Snape is easily one of the most complex, enigmatic characters in the entire franchise. You're never quite sure of his motives, and Alan Rickman played him splendidly. It's difficult to imagine another actor who could tackle Snape, but Alan was well up for the challenge. He'll be forever missed. 😢😇
Honestly, Snape is very lucky to be played by Rickman. Book Snape was pathetic tbh and Rickman brought a certain humanity and mystery to the character that book Snape didn't have. Snape would definitely not have had such a huge fanbase without Rickman and I even think that JKR was influenced by Rickman's performance when writing the later books. Harry telling his son that Snape was the bravest man he ever knew didn't feel deserved at all to me, seeing everything that Snape does in the books, it felt more like fan service and I don't think it was planned before the movies came out.
I remember one line that he says that made me say out loud “What an asshole.” In Goblet of Fire when Draco used that curse on Hermione to make her teeth grow, Snape sees this and he says “I see no difference.” It’s probably because Hermione is my favorite character, so that moment pissed me off.
Snape in books was an apsolute asshole even tho he had a good and positive character development. Still, the stuff he did to harry and other people cannot be exused just like that, that’s why he is a morally grey character. Snape in the movies however felt a little more human. Alan Rickman brought this vunerablity in him that the Snape in books doesn’t have
As someone who was bullied in middle school, I don't say he should just get over it, that shit definitely leaves scars, but when you hold on to your resentment for over a decade, especially after the guy who bullied you died tragically and to a point where you mistreat innocent orphans, the only one who is hurting you, is yourself.
Naming the kid after him was a step too far for me. I think JK really wanted that conversation between Harry and his son about Slytherin, but here's the thing having him named for Snap was not the only way to do that. Honestly there are a number of other Slytherin none villains that could have gotten shout outs as well if Harry's speech was reworked a bit including, Regulus Black, who died stealing the locket, and or Narcissa Malfoy who saved Harry by lying to Voldemort.
Number one him naming his child after dumbledore and snape is not a mistake harry 0they were both responsible for the entire series and this is so harry knows how everything is started and after harry had hated snape all these years he had never had a chance to see the good in him while he was alive so naming his son after snape shows
Honestly, I feel like everyone gives snape too much leeway he basically changed because of his childhood obsession with Lily even though he indirectly caused her death. Lily died because he told Voldemort about the prophecy, and felt bad because she died. He is a perpetulant child
This video made me want to reread HP so badly! As always, I love that you do a very nuanced and well thought-out take on characters. I never thought of Sirius' time in Azkaban in the way you phrased it. You're so right! In some ways, he is emotionally stuck at 21 and in others, he probably feels a 100 years old! I have to say, it is canon that James matured a lot in his seventh year and he died at 21, but we know that in that time, he fought for the Order despite being a pure-blood, defied Voldemort thrice and charged at him with no wand to buy his wife and son a chance to escape. I don't know how we can't conclusively say that he is a better person than Snape. I don't think a spoiled, obnoxious bully and a budding Death Eater inventing murderous dark spells are on a comparable level morally. Especially when James actually appears to have the better-late-than-never heroic arc that a lot of people wanted Draco to have. I feel like as a culture, our desperation for a redemption arc that doesn't really let characters occupy their own complexities is so damaging to good literature. I'm deliberately not saying "grey" or "morally ambiguous", because like you highlighted, Snape made a lot of awful choices and was a ride-or-die Death Eater by his sixth year in Hogwarts, which makes his moral standing pretty clear to me. But because we love Alan Rickman, we love a neat ending and the movies influenced the way we read the books, "Always", a bitter profession of his creepy, undying obsession with a woman who married and had a child with someone else, somehow gets this ethereal swell of orchestral music and becomes the most romantic line in the HP-verse. It's a hard pill to swallow, even for me, because elsewhere in pop culture, I'm used to villain-turned-superheroes who save the world and are redeemed. It's a lot more uncomfortable to acknowledge that Snape was a terrible person whose wild-card of loyalty just so happened to fall such that he would protect our protagonist. There are a million scenarios in which Snape would have been loyal to Voldemort until the end, but the one where he wouldn't because Lily was endangered was the reality. The facts don't change though. He is still a Death Eater, the Wizarding equivalent of a Nazi. He is still a creep who tried to bargain to save Lily's life by sacrificing her husband and infant son. He is still a vicious and abusive teacher who becomes Neville's worst fear despite the fact that someone else entirely tortured Neville's parents into insanity. He is still an asshat who made fun of Hermione's physical insecurities until she cried. He is still a bitter man who effectively ruined Lupin's life and opportunities by forcibly outing his condition to the world. He still sat stone-faced while Voldemort's snake feasted on his colleague. And he is still someone whose double loyalties and obsession with Lily was critical to defeating Voldemort - it doesn't make that obsession any more romantic or redeemable, it just makes it important. More than a good person, or even a good character, I see Snape as important. But as someone who wants to be a teacher, I really don't like him. :)
I never understood how "Always" became THE Harry Potter word... Can't forgive him for bullying KIDS... He was an interesting character and Alan Rickman was just iconic, but Snape is not a hero. (Still the best Slytherin we ever got so...) Loved your video, really well done! 💚🐍 A Draco video would be awesome! I didn't like Cursed Child that much but i think Draco and the gang finally making peace is what Snape, Remus, James and Sirius really needed too.
@@laurine____7543 agreed. As Snape fan I like "Lately only those whom I could not save." In response to Dumbledore asking him how many men and women has he had to watch die as it shows that he's tried to save as many people as he could, not just Lily or Harry. Plus I also think he was talking about Dumbledore as well as he knew he would have to kill Dumbledore at some point and there was nothing he could do about it. Also "Look at me." Is another favourite of mine as it can be Snape opening up to Harry, asking Harry to understand him, to understand that he's sorry for how he had been and based on a memory he gives to Harry it shows that he realises he was wrong for everything he had done including treating Harry badly.
@@marie.naturallysims2179 yeah , these two line are other very great Snape line, and show his redemption especially the " only those Who i could not save " . As a Snape stan i hate how snater think Snape stan love Snape Snape just bc of his love for lily and that his redemption is his love for lily when its not true and the popularity of always does not help that.
One thing I've noticed when reading the books is Hagrid defending Snape against accusations Harry makes about him, even loses his temper with Harry at one point, and even after hearing Snape killed Dumbledore, Hagrid was the only Order member to guess correctly. Also in Goblet of fire and Half blood Prince from what Bellatrix says and from what Karkaroff says when on trial it seems like Snape had realised joining the death eaters isn't all it seemed. "Usually slithered out of action." Bellatrix-Hafl blood Prince. "Once again missing while the rest of us ran dangers." Karkaroff just names Snape as a death eater. Nothing else. Nothing about Snape doing anything, compared to the other death eaters he names, he mentions what they did or Barty crouch Senior interrupts him to say they know what happened. All that was said was Snape was a death eater and was cleared of all charges which suggests Snape joined the death eaters, did his first job (spied on Dumbledore and reported back to Voldemort) realised in between this time and before he went to Dumbledore the Death eaters weren't all that great. Plus with the Death eaters as his only family he has no where else to go for help, not until Voldemort decides to kill the Potters, and like Sirius said, "It's either a lifetime of service or death."
Actually with him as a potions teacher, he never was shown to teach from the book. The instructions were always written on the blackboard, so more than likely he was teaching them his own variations of the book’s instructions or even his own entirely. The problem with this is that he never seems to explain this to his students. So unless they go back to the book and remember the differences, they wouldn’t know that sometimes the books don’t have the best instructions and sometimes that you can come up with better ways to make the spells. So he just tells them what to do instead of instructing them on how to do it and why and the things that he’s learned on his own better than just the books. Though almost all the professors at Hogwarts pretty much teach this way. Another way the pedagogy at Hogwarts is horrible and failed its students.
I wonder how Snape would have felt about Harry if he had been a girl instead and looking more like Lily? Perhaps he would have seen less of James in him/projected less of James‘ traits onto him and would have related to Harry in a more positive/caring way. Although I imagine it would be quite painful to see a mini version of Lily everyday, being reminded of her passing.
@@carmensavu5122 There is lol. I actually read one where Harry has a sister and the author makes it a really emphasized point that she looks just like lily, and although Snape isn’t all cuddly with her, it is widely known that he favors her over Harry and the rest of hogwarts really and has taken it upon himself to be a father figure
The only 2 reason there are so many snape fans are that he was played by Alan Rickman and the "always" at the end. He literally bullied the kids and he was an asshole for the entire series specially in the books. His love for lily doesn't justify his actions. I hate when people defend him like "he was bullied as a kid, james is worse." James is not worse than him because he was a bully as a teenager but he grew up to be a nice person, snape grew up to be a bully to kids who are 11. I remember there was a part in the book that malfoy cast a spell on hermione that made her teeth go really big. He looked at it and said "it looks same to me" TO A LITTLE GIRL WHO IS HIS STUDENT ?!
He never grew up. He still hexed Snape and bullied muggle cops. There are many Book Snape fans. Don't judge us. Look I like James but JKR didn't write a good arc for him
@@yourworstnightmare3271 imao what ?? have we read the same books? James was after severus from the start. he sexually assaulted snape and blackmailed lily if she went out with him he will leave snape. also mind your language dude.
I've always had Snape as my favorite character from the series. Not because I like his character, because…ew, but as other people have noted, he's complicated and interesting. Complicated and interesting don't mean naming your kids after them, bUT it does mean entertainment and thinky think-think time.
I am loving this Harry Potter deep dive series and I can’t wait to hear more of your thoughts. Would love your ideas about the Marauders or the things you thought should have been in the films (peeves would always be my wish for the films)
Thank you! Excellent analysis. As a teacher, I find Snape's behaviour in class highly disturbing. Several competent teachers saw Neville struggling and tried to help - Lupin was very supportive, McGonagall tried to make Neville see his own potential... but Snape did everything to make this poor boy as miserable as possible and undermined him constantly instead of helping - or at least not directly traumatizing the kid! And all the mean comments Snape directed at his other underage students... That guy was way too bitter to be a good teacher.
Alan Rickman was planning to leave HP and that's when JKR told him about Snape's background with Lily. Part of me thinks it's something JKR came up with just to keep Rickman on but who knows. I'm personally really excited for Rickman's diaries getting published into a book next year cause I know there's gonna be some tea!
It was actually a very popular fan theory. She always said Harry's eyes were important, and it's the only physical trait he has from his mother. No one knew why Dumbledore trusted Snape so much, it was obvious that it was Snape's choice. People connected the dots.
I so feel for him in Prisoner of Azkaban though because he literally thought Sirius is the reason Lily is dead, and he thinks Lupin is helping him get away with it. I can't excuse him after everything went down and he knows the truth, then he just hates them cause he bullied them I guess. But the scene in the shrieking shack I totally see why his reaction is so extreme. Even though its still a lot of projection because obviously Voldemort would never have been after Lily if it weren't for him - then that makes me question his morality as if it weren't Lily he accidentally made Voldemort go after, would he even feel bad? Oh Snape you complex dude.
let's have an intermission-ad break comes on, love it. Movie version of Snape is the superior character of him, there's not one scene I feel anything for Snape even in his death scene when it comes to the books, but the movies they did an outstanding job. The books really made it feel like there was only the bad side to him before the reveal but in the movies he seems more complex.
