As far as readers and viewers know, Snape was the only Death Eater to cast a Patronus spell throughout the series. Since his happiest and most loving memories were with Harry's mother, Lily, his Patronus took the same form as hers — which is what made Harry follow it in the first place.
However, Snape isn't the only villainous character in the series that uses a Patronus. It's widely known by Hogwarts students and professors that Snape wanted to be the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, not Potions. But based on the description of the position on Wizarding World, it seems like Snape was destined for the role. The site reads, "The popular idea of a Potions expert within the wizarding community is of a brooding, slow-burning personality. Although we know he wasn't always this way, Snape seemed to have grown into the position quite comfortably by Harry's first year.
Snape was a half-blood, born to a Muggle father named Tobias Snape and a witch mother named Eileen Prince. His father was neglectful and sometimes abusive, which may have contributed to Snape's disdain for Muggles. At some point during his school years, he decided to reject his father's name entirely, giving himself the moniker "The Half-Blood Prince" with his mother's maiden name instead.
The films give the impression that Snape grew up alongside Lily and her sister, Petunia. Although both families did live in the fictional English town of Cokeworth, they resided in two different neighborhoods.
Snape's family lived on Spinner's End, which is shown as a run-down street in "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," insinuating that Snape's family wasn't very wealthy. But the film version doesn't clearly show why their relationship fell apart the way it did. In the book, we learn that James Potter and his friends were bullying Snape, and Lily came to his defense.
Instead of accepting her act of kindness, he rejected her and called her a "mudblood" — an insult to witches and wizards with Muggle parents — despite his own impure bloodline. Through his memories, it's revealed that he was worried about Harry's future when Lily and James died and that he was afraid of seeing Harry when he's old enough to attend Hogwarts.
He can hardly bear to see Harry every day, being reminded of Lily and everything he lost. Still, it's no excuse for how he treats the young boy, who has also lost so much. Perhaps it's just guilt, but Snape really struggles to let go of the past. Grief and mourning are normal and healthy, but even Dumbledore is surprised to learn that Snape still loves Lily "after all this time". If Lily could speak to Snape, she probably would have wanted him to be happy, and if that meant moving on, then she would have advised him to try.
Instead, Snape harbors his feelings for her and tends to his guilt and grudges in a very unhealthy manner. Throughout the series, it's unclear who Snape really supports - Voldemort and the Death Eaters , or Dumbledore and the light.
He spreads his devotion between both, but after he kills Dumbledore, it's revealed that this was all arranged. Snape was protecting both Harry and Draco, but for different reasons.
After Lily's death, Snape firmly makes up his mind that he won't support Voldemort, and that he wants to help take him down. He goes to Dumbledore and the two work together to ensure that Snape isn't discovered to be a spy. No matter what reasons Snape has for behaving the way he does, it doesn't excuse his behavior. Not only does he bully Harry and try to make his time at Hogwarts miserable, but he also tries to turn Harry against his own father. He often badmouths James because he got everything he wished for himself.
Perhaps there's truth to Snape's words, but James must have had redeeming qualities for Lily to love him. Lily and Snape were best friends at Hogwarts , but they met before that. The two were originally neighbors, with Snape hailing from the wrong side of the tracks. As per his memories, he obviously had a crush on Lily long before they formally met. Petunia even accused him of spying on them when the sisters played together. When Lily found herself accidentally practicing magic, Snape emerged and the two soon became friends.
As much as people romanticize Snape's infatuation with Lily, the fact that she did not love him back, at least in a romantic fashion, seems to go ignored by many fans of the series.
The fact that Lily only ever saw Snape as a friend reveals a lot about his refusal to respect her boundaries. In retrospect, it seems that his love was really an ongoing obsession with her that lasted long after her death. This is supported by his sullen insistence that James was to blame for everything wrong in the world.
Had he mourned Lily and moved on without holding on to his grudges, it would be much more palatable. Lily hails from a family of muggles and never knew that the wizarding existed world until Snape explained things to her. This means that Snape was Lily's Hagrid. Soon the effects of Crouch Jnr's Polyjuice Potion wore off; in the excitement, he had neglected to take it at the proper time to maintain his cover. Under the effects of Veritaserum provided by Professor Snape, Crouch described Lord Voldemort's plan to resurrect himself and Crouch Jnr's own involvement in getting Harry to the graveyard.
Dumbledore and Snape attempted to convince a disbelieving Cornelius Fudge that Voldemort had returned. Snape was finally told the truth about Sirius's innocence and was forced by Dumbledore to shake hands.
He was subsequently sent on a secret mission by Dumbledore to rejoin the Death Eaters and spy on the Dark Lord as a double agent. During the — school year, with Voldemort having returned to his body, Snape carried on with his work as a double agent for Dumbledore.
During the summer, he was seen at 12 Grimmauld Place giving reports to the Order of the Phoenix. Snape frequently taunted Sirius about the latter not being able to take an active role in the Order's missions due to his fugitive status.
Back at school, Snape's allegiance to the Order had no effect on his dislike for Harry. When Harry began having visions about Lord Voldemort, Dumbledore asked Snape to teach Harry Occlumency in order to shut down the telepathic connection. Indeed, Snape had to be very careful in the ways that he helped Harry, should Voldemort read Harry's mind and discover his servant working against him. At one point, Harry peeked into the Pensieve when Snape was out of his office and witnessed a private memory of Snape being viciously bullied and harassed by Harry's father.
Upon returning, Snape grabbed him roughly by the arm and threw him out of the office and forbade him from ever coming back again. For all the rest of that semester, he treated Harry with redoubled contempt and fury and ignored him in class whenever possible. Towards the end of the school year, Dolores Umbridge captured Harry and questioned him on the whereabouts of Dumbledore. She sent for Snape to provide Veritaserum to force Harry to reveal any information he may be hiding.
Snape claimed that his supplies of Veritaserum were exhausted earlier, when she had attempted to use the drug surreptitiously to force information from Harry however, it is highly likely that he lied. As a result, Snape withheld further assistance. It is later revealed that Snape had actually given Umbridge a fake potion during her prior attempts.
Upon hearing Harry's cryptic warning about Sirius's capture, he swiftly carried the message back to the other Order members, and helped come up with a plan for them to come to the rescue in the Department of Mysteries while he searched the Forbidden Forest for Harry.
But since Umbridge was near, he pretended to ignore it. However, despite the fact that Snape came to his aid multiple times throughout the year, Harry hated him as much as ever, due to believing that Snape's goading spurred Sirius into joining the battle. In July Dumbledore had been afflicted by a powerful curse cast on Marvolo Gaunt's ring , one of Voldemort's Horcruxes , prior to the start of Harry's sixth year at Hogwarts. Although Snape's knowledge of the Dark Arts enabled him to slow the spread of the curse, the curse would have ultimately killed Dumbledore within a year.
Dumbledore, aware that Voldemort had ordered Draco to kill him, asked Snape to kill him instead as a way of sparing the boy's soul and of preventing his own otherwise slow, painful death. Furthermore, once Snape had done the deed, he would gain Voldemort's complete trust and learn more of his plans. Snape agreed to do as the Headmaster requested. Narcissa's son Draco had been given a difficult task by Voldemort, and Narcissa swore Snape to an Unbreakable Vow , on pain of death should he break it, that he would protect Draco, help him complete Voldemort's task, and finish the task himself if Draco failed.
When questioned by Bellatrix about his loyalties, Snape claimed to have been working for Voldemort rather than for Dumbledore ever since Voldemort's return, and explained his actions in the previous years in that light.
In addition, he pointed out that Dumbledore's protection had kept him out of Azkaban and free to operate on Voldemort's behalf. At the start-of-term feast at Hogwarts, Dumbledore announced he had finally appointed Snape as Professor of Defence Against the Dark Arts , much to Harry's shock and displeasure. Having finally acquired the position he desired for so long, Snape taught the lessons with a tone of passion for the Dark Arts he sought to undo, something he did not do for Potions.
Slughorn loaned Harry an old Potions textbook , in which Harry found marginalia including helpful tips on how to make potions better, [30] and a variety of curious spells seemingly invented by an unknown student. Snape, however, was suspicious when he heard about Harry's newfound success, maintaining that he "never had the impression that [he] had been able to teach Potter anything at all ". In the spring, Snape met with Dumbledore on the outskirts of the Forbidden Forest and wanted to know more about the private lessons between Albus and Harry.
