#Patronus meta

[serpenera]

One of the things that most irks me in the HP, and especially Snape discourse, is the misinterpretation of the meaning of the patronus. The general consensus seems to be that the shape of the patronus indicates one’s true love but that is a massive oversimplification that creates numerous inconsistencies. In other words, when we look at it like that, the patronus makes NO SENSE. Except the patronus makes PERFECT SENSE. Just let me explain.

The patronus, as we know, is a charm that repels Dementors - an anthropomorphized representation of clinical depression. Keep that in mind as this is important. You conjure it by focusing on a happy memory or should I rather say a happy thought.

Memory is the word Lupin uses when he first explains the patronus to Harry and I’d argue this is the reason why Harry initially fails at conjuring one. He remembers his first time on a broom and winning the house cup. Both happy memories to doubt but “not powerful enough” as Lupin puts it. So what makes a powerful memory?

Harry tries again and succeeds by focusing on the memory of finding out he was a wizard and would be leaving the Dursleys and going to Hogwarts. What makes this memory different than the other two is that it wasn’t just that of a fleeting moment of glee but of an event that marked a major change in Harry’s life, a change for the better. Yes, it was a moment from the PAST but one that influenced Harry’s PRESENT and FUTURE.

See, this is the key to understanding the patronus. The trick is not to remember a happy past long gone, it’s to find something in the past that gives you a reason to move forward. Anyone, who’s ever been depressed to the point of wanting to off themselves will know what I’m talking about here. And those who don’t, good for you.

Anyway, back to Harry. When he conjures his first fully corporeal patronus at the end of PoA, he thinks of going to live with Sirius. And when he uses the spell again in GoF he thinks of celebrating the end of the Tournament with Ron and Hermione. In both cases, he doesn’t even recall an event of the past but projects into the future. And note that regardless of whom or what he thinks of (and not once does he think of his dad), his patronus stays a stag. Even after his love and admiration for James falters due to the discovery of SWM, his patronus stays a stag. This is because the stag, while visually traceable back to James, does not represent James as a person but rather a concept that James himself is a representation of. The stag stands for family, legacy, and a sense of belonging. What keeps Harry moving forward despite all the obstacles is not the mere memory of having had a dad once, it’s the realization that he’s not alone in the world, that he has friends who care about him, and that he’s part of a community.

If we look at the patronus through this lens we can logically explain the shape and origin of all the major ones present in the books.

Snape is often accused of being a stalker incel and whatnot because (apparently) his doe patronus is the same as Lily’s.

First of all, did you pull that information out of your ass? ‘Cause I checked and nowhere in the book(s) does it say what shape her patronus was. The same goes for James. He was a stag animagus. We don’t know what shape his patronus was. That, assuming they both even knew the charm. Although, as Order members, they probably did. If they hadn’t learned it at school, Dumbledore or another Order member would’ve taught them.

Okay, for the sake of this argument, let’s assume that James’ patronus was in fact a stag and Lily’s was a doe and also that the animals represent them respectively. People will argue that the fact the patronuses match (they don’t actually cause they’re two different species of deer but never mind) implies they were each other’s soulmates. To back that argument they will cite Tonks’ patronus which changed into a wolf after she fell in love with Lupin. At the same time, they will argue that Snape’s doe indicates an unhealthy obsession with Lily. Can you spot the issue with this reasoning?

Snape’s and Tonks’ cases are analog: their patronuses turn into animals related to the other person. And yet in Snape’s case, it’s obsession, and in Tonks’, it’s love?

Lily/James and Tonks’ cases are opposite: Lily/James patronuses turn into animals related to themselves while Tonks’ turns into one related to her love interest. But in both cases, it’s true love?

If Snape’s obsessed with Lily then Tonks is obsessed with Lupin and Lily and James are just obsessed with themselves. Contrarily, if Tonks loves Lupin then Snape loves Lily, and Lily and James, again, just love themselves respectively. Moreover, if you follow either logic, Harry is obsessed / in love with James and Dumbledore with Fawkes.

See how none of that makes ANY SENSE whatsoever? Also, no, it’s not a plothole. Y’all are just looking at it wrong. Now let’s rewind and analyze all of these the same way we did with Harry’s at the beginning of this rant.

James’ case is very straightforward. Similarly to Harry, James finds meaning in the traditional idea of family, clan legacy, and belonging. Remember how on the train to Hogwarts he says he wants to be a Gryffindor just like his dad? That, in my opinion, is already very telling, and considering that right after school James marries the girl he decided would be the future mother of his children and promptly gets her pregnant we can easily deduce what he values and what he believes his higher purpose to be. When facing a Dementor and being consumed by despair, perhaps remembering the loss of his parents and perceived betrayal of his best friends, in order to push through he certainly focuses on his wife and especially his son.

Lily’s doe patronus has nothing to do with Snape. Or with James for that matter. Instead, it has everything to do with Harry. See, many real-life women who find themselves at the edge of despair for one reason or another declare they only push forward because of their children. I think Lily is no different. I mean, she did die trying to protect her child. So I think that facing a Dementor, she thinks of Harry. Her wish to be there for her son and protect him is what keeps her going forward despite everything. She has to be strong because she is needed and that is what her doe stands for.

The doe and the stag, somewhat complementary animals, both symbolize family-related but very different concepts. The stag carries a distinctly masculine meaning, that of the passing of legacy and prolonging the bloodline. The doe has a more feminine feel, that of nurturing and protecting.

Snape’s patronus is the same animal as Lily not because he loves her or is obsessed or even just friends with her. It’s the same because both these characters find purpose in the same thing: being needed.

While for Lily this mindset seems to stem from her motherhood, for Snape it seems to have always been there and for very a different reason. The severe neglect he experienced in his early childhood conditioned him to always seek external validation. It’s as if he couldn’t find value in himself unless someone else found it in him. This is why he was trying so hard to be useful to Lily when they first became friends. This is why he got himself groomed by the Death Eaters. This is also why he was so easily manipulated by Dumbledore.

Speaking of Dumbledore, he has to have taught Snape the patronus charm and it must have happened sometime between his defection and the Potters’ death. Now imagine what that might have looked like.

Dumbledore explains how the patronus works. Snape tries, recalling one of his happy childhood moments with Lily, and fails. He chooses another memory and fails again. Dumbledore tells him it has to be something really powerful. Snape is out of ideas, the only happy memories he has are of his childhood friendship with Lily but that friendship is over, it has been for a while, she’s married to his bully and having his child, and on top of that, she’s being targeted by Voldemort and it’s all his fault. Reminiscing their past together is nowhere near enough to fuel the patronus. Then Snape projects into the future in which thanks to him, Lily is safe, she forgives him for his past mistakes and they make up. This time he successfully conjures his trademark doe.

