Severus Snape

Categories: Death Eaters | Hogwarts employees | Order of the Phoenix | Slytherins | Harry Potter characters

Harry Potter character
Image:Severus snape.jpg
Alan Rickman as Snape in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Severus Snape
Gender Male
Hair colour Black
Eye colour Black
House Slytherin
Parentage Half-Blood
Loyalty Unknown (double agent: Death Eaters / Order of the Phoenix)
Film portrayer Alan Rickman
First appearance Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

Severus Snape (born January 9, 1959) is a fictional character in the Harry Potter series of novels by J. K. Rowling. He was appointed Potions teacher at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry shortly after completing his education at the school, and became Head of Slytherin house.

Snape's physical appearance is that of the classic villain: tall, thin, "hook-nosed" and "greasy," and clad in forbidding black robes "like an overgrown bat" [HP1]. Harry Potter intensely dislikes and distrusts Snape on account of his chequered past and his apparent animosity towards Harry.

In the Harry Potter films, the character is played by actor Alan Rickman.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Contents

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Background

Severus Snape was born to Tobias Snape, a Muggle, and Eileen Prince, a witch. Details of his early life are incomplete, but Harry comes to suspect that Snape suffered neglect by his parents and may have been abused by his father. He comes to these conclusions through his botched lessons in Occlumency. He learns that Snape was extremely unpopular and lonely in his teens, resulting from, or perhaps fuelling, his interest in the Dark Arts. [HP5] The youthful Snape was described as having a stringy, pallid look, being round shouldered yet angular, a twitchy walk like a spider and long oily hair that jumped about his face.

It was said that, as a first-year student at Hogwarts, Snape knew more hexes and curses than most seventh-years. Additionally, his bookish demeanour and unattractive appearance made him an outsider and a target of scorn. Much of Snape's disdain for Harry seems to stem from the rivalry between Snape and Harry's father James Potter when they were students together at Hogwarts. Snape's classmates also included Harry's mother Lily Evans, Harry's godfather Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew.

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Role in the stories

There is a mutual feeling of enmity between Snape and Harry from the moment that they first set eyes on each other. During his first year at Hogwarts Harry mistakenly suspects Snape of trying to steal the Philosopher's Stone; even after it emerges that Professor Quirrell is the real culprit, Harry retains lingering suspicions of Snape and their relationship is fraught at best.

Image:Severus-Snape-fighting.png
Rickman as Snape in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

In Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Harry learns that, while they were still students at Hogwarts, Sirius Black - one of James Potter's best friends and later Harry's godfather - lured Severus to the Shrieking Shack where he could have been killed or seriously injured by Remus Lupin in his werewolf form. James acted to save Severus's life, but Severus has believed ever since that James was involved in the plot and only intervened out of fear of expulsion from Hogwarts. Later, it emerges that Snape suffered teasing and bullying at the hands of James and Sirius during their time at the school.

Snape repeatedly antagonizes Harry, labelling him "a nasty little boy who considers rules to be beneath him" [HP4]. He taunts Harry during lessons, ridiculing his work and giving him frequent, often unjustified, detentions and other penalties. On several occasions Snape tries to have Harry, and sometimes his best friend Ron, expelled from the school. Nevertheless, in spite of these attempts to sabotage Harry's school career, Snape also saves Harry's life on more than one occasion.

At the end of the fourth book, Snape, in addition to Dumbledore's attempts, tries to convince the Minister for Magic, Cornelius Fudge, that Voldemort has returned, by showing him the Dark Mark on his arm, still very clearly visible from when it burnt black at the Dark Lord's revival an hour earlier. Dumbledore subsequently sends Snape on a secretive mission, which is later revealed to have been as an envoy to Voldemort.

For a time during the course of the fifth book, Dumbledore assigns Snape the task of giving Harry lessons in Occlumency, the protection of one's mind from outside intrusion or influence. Snape is chosen because he is extremely skilled in both Occlumency and its companion art of Legilimency, the reading of minds, both proficiencies undoubtedly useful in his undercover work among the Death Eaters. The classes, however, are made uncomfortable for Harry because of Snape's hostility towards him, and are eventually cut short after Harry uses Dumbledore's Pensieve, borrowed by Snape in order to sequester private memories during the lessons, to observe Snape's worst memory. Viewing this proves to be an unpleasant shock for Harry, who discovers that his father and Sirius had been arrogant bullies who persecuted Severus much as Dudley Dursley and Draco Malfoy persecute Harry. Harry also sees his mother Lily, who shares Severus's poor opinion of James, defending Snape against his two tormentors.

In the sixth book, while at his home at Spinner's End, Snape swears an Unbreakable Vow to Draco Malfoy's mother Narcissa that he will protect Draco and help him complete whatever task Voldemort has required of him. He is at long last appointed to his coveted post of Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. He is seen by Hagrid arguing about an important task assigned to him by Dumbledore, saying that Dumbledore took 'too much for granted', and suggesting that there was something that he was no longer willing to do as planned. At the end of the book, during the skirmish between Death Eaters and the Order of the Phoenix on the battlements of Hogwarts, Dumbledore asks Harry to seek Snape's aid - but when Snape arrives, he kills Dumbledore using the Avada Kedavra, the 'killing curse'. Snape flees the school followed by the surviving Death Eaters, taunting (or warning) Harry about his lack of proficiency in magical combat before Disapparating.