Not knowing that they were overheard by Hagrid, Snape burst into resentment that Dumbledore trusts Harry more than him. Dumbledore only ordered Severus to look after Draco even more, after Ron Weasley has been poisoned. Albus also invited him for an evening visit in his office.
When Snape arrived and learned that Harry had to die, he showed outrage and ultimately showed that he still after all these years loved Lily by revealing his Patronus to be a doe, the same as Lily's. Later, in a fight with Draco, Harry cast one of the Prince's spells marked "For Enemies" Sectumsempra and was horrified when it caused devastating wounds to Draco's face and chest.
Snape rushed to the scene and healed Draco's wounds , and then interrogated Harry about the source of the spell. When Harry refused to tell him anything, Snape demanded that he bring him all of his books. Harry hid the Prince's book and gave Ron Weasley's copy of the book to Snape instead. Snape punished Harry by giving him a detention every Saturday for the rest of the year, including during the final Quidditch match of the season.
Fearing of exposing himself as the inventor of the curse that injured Draco, Snape did not outright expose Harry's cheating in Potions to Slughorn or the rest of the staff, thus resulting in a punishment much more lenient than usual, which Professor McGonagall saw as something very lucky for Harry.
Snape proves his loyalty to Dumbledore - by ending the headmaster's life as requested. Before leaving with Dumbledore to find a Horcrux , Harry discovered from Professor Sybill Trelawney that it had been Severus who overheard the Prophecy and told it to Voldemort, thus causing Voldemort to hunt Harry and his parents. Despite this and Harry's angry questions, Dumbledore maintained that he trusted Snape.
Gravely weakened by Voldemort's potion, and the school being under attack by Death Eaters, Dumbledore asked Harry to fetch Snape for him. Before Harry could leave, Draco arrived and disarmed Dumbledore, intending to carry out Voldemort's ordered assassination.
Draco was unable to bring himself to commit the murder, however, and Snape killed the headmaster himself. An enraged Harry who had been immobilised by Dumbledore for his own protection and had witnessed the killing while under his Invisibility cloak chased Snape, Draco, and the Death Eaters as they fled the castle.
The two of them engaged in a fierce duel, which became increasingly one-sided. Snape easily blocked Harry's attempts to attack him and jeeringly pointed out Harry's mistakes, but refused to strike back. However, he became enraged when Harry called him a coward and began using his own spells against him, resulting in him blasting Harry back against the ground. Harry was unable to stop Snape before the latter passed through the school gates and Disapparated.
After killing Albus Dumbledore and fleeing the school, Snape once more rejoined the ranks of the Death Eaters. In the summer of , Snape informed Lord Voldemort that Harry was to depart from his relatives ' house four days before his birthday. On Dumbledore's orders, Snape told the Death Eaters the correct date so as to continue Voldemort's trust in him. Snape then fed Mundungus Fletcher the idea of using seven decoys of Harry Potter during his movement to a place of safety so that when the Death Eaters arrived, they would not know who the real one was.
In order to be consistent in his own role as a Death Eater, Snape confunded Fletcher so that he would not remember who told him. During the battle, Snape accidentally sliced George Weasley 's ear off with Sectumsempra while aiming at another Death Eater. Snape had cut off the letter and took the page, which contained Lily's signature and love. He also cut off the picture of Potter family and took the page, which contained Lily, for himself.
Daily Prophet reports Snape's appointment as Headmaster. Snape used his position as Headmaster to discreetly protect the students and to contain the Carrows. It is later understood that, during his time as Headmaster, Snape consulted with the portraits of the previous Headmasters , and continued to receive instructions from Dumbledore's portrait.
Before the beginning of the first term, Rufus Scrimgeour removed the Sword of Gryffindor from its glass case in the headmaster's office for examination, along with the other items Dumbledore left in his will. However, this sword was a fake. The real sword had been hidden in a hole in the wall behind Dumbledore's portrait. When its counterfeit had been returned to Dumbledore's office, another attempt to seize the sword was made by Luna Lovegood , Neville Longbottom , and Ginny Weasley.