@@SerenaSkybourne yeah for sure, kinda like they decided to change his character up a little. Though the one thing in the books and movies that is shown more equal is how protective he is over Draco, he's kinda always felt like Draco's unofficial godfather
One thing I thought about while watching is that, Harry having grown in an abusive household is partly the fault of Snape cause Petunia felt really left out when her sister discovered that she was a witch but more so because of her friendship with Snape and how Snape treated Petunia so Snape bullied Harry for all his school years but is also partly responsible for the abuse he suffered while growing up. And this abuse that Harry suffers makes a more compassionate person while the "same" abuse that Snape suffered just made him bitter and caused this kind of vicious circle. Hope I'm making sense and that my thoughts are expressed well by my english (i'm french). For other subjects around Harry Potter : Justice for Ginny and Ron (book vs movies), Dramione definitely, even though I totally agree with you on the authenticity of Ron and Hermione relationship (reading / listening to the fanfic Isolation at the moment and it's just great), Dumbledore's dark side (that didn"t make it to the movies and that's my greatest disappointment cause when Harry is confused about the father / mentor figure that he thought he knew but realize he doesn't, for me is such an interesting, fascinating and powerful arc in the book), all the bad decision that are taken by the administration council at Hogwarts or whoever decided everything that happens in this school... houses based on personality ? detention in a forbidden part of the school ? hiring people as teachers that are obviously bad at their jobs (if you want to keep them safe or have an eye on them just make them janitors or something) and I'm sure we can find millions more... Anyway I love your rants and take on these series and shows, I relate to a lot of what you say and it makes me think about new angles too so great work, I love it ;) Thanks
i agree however i feel like harry saving grace is that his parents died… so he could at least have this fantasy of good parents and he did he’s told by wizard world how amazing his parents are! shit his mom gave up her life for her son! the whole series to me is about the power of love, unfortunately snape childhood was different i feel he became obsessed with lily bc she showed kindness to him and only got worse rejection from his peers etc even tho he’s so resentful he still manages to physically help harry just for his “love” of lilly
I can’t get past the fact that he abused students for 16 years! And Dumbledore just let it happen. Nah. I get he had to be a double spy or whatever but that shouldn’t mean he gets a free pass to just bully and mentally abuse children! Harry was actually looking forward to potions class and by the end of it he hated it and wanted to drop it by third year if possible JUST because of how awful Snape was
One more hint we get that Snape has an obsession and it' not really a true love is that he is fine with James and Harry being killed by Voldemort even though he knows it'll destroy lily. He doesn't care about lily's happiness whatsoever, he just wants her alive, so he can have her to himslelf. Also, we see James being a bully only to Snape and I do believe those two were so mean to each other because they both had feelings for lily and in a way they were competing for her love. But Lily clearly didn't want any of them when they were acting that way and the fact that later she falls in love with James indicates that James changed and become better person. teenager being a bully to another teenager because they have a crush on the same girl , in my opinion, is much more redeemable than a grown man being a bully to little kids. Plus James died when he was 21 and at that point he was married to Lily for at least 2 years ( because harry was 1 years old) that means he must have stopped being a bully and realized how wrong he was while he was still very young.
1. He couldn't well ask Voldemort not to kill Harry, eliminating Harry was the main purpose of the attack on the Potters. As for James, so he didn't put himself in danger of being tortured by Voldemort by asking him to spare a person he loathed who made his life hell. Makes sense to me. If I hate your guts, I'm not going to put my skin on the line for you. If you take issue with that, you need to be more honest and less idealistic about human nature, as well as get off your high horse. 2. Snape left Lily alone after she made her decision to date James. He never chased them down or attempted to intervene between them. Also, he was a prodigy at Potions. He could have slipped Lily a love potion if he was just obsessed with her and wanted her to himself at all cost. He didn't. 3. Snape and James hated each other since the first time they ever laid eyes on each other, so Lily can't have been at the root of their enmity. 4. Sirius and Remus did actually say that James still cursed Snape behind Lily's back after they started dating. We get no evidence that the spoiled rich brat actually saw the error of his ways and stopped being a bully. 5. I've got a few choice words for Lily too. What kind of person dates and marries her best friend's bully? I could never do that, even if I did become convinced that he had changed. It's the principle of the thing.
snape being a big ol’ yeller in the books but in the movie he doesnt reminds me of how dumbledores scene with harry in the goblet of fire 😂 who switched it
fantastic video as usual, thank you very much. You sum up pretty much all the good and bad things about Snape and how we should acknowledge that he's a good CHARACTER, not a good PERSON, should be praised for what he'd done and sacrificed but should not be admired. I have one little pet peeve tho, it's that it would be better for the fanarts you used to be credited, just to be considerate? I have some thoughts I want to state: - I feel like they kinda switch characterization between Dumbledore and Snape when adapting the books. Dumbledore the calm and even cold at times, mostly wise and collected, became shouty and hot headed and have really dumb moments in the movie, the vice versa goes to Snape. - I do feel like in different circumstances, either Lupin and Snape OR even James and Snape can be friends, in Lupin's case maybe even good friends. Let's take a look at the Marauders, we have: + Sirius the family rebel, sick with his family's belief and traumatized by them. I think it's implied he even got abused? And him and Andromeda (Tonks' mom) were erased from the family tree's name weren't they? He's discriminated in his own family. + Peter the slow, dumb child who can't even catch up with his peers. It's not clear if he was bullied like Neville but it seems that he had a hard life at school until he was took in by the other 3 + Lupin, the werewolf. That's it, that's how we know Lupin is discriminated by the whole society. The only thing that was good for him was that his parents are loving people until James and Sirius come into the picture. James was the only one who has loving parents, never faces discrimination because he's a pureblood, a Quidditch star, being academically good and have the advantage of being a Gryffindor (we should now acknowledge how society in the Wizarding World view the children in each house). He befriended the troubled kids and have good relationship with literally everyone, give them a home (Sirius), a friend (Lupin), a protection (Peter). He's basically a god like figure so of course he's arrogant in a degree. But in his core he's a good kid. Now if it was played out differently, if Snape and James were both less arrogant, less prejudiced against each other's houses, they CAN be friends. I don't think James bullied other Slytherin kids or at least we didn't see it, but I do think the core reason James and Snape clashed was Lily. Nevertheless, James becomes the bully to Snape and even in the end he did leave Snape alone and even tried to save him, I can understand how Snape still hates James. Bullying can leave deep scars and it's justifiable IF Snape hates ONLY James and James alone (maybe Sirius also). But Snape at his core holds more personal hatred towards James than James towards Snape and it escalated to a bad side where he's completely fine with James and his son being killed by the Dark Lord or satisfied with 2 innocent people, Lupin and Sirius, getting their souls sucked by the Dementors. It's ugly. About Snape and Lupin, I don't like comparing traumatizing experiences but honestly, Lupin gets everything harder than anyone else. But personality wise, I can see if things were a little different, Snape and Lupin can bond over hard circumstances and their quiet, academic nature. Like in Order of Phoenix, there is some hints that even though Snape provoking Sirius every chance he got, he seems to be on a neutral and respectful note to Lupin. So they can be friends. I would love to see a vid about Lupin, he's one of a few adults who see Harry as Harry and not as his mom/dad's replica or world saver or sacrifice meat.
I remember the plot twist with Snape how e everyone started to love him and forge all he did but I never forgot and I found this weird how much they praised him
i think what really messed me up involving the movie is that all these adults were casted too old. it makes sense that snape isn’t over his trauma being bulled by james cause hes in his mid 30s. alan rickman when they first started filming was 55 and gary oldman (sirius) was 46 when they filmed azkaban and i’m supposed to think these dudes were in their 30s 😂 ?! the actors ages compared to the characters they played definitely impacted how we saw them and how we interpret their actions. its weird seeing dudes in their late 40s/50s fighting like children cause theyre supposed to be way younger.
Yes omfg like Lily and James were supposed to be TWENTY when they died. That was supposed to be the point, that they died young, and that they didn't see much of their lives. The movies made them look 30-40+ tho and it kinda lost that message
@@ericka8958 EXACTLY! thats why sirius kept saying harry was so much like james, he was still grieving over the loss of his best friend and harry was so close in age of when they all met.
Can't understand why people ship Snape/Lily when it's obvious that the best pairing with him is Snape/therapy. P. S. Great analysis! I've always felt pretty much the same about this character, he's extremely complex and ambiguous. That definitely makes him one of the best, however.
i would love an analysis on dumbledores character. i think so many bad things that happen are his fault at the root and would love to hear your take on his character💕
I’m so glad of finally heading a constructive opinion about snape. I agree 100% with you and with everything you said. I think it’s very important to read the books. The movies miss and twist information and you can’t comprehend the whole picture. I would love for you to talk about your opinion on the movies!! I really love listening to your thoughts so far I always agree with u. I really loved the analysis you did of PLL books!! PS: I agree with u with the Dramione thing!!!
Movie Snape seems like he was written as fan service because of how amazing Alan Rickman was - you can see in the later movies how much time is dedicated to Snape just standing there looking creepy and delivering a one liner. I felt like movie Dumbledore was made to look really selfish, manipulative and weak but book Dumbledore was completely different. It’s like they switched the characterization of the two to make Snape the favorite in the movies
Dumbledore IS manipulative even on the books. Also selfish. His word , not mine... And on witch scene Snape was looking creppy ? Stop reading fanfic I would say Remus and Sirius are the one that was written for fan service Remus abandonning his pregant woman ? Gone. Remus trying to kiss Snape ? Gone Ect ect..
👏👏👏 that was an amazing analysis! the only thing i wish would have been mentioned is when snape tells hermione he doesn't see any difference while she's under the spell that enlarges her teeth, she goes to the nurse to fix them and tells madam pomfrey to stop when they are smaller than they were before. so because of greasy, lame, mean snape, she actually modifies how she looks! it just shows how inconsiderate he is as a person and a teacher, to say that to a 14-year-old girl! it's as if he doesn't realize the effect he has on the children with his behavior. whenever i openly admit to my dislike of snape people look at me all weird - mostly people who have not read the books, they give out the argument that he was so interesting and was justified to act the way he did, which no, he wasn't - and i think now whenever i'll run into someone who doesn't understand i'll just send them this video. you did a great job showing the good, the bad and the ugly. i'm looking forward to watching more hp content from you. i'd be very curious about your opinion on the cursed child because in my opinion, it's a crazy mess. the snape in that story is not accurate at all, when he actually said he's proud albus severus POTTER carries his name i laughed out loud because he would NOT have been happy that a potter has HIS name! and what they have done to cedric and harry is just unforgivable.
I thoroughly enjoyed this video. You always put so much effort in your videos and I agree with all the points you made. Alan Rickman's portrayal greatly helped Snape to be likeable to me. All in all, an excellent, polarizing character
We can not forget that James never really became a adult. He died at 21. I think that is also why in the book we never see fults. Because it was such a tragedy nobody wanted to say anything bad about him (exept Snape!)
Yeah and technically most of the characters died young and we knew some of the stuff about them but not enough because of Harry didn’t know, then we did not know.
I think is interesting to look at the broader contest. Snape was in school in a time when Voldemort was starting to move politically. We are told that he didn’t just pop out of no where and start make noises, he worked under the scene for a long time and a lot of his following was built during that period of time. So at Hogwarts we see this political turmoil reflected in the interaction between James and Snape. Snape was welcomed by the young death eater, a group that looked up to Voldemort racism and seeked to kill or enslave all the muggle born. Lily herself tell us that this group was being violently active in the castle and even if we give Snape the benefit of the doubt and say that he was never the initiator, he was still following them around inventing spells that can be used for hurting people. In this climate every attack directed to Snape was an attack to that ideology. The more embarrassed and humiliated he is, the less scary the all group appears. Is extremely childish and obviously not right, but is kinda understandable. Especially when you realise that 2 of James’s best friends have beer directly attacked by that group, Sirius was kicked out by his family and Lupin became a werewolf under order of Voldemort
y" all talking about what snape did to lupin in school but that's exactly what James and the marauders did to snape; snape also was an underprivileged child; a slytherin and his home was already toxic; life was terrible for snape and these bullies made it hell for him; no one should be feeling bad for lupin, not just because he watched his friends bully him and make him an outcast, but beccause he put the blame on him when harry asked and told harry that snape " deserved to get bullied" !
