Kill the Ones You Love: While Snape didn't do the deed himself, as the Death Eater who partially overheard Trelawney's prophecy and relayed its contents to Voldemort, Snape bears a large portion of the responsibility for Lily's death. Unlike most examples of this trope, this isn't a Moral Event Horizon, but the inspiration for his Heel–Face Turn. The final film adds a scene of Snape holding Lily's dead body in his arms while baby Harry looks on, making Snape appear more sympathetic, while at the same time, leaves out Snape calling Lily a "mudblood" in a moment of humiliation and fury, and then descending into his obsession with Dark Arts and signing up with Voldemort. Also, Snape immediately asks Dumbledore to protect the entire Potter family, while in the book, Snape does ask Dumbledore to protect the entire Potter family, but after Dumbledore is angry with Snape when he gets him to admit that he tried bargaining for just Lily's life in exchange for her son and husband. In his memories scene, Dumbledore asks him if he actually cares for Harry, and he responds by producing Lily’s patronus, implying that he does care for Harry if only because he is Lily’s son. However, in the book, Snape makes it very clear to Dumbledore that he only cares about Harry’s protection because of Lily. In the final scene between Snape and Harry in the film, Snape explicitly states that Harry has his mother's eyes whereas in the novel, Snape's final words to Harry are, "Look at me," with only the implication he wants to see Lily's eyes before he dies. Becoming the Mask: Despite revelations seen later in the series about him, Snape is genuinely not a very pleasant person who only defected to the side of good because of the guilt he felt over causing the death of the woman he loved, but still remained an asshole towards just about everyone else. However, we see that in his final years, he genuinely started becoming a more moral person; when Dumbledore notes that he has watched plenty of people die, he replies that lately it's only been the people he was unable to save. And when Phineas calls Hermione a mudblood, Snape demands that he not use that word in front of him. It wasn't a 100% thing, and Harry certainly never benefitted from it, but it was there.

He was never fully redeemed in the public eye following the war, as most people still believed he murdered Dumbledore (but didn't know of Dumbledore's Thanatos Gambit). He wasn't even given a portrait at Hogwarts, having abandoned his post as opposed to retiring or dying, until Harry requested one. He pledged to do everything his power to protect Harry (if solely to honour Lily's memory), which he remarkably did while maintaining his cover as a supposed spy for Voldemort. As abusive and hateful as he was towards Harry, Snape always stopped just short of putting him in real danger or expelling him. In a bit of Fridge Brilliance this may be the only reason Harry wasn't expelled after using Sectumsempra on Draco Malfoy. Serjeant, Jill (14 July 2011). "Snape voted greatest "Potter" character in MTV poll". Reuters. Archived from the original on 13 November 2019 . Retrieved 5 July 2021. At the start-of-term feast at Hogwarts, Dumbledore announces Snape as the new Defence Against the Dark Arts professor. Horace Slughorn, a former teacher who himself had taught Snape during his Hogwarts years, comes out of retirement and replaces him as Potions Master. With Snape no longer teaching Potions, Harry enrols in Slughorn's class and is lent an old textbook until his new one arrives. Harry finds marginalia, including a variety of hexes and jinxes seemingly invented by an unknown student, and substantial improvements to the book's standard potion-making instructions. The text is inscribed as being "the Property of the Half-Blood Prince". The notes greatly bolster Harry's performance in Potions, so much so that he impresses Slughorn. Snape, who maintains that he "never had the impression that [he] had been able to teach Potter anything at all", is suspicious of Harry's newfound Potions success. [35]In Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone he acts as a Red Herring as Harry and his friends (and so is the reader most likely) are convinced that Snape is the one who wants to steal the Philosopher's Stone. Not only turns it out Professor Quirell is the one, no, Snape even secretly fought Quirrell and saved Harry's life in process. In the eighth movie, he actually goes Oh, Crap! when Harry shows up at Hogwarts and confronts him for killing Dumbledore. Snape only draws his wand with resignation, looking guilty when Harry demands he tells everyone what happened that night. Snape likewise resents Harry Potter simply because of who his father is, and who he looks like, and what Harry represents (as Rowling notes "living proof that [Lily] preferred another man"), projecting his loathing of James onto Harry. Snape is torn as Harry is both the son of the man he hated and the woman he loved. A tiny one: Lily ended her friendship with Snape after he called her a Mudblood and he made it clear that he wouldn't give up his prejudices for her. Years later, Snape tells Phineas, a relatively nicer Jerkass Slytherin, to not call Hermione a Mudblood. IGN listed Snape as their 4th top Harry Potter character, saying that he makes "quite an impact in the Harry Potter series", [72] and IGN's Joe Utichi called Snape his favourite Harry Potter character and praised his character development. [73] Shortly after the release of the final film, MTV held a public poll for fans to vote for the best character in the series, and Snape was voted #1. [74] Around the same time, Empire magazine held a public poll for fans to vote for the 25 greatest characters in the series, and Snape once again came in at #1. [75] In May 2011, Snape was again voted as the No. 1 favourite Harry Potter character in a public poll held by the Bloomsbury publishing house. [76] In popular culture