After pretending to punish them by sending them into the Forbidden Forest with Rubeus Hagrid , Snape passed the fake sword along to Bellatrix Lestrange , who kept it in her vault at Gringotts , thinking that it was real. Upon being informed by the portrait of Phineas Nigellus Black of Harry Potter's whereabouts, Dumbledore's portrait instructed Snape to give Harry the real sword without the latter knowing it.
Not only would Harry not have taken kindly to Snape's appearance after his attack on George Weasley , and also for the murder of Dumbledore of which Harry was an eye-witness, it would have been dangerous if Voldemort were to read his mind and see Snape helping him. Snape then took the real sword, hid it in a frozen pool of water near Harry's camping spot, and used his Patronus to guide Harry to it. After having rescued Harry from drowning, Ron claimed to have supposedly seen someone watching from the shadows.
Though not stated, it is extremely likely to have been Snape keeping an eye on Harry and only departing once he knew the latter was safe. As a headmaster, Snape was thoroughly disliked by many of his students. The old members of Dumbledore's Army reformed the organisation after Lord Voldemort gained control over the school and started up a revolt against Snape and the Carrows.
Snape, following up on his promise to Dumbledore to keep the students safe, subtly undermined the violent, sadistic attempts of the Carrows to keep control by doing things such as sending students to help Hagrid as punishments rather than the Carrows' more dangerous alternatives.
Neville stated that Snape was hardly ever seen whilst headmaster. Also, during his tenure, the Educational Decree Number Twenty-Four was re-enacted and students had taken to most likely under Snape's orders marching from point A to point B together like they were in military school. Harry, Ron, and Hermione returned to Hogwarts Castle in search of one of the last of Voldemort's Horcruxes , which they believed to have something to do with Rowena Ravenclaw.
The only idea they could come up with was Ravenclaw's lost diadem , and so Harry and Luna Lovegood went to the Ravenclaw Common Room to get an idea of what the diadem looked like. Here they were met by Alecto Carrow , who pressed her finger to the Dark Mark and summoned Voldemort. The two began fighting, and while Snape put up a good defence, McGonagall's attack was beginning to overwhelm him, for he was forced to take refuge behind a suit of armour when McGonagall gained the upper hand with daggers.
Outnumbered, Snape fled the castle, jumping out the window of a classroom and using the ability to fly without a broom , which he presumably learned from Voldemort. Later in the evening, Snape was summoned by Voldemort to the Shrieking Shack. Voldemort explained that he believed that Snape was the master of the Elder Wand from killing Dumbledore and that Snape must die so that the Elder Wand can be his.
Snape tried to explain the situation but Voldemort ordered Nagini to kill Snape by biting into his neck, injecting him with her extremely poisonous venom , before he could finish speaking. Before dying, Snape released a cloud of memories and told Harry, who had watched the entire scene from a hidden spot, to take them. Harry later took the memories to the Pensieve in Dumbledore's office.
From these memories, Harry learned everything about Snape's past. In the first scene, Harry discovered that Snape had befriended Lily as a nine-year-old child when they lived near each other in the industrial town of Cokeworth.
They remained close friends for the next few years until they were driven apart by Snape's interest in the Dark Arts and by Lily's interest in James Potter.
The friendship finally ended following the incident that Harry had briefly witnessed in his fifth year, in which Snape accidentally insulted Lily.
Despite this separation, and Snape's enmity toward Lily's eventual husband James Potter, Snape continued to love Lily on a much deeper and stronger romantic level for the rest of his life. Snape was next seen going to Dumbledore and desperately begging him to hide the Potters from Lord Voldemort, who was planning on targeting Lily's son to prevent a prophecy from being fulfilled.
Snape had been the one who previously revealed said prophecy to Voldemort, not knowing at first that it was referring to Lily and her family. Though he asked Voldemort to spare Lily, Snape still feared for her safety, as he knew that Voldemort could not be relied on to grant this small favour. Snape became a double agent for the Order of the Phoenix so that Dumbledore could ensure Lily's protection, employing Occlumency to hide his duplicity from his master.
Snape felt devastating pain and remorse when Lily was found and murdered. From that point on, he agreed to help Dumbledore protect her son and fight against Lord Voldemort.
Snape demanded, however, that his feelings about Lily be kept a secret. Dumbledore complied and never told anyone the real reason why Snape switched sides. Snape's memories then revealed that Severus slowed the spread of the curse afflicted on Dumbledore, after he put Marvolo Gaunt's ring.
However, the curse would have ultimately killed Albus within a year. Dumbledore, knowing that Draco Malfoy was ordered by Voldemort to kill him, and expecting the boy will fail, asked Snape to kill himself instead of Draco in order to gain Voldemort's complete trust and learn more of his plans.
At the end Snape's memories showed Snape's outrage after learning that Harry had to die. Snape ultimately revealed his Patronus, a doe, the same as Lily's, showing he still, after all these years, loved her.
Because of the memories, Harry finally understood where Snape's true allegiances always were. The memories provided Harry with the information he needed to ensure Voldemort's final defeat. He also showed Harry the memory where Albus Dumbledore had told him about Harry himself being a Horcrux although he did not understand it because Dumbledore had asked him to pass that along to Harry when the time was right.
The final duel between Harry Potter and Lord Voldemort. During the final duel between Harry and Voldemort , Harry finally told him that Snape had been, in fact, Dumbledore's man. Harry also revealed that Snape was never the true master of the Elder Wand , because Snape never defeated Dumbledore; the two had arranged his death as he would have died either way. Therefore, Draco was the true master of the Elder Wand, not Snape. However, Harry had overpowered Draco at Malfoy Manor and taken his wand.
Because of the subtleties governing wand ownership discussed by Garrick Ollivander , Harry was the current master of the Elder Wand.
Snape's true loyalties remained hidden due to his skills as an Occlumens and the fact his actions were motivated by love, which completely eluded Voldemort. Snape's portrait was not automatically put into the Headmaster's office since he had essentially abandoned his post during the Battle of Hogwarts.
However, Harry, in one of his acts of showing reconciliation towards Snape, made sure that his portrait was placed there. Albus Severus Potter , the second son of Harry, and the only one of Harry's children to have inherited Lily's bright green almond-shaped eyes, is named after Snape. When Albus was worried that he may be Sorted into Slytherin, Harry responded that Albus was named after two headmasters, one of whom was a Slytherin and " probably the bravest man I ever knew ".
By his fourth year at Hogwarts, Scorpius Malfoy had learned all about Snape's history and motivations, allowing him to convince an alternate version of Snape — in a timeline where Voldemort won the Battle of Hogwarts and thus ruled wizarding Britain — that he came from a different timeline so that Snape could help Scorpius meet the local resistance and undo what he had unwittingly done to the past.
This version of Snape correctly guessed that he had died in the struggle against Voldemort in Scorpius' timeline, on account that the boy was evidently surprised to see him alive in the altered timeline, but proceeded to aid him nonetheless; if anything, Severus merely expressed annoyance that he apparently met his end at the Dark Lord's hands in the original timeline.
After knocking down Dolores Umbridge to allow Scorpius Malfoy to escape, he was attacked by the Dementors , leaving his fate unknown. Severus Snape was a thin man with sallow skin, a large, hooked nose and yellow, uneven teeth. He usually dressed in flowing black robes which made him resemble " an overgrown bat ".
He had shoulder-length, greasy black hair which framed his face in curtains, curling lips and dark, penetrating eyes that resembled tunnels.
As a Death Eater, he bore the Dark Mark on his left inner forearm. The younger Snape had a " stringy, pallid look ", being " round-shouldered yet angular " and with a " twitchy walk that recalled a spider ", as well as " long oily hair that jumped about his face.
Snape had a strong, authoritative presence. He spoke in a soft, contained voice most of the time, except during the occasional instances when he lost his temper. His first potion class with Harry and the rest of the students, where he lectures Harry in front of the class for "not paying attention" when he was taking notes.
A complicated, withdrawn person, Severus Snape's life was overwhelmed with many complex emotions that he never fully disclosed. At times, Snape could appear cold, cynical, malicious, bitter, and sarcastic. He had a commanding presence that exuded gravitas, authority and control; like Professor McGonagall , he had the ability to keep a class quiet without effort. He tended to hold grudges and was extremely spiteful toward those whom he disliked.