I imagine that, after Lily died, Snape would have had trouble producing a patronus. That would be until Dumbledore pointed out how even in death she still needed him to protect her child. He would then focus on a future in which Voldemort is defeated, Harry is safe, his debt with Lily is paid and his sins are redeemed.

Dumbledore knows that Snape’s doe patronus is related to Lily but it’s probably because he taught him the charm himself and in doing so he learned that it was thoughts and memories of her that fueled it. Not because it was (presumably, mind you) the same shape as hers.

That said, I’m firmly convinced that if Snape had survived the war he would again have had trouble producing a proper patronus, not because of any change in his feelings towards Lily but rather because with Harry safe and Voldemort gone, he’d find himself lacking a purpose. If, for example, he got himself involved with someone else, someone who would make him feel needed, he might be able to produce a patronus again but it would most certainly remain a doe.

Tonks’ patronus is an interesting one because it actually changes its shape in the course of the narrative. We know it became a wolf after Tonks fell in love with and started dating Lupin.

Yes, it’d be easy to assume that the wolf represents the character whose name is literally Wolfy McWolf and who’s also a werewolf but that would be both shallow and inaccurate.

Tonks’ wolf, not unlike Lily and James’ stag and dear, is symbolically tied to the concept of family and friendship. We don’t know what drove Tonks forward before she became involved with Lupin but we can easily deduce that what drives her afterward is the thought of being with him. When she conjures her patronus, she probably thinks of a future in which they have a proper relationship or perhaps start a family. When Snape makes a dab at her patronus he isn’t just being mean. Knowing Lupin, he probably expects him not to take responsibility for his actions towards Tonks and wiggle out of the relationship the moment things get a little bit too serious for his liking. In saying her patronus is weak he’s trying to warn her not to put her faith in Lupin.

In the end, I’d like to mention Dumbledore’s patronus. Just like a phoenix is reborn from its ashes, Dumbledore rises up from the pit of his troubled youth. When in the vicinity of a Dementor, he must be plagued by thoughts of his misplaced aspirations, of Ariana’s death, and his fall out with Grindelwald. The thought I believe he focuses on in those moments is that of having rehabilitated himself in the eyes of society, and having ultimately become a champion of the light.

[siriusblack-the-third]

Okay, lets talk about Patronuses.

To my understanding, a person's Patronus is either a physical representation of their character, or takes a form that is the animal version of somebody who is dear to that person or someone who that person looks up to.

Harry's Patronus is Prongs, a stag— his dead father's animagus form. His dead father, who everyone says Harry looks like (except his eyes. He's got Lily's eyes), who Harry looks up to, who Harry idolizes throughout the series. I think it's interesting to note that Harry doesn't have an animal that corresponds to his personality— the dursleys were never a place where he could nurture or grow his own identity, and Hogwarts was always riddled with too many dangers for him to have time to figure himself out. Up until the end of the war, he had no aim, no direction, no idea what his own personality was like. And so, his Patronus took the form of a stag, a tangible representation of his parents' sacrifice, of his physical likeness to his father, of his love and admiration for people he couldn't remember.

Snape (barf) had a Doe Patronus. His obsession with Lily was so strong that it became his personality. His obsession was the only reason that prompted him to betray Tom Riddle, the only thing that prompted him to make an oath to Lily that he would protect her child (bang up job he did of that, btw- just superb), and the only reason he made an effort to stay alive. If it had been the Longbottom family that was under attack, Snape would have gone down in history as one of the cruelest and most loyal Death Eaters of Riddle's army who did terrible, horrible things in the name of his "love".

Now to the main point of this little rant: James Potter, Lily Evans, and Sirius Black.

The Terf Extraordinaire has declared in Extracanon that James' Patronus was a stag, and Lily's patronus was a doe. Imo, that is complete bullshit. James Potter and Lily Evans are famously known for having started off on the wrong foot— he's an arrogant, bullying bastard and she is a sanctimonious, hot-tempered bitch (bear with me, please, I love both of them).

I can't believe Lily's Patronus being a doe— she had too much love in her heart for it to be a representation of her own personality. Even if it was that, it is entirely too inaccurate. Does are considered delicate, weak, innocent creatures. Lily in canon has too fiery a temper and too sharp a wit for her Patronus to be something so mundane— she hurries to rescue Snape in SWM with such rage, unafraid to go against the worst pranksters in the school. And if the angle that Rowling wanted was for it to be an indicative of her love for James, that her Patronus was a doe instead of stag was because Lily was a female, then that's utterly, completely stupid. Lily hated— no, Lily loathed James with her whole being for the first six years of their school. They canonically began dating some time in their 7th year, and even if Patronuses were taught only in the 7th year, Lily wouldn't have fallen in love with him so fast; he had been an utter dick thé previous years, and Lily is canonically too smart to let herself fall for someone who had changed so very recently. She gave him a chance in seventh year, but i believe that she fell in love with him much, much later. All of this just points to the fact that Lily's Patronus being a doe right off the bat is just.. weird. And something I can't imagine happening. If I was to give her a Patronus before she fell in love with James, it would be either a big cat or a dragon. And hey maybe her Patronus changed became a doe to match James when she married him, but then I don't like the connotations of a wife having to submit herself fully to her husband. So no. No Doe Patronus for Lily.

James Potter having a representation of himself as a Patronus is much more believable; he is confident, smart and self assured— traits we don't often see in teenagers. The thing is, though: James loved Sirius. Whether canon or au, platonic or romantic, they are always described as "never see one without the other", as soulmates, as two people who had a legendary friendship. His love for Sirius did not become his entire personality, but it was an integral part of his growth as a character and his story arc. They were best friends who liked each other's company so much that they literally made magic mirrors to talk during detentions. You cannot tell me that James' Patronus was a stag; his patronus was more likely to be Padfoot. He wasn't obsessed with Sirius like Snape was with Lily, he just had more love for Sirius in his heart than he had arrogance in his mind.

Vice versa for Sirius, who had Prongs as his own Patronus, because James was the one that saved him. James became his friend, irrespective of his last name. James took him in when he ran away from home. James was there for him, always, every time, every day of his life since he was eleven. James was his first friend. Sirius' Patronus was Prongs, and you can't convince me otherwise.

[sideprince]

Snape's Doe Patronus

'Well, when it works correctly, it conjures up a Patronus, which is a kind of anti-Dementor — a guardian which acts as a shield between you and the Dementor. The Patronus is a kind of positive force, a projection of the very things that the Dementor feeds upon — hope, happiness, the desire to survive — but it cannot feel despair, as real humans can, so the Dementors can't hurt it.'

Lupin explaining what a Patronus is to Harry, Prisoner of Azkaban, Ch. 12

The essence of a Patronus, as we see Lupin explain, is hope, happiness, and the desire to survive, though this last point may be specific to the use of Patronuses as a defense against Dementors. It's unclear whether a Patronus has any other use, or was specifically invented to protect against Dementors, and if Dumbledore and the Order's use of them to communicate was specific to them or part of a more general practice and purpose. While I don't necessarily think that extra-textual references have a reasonable place in meta discussions, the Harry Potter Wiki also has the following quote from the Wonderbook: Book of Spells video game that JK Rowling contributed to and is attributed to the fictional character of Miranda Goshawk, which offers a bit more insight:

"This ancient and mysterious charm conjures a magical guardian, a projection of all your most positive feelings. The Patronus Charm is difficult, and many witches and wizards are unable to produce a full, corporeal Patronus, a guardian which generally takes the shape of the animal with whom they share the deepest affinity. You may suspect, but you will never truly know what form your Patronus will take until you succeed in conjuring it."

The key points here are that a Patronus is a projection of a person's most positive feelings, and takes the shape of an animal with whom they share the deepest affinity.

Based on this information, it makes sense that Tonks' Patronus changed form when her unrequited love for Lupin became all consuming. We see how much it affected her because in all of HBP she's consistently described as sad, downcast, and unlike her usual cheery self. The change in her Patronus is specific to her personal emotional state and isn't necessarily a statement on whether Patronuses change form any time a person is in love. Therefore we can conclude that a person's Patronus changes based on their emotional or mental state, not based on whether or not they're in love. Whether a person is even able to conjur a Patronus is also dependent on these factors. This is supported by the way we see characters who had previously been able to produce corporeal Patronuses struggle to do so when under stress:

The air around them had frozen: Harry’s breath caught and solidified in his chest. Shapes moved out in the darkness, swirling figures of concentrated blackness, moving in a great wave towards the castle, their faces hooded and their breath rattling … Ron and Hermione closed in beside him as the sounds of fighting behind them grew suddenly muted, deadened, because a silence only Dementors could bring was falling thickly through the night … ‘Come on, Harry!’ said Hermione’s voice, from a very long way away, ‘Patronuses, Harry, come on!’ He raised his wand, but a dull hopelessness was spreading through him: Fred was gone, and Hagrid was surely dying or already dead; how many more lay dead that he did not yet know about; he felt as though his soul had already half left his body … ‘HARRY, COME ON!’ screamed Hermione. A hundred Dementors were advancing, gliding towards them, sucking their way closer to Harry’s despair, which was like a promise of a feast … He saw Ron’s silver terrier burst into the air, flicker feebly and expire; he saw Hermione’s otter twist in mid-air and fade, and his own wand trembled in his hand, and he almost welcomed the oncoming oblivion, the promise of nothing, of no feeling … And then a silver hare, a boar and a fox soared past Harry, Ron and Hermione’s heads: the Dementors fell back before the creatures’ approach. Three more people had arrived out of the darkness to stand beside them, their wands outstretched, continuing to cast their Patronuses: Luna, Ernie and Seamus. ‘That’s right,’ said Luna encouragingly, as if they were back in the Room of Requirement and this was simply spell practice for the DA. ‘That’s right, Harry … come on, think of something happy …’ ‘Something happy?’ he said, his voice cracked. ‘We’re all still here,’ she whispered, ‘we’re still fighting. Come on, now …’ There was a silver spark, then a wavering light, and then, with the greatest effort it had ever cost him, the stag burst from the end of Harry’s wand. It cantered forwards, and now the Dementors scattered in earnest, and immediately the night was mild again, but the sounds of the surrounding battle were loud in his ears. ‘Can’t thank you enough,’ said Ron shakily, turning to Luna, Ernie and Seamus, ‘you just saved -”

Deathly Hallows Ch. 32

We know Harry, Ron, and Hermione can conjur a Patronus, but it's their hopelessness and the trauma they've experienced in the battle so far after a year of isolation searching for Horcruxes that affect their ability to do so, or whether or not a Patronus is corporeal. There is a connection between how able a person is to conjur a Patronus based on their emotional state, and what shape their Patronus takes based on the same.

How does this, then, inform what we know about Snape's Patronus? We know it symbolizes Lily, because he conjurs it in a moment when he's trying to prove a point to Dumbledore:

‘But this is touching, Severus,’ said Dumbledore seriously. ‘Have you grown to care for the boy, after all?’ ‘For him?’ shouted Snape. ‘Expecto patronum!’ From the tip of his wand burst the silver doe: she landed on the office floor, bounded once across the office and soared out of the window. Dumbledore watched her fly away, and as her silvery glow faded he turned back to Snape, and his eyes were full of tears. ‘After all this time?’ ‘Always,’ said Snape.’

Deathly Hallows Ch. 33

We don't actually know if Lily could conjur a patronus, let alone if the shape it took was a doe. We don't know if James could either or what shape it would have taken, we only know that James' animagus form was a stag, and that we are meant to conclude as a result that his wife is therefore symbolized by a doe, and that Snape's Patronus reflects his love for her as a result.

At its core, based on the above definitions of what a Patronus is, we can conclude that Snape's source of hope and happiness was Lily. All we know for a fact, based on canon text, is that they were best friends until their fifth year at school. There are varying opinions on whether Snape also felt romantic love for Lily, but we know he definitely felt love for her as a close friend, and his Patronus alludes to him continuing to feel this way after she ended their friendship and they stopped talking, not to mention how much this was compounded by his guilt for his role in her death.

I would take this further, though, and argue that Snape's Patronus was a reflection of him, ie. that it wasn't a projection of his affection for Lily but rather of the hope and happiness that he felt in their friendship and that, if we're taking the Miranda Goshawk quote at face value, his Patronus reflected his "most positive feelings" and "the animal with whom [he] share[s] the deepest affinity."

This definition implies that Snape's doe Patronus reflects that he and Lily were kindred spirits. That's why they were best friends, and why the doe is both reflective of Snape and symbolic of Lily. This isn't surprising when you consider that they were the only magical children of their age in a small midlands factory town. They grew up in different classes, but the same culture, with the same isolating factor of being able to do magic while surrounded by muggles. Childhood friendships create a strong bond, and how much more so with such factors at play? As a result, I think Snape's doe Patronus doesn't just symbolize his attachment to Lily, but that he was like her in many ways. We see this in the glimpses we get of Lily - that she was a brilliant student as described by Slughorn, that she had a righteous temper as demonstrate in Snape's Worst Memory, and that she was not afraid of what others thought of her whether it was the best friend she was challenging unflinchingly or the popular jock bully who she told off when no one else was willing to. Though we only Snape and Lily's interactions at school as ones where they're at odds, their personalities share many similarities and it quickly becomes apparent why they became such fast, and close, friends.

We don't know if James had a Patronus, but we do know that he's represented by a stag since it was his animagus form. We're shown clearly by the text that Harry's stag patronus is a reflection of his father's spirit living on in him. While the author's intention, I think, was that as a stag and doe James and Lily were a pair, she may not have understood how these animals mate. I'm not concerned with her intentions, though, and the fact that stags and does don't spend their lives together actually offers a more interesting reading of the conclusions the reader is meant to draw from the symbolism of the doe Patronus.

After mating stags leave does to raise the offspring on their own. While this interpretation has been used by some people to circumscribe James as a negligent parent and partner, I'm not convinced of this. James demonstrated selfishness and immaturity in his tendency to sneak out under his invisibility cloak even while he and Lily were in hiding, but ultimately we learn almost as little about James as we do about Lily so it's difficult to define his whole character based on limited information. It's worth noting that he did also put himself between Voldemort and his wife and child, knowing he would be killed, and though he did so while foolishly having left his wand in the other room, this kind of self-sacrifice is antithetical to the reading of the stag/doe symbolism that highlights stags' tendency to abandon does after mating.

There is, nevertheless, an interesting metaphor for the way the two animals come together for a higher purpose - that of survival of the species and continuation of life. In this way Harry and Snape reflect James and Lily respectively. The two of them had more potential for friendship than either was willing to see, and though they were enemies (or at least they had a lot of animosity towards each other - I would argue Harry saw Snape as an enemy but not vice versa) they nevertheless they came together - at times aware of it, at times not - for the greater purpose of defeating Voldemort, ie. the survival and continuation of life in the wizarding world.

And this, the knowledge we gain by the end of the books, that Snape's main purpose in life as he saw it was to protect a child and help raise him safely while working to defeat an existential threat, is what best explains why his Patronus is a doe. In fact, he goes out of his way and risks his life for much more than Harry, fighting for the safety of all the students in his care, and anyone else he is able to save. As the text shows us, just before he reveals his Patronus to be the doe, he has the following infamous exchange with Dumbledore:

‘How many men and women have you watched die?’ ‘Lately, only those whom I could not save,’ said Snape.

Deathly Hallows Ch. 33

If we interpret the doe as symbolic of Lily, a self-sacrificing parent who put the life of her child before her own, how much more so does Snape embody that symbolism, having given his life after risking it repeatedly for the sake of countless people, including the very same child Lily gave hers for? Had Lily's Patronus also been a doe, it would have reflected who she was at her core, and those aspects of her character which gave her strength and hope - and which reflected all she had in common with Snape. Therefore I would argue that Snape's Patronus symbolizing only his unrequited love is a reductive reading, and that it was, in fact, reflective of him as an individual as well, and of the qualities he possessed that were the reason for his bond with Lily.

[sctumsempra]

going insane and i need to infodump about severus snape’s patronus being a doe for a second. i personally don’t think it changed, or lily necessarily influenced it- i think it’s always been a doe, casting the charm in dumbledore’s office was meant to show that he and lily were supposed to be viscerally aligned with each other and he knows he fucked it up and that’s why he’s spent almost two decades trying to atone for what he did. on a representative level, the doe symbolizes peace, protection, and innocence, and no three words could possibly represent severus snape more.

all he wants is peace: a peaceful life for himself, a peaceful world, a peaceful school. everything he’s ever done has been to create as much peace as possible. some of it can be considered misguided from a black and white moral standpoint, but it’s what created peace for himself. for example, aligning himself with the purist views of his housemates made him less of a target for bullying- he’s not a pure blood, and they’d know, and having powerful ambitious students on your side instead of alienating yourself from everyone means you have at least a semblance of protection from harm some of the time. he becomes a double agent for dumbledore to help bring about peace from voldemort’s reign. it might not have been peaceful for him per se, but it was still with the intention of peace in some form. he tries to give other people peace- he takes a vow with narcissa to protect her son because she’s crying and scared for him, and it gives her peace. he doesn’t throw draco under the bus to save his skin when voldemort accuses him of being the elder wands owner, giving draco and narcissa peace even if they weren’t aware. it’s either for himself, or for others.

he’s the most protective teacher at the school- would mcgonagall have thrown herself in front of three kids facing a wolfsbane-less werewolf? would flitwick take the burden of an unbreakable vow to protect draco malfoy from voldemort? would any of the DADA teachers have run towards the sound of a screaming woman? he consistently vows to protect everyone and everything he can. and, leading into his innocence, when he realizes he’s only been protecting harry for him to die, it breaks him.

he’s not necessarily innocent in that his hands are clean and he’s never done anything wrong in his life, but he’s innocent in that he’s naive. he trusted voldemort enough to be drawn into the death eaters, he trusted dumbledore enough to be manipulated into his bidding. it feels like he forgets that dumbledore screws him over constantly, dangles things in front of him and takes them away, makes crude assumptions, and has left him to fend for himself essentially their entire relationship. the times that dumbledore abandons him- physically, mentally, metaphorically- he gets very upset. like it’s new information to him that dumbledore treats him like shit. from an abuse perspective, he probably had to spend his childhood mentally erasing what his parents and home were like so he could feel safe and normal, so the constant ebb and flow/back and forth of his and dumbledore’s relationship is familiar to him. when dumbledore draws him back in with whatever method, he’s right back to behaving as dumbledore wants, doing what dumbledore wants, and believing what dumbledore believes. the times that he remembers that dumbledore doesn’t care that he let the guy who’s tried to kill him or assault go, or that dumbledore thinks he wants only lily saved because he desires her romantically or sexually, or that dumbledore has only been using harry and, by extension, him (as he’s been the one protecting harry) to play the long game of destroying voldemort are the times that he’s emotional in the books. he cries, he’s vulnerable, he raises his voice, he begs and he pleads and he defers. he doesn’t do that any other time, other than when he found harry watching his memories. he trusts and he forgives (or he forgets, or he feels safer pretending he doesn’t care what’s been done to him/how he’s been treated.) a doe is perfect for him. reducing it to something like tonk’s patronus being changed as soon as she’s in a relationship with lupin or that it’s only a doe because of lily evans completely erases his entire way of thinking and behaving and being.

