Blog Post #2: Snape - the "Overgrown Bat"

One character to consider how they have changed throughout the first six books is none other than Severus Snape. With only keeping the first six books in mind, we see this man, who as we know from brief flashes in Snape’s memory during The Order of the Phoenix, he might have been a child who had parents that seemed to neglect him and fight. As we know also from the memories also seen in The Order of the Phoenix, he was consistently pestered, tormented and bullied throughout his years at Hogwarts. Usually when a boy experiences this kind of trauma in their life, they might resent the people who were doing the neglecting, the tormenting, the pestering and the bullying. As with Snape, we see this very much with his consistent hatred for James, Sirius and Lupin. Obviously he demeans Harry’s memories of James by often insulting him in front of Harry. Sirius and Snape loathe each other so obviously, and you have the moment were Snape tells all of the students in his House that Lupin is a werewolf.

Yet, in the Sorcerer’sStone, Snape saves Harry’s life. Dumbledore says it’s so that Snape can repay his father for saving his life one moment during their years at Hogwarts, but later on, when Harry informs Snape this, Snape declines the claim of James ever saving his life by saying James was only trying to save his own skin. Denial? Or is it more than that? Guilt? Regret? Anger? We know so little of Snape in the series through books 1 – 6 and yet you have Snape, the man who swoops around like an “overgrown bat” playing favorites to certain students and absolutely hating others. In more cases than one, Snape is blamed for the evil that lurks within Hogwarts. People, Harry himself, even wonders why Dumbledore ever trusted such a man. He learns later on that he was given a “second chance” and then it’s the mystery of what did Snape do with his first chance.

Dumbledore seems to trust Snape, with his life even. And, as we see at the end of the Half-Blood Prince, Dumbledore pays for this trust with his life. When people first hear Harry’s accounts of the story, they don’t believe it. Why Snape, the man who Dumbledore swore was on their side, coming back over from the Death Eaters at a “great personal risk”. We know Harry’s accounts of course, he says that Snape told Dumbledore to go after Lily and James, and that later on, he regretted it the decision. Harry seems to find this incredulous, and so do many others like Lupin when he says “Snape hated James!” Why indeed did Dumbledore seemingly just Snape with his life? Here we have a character who seems so vile and evil, yet one of the most powerful wizards in the world trusts him and in the end Snape kills him. Harry, Ron and Hermione often accuse Snape, but he is always proven innocent and now the time comes when he is guilty, and no one wants to believe it. Why would Snape betray this kind of deep trust? Why did Dumbledore trust him so much? This and many more questions are soon to be answered within the final volume, The Deathly Hallows!