In particular, he disdained Gryffindor students, considering them to be arrogant and attention-seeking. Descriptions of his social interactions as a child suggest that he had poor interpersonal skills and that he may have suffered from depression. Snape was a repressed, solitary man with no friends. In his early life, he was insecure, vulnerable, and yearned to be part of something better.
As a child, the bleak normality of working-class suburbia compounded with his neglectful Muggle father inspired in him a contempt for ordinariness. This urgent desire to be a part of something powerful and important was what drew him to Lord Voldemort 's inner circle. Snape's bitterness and resentment towards the world was exacerbated even more by the relentless bullying he endured in school, causing him to shut himself in even more. Snape was not a prejudiced individual despite the Death Eater beliefs of pure-blood superiority, but was rather against Muggles, presumably because of his sour experience with both his father and Petunia Evans, but held no ill-will towards Muggle-borns.
The foundation of him scolding Lily Evans by calling her Mudblood was to not appear weak in front of his fellow Death Eater students than actual supremacist views. He also deeply regretted this as it was what ended his friendship with Lily and defended Hermione Granger when Phineas Nigellus Black called her Mudblood, his manner of speaking in this instance being uncharacteristically explosive and filled with more emotion than he normally displayed.
He was an intensely private individual who viewed emotional displays as a sign of shameful weakness. As an Occlumens , Snape had superb emotional control and was adept at concealing his thoughts and feelings, which allowed him to maintain his cold, collected demeanour. However, he had his limits, and was not incapable of losing his temper, particularly when it came to dealing with Harry Potter.
Inevitably, he also became furious when he thought he was being pitied or accused of cowardice. Snape was a formidable sorcerer, displaying consummate skill in many different branches of magic. His extensive knowledge and abilities were rivalled by very few, if any other witches and wizards of his age. Snape was also unusually cerebral for a wizard, possessing a subtle and keenly analytical mind.
As a result, Snape was extremely intelligent and calculative, with a mind for strategy and deduction. He was also a profound misanthrope who appeared to have a prominent hatred of almost every child under his tutelage, except of course for Slytherins. He valued logic and cunning above magical power.
As a professor, Snape was known for his cavalier and harshly authoritarian attitude towards his teaching. His standards for his classes were much higher than that of the other professors, as he only allowed students with the very best grades to continue into advanced study. As Potions Master, he described it as an art and an exact science, and dismissed the use of incantations and wand waving as "silly and foolish". He developed a loving passion for Dark Arts, originally in the hopes to cover the shame of his heritage, and his interest in it led him to repeatedly apply for the Defence Against the Dark Arts professor post every year, despite being rejected for sixteen years.
He knew full well why Dumbledore never granted him the position, as it may be a trigger to bring out his worst side, something he denied to Umbridge's questioning but let in to those of Bellatrix's.
When he finally got his wish, Snape taught the course with a loving caress in his voice, far beyond simply respecting the Dark Arts as a dangerous foe, something he did not show in his post as the Potions Master. He also taught this class slightly fairer than he did in Potions, such as lowering his entrance standards and biases for N. Snape showing Dumbledore his true and undying love for Lily Potter.
Ultimately, it was Snape's past and his love for Lily Evans that defined his inner being. Upon overhearing the Prophecy , he immediately informed his then-master of its contents, unaware that this would endanger Lily and her family.
It was only after Lily's death that Snape realised the full extent of his actions. He suffered terrible remorse for what he had done and spent the rest of his life in constant danger in order to protect Lily's son. In spite of his vindictive demeanour, Severus Snape was an immensely brave man who possessed a deep capacity for love.
Everything that he did in the latter part of his life was motivated by his devotion to Lily Evans, whom he loved unconditionally. But, despite his maltreatment of Harry and the complicated killing of headmaster Dumbledore who knew he was a double agent? Snape died for Harry out of love for Lily. Harry paid him tribute in forgiveness and gratitude.
Snape is all grey. You can't make him a devil: he died to save the wizarding world. There's a whole essay in why Harry gave his son Snape's name, but the decision goes to the heart of who Harry was, post-war.
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