also, in a self indulgent addendum, it’s a very feminine animal, and severus is consistently aligned with femininity. hermione calls the half-blood prince’s writing feminine. he wears his mother’s clothes as a child, and lupin encourages neville to dress his boggart as his grandmother. he’s quiet and docile and tries to be non-violent unless he’s pushed to his breaking point, and even then it’s screaming or crying or getting animated. he’s emotional and frequently painted as hysterical. he gets the “woman character treatment”: to the average viewer who doesn’t think about him long enough to understand otherwise, he only desires lily. the consensus is that he chases her, he only thinks about her in the context of attraction. the line about looking at her greedily is constantly understood to be lust, and not a desire for love or a desire for a peaceful relationship for once in his life (and a relationship that only ever seems to be platonic at that). he even backs off and all but disappears from her life when he’s asked to, while james (the one with the stag patronus, the classic triumphant male character) harasses her and pursues her and behaves in a way that makes his son decades later wonder if he forced lily into a relationship. he’s behaviorally aligned with what femininity in the eyes of misogyny is supposed to be. he keeps to himself, he’s quiet, he sacrifices every bit of himself for students and coworkers and superiors and expects nothing in return, he pushes his students to be the best they can. (i’d say nurtures with my whole chest, but as the narrative comes from harry, we can’t really be sure. in my view, his house won the house cup for several years in a row which was only interrupted by dumbledore awarding a fuck ton of points to his gryffindor prize pony, his classes are seen as high performing and advanced by even dolores umbridge of all people, he only tries to punish students albeit a bit violently after several attempts of getting them to understand why what they did was wrong, which seems to be pretty nurturing in comparison to what other teachers allow and do). whether he’s trans, or had been influenced more by eileen, or he was intended to be deeply complex and contradictory and that meant that he had to have these traits, or any other of the multitude of reasons for snape being an inherently feminine character, it’s there. his patronus wouldn’t be a stag, he wouldn’t be anything overbearing and he wouldn’t be anything aggressive. it doesn’t make sense with his soul and his personality and his life. the peaceful protective innocent/naive doe, however, does.

[remus-poopin]

No but seriously why is Lily’s patronus so unnecessarily gendered?

JKR said this in a interview in 2007:

Question: James patronus is a stag and lilys a doe is that a coincidence? J.K. Rowling: No, the Patronus often mutates to take the image of the love of one's life (because they so often become the 'happy thought' that generates a Patronus).

I’m assuming it was Lily’s patronus that changed not James because he already had a stag animagus at 15 and the only other person we know both their patronus and animagus form is Mcgonagall and they are both cats. So if Lily's patronus changed to be “the image of the love of her life” why is it a doe not a stag? How is a doe the image of James? Snape's patronus is apparently the "image of lily" and it appears as a doe instead of a stag to match his respective gender. What is going on?

(also guys im looking for a watsonian reason. I know the real answer is JKR's adherence to the gender binary)

[hollowed-theory-hall]

One thing I've always wondered about- if a patronus is supposed to be a representation of who you think will protect you...

Why is Harry's patronus a stag and not a doe?

No offense to James, he did give his life for Harry, but James didn't have a choice. Voldemort was gonna kill him no matter what. Lily's the one who chose to die for him, and that choice gave him a protection so strong that it keeps protecting him long after she's dead.

I mean, you could argue Harry didn't know that, but Dumbledore tells Harry in his first year itself, when he's in the hospital wing, that his mother's love saved him. Harry didn't seem to think he was joking around, either. At least not fully.

Maybe it's because he didn't really know much about Lily? I still think it's weird. It might just be the way boys tend to look up to their fathers as protectors, while the mother's supposed to be the nurturer, but that still feels really...eh?

I think a Patronus, like most magic, is very intentional and related to your own perception. In book 3, when Harry cast his first patronus, he looked up to his father as a protector inside his own head, so his father became his Patronus (talked about it a bit here).

It's not about which one of them actually protected him more or less, it's about Harry's perception and who he thinks of when he thinks of a protector. So, Harry thought of his father when he cast a Patronus for the first time, he actually thought his father had cast it due to time travel, and yeah, I think part of it is definitely the tendency of young boys to look up to their fathers, another is that throughout that entire year, he heard so much about his father. Everyone was talking about Sirius Black and how close he was to James, so of course Harry would be thinking about his father. Harry idolizes the father he never knew but apparently looks just like, this idolization shines through his Patronus. Add to that that no one really told him much about Lily by this point.

So Harry perceives his father as his protector, so that's who his Patronus represents. Then, when he grew up, it remained the same because he started thinking of the stag as his protector due to his experience with casting a patronus. It's a belief that feeds itself, sorta. At least, that's what I'm thinking.

[fandoomrants]

Ok, ok, hear me out!

What do we know of the Patronus Charm? It takes the form of an animal which somehow represents the person, but not like the Animagus form exactly as it can be affected and changed, unlike it, due to circumstances, such as deep love for someone, but it also doesn't have to take a form, if the spell isn't too strong, or if the one making it prefers to hide the animal.

And what do we know about Remus's Patronus? He hides it throughout the whole PoA, despite teaching Harry the spell. And then in the end it is revealed that it's a wolf. Not a werewolf but a wolf.

Now let's go back for a moment to how it represents the person in a way but it can also be changed. I feel like the whole part of a wolf but not a werewolf (that are supposed to still be pretty close to actual wolves, not the movie... thing that gives me chills with how ugly it is) indicates that Remus is not completely associating himself with the werewolf thing, even though we know it has left a mark on him and he struggles with it a lot. But his Patronus is still not that exactly. Also, just a wolf doesn't scream "I'm a werewolf" really. But he still hides it. Yeah, it could be panic and overthinking but it could be something else too. What if he doesn't hide it from others but because he doesn't want to see it because it hurts him?

And let's go for a moment to Half-Blood Prince where Harry sees Tonks's Patronus and he first thinks it's a dog and thinks it's about Sirius until in the end it turns out it's a wolf. And let's remember that the books are from Harry's POV and he's not the most observant.

What I'm trying to say with this whole thing is, what if he did that mistake twice? What if Remus's Patronus was not a wolf but a dog?! (We know he had felt guilty and wanted to tell Dumbledore that Sirius is an Animagus but somehow couldn't and he did think he betrayed them all and what if that's why he didn't want to see the form of his Patronus)

I know it's a hot take and I'm slightly delulu and lots of people are gonna come up with different arguments as to why no, it's indeed a wolf but still...