Thank you Serena!! Really happy to see you talk about this and to agree that just because he did save the day and he did do some positive things he was overall not a good person (I'll never ever get over him being Neville's bogart when Neville's parents were literally tortured to insanity by Bellatrix, and yet this poor young boys greatest fear is his teacher? Horrible. Absolutely horrible.) Great video! I would LOVE to hear your thoughts on Draco and Hermione I always felt as you said that he did have feelings for her, or he could have if he allowed himself to, but with his family and how he was being groomed to be a deatheater... yeah I see why it couldn't happen. (But if you're going to bring it up please mention how in the CoS movie we see Draco in the library looking at a book and he rips out a page and then later when Hermione is petrified Harry and Ron pull a piece of paper out of her hand that was clearly ripped from a book, and Hermione would never rip a page out of a book and given that we saw Draco do it... I think he was helping and he slipped her the page somehow. Just a thought) Great content, I really adore your videos!❤
The whole snape analysis seems so drawn out at this point I’ve seen so many analysis pieces about it but I’m actually really impressed, there were some points you made in yours that I’ve never heard about or thought about myself before which genuinely impact how I view the situation
Something I just realized about Snape is he thought Sirius betrayed Lilly to Voldemort. To him, he hated Sirius already AND Sirius caused the death of the love of his life, and if you look at everything on the surface it did appear that Lupin was aiding him. So I kinda get why he was a little deranged and unwilling to listen to reason in that situation
Seeing it broken down there isn't really much of a puzzle: book Snape is a messed up and unpleasant man (all the ways he acts out from a position of power) but isn't actually evil. Bullying a child but not wanting to kill him fits perfectly. In the films he is played by Alan Rickman, who we will always love.
I totally agree, this just shows how some people have such low standards towards men... Snape was an awful person, who bullied kids and was mean for no reason... Yes, he spied on Voldemort for Dumbledore , was brave and took part in the destroying of Horcruxes but that's it!!! And he did that out of personal revenge !! Many other characters were brave as well. It does not make him a fatherly figure to Harry whatsoever, It was so messed up for Harry to name his child after him.
that's it? snape made sacrifices that no one else would have been able to do; personal revenge how? there is nothing personal about revenging a girl who abondoned him when he needed her friendship the most and dated his school bully; his actions only came from love;
I think he named his kid after Snape in order to wizarding community not forget the Severus and his role in the war. Others like Minerva, Hagrid etc. were very well know on their own and in the end they had something or someone but Severus had no-one and nothing. Who else would care to show respect to the double agent who killed Dumbledore?
I love Snape, but he's a deeply flawed character for me, I mean I've had a tonne of crushes in high school and college, some of who I genuinely tried to pursue things with until I realized it wasn't meant to be, and I've been able to move on from that lol, that's what normal people do, I mean dude was in Hogwarts, with probably hundreds of other girls in different houses, but he became so obsessed with one girl that he's still mourning her death more than 17 years later, a girl who already had built a life without Snape even before her death. What exactly would be his excuse had Lily not died, was he gonna secretly obsess over her till old age, and was he still gonna be a bitter angry man to the child of the woman who he apparently loved more than anything in the world? I see it a the sort of thing that would be used as an excuse by people to hide from the fact that they have an abnormal obsession with someone. It's sort of a trope now, where someone loves another from a young age and never dates anyone else ever, I see it in a lot of shows too, I mean even Ron and Harry had somewhat normal dating lives with failed relationships before settling down with someone they were actually compatible with, you wanna tell me Ronald Weasley has more common sense than Snape?
I think the reason he became obsessed with Lily was because they were close friends before they went to Hogwarts and we know that Snape lived in a abusive household so Lily was likely the first person who really cared about him and was kind to him.
No offense, but this is an incredibly shallow way to look at Severus, his feelings for Lily, and his relationship with her. Severus and Lily met as children-and at the time- Severus was living in an abusive household. They were best friends for years, it wasn’t a crush or an obsession. Lily was likely the only person in Severus’s life that showed him genuine love and kindness. The care Severus received from Lily is not seen in any adult in his young life. And he did something unforgivable to her. He had a hand in the events that led to her death. Severus doesn’t and cannot “get over” Lily. She was his only true friend, she was kind to him, she was his guardian, and his actions led to her death. You can’t simply “get over” something like that. It’s not about any sort of romantic feelings, it’s about the biggest mistake of Severus’s life, and his decision to spend the next 17 years protecting what his best friend died for
@@maliyagreen1011 he was obsessed with Lily before they met just because she was a witch, and hated Petúnia for being a muggle, it's very clear from his memories.
Mmh...lily was not his crush but his best friend for years ...his only friend lol no wonder he is still sad about her death, thats actually a good thing !..
About Sirius sending Snape to Lupin: not only is it horrible per say to do that to someone, but also it's pretty nasty to set your friend up like that. Imagine being a good person like Lupin, not being able to change his status as a were-wolf, not being able to control himself when he's turned. Then one of your best friends knowingly sends someone you don't want to hurt to you while you're not in your human, rational form. Lupin could've done sth horrible, as we all know it, because Sirius 1) wanted Snape to suffer 2) didn't think about Remus at all. He could've ended up paying for it or having to deal with the accidental harm done to an innocent person for the rest of his life. If I were in Lupin's place I wouldn't find it easy to forget Sirius and keep him as a friend. That's taking it too far and no one in the HP universe has done sth so horrible to another character, besides Voldemort himself or his followers. It really tarnishes his image as a person. For all I love Sirius, he and James got off the hook pretty easily after being horrible people. Both characters and readers alike usually love them, bc they're generally portrayed in a good light. In all fairness, Snape spends 99% of his time being nasty, but they could also be really gross if they wanted to. Edit: moreover, Lupin's condition would've been exposed to the public and he would have suffered bc of that too. Sirius really didn't think about his friend at all 😐 Also, imagine being Harry and finding out about that kfksks I couldn't look at Sirius the same way after sth like that. But it does redeem James a bit.
I do really like how complex Snape and his relationships with many characters is. Like people make bad judgements, bad choices, let grudges take a way too big role in their lives, do good things, etc. He's still not really a good person. One point I understand from a narrative point of view but still annoys me is why is he a teacher? He hates kids, is cruel, does a terrible job to those who are not his very few favorites. Couldn't he be doing potions for Pomfrey or something? Might be bc I graduated as a teacher but it just bugs me. But the name makes no sense to me. Did Harry just grab the documents to name them while Ginny was giving birth and run?? Those kids had a mom goddamnit
Thanks so much for this video Serena, loved it! Definitely agree that movie Snape is much more likeable than book Snape and I mostly credit that to Alan Rickman! I couldn’t agree more that Snape was a very well written, complex and great character… DEFINITELY not a great person! Can’t wait for more videos in this Harry Potter series, I love your breakdowns 😊
Yeah, remember the job of DADA was cursed, so Snape probably did him a favor by having him fired, at least he didn't die. One of Harry's problems was that he really looked like James and Snape and James had a history. I think Snape was living in the past over and over again being at Hogwarts...I can't imagine having to work at the Jr. High School that I went to, or even the High School, sounds like hell.
I would be so so interested in you analysing draco and hermiones dynamic! Maybe it would be difficult because there’s not much to say but I just love the topic of dramoine and I wonder if you think there’s anyway j.k Rowling could’ve successfully used an enemies to lover trope on them or if it would just completely destroy the series
What breaks Snape for me, is how he just HAD to be horrible to the other students that had nothing to do with his Grudge. If he'd only been awful to Harry (the son of his childhood bully) that would be one thing, but he constantly mocked Hermione for being a good student and terrorized Nevile so badly that he became his literal worst nightmare. It doesn't help that most of his heroic actions are told to us afterwards, which doesn't leave as strong of an impact as the child abuse.
Sorry but I never got his “redemption arch “ yes he did something good for the greater good , thanks , applause* , but his intentions were all revolved around being obsessed with Lilly , yep he had an obsession not love , he was so obsessed with her that he couldn’t even see Harry as the last legacy of Lilly , it was so apparent when we saw his memories in the pensive, and he went into Sirius’ place and ripped lilly out of the family picture of Harry James and Lilly and took it with him , he was acting immature as hell , his redemption arch only supported the theory of him being obsessed with Lilly , someone had to say ot
To be fair I don't think really even got a redemption arch because while he does change sides he doesn't really change as a person it's more that his actions show that he was possibly in the beginning stages of one but he dies before he can complete it.
@@islasullivan3463 he did change as a person a little bit tought remember when he correct the grandpa of Sirius when he call Hermione a mudblood .....vs when he call lily that....
?? I really dont see how he was obsessed of lily. He loved her, as a friend and maybe even as a crush but we dont know. He did nothing for be called obssesed. He left her when she ask it. He keep honored her.... If Someone is obsessed on the whole lily thing its james who blackmailed her to date, threat to hex her and keep asking her out even when she say no. No is no ! He is the contrary of " me too".... But i guess bc he is " pretty" he is just on love with her but bc Snape is not pretty and its one side he is obsessed..... beautiful word we leave in.... Snape didnt do all he do just for lily but after a while for Dumbledore( like all the others character ) " i HavE lied for you , do what i had to do for you..." - snape to Dumbledore
@@laurine____7543 but lupin said James and lily started going out when James changed , James and lily didn’t date when James was still an asshole , lily didn’t start dating him while he was threateningly jinx snape , James grew up and matured that’s why they started dating it has nothing to do with him being “pretty” , snape didn’t even get happy when lily was happy , that’s a huge red flag , seeing a person you love happy will make you happy too , that’s unconditional love , snape even agreed to keep Harry alive because that’s what Lilly would want NOT because Harry is Lily’s son , he kept calling Harry potter’s son , he didn’t even see Harry as Lily’s legacy , his “love” was immature and obsessive, snape only wanted lily to be with him and didn’t saw anyone else not even the things she cared about that’s selfish , snape also said “I though we were doing this for her , for lily “
by that point, he went back to voldemort and was tortured but severus still managed to convince voldemort that he was loyal he started attending both order meetings and death eater meetings which meant dealing with hostilities from both sides because neither could fully trust him despite the fact that he had the approval of both dumbledore and voldemort esp with the black cousins (sirius, bellatrix) being his biggest detractors he had to make sure he played his part precisely which meant copious use of occlumency, which meant watching people get tortured and killed, which meant making sure he provided each side accurate information without causing much harm to the order he had to teach harry occlumency which brought to the surface his old traumas- his abusive home and the extreme bullying he endured at school then harry and his friends almost died in the ministry then dumbledore put on the ring and as a result, he started slowly dying severus promised to kill him when the time came severus then made an unbreakable vow to narcissa to kill dumbledore ensuring that severus could not back out severus found out that harry had to die in order for voldemort to be defeated. so he can't avenge lily without condemning her son to death draco grew distant and even hostile while severus tried desperately to prevent draco from following in lucius' footsteps death eaters attacked the school. severus might not be nice to his students but he didn't like it when they were in physical harm severus killed dumbledore which permanently cut his ties to order, ensuring that he'll never be a free man by the time severus got to grimmauld place, he was quite literally out of his mind with grief. a rational snape would have never risked going back to that house but all he wanted was comfort and a reminder that he needed to continue carrying out dumbledore's order and that reminder was lily's picture. Severus was never obessed with lily, when lily ended their friendship he respected it
Yes, he had a tragic backstory, and while he didn't always do right by Harry, you're constantly learning more about him as the series progresses, which makes him all the more fascinating.
@@trinaq hes a shit person tbh, he treated his students like absolute shit and the fact that snape was nevilles biggest fear and not the person who literally tortured his parents till insanity says a lot. he is a complex and interesting character but he’s not a good person he did have a redemption arc which obviously made a lot of people pity him and think he was a good person but his “love” for lily was really just obsession.