Missing from 'Harry Potter' ". Christian Science Monitor. 25 July 2007. Archived from the original on 6 June 2008 . Retrieved 23 June 2008.Et Tu, Brute?: Subverted when we find out the real reason, or rather reasons, why he killed Dumbledore; it was to ensure Voldemort's trust in Snape, because the curse of the Gaunt ring Albus tried to wear was going to kill him soon anyway, and to prevent Draco from going down a dark path if he was to kill Albus. Glory Hound: Several Death Eaters accuse him of this. Draco Malfoy notably angrily accuses Snape of wanting to take his father's place as Voldemort's preferred servant. He is, but not because he's out for glory. Snape and Dumbledore worked to ensures that Snape would be powerful enough in Voldemort's inner circle to minimize the damage during Voldemort's second reign. This also had the benefit of reducing the influence of genuinely loyal Death Eaters like Lucius and Bellatrix. Cruciatus Curse – Used on Hermione Granger to torture her into giving her information in Deathly Hallows Abusive Parents: He's implied to have had an abusive father and a neglectful mother. When he tries teaching Occlumency to Harry, at one point Harry accidentally gets a look into his mind and gets a brief flash of a very young Severus crying in the corner while his father yells at his mother. In the fourth film, he believes Harry when he tells the staff he didn't put his name in the Goblet of Fire and agrees with McGonagall's belief that there must be a plot to get the boy killed. In the book, he assumes Harry is lying to avoid being punished and entered his name himself to be a Glory Hound, even if it doesn't make sense that a fourth year student like Harry somehow managed to deceive the Goblet.

In the chapter "The Prince's Tale" in Deathly Hallows. Notably, young Snape was a loyal Death Eater who only defected after Voldemort threatened Lily's life. After years under Dumbledore, he genuinely regrets not being able to save the innocents caught up in the war ("How many men and women have you watched die?" "Lately, only those whom I could not save") and goes out of his way to save Lupin during the Battle of the Seven Potters, risking his cover as he did so. Also, as much as Snape has despised Harry over the years, he is furious when Dumbledore seems to have been exploiting the boy, accusing him of having raised Harry "like a pig for slaughter." Of course, Dumbledore being a Manipulative Bastard, this is yet another gambit, since it was essential for Harry to believe he would die when he gives himself up to Voldemort. Evil Former Friend: Towards Lily. It was his Fantastic Racism and his increasingly darker tendencies that drove her away, after which he committed full time to serving with the Death Eaters. Although he loses the evil part later, mostly after her death. Later in the book, Dumbledore has Snape teach Harry Occlumency, the protection of the mind from outside intrusion or influence. [32] The sessions are made difficult by their mutual hostility and end prematurely when Harry uses Dumbledore's Pensieve to view one of Snape's worst childhood memories without the latter's permission. He sees the memory of Snape being bullied by James and Sirius, and of calling Harry's mother Lily a Mudblood (a highly offensive term). [26] Only in the final book is it revealed that, prior to this confrontation, Snape and Lily had been close friends. He's highly biased towards Slytherin, he holds a personal grudge against Harry due to being bullied by Harry's father and his unreciprocated love for Harry's mother, and routinely bullies his other students for no particular reason other than he's a jerk. However, in the end, he was devoted to Dumbledore, saves Harry's life and eventually gets himself killed by Voldemort for the greater good. The good he does also come across as pretty weird when you consider that it (and basically his entire adult life) is based entirely around a girl he was in love with from the ages of 10-16, give or take.Arch-Enemy: While Draco is The Rival to Harry, Snape is the one who antagonizes him most effectively thanks to Draco's intense jealousy of Harry leading him to embarrass himself most of the time. He seems compelled to make Harry suffer as much as possible, since Voldemort can't always be there to instigate conflict. Once Snape kills Dumbledore, Harry makes it clear to Ron and Hermione he wants to deal with him personally as much as he wants to defeat Voldemort. Then this is entirely averted, once Harry learns the truth about Snape being a Double Agent who risked his life, and ultimately died, protecting him since he was Lily's son. He even names one of his children after him in recognition of his bravery, even if Snape still hated his guts. His rant towards Harry and Ron in the second film, after they crash into the Whomping Willow, comes across as Anger Born of Worry, whereas in the book he was gloating about their possible expulsion. Fraser, Lindsay (2001). Conversations with J. K. Rowling. New York: Scholastic. p.21. ISBN 978-0-439-31455-8.

In the second chapter of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Bellatrix Lestrange and Narcissa Malfoy visit Snape at his home in Spinner's End. Narcissa's son Draco has been given a difficult task by Voldemort, and Narcissa swears Snape to an Unbreakable Vow that he will protect Draco, help him complete Voldemort's task, and finish the task himself if Draco fails. When questioned by Bellatrix about his loyalties, Snape says he has been working for Voldemort ever since Voldemort's return, and explains his actions in the previous books in that light. He points out that gaining Dumbledore's trust and protection has kept him out of Azkaban and free to operate on Voldemort's behalf. [34]Anti-Role Model: A variation of sorts, but according to Rowling, this is one of the reasons Dumbledore keeps Severus Snape around. He is well aware of Snape's behaviour with the students, Dumbledore also sees it as a learning experience for his students. Namely to teach them to not always trust authority figures and that the people above you will not always be reasonable nor fair. Snape's role in the fourth novel, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, is not substantially different from that of the previous three books. He is apoplectic when Harry is unexpectedly entered into the Triwizard Tournament. Later Harry accidentally falls into Dumbledore's Pensieve and views memories of several Death Eater trials from years before. At one point, Snape is named as a Death Eater by Igor Karkaroff, but Dumbledore comes to Snape's defence, claiming that although Snape had indeed been a Death Eater, he changed sides before Voldemort's downfall and turned spy against him. Later, Dumbledore assures Harry that Snape's reformation is genuine, though he refuses to tell Harry how he knows this, saying the information "is a matter between Professor Snape and myself". [29] Dragon with an Agenda: As it turns out, he has a different goal, in contrast to Voldemort. He's actually on Harry, or rather, Lily's side all along. Indeed, he's appalled when Dumbledore tells Snape that Harry would have to die and that Lily's sacrifice was just additional borrowed time.