[saintsenara]

I actually think Snape would not have been able to produce a Patronus without Lily in his life! I can imagine that without being challenged with her innocence about the wizarding world as a child, without striving to deserve her friendship (failing eventually, but either way), and without his feelings for her grounding him, he’d have spiralled into a dark path much earlier, with no return ticket.

i actually don't back this, i'm afraid, anon.

in general, i really don't like the way the series uses two pieces of magic - the patronus charm and the killing curse - as a dividing line between the goodies and the baddies.

we know that the order shoot to kill - lupin tells harry that he's stupid for not doing so - and there's no reason why they wouldn't use a curse with a flawless [unless what you're attempting to blast is a bit of your own soul] outcome. we also know that at least one unambiguous villain - umbridge - can produce a patronus, and i see no reason not to assume that plenty of the death eaters also can.

indeed, how i understand the patronus charm is drawn - for my sins - from the workaround jkr gives on pottermore in an attempt to explain why umbridge is able to produce one, when the books emphasise the charm's connection to those of [in its view, at least] undeniable moral purity:

A rare few witches and wizards of questionable morals have succeeded in producing the Charm (Dolores Umbridge, for example, is able to conjure a cat Patronus to protect herself from Dementors). It may be that a true and confident belief in the rightness of one’s actions can supply the necessary happiness. 

i actually think this - the idea that the strength needed to produce the charm would be connected to one's level of righteousness - explains the way it features throughout canon much more neatly.

harry - generally completely unwavering in his belief in the righteousness of his actions at any given time - finds it easy to produce one. so do the members of dumbledore's army [who are able to be taught one of the hardest spells in the wizarding arsenal without any trouble whatsoever by a fifteen-year-old], who evidently aren't united by moral spotlessness [zacharias smith nation, rise up], but are united by the unshakable conviction that what they're doing is the right thing. hermione, in contrast, finds the patronus to be one of the only charms she struggles with outside of controlled spaces - not, it's clear, because she's less noble or less happy than harry, but because she's bad under pressure, and clearly panics too much to ignite the unbending, righteous spark needed to call her patronus up.

[and voldemort - who clearly can't produce one - finds himself in this position not because of the atrophy of his soul, but because his inability to be honest about anything - especially his inability to be honest about the inevitability of death and the value of love - makes it impossible for him to have the requisite strength of purpose.]

and if there's one thing we know about the adolescent snape, it's that he thinks he's got all the answers.

part of the collapse of his friendship with lily comes from his inability to understand why she won't just shut up and accept his view of the world - why she won't defer to his opinions on the marauders, why she won't be moved by his insistence that mulciber's use of dark magic was trivial, and why, it's heavily implied, she doesn't agree with his evident belief that voldemort will help them both [lily is, after all, just as in need of a powerful patron to help her navigate the entrenched class-system of the wizarding world]. he doesn't become a death eater while entertaining a kernel of doubt - he becomes a death eater because he's one hundred percent on board with what the lads are planning for the world.

his damascus moment switches the force of that conviction - makes protecting [and then avenging] lily the only thing he thinks it's worth living, fighting, and dying for - but it doesn't create it. he was prime patronus material all along. it was just a crow carrying a knife, rather than a doe...

[tanginawrites]

Headcanon: Patronuses represent not just your happiest memories, but your personality and your core values. And Snape’s patronus is not a direct embodiment of Lily. It’s more complex than that.

Patronuses are a topic I’ve been circling around for months since I knew I was going to address them in a fic I was writing.

There are characters like Tonks who have a patronus that’s quite literal – she’s in love with a werewolf and her patronus becomes a wolf. But most characters have more ambiguous/symbolic patronuses – like Hermione’s otter, or Ron’s Jack Russell terrier.

Looking at patronuses as symbolic of what each character most values: Hermione’s otter represents cleverness and playfulness. Ron’s dog represents loyalty and protection. Hermione is very clever, she values this trait in herself and others, and I think that one of the secret things that attracts her to Ron is his playfulness. The way he makes her laugh and has the ability to surprise her. Ron comes from a big family and is very loyal to and protective of his family and his friends – he’s a pack animal. I think their patronuses represent their personalities and what drives them very well, and I don’t think either Hermione and Ron would ever change to have matching patronuses.

I actually agree with Snape that Tonks’s patronus changing to a literal wolf for Remus is not healthy. (Though Snape was a total jerk telling her his unsolicited opinion on her patronus. No one asked you, dude.) There’s no nuance in this patronus or any reminder of other things that give her hope — family, friends — the wolf represents a totally singleminded focus on Remus that erases everything else in her life. Which is understandable considering her emotional state — she hasn’t accepted their breakup and she’s fixated on making him understand how much she loves him. But fact is Tonks and her patronus are in a bad place.

Which brings me to Snape. I think people see Tonks’ patronus change to a wolf to represent Remus and decide that Snape’s patronus must also *literally* and *directly* represent Lily. But… Remus *is* a literal wolf. Lily is not an animagus or a mythical faun or any other deer-like creature (as far as we know).

I think that the stag and doe patronuses of Snape, Lily, James, and Harry all represent their own personalities and the core of who each character is. Deer are a symbol of peace, which is what all four of these characters deeply desire – to be able to live in peace.

For James and Harry, the stag also represents strength and instinct – their bravery and they way they both tend to go with their gut. For Snape and Lily, the doe represents innocence, gentleness, devotion. Snape may not be particularly gentle outwardly, but it is something he values, and his happiest memories are of being treated gently — whether that’s by Lily or his mum or whoever in his life has actually been kind to him. I think that Snape’s patronus represents his wish that he could go back to a time when he still felt innocent. Yes, it does also reflect his devotion to the cause — to honoring Lily’s memory — but there’s just as much of him in his patronus as there is of Lily.

[regheart]

does the animagus form of a wizard always correspond to their corporeal patronus? could you possibly know in advance what animal you will become? i often see it as a very hit or miss situation, but when you think of some specific cases, like rita skeeter, any animal other than a beetle wouldn't serve the purspose of serving as a disguise so well (like what would she do if she was a horse animagus? how much gossip can you overhear at the stables?)

or in the case of the marauders, if there's always a correlation, could they have taught themselves the patronus charm in advance to know what animals they would become? there's a similar issue of the practical use of different species, i don't think more than one small animal would be helpful to contain a werewolf, and anything that lives in the water would be problematic enough on itself

and there's even another angle to this, if we consider tonks' patronus change as an werewolf, and we assume that patronus can take the form of any animal, magical or not, it feels wrong for someone to be a dragon animagus or a phoenix animagus, what could be an argument for the lack of correlation, but brings up the issue of it being a huge gamble of putting a lot of effort into something that may fit into your purposes or not at all

[pro-dumbledores-office]

That Dumbledore’s patronus is a phoenix is simply perfect. What form is better for a man who never fails to give others second chances, even while he fails to give one to himself?