Great video and excellent points were made! I especially loved you bringing up the naming his son after Snape thing because… why? 😤 A few things I disagreed with was when you said we can’t really judge James character as an adult because we don’t get to see if he matured into a better person like we do with Snape and when you said James and Lily didn’t make a lot of sense because of how James was in school. I feel like people really harp on the whole “James was a bully” thing without adding the context that James was a literal child when he met Snape. First years are only 11/12 years old. Yes he was a bully and obviously bullying is wrong, but people are allowed to grow up and change for the better. I know many people who were bratty mean kids that grew up to be really cool adults and cringe at their past selves lol. Lily was described as this kindhearted, genuine and beautiful person inside and out. Someone like that doesn’t strike me as a person who would fall in love with and marry a bully. The part in the book where Lily confronts James for bullying Snape and James asks her out, she tells him point blank that she would never date someone like him because of his behavior. They don’t start dating until years later when they’re teenagers and at that point James had even been appointed head boy. We don’t need to read about him growing up (although I would LOVE that book) to fairly judge that he did mature and he did become a better person. A person that Lily clearly fell in love with. You don’t get to be head boy if you’re still an arrogant bully or prankster. Head boy is even higher than a prefect and to even be considered for that honor, he would’ve had to show through his behavior that he had matured, was honest and good, hardworking and excelling academically. James and Lily falling in love and getting married makes perfect sense to me because James didn’t stay a cocky spoiled 11 year old bully lol. While James and Lily were growing closer, Snape continued practicing the dark arts (hello half-blood prince) while hanging out with future death eaters in Slytherin who were pretty much pure-blood supremacists (which I still find super ironic since he’s a half blood). People who bring up the bullying always seem to forget that Snape was also an aggressor in the situation and would sometimes mess with James and his friends for no reason while constantly trying to get them expelled. I appreciate that you touched on this. Personally I think they were two immature little boys who didn’t like each other, were in rival houses AND liked the same girl. Plus James disliked everything about the dark arts so the fact that Snape was into them didn’t help their relationship. James and Snape were literally Harry and Malfoy with swapped power dynamics. James was rich and spoiled like Malfoy and Snape came from a poor abusive household like Harry. The differences were that James was in Gryffindor while Snape was in Slytherin and unlike Malfoy, James had positive influences in his life that held him accountable for his actions and eventually he matured and became a better person. He became head boy, joined the order of the phoenix, became a husband and a father and died trying to protect his family. I’m not sure how anyone could say we can’t judge if he matured or became a better person when we have all this information saying what a good person he was 😅 Unlike Harry, Snape allowed his abusive childhood and the bullying in school to turn him into a death eater who didn’t care to help any of the people that his leader and fellow death eaters tortured and murdered. It wasn’t until he found out that the next victim was the one person he cared about other than himself. Had Lily never been a target, I doubt Snape would’ve ever changed because it’s highly unlikely that he didn’t participate in the evil things the death eaters did. J.K. Rowling didn’t specifically mention anything about what Snape did while he was an active death eater, but it’s mentioned a few times that Voldemort trusted him and he ranked high enough that he was an effective spy able to get sensitive information to for Dumbledore. I doubt you get that close with Voldemort without actively participating in the cruelty he was known for. He wasn’t just some low ranking soldier in the background. Thinking about the way he singled out Neville and bullied him through this context makes his behavior even more despicable. Snape was still with the death eaters when Neville’s parents were tortured and killed. So that means even knowing that he was a member of the group that tortured and killed this boy’s parents, he still chose to bully him more than the others and make his life hell for no reason. You would think that of all the kids in the class, he’d make a point to leave Neville alone given his history. I think the difference between book Snape and movie Snape is that book Snape had more extreme emotions like people with borderline personality disorder and movie Snape had very few emotions like people with antisocial personality disorder. Either way Snape had a personality disorder or possibly several considering his sociopathic obsession with Lily and his lack of regard or empathy for others like Neville (I legit can’t get over that he bullied the son of Voldemort’s victims knowing what happened to them). I didn’t expect this comment to be so long, nor do I expect anyone to read all this 😂 but boy am I tired of people acting like because he kept Harry alive and secretly helped Dumbledore against Voldemort, which ANY decent person should do… he’s some kind of hero that did more than the bare minimum. Especially since AGAIN, he literally wouldn’t have done any of that if Lily hadn’t been a target.
Thank you for this video! Your takes are all amazing and well thought out. Snape was a bad person who did good things. Well written and great character, but still a bad person. JKR has confirmed that Snape would have stayed a Death Eater is Voldemort hadn't killed Lilly. A Slytherin does things because of their own ambitions and values. He didn't turn to the good side because he felt like it was the right thing to do. He first wanted to save Lilly and then he wanted to avenge her. (I am not saying Slytherins can be motivated by good, I'm just saying he wasn't) - a Slytherin
I´m a die hard dramione shipper, but not in the "good girl/ bad boy" trope. I like them because they are the two best students at the class, and I recognize that Draco is the only one who is clever enough to challenge Hermione. What I want is the brilliant girl to make the privileged self assured richboy flustered and blushing. I love the haters to lovers trope if done right. I would rather have it as a rivalry where Draco who normally is so sure about himself is awkward and cute, then the classical "bad boy" trope. With that being said, after seeing your video on Ronmione I can see the appeal on that ship as well.
4:26 You'd be amazed how much kids get from a parent even if they never meet them. Our mother saw our father in us, and I didn't know him and wasn't raised by him. I didn't meet him till I was 24. My daughter does things her dad does and makes faces her dad does and he left when she was 3. Kids DO act like their parents even if they weren't raised by them. It's super interesting n
i think one thing that really made me question snape is this one post i saw (either twitter or tumblr) someone said that if harry was a girl and looked more like lily, snape woulda been way different and that scared me. personally didnt wanna further think about that scenario 😬 i enjoy him being a morally grey person and i think some characters dont need to always have to have a redemption arc. like he can still be a bad person but do something good but doesn’t mean he’s redeemed? it annoyed me how so many other people in harry’s life impacted him so much and he ends up naming his kid after him??? wack writing
@@danterpan exactly! I would have given him a bit more slack had he left the death eaters out of realising that racism is bad. Instead, he left them because of a girl he had never gotten over.
@@kumjumba1377 snape's initial motivation was Lily but later he did grew out of his racist ideas. He told Phineas black not to call hermione the m slur
Honestly, looking back he would not even have made the Top 3 worst real life teachers I had or know about. Bullying a "random" kid and the weaker kids like Neville, demeaning kids, scaring teenagers, not allowing kids to go to the nurse, giving unfair advantages, well, all that happened in real life and keeps happening. He's not a good person but not the monster some make him out to be.
I had a teacher pretty who was pretty similar to Snape and I was so scared of him. I was actually scared of school bc of this teacher so I really don't like Snape. He's a great character and I like him in that way but as a person... not so much. The teacher never used phsysical harm but always made fun of students and really had a lot of pressure on us. I'm not saying that teacher was exactly like Snape but I definitly saw and still see similarities
If you want to know about the history with lily and James and snape read all the young dudes its a fanfic on ao3 im pretty sure its accepted as cannon and it explains everything and justifies James a bit
hi I don't know if you ever watched the next step but if so it would be so good and interesting to have your feed back and your thoughts on this show :). Keep the good work you always do great reviews
Snape I think obviously needed to do better and it would have been good if he had been able to grow through and past the trauma he had as a child. I’m not at all saying that Lilly should have been with Snape because I think that is incorrect, but, I also don’t think it’s right to say that Snape’s love for Lilly was not real or true because Lilly was not in love with him. Again I’m Not saying Lilly should be with him but I do think he did love her. Also I think because Lilly died I think he’s more able to keep her on this pedestal because now she’s dead there’s nothing she can actually do to change those thoughts or opinions. Hope this makes sense.
Serena, I love this debate. I actually seek out commentary on Severus Snape as a character. I agree with many of your points touched upon in this commentary, differ on others, and also have some of my own thoughts on the matter. Snape is more of an Anti-Hero, his tale being one of the attempt of redemption. Snape is ultimately the catalyst for the entire story and also the exploration of thematic elements of fate, choice, and love. Snape as a character is possibly my favorite, but the reason I appreciate him is because of how gray, flawed, and real he is. We as people always feel the need to group, label, and define everything in the world around us, which becomes extremely evident and prominent during the development of the target age of this series. The Severus Snape debate is a stark reminder of this. Snape doesn't deserve to be put upon a pedestal as a angel nor should he be reprimanded as a devil. He should be condemned for his transgressions, but equally respected for his sacrifices. As for naming a child after Albus or Severus, well that was a creative choice. Not one I would have made personally, but then again I am not the creator so it wasn't mine to make. People make a lot of decisions I would never make, but that is beyond my control and has little impact on my decisions.
To me, movie Snape was more of a hard-ass; tough, overly strict, but not mean. And with the exception of their first ever potions class, all of his suspicions, anger and punishments toward Harry were justified- sneaking around after curfew, making polyjuice potion, the flying car incident. Even the scene mentioned when he smacked Ron and Harry over the head in class was because they were TALKING IN HIS CLASS. Additionally, movie Snape showed no overt and obvious favouritism of Slytherin House, so you got the sense that, as a person, he was just like that, rather than targeting Harry. Even though he still disliked him on account of his father, to me it was more like Harry's own wrongdoings justified Snape's feelings toward him rather than being outright projection, and he was equally unpleasant toward everyone. Also, when you mentioned that the antagonistic relationship between James and Snape was two-sided, the movies portrayed it as completely one-sided, even going so far as to make Snape seem like this quiet kid who was just minding his own business. And this is why I think so many people, myself included, were so easily swayed to liking and forgiving him at the end of the last movie, and it was a shock to me when I read just how abhorrent he was in the books.
I also saw it in discussion that what Snape felt for Lily couldn't have been true love, because his patronus changed into hers, it was more like obsession. It was true love with James, because their patronuses (patroni?) complimented each other.
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The fact that Harry named his kid after two teachers and neither of them were mcgonogal is criminal
I can understand because Sirius and Luna both are better names than Minerva
@@Anonymous_P Severus is such a bad name tho and he was okay saddling his kid with that but oh no Minerva is off the table
@@Anonymous_P bruh I like the name minerva 😂😂
@@alexjames7144okay you have a point there but I don't make the rules
I've always felt so bad for "Albus Severus" man like holy shit, kid grows up and be like damn my father is a demon with this naming thing 💀
Snape is easily one of the most complex, enigmatic characters in the entire franchise. You're never quite sure of his motives, and Alan Rickman played him splendidly. It's difficult to imagine another actor who could tackle Snape, but Alan was well up for the challenge. He'll be forever missed. 😢😇
Honestly, Snape is very lucky to be played by Rickman. Book Snape was pathetic tbh and Rickman brought a certain humanity and mystery to the character that book Snape didn't have. Snape would definitely not have had such a huge fanbase without Rickman and I even think that JKR was influenced by Rickman's performance when writing the later books. Harry telling his son that Snape was the bravest man he ever knew didn't feel deserved at all to me, seeing everything that Snape does in the books, it felt more like fan service and I don't think it was planned before the movies came out.
@@forensikarie yes, nobody would’ve liked snape if he was that greasy, grumpy man who had beefs with kids unprovoked like he was in books
I think a lot of my love for Snape is just Alan Rickman being so, so beautiful and good in the role.
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I remember one line that he says that made me say out loud “What an asshole.”
In Goblet of Fire when Draco used that curse on Hermione to make her teeth grow, Snape sees this and he says “I see no difference.”
It’s probably because Hermione is my favorite character, so that moment pissed me off.
Snape in books was an apsolute asshole even tho he had a good and positive character development. Still, the stuff he did to harry and other people cannot be exused just like that, that’s why he is a morally grey character.
Snape in the movies however felt a little more human. Alan Rickman brought this vunerablity in him that the Snape in books doesn’t have
As someone who was bullied in middle school, I don't say he should just get over it, that shit definitely leaves scars, but when you hold on to your resentment for over a decade, especially after the guy who bullied you died tragically and to a point where you mistreat innocent orphans, the only one who is hurting you, is yourself.
Yup
To be fair, they also almost got him killed...
@@KaMafo28 hmm... I guess
@@KaMafo28 and his organization got James and Lilly actually killed. Then he bullied a child who had nothing to do with it... 🤨
@@KaMafo28 I get it but he was always rude to them and he was a deatheater, I think that's why he and Lily fought all the time
Naming the kid after him was a step too far for me. I think JK really wanted that conversation between Harry and his son about Slytherin, but here's the thing having him named for Snap was not the only way to do that. Honestly there are a number of other Slytherin none villains that could have gotten shout outs as well if Harry's speech was reworked a bit including, Regulus Black, who died stealing the locket, and or Narcissa Malfoy who saved Harry by lying to Voldemort.
