HarryPotter fans?

I think he was good. Flawed, but good nonetheless.

Spoiler

He was, after all, working against Voldemort the whole time, and in the end it was his knowledge that helped Harry defeat Voldemort.

And he might not have liked Harry, but he protected him just the same; a particular incident in the first book (where Quirrell was trying to hex Harry during a Quidditch match and Snape was trying to counter that hex) comes to mind, and trying to teach Harry Occlumency to block Voldemort's thoughts, as well.

 

Book snape was alot more of a spiteful prick than the more symapthetic movie snape. He was deliberately biased toward slytherins, unfair to gryffindors and generally cruel to anyone he didn't like including Children. For me Alan Rickman's performace really did alot to elevate the material and made Snape more complex and likeable, handling alot of these elements more sarcastically or with more subtlety. I can see movie snape as the tragic hero who had a dark past but eventually redeems himself (which is basically what Snape is meant to be) whereas Book Snape had a tragic past but he didnt really learn from his mistakes and went on to become the exact thing he hated, treating Harry the same or worse than James treated him.

 

In general, Snape wasn't an evil person. However, he was a mean person and he hated Sirius way too much. He wanted a dementor to suck out Sirius's soul. I may have been treated like shit by classmates when I was young, but I wouldn't wish that on any of them!

 

Severus Snape might have been an asshat, but he did end up saving people in the end. He was working against Voldemort the entire time, and he did save Harry's life (out of love for Lily and on Dumbledore's orders, but all the same). I think he was just a terribly misguided person.

 

My views of Snape have softened, but I still energetically disagree with Harry when he said he's the "bravest man he ever knew." He was out for his own interests and it happened to coincide with the good guys' motives. He's basically a more capable Peter Pettigrew.

 

I want to love Snape and forgive him for everything because of Lily, and being abused/bullied, etc. etc. But I can't, not really. He's an unreasonable asshole, who did have his damage, and did work against Voldemort (for the most part), but... seriously? Some of the shit he pulled? Damn, Severus, you're an adult, put on your big boy pants.

I think part of it is that J.K. put him in this really ackward position of being foil to both Voldemort and Harry. All three of them had bad upbringings, were bullied, had mixed blood, and exposure to muggles (mostly of a negative sort). So Snape is supposed to show the kind of 'middle-ground' between Good (Harry) and Bad (Voldemort). But he just kind of got puzzled together instead of a cohesive blend. Basically I think he was supposed to be kind of 'neutral' (in an active sense), but he came off as an old man stuck in the past and angry about it. No matter what happened to Lily or himself, Severus still retained his reasons for joining the Death Eaters as well.

His behaviour towards the students was suspicious as hell considering he was supposed to be spying for Voldemort and acting 'reformed' (which is extremely un-Slytherin might I add). I think those two things are what killed it for me. I would love Snape if he had been able to move past his anger towards the Marauders (distain and animosity would have been permissible, but especially with Lupin he could've moved on) and had acted like a real Slytherin spy.

 

Brilliant man extremely, brave but unable to forgive, honestly I think he's was more upset with himself over getting lily killed then he ever was about the marauders

 

My opinion of him has softened a lot after reading a ton of fanfic. Ignoring all Snarry (it's disgusting, but funny) and Snarmonie, he is actually rather tender on the inside. Kind, and hurt. he might have outright hated Harry, Sirius and James, but he was in love with Lily. It's kinda natural to hate the guy who stole the love of your life, and what's more, his son comes into the school as the boy-who-lived, with everyone fawning over him? I'll think it's normal to hate Harry, if I were in his shoes. Of all things, you have to protect the son of a person you hate-the very person who not only bullied and humiliated you, but stole the love of your life. Kind of a slap in the face, right? Plus in the end, I feel that he was mellowed towards Harry a lot, especially right before his death. It may have been a last ditch attempt to be 'heard' once more, but to me, I feel that if it wasn't Harry, that wouldn't have been very important in the story. Showing your memories to someone you hate, for them to understand, and of all things, going so far back into the past? I see that as Snape trying to make Harry understand his almost unexplained hate towards him.

Overall, Snape is a very pitiful character. He found solace in Lily, who pushed him away after he got his Death Eater friends, joined Voldy, found out he played a major role in killing Lily, and became a double agent for Dumbly. It has been a very rough life for him, no? Although his hate towards the Griffindors was...unfounded, on many expects, I would call it biasness? Like Slughorn, with his Slug Club? (Was it? Somewhere along those lines?) Working under Dumbly's orders, trying to evade Voldy, only to be killed for the Elder Wand when in the first place it wasn't with him-he's more of a pitiful character to me.

But my opinion has been mixed with fics I've read, where Snape is overall mean as usual, but he does have his soft spots. Swayed the most whereby Harry is his son. I love that fic to pieces, I swear.

(But I think Snape's character portrayal-oily hair, long nose and whatnot-is just over the top. I mean, seriously? That's literally the recipe for a character set for people to hate!)

 

I like Snape. I think he's an excellent character.

Maybe a rather crummy person overall ... but he did do some very good things, even if they were for reasons we as readers might find gross. Most importantly he strikes me as very human. Yeah, sure it's weird that he never got over his infatuation with Lily but it led him to take some arguably noble actions while playing the part of a minor villain pretty well.

 

I don't like him. He is very cruel and sarcastic and treats everyone but slytherins like crap. His tragic past is no excuse for the way he acts.

 

I don't know a lot about Harry Potter. I'm practically an idiot when it comes to it, and if I had to put a percentage on it. I'm probably around 5% when it comes to the lore.

That said, after reading these comments, I'm not sure how to take it now when people refer to me as Snape...

Hm...

 

Snape was exceptionally well written for a children's story. The internal conflict of wanting to do right by the people he cared about and wanted to serve his own interests and desires is a far more realistic portrayal of human beings than many of the characters in that series. Even Dumbledore manipulates people for the sake of his own interests. Harry Potter himself is only in the middle of the conflict because he doesn't want to die. Everyone is working in their own interest.

Snape was also abusive to the Gryffindors, but everyone at Hogwarts was abusive to the Slytherins. They were sent to dungeons for literally no reason. Dumbledore turns around like "Fuck the numbers. I'm giving it to Gryffindor every single year." Half of the teachers were constantly sneering at them. There should have been a discrimination lawsuit at that ridiculous school.

I digress, but my point is that as long as a character is well written then I don't care where they fall on the noble to villainous spectrum.

 

He definitely is not a likeable character. He might have devoted his life to protect Lilly's son, he still is mean. He might be mean because he had a tough life, but he still is a mean person. In the same way Draco was still a prick even if you take into account the pressure that he had from his father.

I do agree however that he is very well written. I like the depth that the character gain through the books. I like the fact that JK showed that taught us that the way people are might be because of how they grew up. That it's not about people being essentially "good" and "evil".

James was kind of a prick too. He was snob and really mean to people he considered inferior (like Snape). That's what I like about the series, there is no truly "good" characters. It's way more nuanced than most children book.

 

I think the complexity of the characters is one reason why these books have adult fans as well as kids.

 

I fully agree!

 

i liked snape. had a feeling the whole time about him.

 

I don't like him, its only the last few chapters that you get to like him and it just feels weird.

 

One of Rowling's characters has Doge for his last name. It's an awesome coincidence.