[foldingdragonsathogwarts]

The unintentional implications of Snape's Patronus

Something I still can't get over is how the 'big reveal' of Snape's love (or obsession, who cares) for Lily is him having a Doe patronus.

Which is sad and hilarious, because the Doe might work as a symbol for Lily Potter, but it would not work as a symbol for Lily Evans.

It's James who is associated with a stag, not Lily. So arguably, Snape having that particular patronus would make more sense if he was secretly in love with James Potter.

As it is, it implies that Snape wanted Lily because James loved her. She's not Lily to him, she's "the Doe", the wife of "the Stag" James Potter, his old rival.

And I feel confident saying that neither of those were the intended reading.

But thinking through this, I can guess at the reasons why it was written this way:

The author wanted the mystery of a stranger whose patronus is so close to Harry's. So yeah, there weren't many options. Any other shape wouldn't have held enough significance for the reader, because

The author failed to build up Lily Evans as her own character, independent of Snape and Potter. Unlike those two, Lily doesn't have a clear symbol or animal to associate with her and only her.

And it's the second part that is sad. Lily Evans / Potter only exists in relation to other people. As Harry's dead mother. As Slughorn's favorite student. As Petunia's strange sister/ favorite daughter of her parents.

As Snape's former friend and unrequited crush.

As the wife of James Potter.

That is all we know about her.

And so Snape's patronus (which is supposed to prove his undying love for Lily) ends up a reminder of James Potter.

[severus-snaps]

Legilimency & Occlumency & Emotion

i was reading something somewhere (possibly on my binge of metas last night, but who knows) that Snape was very talented at Occlumency, but just about average at Legilimency - but I respectfully disagree, and here's a whole (3k word) accidental ramble about it, which started as an observation and devolved into how I think Legilimency/Occlumency works in the context of Snape and Voldemort, and why I interpret it differently than it being (entirely) magical dissociation and actually quite an emotion-based skill once it's more complex TLDR: I've often seen Occlumency described/conceptualised as a "shield" or some kind of suppressed emotionless state, but I discovered upon writing this that I think it can be quite a bit more complex and emotional, actually - just like Snape <3

Snape's Talents

The idea that got me rambling today went something like "Draco, who only had a handful of lessons from Bellatrix, was able to keep Snape out of his mind using Occlumency - so Snape can't have been a very good Legilimens, or Occlumency was easy to do"

And I do agree that Snape was probably better at Occlumency than Legilimency by sheer quantity of practice alone - and also that, outside of using it on Harry (and Draco) when they were up to mischief, and Snape likely wishing he could use it to work out what Dumbledore was hiding from him, Snape had no desire to see, hear, interpret or otherwise get the gist of what anyone at Hogwarts was thinking - but especially not a bunch of pubescent students, nor colleagues who liked him on a surface level but obviously were not close enough to think Something Was Up when he killed Dumbledore (which, fair in some ways, unfair in others, but I digress)

[side note: Snape can't have just not used Occlumency for over a decade before Voldemort's return, so I like to think of him and Dumbledore practicing to keep his skills sharp - although I expect that would be another 'fun' way for Dumbledore to hold Snape in chains which would make for an interesting fic]

I suspect that if Snape had chosen to, he could've invaded Draco's mind in that scene, broken through whatever defenses Draco used - but that's not a very Snape thing to do to a student, and especially not one he knows well, was a family friend of, has closely seen grow up, and probably has a soft spot for. It's very reminiscent of his conversation with Narcissa, to me. Throughout that entire conversation with Draco, Snape was trying to comfort Draco, empathise with him, get Draco to trust him, confide in him, offer support to Draco whether he wanted it or not - not further alienate him to a point where Snape couldn't help. And besides, invading Draco's mind aggressively doesn't sit very well with his vow "to the best of your ability, protect him from harm".

And as for Harry's lessons, Harry was using spells - which Snape seemed surprised, interested, and almost impressed to learn that were effective against Legilimency, which isn't surprising in itself as it's not a widely used area of magic. And since Harry had no idea that Snape (and probably Dumbledore) were 'reading his mind' for years before he learnt about Legi/Occlumency, I don't expect many people would know if Snape used it, or put up a fight using those methods - other Death Eaters probably stuck to Occluding, because it would hardly garner any favour if they cast a stinging hex or Protego at Voldemort or in a DE meeting Which brings me back to my other point as well, which was that "Occlumency possibly wasn't difficult to do". On a rudimentary level that might be true (at least insofar as any advanced magic was difficult to do - Harry was actually quite talented, e.g. casting a corporeal patronus at 13/14 or whatever, and Draco could do it after a few lessons with Bellatrix). Harry learnt almost despite Snape, because he didn't take instruction from him well and because Snape is (intentionally) abrasive in lessons (which I could go on about, since Snape couldn't really be nice to Harry when Voldemort was possibly looking through harry's eyes at any given moment - and as other metas have pointed out was another layer to Snape's rage when Harry looked at his memories). But Snape could do it without a wand, without an incantation, so he was reasonably skilled - imagine casting a full body Patronus or other impressive spell with neither a wand nor an incantation

Also we don't know precisely how long Draco had lessons for, it might have been loads and he was actually pretty good, or it might have been 3 and he was awful. But unlike Snape, who is not the greatest Legilimens of all time (that's apparently Voldemort?), it was glaringly obvious to him that Draco was using Occlumency - Snape had him sussed in like 3 seconds, and chose not to go any further for the reasons I outlined above - which interestingly he did not do with Harry, when faced with finding out where Harry learnt Sectumsempra (but at that point both Snape and Draco's life had been on the line - if Draco dies, presumably so does Snape?)

Which brings me back to Snape... How I think Legilimency/Occlumency works (sometimes)

You have no subtlety The mind is a complex and many-layered thing It is true, however, that those who have mastered Legilimency are able, under certain conditions, to delve into the minds of their victims and to interpret their findings correctly. The Dark Lord, for instance, almost always knows when somebody is lying to him. Only those skilled at Occlumency are able to shut down those feelings and memories that contradict the lie, and so utter falsehoods in [Voldemort's] presence without detection.

