Why Snape’s Tragic Back Story Isn’t so Tragic (Comic)

Snape

What’s the M-word? Mom?

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  1. No, I totally agree with this! The whole series, Snape was seen as an antagonist. Then, all of a sudden, just because you find out that he loved Harry’s mom, he’s a good guy? BULL! So when he hates Harry’s dad he’s a bad guy, but when he loved Harry’s mom he’s a good guy? DOUBLE BULL! None of that excuses how horribly he treated Harry all that time. In fact, it makes it worse! If he really loved Lilly, he would have taken better care of her son.

    1. Um, except the point is never that it excuses what Snape did. It’s very clear that Snape is a flawed character. It just makes him more understandable. And it makes you feel for him a little bit when he has no friends in the world – no one to fight for like Harry does except for a dead woman – and he STILL stays loyal to Dumbledore.

  2. He was mean to him because he looked like his father (who used to bully Snape) and it was tragic because he didn’t realize how much he loved Lily until it was too late so he just kept going further into the dark arts. Then he started to be good and revealed what Voldomort was going to do to Lily and James… In the end he could’ve been all evil and kill Harry but saved him because he “had his mother’s eyes” and he still loved Lily… After all that time… Always… So no. Snape was a F-Ing hero. -.-

  3. Whoa whoa whoa. JK NEVER claimed that Snape’s backstory was tragic because Lily “friend zoned” him (which doesn’t actually even happen – after Snape bad mouths her they are decidedly NOT friends). She makes it VERY clear that he deserved what he got in the beinning when Dumbledore is “disgusted” by him for only come running back for help when Lily is in trouble and not caring about any of the other muggle borns. Never once does JK imply that if Lily had just dated Snape everything would be fine. Lily clearly made the right choice. The tragedy is that Snape was always alone, no matter what he did. He was innocent as a kid, and he was ignored by his parents. He went bad as a teenager, and that pushed away his only friend, who was eventually killed because of him. He redeemed himself, and as a reward, he was still disliked by everyone except Dumbledore, who ordered Snape to kill him in order to protect his plan. And then he was hated by everyone until he died, completely alone except for Harry. His love for Lily isn’t thrown in there for tragic effect – there’s enough of that in his loneliness. The idea is that his love is the only thing in him strong enough to pull him away from Voldemort.

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