Extra Credit - Character Development of Severus Snape

Throughout the first five Harry Potter novels, Severus Snape is depicted as a cold, distant, and solitary man, who primarily just leaves the dungeons for meals and berating non-Slytherins. His only friend is Dumbledore, and neither one of them is ever shown being particularly warm or friendly with each other.

Snape is shown to be particularly hostile towards Harry and his friends, but it is revealed later that Snape and Harry's father, James, were mortal enemies while they were students at Hogwarts, and Harry's strong resemblance to his father could, presumably, be a reason for Snape's animosity towards him. Even though he is repulsed by Harry, however, Snape actually saves Harry's life several times throughout the series; from the bewitched broomstick in Sorcerer's Stone, from Lupin (in werewolf form) in Prisoner of Azkaban, and by watching over Harry throughout Goblet of Fire (at Dumbledore's orders).

After Snape's seemingly-villainous act of killing Dumbledore in Half-Blood Prince was shown to be a planned (with Dumbledore) act of mercy, and the fact that, by killing Dumbledore himself rather than letting Draco do it, as Voldemort had instructed, he was also saving Draco's soul, Severus Snape is revealed to be one of the more heroic characters in the series, rather than one of the most villainous. Further evidence of his heroism is his use of his Patronus to guide Harry and Hermione to the Sword of Gryffindor, which was a critical instrument in the defeat of Lord Voldemort.

Snape is eventually murdered by Voldemort and with his dying breath he surrenders his memories of Lily, Harry's mother, to Harry. Upon placing the memories in Dumbledore's pensieve, Harry comes to realize that the reason Snape had protected him for all of those years was because of his deep love for Lily and his devastation upon her death at the hands of Voldemort.

Severus Snape is one of the most complex, multifaceted characters in literary history, and it is exceedingly difficult not to fall completely in love with him by the end of the series.

And now, because they are awesome and I have no reason not to post them, I present some of my favorite Snape memes & gifs:

Musical Snape:






Artistic Snape:


When I was in the movie theater trying to watch Order of the Phoenix and the girls behind me would.not.stop.talking.


On my way to buy Deathly Hallows the night it was released:


Eating popcorn at the theater during Deathly Hallows part 2:

... and subsequently sneezing and having chunks of popcorn stuck in my nose:

When hipsters say they don't like Alan Rickman's portrayal of Snape:






When my mother said that Twilight is better than Harry Potter: