Disclaimer: This fic is an analysis of the canon Harry Potter series. I own nothing that is mentioned here except my own opinions. This fic is not making any money. nor do I want it to.

Severus Snape

Luiz4200 asked me in an earlier review for my opinions on one Severus Snape. I figured that I would do so because I have a bit to say.

In my opinion, the Harry Potter series is really about four people in the end. Harry Potter, Tom Riddle Jr., Albus Dumbledore and Severus Snape. I think that was really what J.K. Rowling wanted to happen. Each of them are focused on very early on in the series, but in different ways. Severus Snape is perhaps the most ambiguous of the four to be up there, but I think he deserves the spot.

Some would argue that Severus Snape's spot here belongs to Ron Weasley or Hermione Granger. I don't agree with that assessment. The character of Severus Snape was built on in a way that J.K. Rowling didn't do, nor ever had to do, with Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger.

Severus Snape is a very complex character from the very beginning. Obviously, he plays the role of the villain for a lot of the first four books with little mention of exactly why. It is clear that he hated Harry Potter for being James Potter's son. It isn't until Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix that we finally get a picture of the man that isn't the 'evil potions master'. Everyone who read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows or even just saw the movies will understand why that is significant for Severus Snape.

With that out of the way, I will now bring up certain topics and talk about Severus Snape's involvement with each.

Harry Potter

This is perhaps the most obvious yet, in some ways, most complicated way to begin this analysis of Severus Snape's character. From the beginning in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, we learn that Severus has a very large dislike, verging on hatred, towards Harry. The plot thickens when Albus tells Harry that Severus owed James Potter a life debt and he was repaying it by keeping Harry out of danger. That is the first of many conflicting ideas with Severus Snape.

I think that Severus definitely had a reason to hate Harry. I don't agree with it at all, but I can see his point. In the beginning it seems as if it's because Harry looks so much like his father, but in the end we learn that it's actually because of Lily, Harry's mother. Do I think that Severus should have given Harry the benefit of the doubt? Yes, I do. But I also have to wonder how Severus would have reacted had Harry actually been Sorted into Slytherin. It's a question that fanfiction writers have tried to answer, with varying degrees of success. Personally, I think that Severus would have still hated Harry but perhaps not on the same level.

The occlumency lessons in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix were a shambles. I think pretty much everyone is agreeable to that. Some have said that Dumbledore orchestrated it, but I refuse to believe that so it had to be down to Severus. I think that he saw this as a chance to expose Harry and took it. It was definitely not a good decision and it makes me wonder if he truly was on the right side in the end, but I'll talk more on that later.

I cannot let this section be finished without a mention of Harry naming one of his sons after Severus. Just as it did with Dumbledore, it showed the whole thing J.K. Rowling was trying to show. Harry naming his child after Severus is confusing on the surface. This was the man that he believed was evil for six and a half years of his life. The man that loved his mother. But in the end, it comes down to respect. Harry Potter respects Severus Snape, so I believe we should do so as well.

Lily Evans-Potter

I have read quite a bit that people thought that Snape didn't truly love Lily Evans and that it was more of an obsession. I disagree entirely. I think the fact that his Patronus was a doe is pretty final, though it could still be a coincidence that it was a doe. I think that Severus Snape truly did love Lily Evans. That much I can agree with.

When Severus called Lily a 'mudblood' that effectively ruined their relationship. As it always happens in High School, which is what Hogwarts is, people join the wrong crowd. The problem was that, being in Slytherin, Severus didn't have much of a choice in the matter. The fact that Voldemort was growing in power wasn't a good thing either, given that most Death Eaters were from Slytherin House.

I think that his falling out with Lily stems from his heritage. As a Half-Blood Severus needed to get in with the purebloods in order to get anywhere in Slytherin. As such, he may have felt the need to alienate Lily as she was muggle-born. I think, though, that he didn't really want to do it. I'm reminded of Albus Dumbledore's "What is right and what is easy" speech. Severus chose the easy road rather than the right road. And it ultimately lead to the woman he loved dying.

This brings me to the Prophecy. When he told Voldemort the Prophecy, he had no idea that it would mean Lily. And when he found out he immediately defected to the 'Light' side. This is where things become sketchy for me. But I'll come to that soon.