Andromeda too, she was Tonks' mother and Teddy's grandmother.
Number one him naming his child after dumbledore and snape is not a mistake harry 0they were both responsible for the entire series and this is so harry knows how everything is started and after harry had hated snape all these years he had never had a chance to see the good in him while he was alive so naming his son after snape shows
Honestly, I feel like everyone gives snape too much leeway he basically changed because of his childhood obsession with Lily even though he indirectly caused her death. Lily died because he told Voldemort about the prophecy, and felt bad because she died. He is a perpetulant child
This video made me want to reread HP so badly! As always, I love that you do a very nuanced and well thought-out take on characters. I never thought of Sirius' time in Azkaban in the way you phrased it. You're so right! In some ways, he is emotionally stuck at 21 and in others, he probably feels a 100 years old!
I have to say, it is canon that James matured a lot in his seventh year and he died at 21, but we know that in that time, he fought for the Order despite being a pure-blood, defied Voldemort thrice and charged at him with no wand to buy his wife and son a chance to escape. I don't know how we can't conclusively say that he is a better person than Snape. I don't think a spoiled, obnoxious bully and a budding Death Eater inventing murderous dark spells are on a comparable level morally. Especially when James actually appears to have the better-late-than-never heroic arc that a lot of people wanted Draco to have.
I feel like as a culture, our desperation for a redemption arc that doesn't really let characters occupy their own complexities is so damaging to good literature. I'm deliberately not saying "grey" or "morally ambiguous", because like you highlighted, Snape made a lot of awful choices and was a ride-or-die Death Eater by his sixth year in Hogwarts, which makes his moral standing pretty clear to me. But because we love Alan Rickman, we love a neat ending and the movies influenced the way we read the books, "Always", a bitter profession of his creepy, undying obsession with a woman who married and had a child with someone else, somehow gets this ethereal swell of orchestral music and becomes the most romantic line in the HP-verse.
It's a hard pill to swallow, even for me, because elsewhere in pop culture, I'm used to villain-turned-superheroes who save the world and are redeemed. It's a lot more uncomfortable to acknowledge that Snape was a terrible person whose wild-card of loyalty just so happened to fall such that he would protect our protagonist. There are a million scenarios in which Snape would have been loyal to Voldemort until the end, but the one where he wouldn't because Lily was endangered was the reality. The facts don't change though. He is still a Death Eater, the Wizarding equivalent of a Nazi. He is still a creep who tried to bargain to save Lily's life by sacrificing her husband and infant son. He is still a vicious and abusive teacher who becomes Neville's worst fear despite the fact that someone else entirely tortured Neville's parents into insanity. He is still an asshat who made fun of Hermione's physical insecurities until she cried. He is still a bitter man who effectively ruined Lupin's life and opportunities by forcibly outing his condition to the world. He still sat stone-faced while Voldemort's snake feasted on his colleague. And he is still someone whose double loyalties and obsession with Lily was critical to defeating Voldemort - it doesn't make that obsession any more romantic or redeemable, it just makes it important. More than a good person, or even a good character, I see Snape as important.
But as someone who wants to be a teacher, I really don't like him. :)
I never understood how "Always" became THE Harry Potter word... Can't forgive him for bullying KIDS... He was an interesting character and Alan Rickman was just iconic, but Snape is not a hero. (Still the best Slytherin we ever got so...)
Loved your video, really well done! 💚🐍
A Draco video would be awesome!
I didn't like Cursed Child that much but i think Draco and the gang finally making peace is what Snape, Remus, James and Sirius really needed too.
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Tbh " everything" and " do not say that word !" Should be more popular than always ( its other Snape line
How could you say he is the best Slytherin when Slughorn is right there😭
@@laurine____7543 agreed. As Snape fan I like "Lately only those whom I could not save." In response to Dumbledore asking him how many men and women has he had to watch die as it shows that he's tried to save as many people as he could, not just Lily or Harry. Plus I also think he was talking about Dumbledore as well as he knew he would have to kill Dumbledore at some point and there was nothing he could do about it.
Also "Look at me." Is another favourite of mine as it can be Snape opening up to Harry, asking Harry to understand him, to understand that he's sorry for how he had been and based on a memory he gives to Harry it shows that he realises he was wrong for everything he had done including treating Harry badly.
@@marie.naturallysims2179 yeah , these two line are other very great Snape line, and show his redemption especially the " only those Who i could not save " . As a Snape stan i hate how snater think Snape stan love Snape Snape just bc of his love for lily and that his redemption is his love for lily when its not true and the popularity of always does not help that.
One thing I've noticed when reading the books is Hagrid defending Snape against accusations Harry makes about him, even loses his temper with Harry at one point, and even after hearing Snape killed Dumbledore, Hagrid was the only Order member to guess correctly.
Also in Goblet of fire and Half blood Prince from what Bellatrix says and from what Karkaroff says when on trial it seems like Snape had realised joining the death eaters isn't all it seemed.
"Usually slithered out of action." Bellatrix-Hafl blood Prince. "Once again missing while the rest of us ran dangers."
Karkaroff just names Snape as a death eater. Nothing else. Nothing about Snape doing anything, compared to the other death eaters he names, he mentions what they did or Barty crouch Senior interrupts him to say they know what happened. All that was said was Snape was a death eater and was cleared of all charges which suggests Snape joined the death eaters, did his first job (spied on Dumbledore and reported back to Voldemort) realised in between this time and before he went to Dumbledore the Death eaters weren't all that great. Plus with the Death eaters as his only family he has no where else to go for help, not until Voldemort decides to kill the Potters, and like Sirius said, "It's either a lifetime of service or death."
Neville's parents were tortured to insanity by death eaters, but his greatest fear is Snape, his teacher, which I think says a lot.
Actually with him as a potions teacher, he never was shown to teach from the book. The instructions were always written on the blackboard, so more than likely he was teaching them his own variations of the book’s instructions or even his own entirely. The problem with this is that he never seems to explain this to his students. So unless they go back to the book and remember the differences, they wouldn’t know that sometimes the books don’t have the best instructions and sometimes that you can come up with better ways to make the spells. So he just tells them what to do instead of instructing them on how to do it and why and the things that he’s learned on his own better than just the books. Though almost all the professors at Hogwarts pretty much teach this way. Another way the pedagogy at Hogwarts is horrible and failed its students.
I wonder how Snape would have felt about Harry if he had been a girl instead and looking more like Lily? Perhaps he would have seen less of James in him/projected less of James‘ traits onto him and would have related to Harry in a more positive/caring way. Although I imagine it would be quite painful to see a mini version of Lily everyday, being reminded of her passing.
I find that thought quite unsettling. Though I'm sure there's a fanfic about it.
@@carmensavu5122 There is lol. I actually read one where Harry has a sister and the author makes it a really emphasized point that she looks just like lily, and although Snape isn’t all cuddly with her, it is widely known that he favors her over Harry and the rest of hogwarts really and has taken it upon himself to be a father figure
The only 2 reason there are so many snape fans are that he was played by Alan Rickman and the "always" at the end. He literally bullied the kids and he was an asshole for the entire series specially in the books. His love for lily doesn't justify his actions. I hate when people defend him like "he was bullied as a kid, james is worse." James is not worse than him because he was a bully as a teenager but he grew up to be a nice person, snape grew up to be a bully to kids who are 11. I remember there was a part in the book that malfoy cast a spell on hermione that made her teeth go really big. He looked at it and said "it looks same to me" TO A LITTLE GIRL WHO IS HIS STUDENT ?!
He never grew up. He still hexed Snape and bullied muggle cops. There are many Book Snape fans. Don't judge us. Look I like James but JKR didn't write a good arc for him
@@hermionegranger63 stop meat riding Snivellus he went after James bc James started dating lily you expect James to just stand there?
@@yourworstnightmare3271 imao what ?? have we read the same books? James was after severus from the start. he sexually assaulted snape and blackmailed lily if she went out with him he will leave snape. also mind your language dude.
I've always had Snape as my favorite character from the series. Not because I like his character, because…ew, but as other people have noted, he's complicated and interesting. Complicated and interesting don't mean naming your kids after them, bUT it does mean entertainment and thinky think-think time.
When I saw Harry named his kid albus severus I immediately questioned if Ginny was the mother
I am loving this Harry Potter deep dive series and I can’t wait to hear more of your thoughts. Would love your ideas about the Marauders or the things you thought should have been in the films (peeves would always be my wish for the films)
It would be interesting to hear your opinion on Harry and Ginnys relationship because it wasn’t well executed in the movies in my opinion.
Everyone thinks that lol
I blame screen time limitations.
Thank you! Excellent analysis. As a teacher, I find Snape's behaviour in class highly disturbing. Several competent teachers saw Neville struggling and tried to help - Lupin was very supportive, McGonagall tried to make Neville see his own potential... but Snape did everything to make this poor boy as miserable as possible and undermined him constantly instead of helping - or at least not directly traumatizing the kid! And all the mean comments Snape directed at his other underage students... That guy was way too bitter to be a good teacher.
"they're similar, they're like brothers... or second cousins twice removed" killed me
😂😂😂
Alan Rickman was planning to leave HP and that's when JKR told him about Snape's background with Lily. Part of me thinks it's something JKR came up with just to keep Rickman on but who knows. I'm personally really excited for Rickman's diaries getting published into a book next year cause I know there's gonna be some tea!
It was actually a very popular fan theory. She always said Harry's eyes were important, and it's the only physical trait he has from his mother. No one knew why Dumbledore trusted Snape so much, it was obvious that it was Snape's choice. People connected the dots.
I so feel for him in Prisoner of Azkaban though because he literally thought Sirius is the reason Lily is dead, and he thinks Lupin is helping him get away with it.
I can't excuse him after everything went down and he knows the truth, then he just hates them cause he bullied them I guess.
But the scene in the shrieking shack I totally see why his reaction is so extreme. Even though its still a lot of projection because obviously Voldemort would never have been after Lily if it weren't for him - then that makes me question his morality as if it weren't Lily he accidentally made Voldemort go after, would he even feel bad? Oh Snape you complex dude.
let's have an intermission-ad break comes on, love it. Movie version of Snape is the superior character of him, there's not one scene I feel anything for Snape even in his death scene when it comes to the books, but the movies they did an outstanding job. The books really made it feel like there was only the bad side to him before the reveal but in the movies he seems more complex.
He’s definitely likeable in the movies
@@SerenaSkybourne yeah for sure, kinda like they decided to change his character up a little. Though the one thing in the books and movies that is shown more equal is how protective he is over Draco, he's kinda always felt like Draco's unofficial godfather
One thing I thought about while watching is that, Harry having grown in an abusive household is partly the fault of Snape cause Petunia felt really left out when her sister discovered that she was a witch but more so because of her friendship with Snape and how Snape treated Petunia so Snape bullied Harry for all his school years but is also partly responsible for the abuse he suffered while growing up. And this abuse that Harry suffers makes a more compassionate person while the "same" abuse that Snape suffered just made him bitter and caused this kind of vicious circle. Hope I'm making sense and that my thoughts are expressed well by my english (i'm french).
For other subjects around Harry Potter :
Justice for Ginny and Ron (book vs movies),
Dramione definitely, even though I totally agree with you on the authenticity of Ron and Hermione relationship (reading / listening to the fanfic Isolation at the moment and it's just great),
Dumbledore's dark side (that didn"t make it to the movies and that's my greatest disappointment cause when Harry is confused about the father / mentor figure that he thought he knew but realize he doesn't, for me is such an interesting, fascinating and powerful arc in the book),
all the bad decision that are taken by the administration council at Hogwarts or whoever decided everything that happens in this school... houses based on personality ? detention in a forbidden part of the school ? hiring people as teachers that are obviously bad at their jobs (if you want to keep them safe or have an eye on them just make them janitors or something) and I'm sure we can find millions more...
