and then became obsessive towards her.
Became a DEATH EATER
Yes he was bullied and didnât have a great childhood, but do you know who else didnât have a great childhood? Harry. And he turned out fine because he is a good person.
He never showed remorse or regret for anything mentioned above.
Now, Iâm not saying he isnât a good character, because he is certainly a very well written character. Iâm also not saying that he never did anything good and was never a victim. However, the fact is that the bad easily outweighs the good.
1. It is unacceptable that Snape treated Harry the way he did - absolutely.
2. Snape taught the class how to identify werewolves and set the essay because he was convinced that Remus was in cahoots with Sirius (who had been convicted of being the traitor, and was believed to be hunting Harry down with the aim of murdering him). He set the essay so the kids would be prepared if Remus transformed and was used against them - and it is significant that Sirius previously lured a teenage Snape to Remus in his transformed state; there is a history of this behaviour.
3. Snape thought Sirius was responsible for Voldemort defeating the protection heâd begged Dumbledore to enact, which was meant to keep the Potters safe.
4. Snape defected to the Order when Lily was threatened - not when she was murdered. We have no evidence either way as to whether Snape wouldâve defected eventually, or whether heâd have remained loyal to Voldemortâs cause.
5.1. Snapeâs behaviour was unnecessary, but it was not particularly out of step with the rest of the faculty at Hogwarts - and seems to have been accepted in-world. Â
5.2Â Nevilleâs Boggart is quite possibly a metaphorical fear of failure, rather than a literal fear of Snape - which is why the topic of Nevilleâs grandmother (who also represents failure) is raised; this is equivalent to Remusâ Boggart being the moon - Remus is not fearful of the moon itself, but the transformation it coincides with.
5.3Â Snape was cruel to Hermione, but his opinion of her seems to differ away from the classroom:Â Â âHe has fought his way out of a number of tight corners by a simply combination of sheer luck and more talented friends.â
6. It is nonsensical to say âthe bully grew out of it, and the victim didnât, so the victim is worseâ. The Marauders shouldnât have bullied Snape, the school shouldnât have stood by and permitted it to happen (we come back to the in-world tolerance of the behaviour of many inside Hogwarts, as raised in point 5.1), and it is not Snapeâs fault that he is unable to move past his trauma.
7. It is unlikely that he cared - after all, James bullied him for his entire school career and was instrumental in the scene where he lost his best friend, and Harry was the baby in the prophecy. Snape was trying to stop Lily being murdered as collateral damage, clearly believing that it would not be possible to stop Voldemort from murdering Harry. Dumbledore pulls him up on this, and Snape immediately acquiesces to, âSave them all.â Â
8. The bulk of this is fair, but he wasnât a Death Eater at this point. He doesnât believe in blood purity as a child, and he doesnât believe in it as an older adult - and given that Hagrid thinks itâs a mystery as to why Lily wasnât asked to be by Voldemortâs side, itâs entirely possible that the Death Eater movement wasnât as overtly anti-Muggleborn as most believe. Snape came from a mixed Muggle/magical background, and itâs entirely possible itâs that separation which is emphasised to him - whereas to someone like Regulus or Lucius, who believed strongly in blood purity, the anti-Muggleborn rhetoric was amplified. This is how cults work. Â
9. Didnât happen in the books.
10. To a ridiculous level? Really? Is Snapeâs behaviour out of line when compared to other teachers? We donât see him issue any house points, and both McGonagall and Dumbledore issue and remove far more than he ever does. McGonagall breaks the school rules and puts Harry in as seeker in his first year, and buys him a broom. Â
11. Possibly - but itâs equally true that when we see Snape at Spinnerâs End, in the company of Bellatrix and Narcissa, there is no such mention of his hair being greasy. This could be many things, from factors at Hogwarts to Harryâs perception being clouded through hate. Â
12. Itâs not a nice teaching method, but he threatened to poison Nevilleâs toad to motivate him to concentrate. Â
13. He created Sectumsempra seemingly after Sirius lured him to face a werewolf. We can extrapolate from James and Siriusâ actions in Snapeâs Worst Memory that they were not suitably punished for this, so it is no surprise that Snape created a spell to protect himself.
14. This did not happen. At all. In the slightest. You have made this up.
15. Yeah, he became a Death Eater. More importantly, after a short period of time, he defected. He was Dumbledoreâs man for 18 years, whereas itâs likely he was a legitimate Death Eater for approximately 18 months.
16. Itâs not trauma Olympics - you canât compare victims and say, âThis one turned out fine, and this one didnât, so the one who didnât is bad.â Harry had a terrible childhood, but he also had the magical protection of love from his mother, became rich at 11, and found a great set of friends almost immediately at school. Snape was dirt poor and was bullied almost immediately - and continuously - at school.
17. He shows repeated remorse and regret for his actions as a Death Eater, and for the actions that lost him his friendship with Lily. I donât know how itâs possible to read the series and miss this, but seeing as 95% of this post was completely wrong, then perhaps youâre reading something entirely different to the novels that the rest of us own. Â
It amazes me when people say âheâs a well written character, but heâs not a nice personâ. Sure, heâs not nice - but from what youâve posted, I donât see how youâve concluded heâs well written, because you seem to have failed to understand at least 95% of his actions. Â