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The Half-Blood Prince

Main article: Half-Blood Prince (character)

In a major plot arc in the sixth book in the series, Snape is unexpectedly given the Defence against the Dark arts job, and is replaced as Potions master by Horace Slughorn, who returns from retirement having taught the subject for many years before Snape. Harry is lent an old Potions textbook from the Potions storeroom which turns out to be filled with the jottings of a highly talented former student. The additional notes include a variety of hexes and jinxes seemingly invented by the student, as well as substantial improvements to the book's potion-making instructions, and is signed 'Property of the Half-Blood Prince'. Harry uses the notes in the book to bolster his performance in the subject during the year. His newfound abilities greatly impress Slughorn, who compliments him and declares that he must have inherited his mother's outstanding ability at potions. Harry decides that, whoever the prince might be, he is a better teacher than either Snape or Slughorn.

Hermione, in part outraged by Harry's easy success in the subject, investigates the possible identity of the Half-Blood Prince and suspects a former Hogwarts student, Eileen Prince. Harry remains ambivalent about the importance of discovering who the Prince really was, although he is convinced that the student in question was male. He tries out one of the Prince's handwritten spells - marked 'For Enemies' - on his rival Draco Malfoy, and discovers to his horror that it causes vicious slashing wounds to the victim. Nevertheless Harry is reluctant to abandon his reliance on the Prince's handwritten tips and keeps the book. Harry is already aware that at least two of the spells were used by Snape and his father James Potter during their 5th year, and this is confirmed by Remus Lupin. The way the spells are written into the book, with many corrections, also convinces him that the writer had invented the spells himself. Finally, it is confirmed by Snape that he had written the spells. Snape is forced to flee Hogwarts after the death of Dumbledore, but as he leaves he confirms to Harry that he himself is the "Half-Blood Prince" .

Eileen Prince, the student suspected by Hermione, was in fact Snape's mother. The nickname was derived from her maiden name of "Prince" and from Severus's father having been a Muggle, making Severus himself a "half-blood". This term is considered an insult by some in the wizarding world, especially among Voldemort's followers and in Snape's own Slytherin House. It is not clear how he came to receive the name, or whether it was in common usage during his studies. Remus Lupin, when questioned by Harry, knew nothing of the name despite also being a classmate.

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Loyalty

The question of Snape's ultimate loyalty is one of the most significant unresolved issues in the Harry Potter series. Apparently, both the followers and opponents of Voldemort think Snape is working as a double agent against the other, and it is unclear where his loyalties actually lie.

According to his Hogwarts colleague Sybill Trelawney, Snape was the eavesdropper during her interview with Dumbledore in the Hog's Head for a teaching job at Hogwarts. During the interview she fell into a trance and delivered a key prophecy regarding Voldemort and a foe who had the power to vanquish him. Dumbledore had revealed to Harry that there was an eavesdropper, but said that he only heard the first part of the prophecy[HP5]. This conflicts with Trelawney's own account, that she had delivered the whole prophecy before Snape was discovered listening. Snape reported part of the prophecy to Voldemort, who identified Harry as the subject of the prophecy and, seeking to kill the infant Harry, murdered Lily and James Potter. Snape therefore bears indirect responsibility for the deaths of Harry's parents, the realisation of which serves to amplify Harry's contempt for Snape.

Snape is a respected member of the Order of the Phoenix, but he kills Dumbledore using Avada Kedavra, an Unforgivable Curse, when Hogwarts is invaded by Death Eaters at the end of Half-Blood Prince. He 'duels' with Harry before fleeing Hogwarts with the Death Eaters, demonstrating his ability as a wizard by foiling all the hexes aimed at him, and taunts (or warns) Harry about his lack of skills, notably in Occlumency. Because he makes no attempt to attack Harry and because his taunts can also be read as advising Harry to learn more Occlumency and non-verbal spells, the motivation behind his comments remains unclear. In part, his actions must be affected by the 'Unbreakable Vow' which he took to aid Draco in his assigned task, and indeed protect him from harm as far as he is able. He prevents the other Death Eaters from killing Harry, insisting that it is 'not the Dark Lord's wish'. He Disapparates with the Death Eaters, drawing them rapidly away from Hogwarts without inflicting further damage on the castle or staff. His conflicting actions have given rise to intense speculation amongst readers whether, or to what extent, Dumbledore might have planned, or anticipated, his own death. Dumbledore's last words - "Please, Severus..." - are cited by some as evidence that Dumbledore was pleading with Snape to kill him, and that this was the planned act to which Hagrid overheard Snape referring in his argument with Dumbledore.

The reflexive distrust of Snape exhibited by Harry is in stark contrast to the views of Dumbledore, who repeatedly makes clear that Snape has his full confidence. Dumbledore never made explicit the reason for his trust. Though Harry assumes that Snape's remorse was all that convinced Dumbledore, there is no proof of this. At Igor Karkaroff's trial, seen in Dumbledore's Pensieve, Dumbledore testified that Snape joined the good side before Voldemort's fall, "at great personal risk"[HP4]. Throughout the series, Snape's sinister personality and antagonism towards Harry have been juxtaposed with his occasionally heroic actions in Harry's defence. His history of divided loyalty to both the Death Eaters and the Order of the Phoenix, and his actions in apparent support of both sides, make him one of the most morally complex characters in the series.

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Character origins and possible influences

Rowling says that she borrowed his surname from the village of Snape in the English county of Suffolk. Severus is Latin for "strict", "harsh", or "severe", and may have been inspired by the Imperial Roman Severan Dynasty, noted for their dictatorial ways and despised by the rest of the Roman elite as outsiders of Phoenician descent.

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External Links


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