Anyway I love your rants and take on these series and shows, I relate to a lot of what you say and it makes me think about new angles too so great work, I love it ;) Thanks
i agree however i feel like harry saving grace is that his parents died… so he could at least have this fantasy of good parents and he did he’s told by wizard world how amazing his parents are! shit his mom gave up her life for her son! the whole series to me is about the power of love, unfortunately snape childhood was different i feel he became obsessed with lily bc she showed kindness to him and only got worse rejection from his peers etc even tho he’s so resentful he still manages to physically help harry just for his “love” of lilly
hear me out: SKYbourne = stars “Hey, my little stars!”
Aww that’s rly cute I’ll add it to my list of ideas
I can’t get past the fact that he abused students for 16 years! And Dumbledore just let it happen. Nah. I get he had to be a double spy or whatever but that shouldn’t mean he gets a free pass to just bully and mentally abuse children! Harry was actually looking forward to potions class and by the end of it he hated it and wanted to drop it by third year if possible JUST because of how awful Snape was
One more hint we get that Snape has an obsession and it' not really a true love is that he is fine with James and Harry being killed by Voldemort even though he knows it'll destroy lily. He doesn't care about lily's happiness whatsoever, he just wants her alive, so he can have her to himslelf.
Also, we see James being a bully only to Snape and I do believe those two were so mean to each other because they both had feelings for lily and in a way they were competing for her love. But Lily clearly didn't want any of them when they were acting that way and the fact that later she falls in love with James indicates that James changed and become better person. teenager being a bully to another teenager because they have a crush on the same girl , in my opinion, is much more redeemable than a grown man being a bully to little kids. Plus James died when he was 21 and at that point he was married to Lily for at least 2 years ( because harry was 1 years old) that means he must have stopped being a bully and realized how wrong he was while he was still very young.
1. He couldn't well ask Voldemort not to kill Harry, eliminating Harry was the main purpose of the attack on the Potters. As for James, so he didn't put himself in danger of being tortured by Voldemort by asking him to spare a person he loathed who made his life hell. Makes sense to me. If I hate your guts, I'm not going to put my skin on the line for you. If you take issue with that, you need to be more honest and less idealistic about human nature, as well as get off your high horse.
2. Snape left Lily alone after she made her decision to date James. He never chased them down or attempted to intervene between them. Also, he was a prodigy at Potions. He could have slipped Lily a love potion if he was just obsessed with her and wanted her to himself at all cost. He didn't.
3. Snape and James hated each other since the first time they ever laid eyes on each other, so Lily can't have been at the root of their enmity.
4. Sirius and Remus did actually say that James still cursed Snape behind Lily's back after they started dating. We get no evidence that the spoiled rich brat actually saw the error of his ways and stopped being a bully.
5. I've got a few choice words for Lily too. What kind of person dates and marries her best friend's bully? I could never do that, even if I did become convinced that he had changed. It's the principle of the thing.
snape being a big ol’ yeller in the books but in the movie he doesnt reminds me of how dumbledores scene with harry in the goblet of fire 😂 who switched it
fantastic video as usual, thank you very much. You sum up pretty much all the good and bad things about Snape and how we should acknowledge that he's a good CHARACTER, not a good PERSON, should be praised for what he'd done and sacrificed but should not be admired. I have one little pet peeve tho, it's that it would be better for the fanarts you used to be credited, just to be considerate?
I have some thoughts I want to state:
- I feel like they kinda switch characterization between Dumbledore and Snape when adapting the books. Dumbledore the calm and even cold at times, mostly wise and collected, became shouty and hot headed and have really dumb moments in the movie, the vice versa goes to Snape.
- I do feel like in different circumstances, either Lupin and Snape OR even James and Snape can be friends, in Lupin's case maybe even good friends. Let's take a look at the Marauders, we have:
+ Sirius the family rebel, sick with his family's belief and traumatized by them. I think it's implied he even got abused? And him and Andromeda (Tonks' mom) were erased from the family tree's name weren't they? He's discriminated in his own family.
+ Peter the slow, dumb child who can't even catch up with his peers. It's not clear if he was bullied like Neville but it seems that he had a hard life at school until he was took in by the other 3
+ Lupin, the werewolf. That's it, that's how we know Lupin is discriminated by the whole society. The only thing that was good for him was that his parents are loving people until James and Sirius come into the picture.
James was the only one who has loving parents, never faces discrimination because he's a pureblood, a Quidditch star, being academically good and have the advantage of being a Gryffindor (we should now acknowledge how society in the Wizarding World view the children in each house). He befriended the troubled kids and have good relationship with literally everyone, give them a home (Sirius), a friend (Lupin), a protection (Peter). He's basically a god like figure so of course he's arrogant in a degree. But in his core he's a good kid. Now if it was played out differently, if Snape and James were both less arrogant, less prejudiced against each other's houses, they CAN be friends. I don't think James bullied other Slytherin kids or at least we didn't see it, but I do think the core reason James and Snape clashed was Lily. Nevertheless, James becomes the bully to Snape and even in the end he did leave Snape alone and even tried to save him, I can understand how Snape still hates James. Bullying can leave deep scars and it's justifiable IF Snape hates ONLY James and James alone (maybe Sirius also). But Snape at his core holds more personal hatred towards James than James towards Snape and it escalated to a bad side where he's completely fine with James and his son being killed by the Dark Lord or satisfied with 2 innocent people, Lupin and Sirius, getting their souls sucked by the Dementors. It's ugly.
About Snape and Lupin, I don't like comparing traumatizing experiences but honestly, Lupin gets everything harder than anyone else. But personality wise, I can see if things were a little different, Snape and Lupin can bond over hard circumstances and their quiet, academic nature. Like in Order of Phoenix, there is some hints that even though Snape provoking Sirius every chance he got, he seems to be on a neutral and respectful note to Lupin. So they can be friends.
I would love to see a vid about Lupin, he's one of a few adults who see Harry as Harry and not as his mom/dad's replica or world saver or sacrifice meat.
I remember the plot twist with Snape how e everyone started to love him and forge all he did but I never forgot and I found this weird how much they praised him
I can't express how much I enjoyed this in depth analysis ❤️ I had no idea he was this different in the book
i think what really messed me up involving the movie is that all these adults were casted too old.
it makes sense that snape isn’t over his trauma being bulled by james cause hes in his mid 30s.
alan rickman when they first started filming was 55 and gary oldman (sirius) was 46 when they filmed azkaban and i’m supposed to think these dudes were in their 30s 😂 ?!
the actors ages compared to the characters they played definitely impacted how we saw them and how we interpret their actions. its weird seeing dudes in their late 40s/50s fighting like children cause theyre supposed to be way younger.
great video as always! i really enjoy your deep dives and this makes me wanna rewatch and reread the books again 💛
Yes omfg like Lily and James were supposed to be TWENTY when they died. That was supposed to be the point, that they died young, and that they didn't see much of their lives. The movies made them look 30-40+ tho and it kinda lost that message
@@ericka8958 EXACTLY! thats why sirius kept saying harry was so much like james, he was still grieving over the loss of his best friend and harry was so close in age of when they all met.
This was so well rounded and brilliant! Not that I even expected less. Amazing!!
💓💓
we are getting so many videos from you now..thank youuu
Can't understand why people ship Snape/Lily when it's obvious that the best pairing with him is Snape/therapy.
P. S. Great analysis! I've always felt pretty much the same about this character, he's extremely complex and ambiguous. That definitely makes him one of the best, however.
i would love an analysis on dumbledores character. i think so many bad things that happen are his fault at the root and would love to hear your take on his character💕
I’m so glad of finally heading a constructive opinion about snape. I agree 100% with you and with everything you said.
I think it’s very important to read the books. The movies miss and twist information and you can’t comprehend the whole picture.
I would love for you to talk about your opinion on the movies!! I really love listening to your thoughts so far I always agree with u. I really loved the analysis you did of PLL books!!
PS: I agree with u with the Dramione thing!!!
Snape wasn't good or evil. He was intense and realistic. Like it or not, people are often petty, and are not interested in the moral high road.
Movie Snape seems like he was written as fan service because of how amazing Alan Rickman was - you can see in the later movies how much time is dedicated to Snape just standing there looking creepy and delivering a one liner. I felt like movie Dumbledore was made to look really selfish, manipulative and weak but book Dumbledore was completely different. It’s like they switched the characterization of the two to make Snape the favorite in the movies
Dumbledore IS manipulative even on the books. Also selfish. His word , not mine...
And on witch scene Snape was looking creppy ? Stop reading fanfic
I would say Remus and Sirius are the one that was written for fan service
Remus abandonning his pregant woman ? Gone.
Remus trying to kiss Snape ? Gone
Ect ect..
@@laurine____7543 snape threatening to kill neville's toad? Gone
👏👏👏 that was an amazing analysis! the only thing i wish would have been mentioned is when snape tells hermione he doesn't see any difference while she's under the spell that enlarges her teeth, she goes to the nurse to fix them and tells madam pomfrey to stop when they are smaller than they were before. so because of greasy, lame, mean snape, she actually modifies how she looks! it just shows how inconsiderate he is as a person and a teacher, to say that to a 14-year-old girl! it's as if he doesn't realize the effect he has on the children with his behavior.
whenever i openly admit to my dislike of snape people look at me all weird - mostly people who have not read the books, they give out the argument that he was so interesting and was justified to act the way he did, which no, he wasn't - and i think now whenever i'll run into someone who doesn't understand i'll just send them this video. you did a great job showing the good, the bad and the ugly. i'm looking forward to watching more hp content from you. i'd be very curious about your opinion on the cursed child because in my opinion, it's a crazy mess. the snape in that story is not accurate at all, when he actually said he's proud albus severus POTTER carries his name i laughed out loud because he would NOT have been happy that a potter has HIS name! and what they have done to cedric and harry is just unforgivable.
I thoroughly enjoyed this video. You always put so much effort in your videos and I agree with all the points you made. Alan Rickman's portrayal greatly helped Snape to be likeable to me. All in all, an excellent, polarizing character
We can not forget that James never really became a adult. He died at 21. I think that is also why in the book we never see fults. Because it was such a tragedy nobody wanted to say anything bad about him (exept Snape!)
Yeah and technically most of the characters died young and we knew some of the stuff about them but not enough because of Harry didn’t know, then we did not know.
I think is interesting to look at the broader contest. Snape was in school in a time when Voldemort was starting to move politically. We are told that he didn’t just pop out of no where and start make noises, he worked under the scene for a long time and a lot of his following was built during that period of time.
So at Hogwarts we see this political turmoil reflected in the interaction between James and Snape.
Snape was welcomed by the young death eater, a group that looked up to Voldemort racism and seeked to kill or enslave all the muggle born. Lily herself tell us that this group was being violently active in the castle and even if we give Snape the benefit of the doubt and say that he was never the initiator, he was still following them around inventing spells that can be used for hurting people.
In this climate every attack directed to Snape was an attack to that ideology. The more embarrassed and humiliated he is, the less scary the all group appears.
Is extremely childish and obviously not right, but is kinda understandable. Especially when you realise that 2 of James’s best friends have beer directly attacked by that group, Sirius was kicked out by his family and Lupin became a werewolf under order of Voldemort
y" all talking about what snape did to lupin in school but that's exactly what James and the marauders did to snape; snape also was an underprivileged child; a slytherin and his home was already toxic; life was terrible for snape and these bullies made it hell for him; no one should be feeling bad for lupin, not just because he watched his friends bully him and make him an outcast, but beccause he put the blame on him when harry asked and told harry that snape " deserved to get bullied" !