The Marauders

I think Severus had every right to hate James Potter and Sirius Black. I mean, who wouldn't after such torment? I think his anger towards Remus Lupin is misplaced. I think Remus was as much of a tagalong as Peter Pettigrew was, but I'll come back to that at a later date. Look at what James and Sirius did to him. They tormented him throughout Hogwarts and singled him out.

Bullying is unnecessary. I'll say that right now so I cover myself for what I'm about to say. No matter what we say about bullying and how we plan to rid schools of it, it will always happen as long as there are 'weak' and 'strong' people. I think Severus really needed to grow up and accept that more than anything else. Sirius too, really. He carried as much of a grudge as Severus did and that didn't really help things.

The idea that Severus took out his anger from these incidents on Harry is just inexcusable. It happened in school and involved someone that Harry had never known

'Snape's Worst Memory'

This chapter of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix confuses me when compared to everything else. From what we know, Snape had a terrible childhood, a terrible time at Hogwarts and a terrible life after Hogwarts. The first, presumably, was because of his father. I imagine this was more than just emotional. The second was bullying which can be very traumatising. And the last was serving a Dark Lord who tortures you if you do the slightest thing wrong.

But when he extracts the memories from head, so they cannot be seen, they end up being about his Hogwarts times. That, to me, makes very little sense. His worst memory is being bullied and calling Lily Evans a 'mudblood'? And not when he received the Dark Mark? Or was tortured? Or when he heard about Lily's death? Or anything to do with his father?

Don't get me wrong. Bullying is terrible, but it seems to me that Severus has been through a lot worse. I also understand that it was bad for him because he lost Lily that day, but even so, how does that compare to condemning her, unknowingly, to die? I think that that particular memory was a strange choice for his 'worst memory'. Or perhaps I'm looking into it too much. Although I can't imagine working for Voldemort would be fun memories.

Loyalty

I think it's fair to say that Severus really cannot be trusted to stay on the same side of the war. He defected at the end of the First War, so what would have stopped him from doing so during the Second War?

I only say this because I can't see what he had to gain from not teaching Harry occlumency better. That was the one thing that made me wonder where Severus' loyalty lay. I think it can safely be said that he wasn't with Voldemort during the Second War, but that didn't mean that he was with Dumbledore. He could just have been neutral and doing what he had to.

If he was truly with Dumbledore then he would have gotten Pettigrew somehow to free Sirius. It would have been easy enough for him to do, but he didn't. This is another thing that showed that he was working for himself. Surely he would have worked out that having Sirius be free would have been more beneficial for the Order. So why didn't he do it? Because he could easily have been in it for himself and himself only. He let his hatred get the better of him, when he could have done something to help give a man back his life.

Also, if he was really on the side of the Order in the Final Battle, why didn't he fight the Death Eaters? Instead he stayed away before Voldemort killed him. He didn't fight for either side.

Personally, I think Severus was on the 'Light' side, but I think that there is a chance that he was more neutral then J.K. Rowling would have us think.

Conclusion

All four characters mentioned at the beginning of this analysis are interesting for different reasons. Severus Snape is no different. His character was probably the best built character in the entire series and I think J.K. Rowling should be applauded for her writing of him. I see every aspect of Severus Snape. I can see that people take him as evil, neutral or good. I tend to lean towards 'good' myself.

If I met Severus Snape in real life, I would likely hate the man. But as a character in a book series I can like him in the same way that I can like the villains in a movie or television show. I think the depth of his character was brilliant and well hidden by J.K. Rowling. It would have been easy to drop more obvious hints, but she kept it subtle.

I'm not going to say that Severus Snape is my favourite character, far from it, but I can respect the character.

Author's Note

I was going to write something on Severus Snape's relationship with Albus Dumbledore, but I found it a bit difficult to do so. It's all really obvious stuff, really. I hope that this is good enough for you Luiz4200.

I'm thinking of doing either Harry/Ginny or my top five characters next. I'll make my decision when I start to write.

I won't respond to reviews here anymore unless they don't have proper accounts. But I would like to thank you all for reviewing.

Thanks for reading.

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