Thank you Serena!! Really happy to see you talk about this and to agree that just because he did save the day and he did do some positive things he was overall not a good person (I'll never ever get over him being Neville's bogart when Neville's parents were literally tortured to insanity by Bellatrix, and yet this poor young boys greatest fear is his teacher? Horrible. Absolutely horrible.) Great video! I would LOVE to hear your thoughts on Draco and Hermione I always felt as you said that he did have feelings for her, or he could have if he allowed himself to, but with his family and how he was being groomed to be a deatheater... yeah I see why it couldn't happen. (But if you're going to bring it up please mention how in the CoS movie we see Draco in the library looking at a book and he rips out a page and then later when Hermione is petrified Harry and Ron pull a piece of paper out of her hand that was clearly ripped from a book, and Hermione would never rip a page out of a book and given that we saw Draco do it... I think he was helping and he slipped her the page somehow. Just a thought) Great content, I really adore your videos!❤
The whole snape analysis seems so drawn out at this point I’ve seen so many analysis pieces about it but I’m actually really impressed, there were some points you made in yours that I’ve never heard about or thought about myself before which genuinely impact how I view the situation
Something I just realized about Snape is he thought Sirius betrayed Lilly to Voldemort. To him, he hated Sirius already AND Sirius caused the death of the love of his life, and if you look at everything on the surface it did appear that Lupin was aiding him. So I kinda get why he was a little deranged and unwilling to listen to reason in that situation
Seeing it broken down there isn't really much of a puzzle: book Snape is a messed up and unpleasant man (all the ways he acts out from a position of power) but isn't actually evil. Bullying a child but not wanting to kill him fits perfectly.
In the films he is played by Alan Rickman, who we will always love.
We want our fandom to be called "Skylights" 🌌
Been looking forward to this!!!!
You're looking stunning!
Thankyou 😍
these analysis videos make me so happy bc none of my friends ever wanna have convos like this😭❤️ oh my gosh
I totally agree, this just shows how some people have such low standards towards men... Snape was an awful person, who bullied kids and was mean for no reason... Yes, he spied on Voldemort for Dumbledore , was brave and took part in the destroying of Horcruxes but that's it!!! And he did that out of personal revenge !! Many other characters were brave as well. It does not make him a fatherly figure to Harry whatsoever, It was so messed up for Harry to name his child after him.
that's it? snape made sacrifices that no one else would have been able to do; personal revenge how? there is nothing personal about revenging a girl who abondoned him when he needed her friendship the most and dated his school bully; his actions only came from love;
i LOVE these harry potter deep dives!! Draco next!
I think he named his kid after Snape in order to wizarding community not forget the Severus and his role in the war. Others like Minerva, Hagrid etc. were very well know on their own and in the end they had something or someone but Severus had no-one and nothing. Who else would care to show respect to the double agent who killed Dumbledore?
I love Snape, but he's a deeply flawed character for me, I mean I've had a tonne of crushes in high school and college, some of who I genuinely tried to pursue things with until I realized it wasn't meant to be, and I've been able to move on from that lol, that's what normal people do, I mean dude was in Hogwarts, with probably hundreds of other girls in different houses, but he became so obsessed with one girl that he's still mourning her death more than 17 years later, a girl who already had built a life without Snape even before her death.
What exactly would be his excuse had Lily not died, was he gonna secretly obsess over her till old age, and was he still gonna be a bitter angry man to the child of the woman who he apparently loved more than anything in the world? I see it a the sort of thing that would be used as an excuse by people to hide from the fact that they have an abnormal obsession with someone.
It's sort of a trope now, where someone loves another from a young age and never dates anyone else ever, I see it in a lot of shows too, I mean even Ron and Harry had somewhat normal dating lives with failed relationships before settling down with someone they were actually compatible with, you wanna tell me Ronald Weasley has more common sense than Snape?
I think the reason he became obsessed with Lily was because they were close friends before they went to Hogwarts and we know that Snape lived in a abusive household so Lily was likely the first person who really cared about him and was kind to him.
No offense, but this is an incredibly shallow way to look at Severus, his feelings for Lily, and his relationship with her. Severus and Lily met as children-and at the time- Severus was living in an abusive household.
They were best friends for years, it wasn’t a crush or an obsession. Lily was likely the only person in Severus’s life that showed him genuine love and kindness. The care Severus received from Lily is not seen in any adult in his young life. And he did something unforgivable to her. He had a hand in the events that led to her death. Severus doesn’t and cannot “get over” Lily. She was his only true friend, she was kind to him, she was his guardian, and his actions led to her death. You can’t simply “get over” something like that.
It’s not about any sort of romantic feelings, it’s about the biggest mistake of Severus’s life, and his decision to spend the next 17 years protecting what his best friend died for
@@maliyagreen1011 he was obsessed with Lily before they met just because she was a witch, and hated Petúnia for being a muggle, it's very clear from his memories.
@@marina.chayka Oh yeah a 9 year old socially awkward kid who just wants to talk to another kid is obsessed 🙄
Mmh...lily was not his crush but his best friend for years ...his only friend lol no wonder he is still sad about her death, thats actually a good thing !..
About Sirius sending Snape to Lupin: not only is it horrible per say to do that to someone, but also it's pretty nasty to set your friend up like that. Imagine being a good person like Lupin, not being able to change his status as a were-wolf, not being able to control himself when he's turned. Then one of your best friends knowingly sends someone you don't want to hurt to you while you're not in your human, rational form. Lupin could've done sth horrible, as we all know it, because Sirius 1) wanted Snape to suffer 2) didn't think about Remus at all. He could've ended up paying for it or having to deal with the accidental harm done to an innocent person for the rest of his life. If I were in Lupin's place I wouldn't find it easy to forget Sirius and keep him as a friend. That's taking it too far and no one in the HP universe has done sth so horrible to another character, besides Voldemort himself or his followers. It really tarnishes his image as a person. For all I love Sirius, he and James got off the hook pretty easily after being horrible people. Both characters and readers alike usually love them, bc they're generally portrayed in a good light. In all fairness, Snape spends 99% of his time being nasty, but they could also be really gross if they wanted to.
Edit: moreover, Lupin's condition would've been exposed to the public and he would have suffered bc of that too. Sirius really didn't think about his friend at all 😐 Also, imagine being Harry and finding out about that kfksks I couldn't look at Sirius the same way after sth like that. But it does redeem James a bit.
I do really like how complex Snape and his relationships with many characters is. Like people make bad judgements, bad choices, let grudges take a way too big role in their lives, do good things, etc. He's still not really a good person.
One point I understand from a narrative point of view but still annoys me is why is he a teacher? He hates kids, is cruel, does a terrible job to those who are not his very few favorites. Couldn't he be doing potions for Pomfrey or something? Might be bc I graduated as a teacher but it just bugs me.
But the name makes no sense to me. Did Harry just grab the documents to name them while Ginny was giving birth and run?? Those kids had a mom goddamnit
lmao@ Ginny's face when Harry told her he named their kid "Albus Severus" :))))
Sirius did try to murder him, though.
I’m so early! Yay! I’ll edit comment once I’m done watching 🥰
love youuuu
I have my issues with snape but at the bare bones; he's also a victim of dumbledore's games.
Thanks so much for this video Serena, loved it! Definitely agree that movie Snape is much more likeable than book Snape and I mostly credit that to Alan Rickman! I couldn’t agree more that Snape was a very well written, complex and great character… DEFINITELY not a great person! Can’t wait for more videos in this Harry Potter series, I love your breakdowns 😊
Loving the content!
Yeah, remember the job of DADA was cursed, so Snape probably did him a favor by having him fired, at least he didn't die. One of Harry's problems was that he really looked like James and Snape and James had a history. I think Snape was living in the past over and over again being at Hogwarts...I can't imagine having to work at the Jr. High School that I went to, or even the High School, sounds like hell.
I would be so so interested in you analysing draco and hermiones dynamic! Maybe it would be difficult because there’s not much to say but I just love the topic of dramoine and I wonder if you think there’s anyway j.k Rowling could’ve successfully used an enemies to lover trope on them or if it would just completely destroy the series
What breaks Snape for me, is how he just HAD to be horrible to the other students that had nothing to do with his Grudge. If he'd only been awful to Harry (the son of his childhood bully) that would be one thing, but he constantly mocked Hermione for being a good student and terrorized Nevile so badly that he became his literal worst nightmare. It doesn't help that most of his heroic actions are told to us afterwards, which doesn't leave as strong of an impact as the child abuse.
Sorry but I never got his “redemption arch “ yes he did something good for the greater good , thanks , applause* , but his intentions were all revolved around being obsessed with Lilly , yep he had an obsession not love , he was so obsessed with her that he couldn’t even see Harry as the last legacy of Lilly , it was so apparent when we saw his memories in the pensive, and he went into Sirius’ place and ripped lilly out of the family picture of Harry James and Lilly and took it with him , he was acting immature as hell , his redemption arch only supported the theory of him being obsessed with Lilly , someone had to say ot
To be fair I don't think really even got a redemption arch because while he does change sides he doesn't really change as a person it's more that his actions show that he was possibly in the beginning stages of one but he dies before he can complete it.
@@islasullivan3463 he did change as a person a little bit tought remember when he correct the grandpa of Sirius when he call Hermione a mudblood .....vs when he call lily that....
?? I really dont see how he was obsessed of lily. He loved her, as a friend and maybe even as a crush but we dont know. He did nothing for be called obssesed. He left her when she ask it. He keep honored her....
If Someone is obsessed on the whole lily thing its james who blackmailed her to date, threat to hex her and keep asking her out even when she say no. No is no !
He is the contrary of " me too"....
But i guess bc he is " pretty" he is just on love with her but bc Snape is not pretty and its one side he is obsessed..... beautiful word we leave in....
Snape didnt do all he do just for lily but after a while for Dumbledore( like all the others character ) " i HavE lied for you , do what i had to do for you..." - snape to Dumbledore
@@laurine____7543 but lupin said James and lily started going out when James changed , James and lily didn’t date when James was still an asshole , lily didn’t start dating him while he was threateningly jinx snape , James grew up and matured that’s why they started dating it has nothing to do with him being “pretty” , snape didn’t even get happy when lily was happy , that’s a huge red flag , seeing a person you love happy will make you happy too , that’s unconditional love , snape even agreed to keep Harry alive because that’s what Lilly would want NOT because Harry is Lily’s son , he kept calling Harry potter’s son , he didn’t even see Harry as Lily’s legacy , his “love” was immature and obsessive, snape only wanted lily to be with him and didn’t saw anyone else not even the things she cared about that’s selfish , snape also said “I though we were doing this for her , for lily “
by that point,
he went back to voldemort and was tortured
but severus still managed to convince voldemort that he was loyal
he started attending both order meetings and death eater meetings which meant dealing with hostilities from both sides because neither could fully trust him despite the fact that he had the approval of both dumbledore and voldemort
esp with the black cousins (sirius, bellatrix) being his biggest detractors
he had to make sure he played his part precisely which meant copious use of occlumency, which meant watching people get tortured and killed, which meant making sure he provided each side accurate information without causing much harm to the order
he had to teach harry occlumency which brought to the surface his old traumas- his abusive home and the extreme bullying he endured at school
then harry and his friends almost died in the ministry
then dumbledore put on the ring and as a result, he started slowly dying
severus promised to kill him when the time came
severus then made an unbreakable vow to narcissa to kill dumbledore ensuring that severus could not back out
severus found out that harry had to die in order for voldemort to be defeated. so he can't avenge lily without condemning her son to death
draco grew distant and even hostile while severus tried desperately to prevent draco from following in lucius' footsteps
death eaters attacked the school. severus might not be nice to his students but he didn't like it when they were in physical harm
severus killed dumbledore which permanently cut his ties to order, ensuring that he'll never be a free man
by the time severus got to grimmauld place, he was quite literally out of his mind with grief. a rational snape would have never risked going back to that house but all he wanted was comfort and a reminder that he needed to continue carrying out dumbledore's order and that reminder was lily's picture. Severus was never obessed with lily, when lily ended their friendship he respected it
would love a video about the whole series treatment of female characters
Do you like Snape?
Yes, he had a tragic backstory, and while he didn't always do right by Harry, you're constantly learning more about him as the series progresses, which makes him all the more fascinating.
@@trinaq hes a shit person tbh, he treated his students like absolute shit and the fact that snape was nevilles biggest fear and not the person who literally tortured his parents till insanity says a lot. he is a complex and interesting character but he’s not a good person he did have a redemption arc which obviously made a lot of people pity him and think he was a good person but his “love” for lily was really just obsession.
Kind of, the best thing that could ever happened to the character was being played by Alan Rickman
Absolutely not. I wouldn’t even call him morally grey. He’s a weirdo and abused his students.
Yes. Like him. He's 100% misunderstood.
The thing about the potions though... theyonly started using the books when slughorn was the potions teacher, snape put it on the board
I laughed way too hard at the " Ewww this guy is going to be a serial killer."
Love this video!
Omg loved this and the Ron and Hermione one!!! Please do more!!! Dumbledore and Harry and Ginny for starters would be awesome
i dont agree with snape being a "gray" character. he bullied kids. that is the kind of thing that should define you as a person
Great video and excellent points were made! I especially loved you bringing up the naming his son after Snape thing because… why? 😤
A few things I disagreed with was when you said we can’t really judge James character as an adult because we don’t get to see if he matured into a better person like we do with Snape and when you said James and Lily didn’t make a lot of sense because of how James was in school.
I feel like people really harp on the whole “James was a bully” thing without adding the context that James was a literal child when he met Snape. First years are only 11/12 years old.
Yes he was a bully and obviously bullying is wrong, but people are allowed to grow up and change for the better. I know many people who were bratty mean kids that grew up to be really cool adults and cringe at their past selves lol. Lily was described as this kindhearted, genuine and beautiful person inside and out. Someone like that doesn’t strike me as a person who would fall in love with and marry a bully. The part in the book where Lily confronts James for bullying Snape and James asks her out, she tells him point blank that she would never date someone like him because of his behavior. They don’t start dating until years later when they’re teenagers and at that point James had even been appointed head boy. We don’t need to read about him growing up (although I would LOVE that book) to fairly judge that he did mature and he did become a better person. A person that Lily clearly fell in love with. You don’t get to be head boy if you’re still an arrogant bully or prankster. Head boy is even higher than a prefect and to even be considered for that honor, he would’ve had to show through his behavior that he had matured, was honest and good, hardworking and excelling academically. James and Lily falling in love and getting married makes perfect sense to me because James didn’t stay a cocky spoiled 11 year old bully lol.
While James and Lily were growing closer, Snape continued practicing the dark arts (hello half-blood prince) while hanging out with future death eaters in Slytherin who were pretty much pure-blood supremacists (which I still find super ironic since he’s a half blood).
People who bring up the bullying always seem to forget that Snape was also an aggressor in the situation and would sometimes mess with James and his friends for no reason while constantly trying to get them expelled. I appreciate that you touched on this.
Personally I think they were two immature little boys who didn’t like each other, were in rival houses AND liked the same girl. Plus James disliked everything about the dark arts so the fact that Snape was into them didn’t help their relationship.
James and Snape were literally Harry and Malfoy with swapped power dynamics. James was rich and spoiled like Malfoy and Snape came from a poor abusive household like Harry. The differences were that James was in Gryffindor while Snape was in Slytherin and unlike Malfoy, James had positive influences in his life that held him accountable for his actions and eventually he matured and became a better person. He became head boy, joined the order of the phoenix, became a husband and a father and died trying to protect his family. I’m not sure how anyone could say we can’t judge if he matured or became a better person when we have all this information saying what a good person he was 😅
Unlike Harry, Snape allowed his abusive childhood and the bullying in school to turn him into a death eater who didn’t care to help any of the people that his leader and fellow death eaters tortured and murdered. It wasn’t until he found out that the next victim was the one person he cared about other than himself. Had Lily never been a target, I doubt Snape would’ve ever changed because it’s highly unlikely that he didn’t participate in the evil things the death eaters did. J.K. Rowling didn’t specifically mention anything about what Snape did while he was an active death eater, but it’s mentioned a few times that Voldemort trusted him and he ranked high enough that he was an effective spy able to get sensitive information to for Dumbledore. I doubt you get that close with Voldemort without actively participating in the cruelty he was known for. He wasn’t just some low ranking soldier in the background. Thinking about the way he singled out Neville and bullied him through this context makes his behavior even more despicable. Snape was still with the death eaters when Neville’s parents were tortured and killed. So that means even knowing that he was a member of the group that tortured and killed this boy’s parents, he still chose to bully him more than the others and make his life hell for no reason. You would think that of all the kids in the class, he’d make a point to leave Neville alone given his history.
I think the difference between book Snape and movie Snape is that book Snape had more extreme emotions like people with borderline personality disorder and movie Snape had very few emotions like people with antisocial personality disorder.
Either way Snape had a personality disorder or possibly several considering his sociopathic obsession with Lily and his lack of regard or empathy for others like Neville (I legit can’t get over that he bullied the son of Voldemort’s victims knowing what happened to them).
I didn’t expect this comment to be so long, nor do I expect anyone to read all this 😂
but boy am I tired of people acting like because he kept Harry alive and secretly helped Dumbledore against Voldemort, which ANY decent person should do… he’s some kind of hero that did more than the bare minimum. Especially since AGAIN, he literally wouldn’t have done any of that if Lily hadn’t been a target.
i loved this!!! please consider to do a deep dive in ron's Ron's character vs Ron in the movies!
Thank you for this video! Your takes are all amazing and well thought out.
Snape was a bad person who did good things. Well written and great character, but still a bad person. JKR has confirmed that Snape would have stayed a Death Eater is Voldemort hadn't killed Lilly. A Slytherin does things because of their own ambitions and values. He didn't turn to the good side because he felt like it was the right thing to do. He first wanted to save Lilly and then he wanted to avenge her. (I am not saying Slytherins can be motivated by good, I'm just saying he wasn't) - a Slytherin
I´m a die hard dramione shipper, but not in the "good girl/ bad boy" trope. I like them because they are the two best students at the class, and I recognize that Draco is the only one who is clever enough to challenge Hermione. What I want is the brilliant girl to make the privileged self assured richboy flustered and blushing. I love the haters to lovers trope if done right. I would rather have it as a rivalry where Draco who normally is so sure about himself is awkward and cute, then the classical "bad boy" trope. With that being said, after seeing your video on Ronmione I can see the appeal on that ship as well.
please keep making hp content!! i would love a deep dive into hermione, or dumbledore would be interesting. love your videos 💓
4:26
You'd be amazed how much kids get from a parent even if they never meet them. Our mother saw our father in us, and I didn't know him and wasn't raised by him. I didn't meet him till I was 24.
My daughter does things her dad does and makes faces her dad does and he left when she was 3.
Kids DO act like their parents even if they weren't raised by them. It's super interesting n
you could call your fans stars it’s indirectly related to the sky
Watching this video made me hate Snape even more for some reason 😭 but this was a really good analysis
i think one thing that really made me question snape is this one post i saw (either twitter or tumblr) someone said that if harry was a girl and looked more like lily, snape woulda been way different and that scared me. personally didnt wanna further think about that scenario 😬
i enjoy him being a morally grey person and i think some characters dont need to always have to have a redemption arc. like he can still be a bad person but do something good but doesn’t mean he’s redeemed?
it annoyed me how so many other people in harry’s life impacted him so much and he ends up naming his kid after him??? wack writing
Oh damn I never thought about that 😬
I agree tho, I like Snape as a morally grey character but he's still not a good person
also like, the only reason why he went to the other side is cause Lily became a target.
@@danterpan exactly! I would have given him a bit more slack had he left the death eaters out of realising that racism is bad. Instead, he left them because of a girl he had never gotten over.
He name his kid after him bc he think that what Snape do to him should not be forget , simply
@@kumjumba1377 snape's initial motivation was Lily but later he did grew out of his racist ideas. He told Phineas black not to call hermione the m slur
What about calling us Skyrens? (SeRENa SKYbourne SKY + REN + S) like sirens, but more sweet and positive and free
♥️♥️
I like this
Honestly, looking back he would not even have made the Top 3 worst real life teachers I had or know about.
Bullying a "random" kid and the weaker kids like Neville, demeaning kids, scaring teenagers, not allowing kids to go to the nurse, giving unfair advantages, well, all that happened in real life and keeps happening.
He's not a good person but not the monster some make him out to be.
Yeah. I'm from the ex Eastern block, where teachers like that were very common.
Showed up in my recommendations Click so Fast 😀😀
I had a teacher pretty who was pretty similar to Snape and I was so scared of him. I was actually scared of school bc of this teacher so I really don't like Snape. He's a great character and I like him in that way but as a person... not so much. The teacher never used phsysical harm but always made fun of students and really had a lot of pressure on us. I'm not saying that teacher was exactly like Snape but I definitly saw and still see similarities
Snape is the reason harry is alive
Just discovered you today keep up the good work
Thanks, will do!
If you want to know about the history with lily and James and snape read all the young dudes its a fanfic on ao3 im pretty sure its accepted as cannon and it explains everything and justifies James a bit
Book Snape is a vindictive bolly, apart from Harry the way he goes for Neville is insane.
in the books weren't it written that James bullied Snape because he was bored?
hi I don't know if you ever watched the next step but if so it would be so good and interesting to have your feed back and your thoughts on this show :). Keep the good work you always do great reviews
Snape I think obviously needed to do better and it would have been good if he had been able to grow through and past the trauma he had as a child. I’m not at all saying that Lilly should have been with Snape because I think that is incorrect, but, I also don’t think it’s right to say that Snape’s love for Lilly was not real or true because Lilly was not in love with him. Again I’m
Not saying Lilly should be with him but I do think he did love her. Also I think because Lilly died I think he’s more able to keep her on this pedestal because now she’s dead there’s nothing she can actually do to change those thoughts or opinions. Hope this makes sense.
Serena, I love this debate. I actually seek out commentary on Severus Snape as a character. I agree with many of your points touched upon in this commentary, differ on others, and also have some of my own thoughts on the matter. Snape is more of an Anti-Hero, his tale being one of the attempt of redemption. Snape is ultimately the catalyst for the entire story and also the exploration of thematic elements of fate, choice, and love. Snape as a character is possibly my favorite, but the reason I appreciate him is because of how gray, flawed, and real he is. We as people always feel the need to group, label, and define everything in the world around us, which becomes extremely evident and prominent during the development of the target age of this series. The Severus Snape debate is a stark reminder of this. Snape doesn't deserve to be put upon a pedestal as a angel nor should he be reprimanded as a devil. He should be condemned for his transgressions, but equally respected for his sacrifices. As for naming a child after Albus or Severus, well that was a creative choice. Not one I would have made personally, but then again I am not the creator so it wasn't mine to make. People make a lot of decisions I would never make, but that is beyond my control and has little impact on my decisions.
I wanna show this video to literally everyone now haha
To me, movie Snape was more of a hard-ass; tough, overly strict, but not mean. And with the exception of their first ever potions class, all of his suspicions, anger and punishments toward Harry were justified- sneaking around after curfew, making polyjuice potion, the flying car incident. Even the scene mentioned when he smacked Ron and Harry over the head in class was because they were TALKING IN HIS CLASS.
Additionally, movie Snape showed no overt and obvious favouritism of Slytherin House, so you got the sense that, as a person, he was just like that, rather than targeting Harry. Even though he still disliked him on account of his father, to me it was more like Harry's own wrongdoings justified Snape's feelings toward him rather than being outright projection, and he was equally unpleasant toward everyone.
Also, when you mentioned that the antagonistic relationship between James and Snape was two-sided, the movies portrayed it as completely one-sided, even going so far as to make Snape seem like this quiet kid who was just minding his own business. And this is why I think so many people, myself included, were so easily swayed to liking and forgiving him at the end of the last movie, and it was a shock to me when I read just how abhorrent he was in the books.
I also saw it in discussion that what Snape felt for Lily couldn't have been true love, because his patronus changed into hers, it was more like obsession. It was true love with James, because their patronuses (patroni?) complimented each other.
I love this series