There's a lot to take in there, and also pretty ballsy to say to Voldemort-by-proxy (Harry), which might reduce the validity of my idea that Snape didn't want to be nice to Harry during their lessons in case Voldemort was watching, since Snape's pretty happy to give Voldemort (and the reader, more likely) a complete insight into what he's himself doing... although I expect that Voldemort has considered this, and also doesn't recognise the limits of his own power - or the extent of Snape's.

I also wonder whether the 'certain conditions' are something simple, like eye contact being made or the spell being cast, or whether there's something to the mental state of the 'caster' at the time as well, like there is with Occlumency walls/shields and being calm and empty-headed, or whether the conditions is the Occluder themselves presenting (or not presenting) some alternative things to interpret. One of the wizarding world (I think) pages says Snape trained a 'slight natural ability', so that makes me wonder more, as well, but i digress.

But my second point is this: Snape's talents weren't Occluding by total shutdown, or Occlumency 'shields' which always now irk me in fanfiction (this I'm definitely drawing from another meta but I have no idea where, so... apologies). Snape wasn't throwing up a wall in front of entire memories or thoughts, for the most part. Although I expect that between the Pensieve and Draco's example use of Occlumency, that was sometimes a function (e.g. some of the things Dumbledore told Snape to pass along, he'd have to entirely block out, alter, or otherwise adapt those memories to make it look as though Snape had passed information along of his own volition against Dumbledore's orders, or hide the fact that he'd helped Dumbledore when he was supposed to be helping Voldemort, etc).

So inkeeping with my own questionable metaphor, where Draco threw up a wall - metaphorically crumbling, last-minute, cowboy builder Occlumency where the wall would hold but you could see it very clearly and obviously; where with a lesser Occlumens the wall was nice enough, but you could see where the paint job didn't quite match up and the plastering wasn't done very evenly; Snape had the whole house set up so that you didn't know the wall wasn't there from the start, and probably had a few artfully chosen scuffs to make it seem real, or it was some kind of trapdoor under the carpet. (okay the metaphor died, but I've been watching a lot of remodelling shows lately, you get the point if you've read this far)

In another metaphor I imagine detecting a lie to be like running your fingertips along a smooth surface and finding a lip or a bump - you could then, pick at it, poke at it, tear it open. You could sense that something was being hidden, or withheld. But there were no lips or snags in Snape's thoughts; potentially Voldemort could simply not detect them, not even when he searched him openly, repeatedly, full eye contact, at the table at Malfoy Manor. Snape welcomed Voldemort into his (it's just occurred to me, but "mind palace") and Voldemort repeatedly, for years, could not tell that anything was amiss, and presumably Voldemort did this with much more ferocity (and skill) than Snape looking at Harry for 2 seconds and immediately summoning Harry's mental image of the Prince's copy of Advanced Potions Making

But it can't be down to detection alone. There's also a level of interpretation to Legilimency. So here I'm focusing on a more interesting aspect to me, which is how emotion is used in Legilimency/Occlumency. Obviously, Snape isn't Occluding all the time, and as much as I adore Alan Rickman, book!Snape was naturally a total petty, stuttering mess (love him for it) who only wishes he had Alan Rickman's gravitas, and could on occasion emulate it.

I told you to empty yourself of emotion! … Fools who wear their hearts proudly on their sleeves, who cannot control their emotions, who wallow in sad memories and allow themselves to be provoked this easily — weak people, in other words — they stand no chance against his powers!

I think this quote is interesting for many reasons I probably won't be able to connect properly and are in no particular order beyond how I thought of them

Snape is emotional here when he says it, he's angry, annoyed, upset, and it's an honest feeling, and he's obviously not devoid of emotion but can still Occlude Harry

Snape is an emotional person, much as he tries to pretend not to be, and can still Occlude Voldemort just fine even on the night he thinks he's marching to his death at the end of GoF

Much like how many other kinds of magic require lots of study and a strong emotion/will/conscious thought at the start, perhaps it become easier with experience to the point where this advice is not essential (e.g. kind of like driving, I no longer have to think about changing gears like I did as a Learner)

Snape is also talking about himself here, indicative of Snape's worldview where showing 'weak' emotions is the problem - soft emotions, vulnerability, "never tell".

"Provoke" is exactly what Voldemort does to Harry

This is Occlumency 101; Snape's teaching Harry the most basic of Occlumency - to compartmentalise, to block someone out, to throw up that shoddy but sturdy-enough wall for Voldemort to come up against, like Draco did to Snape. Harry's anger and emotion is a weakness in this basic Occlumency lesson, where Voldemort is trying to look through Harry and/or trick/provoke him; thus, the wall.

But this probably isn't the kind of Legilimency Voldemort would use on Snape (which is to see if he's lying, if his information is real, if his values are aligned, etc), and it probably isn't the kind of Occlumency Snape was doing in return, to lie or deflect suspicion or ingratiate himself. In fact, throwing up a wall is the opposite of what Snape does with Voldemort; Snape lets him in, lets him stare him down in front of an audience, all the while showing Voldemort what he wants to see. I think as well there's an element of a Legilimens 'grasping' for something, searching, "provoking", like how Snape 'grasped' for Harry's memories of Advanced Potions Making, how Voldemort appears to search Snape at Malfoy Manor - so if all Snape presents is a memory, empty, devoid of any complexity, Voldemort would question it.

In my interpretation, when Occluding, Snape displays a different type of emotional control; Complex Occlumency means you control your emotions, yes, but not block them off - Snape takes his emotions where they need to go, makes them do what they need to do, to support the interpretation he wants Voldemort to reach. He chooses to some extent what Voldemort sees if he lies outright or omits details (a well made wall, basic Occlumency), and chooses how to present it (complex Occlumency). And he does it with subtlety; he doesn't often outright lie, and there's a lot left to interpretation - in both Snape's speech (with Bellatrix) and his actions throughout the books, and presumably his Occlumency.

So I suggest that Snape, in a situation with Voldemort, must be able to "lift up" or "lean into" an alternative emotion for interpretation - the decoration around the wall, the interior design, if you will. For example, Snape couldn't tell Voldemort that he desired Lily, in a total absence of any feelings at all, without it coming across as false and thus easily detectable as a lie. And you know that when a young Snape, who's hardly made a name for himself (Snape's likely never killed, at least, and isn't especially memorable to anyone in Azkaban and is last named by Karkaroff, and other things I won't go into here) outside of overhearing half a prophecy begs for a Mudblood Order member who's the mother of Voldemort's downfall who's thrice defied him to be spared, you can bet that Voldemort will want to thoroughly find out why, so...

To me this suggests that there was a level of desire there that Snape could 'lean into', whether that desire be for Lily or someone else he found desirable to act as a kind of substitute - though given that Legilimency seems to work on mental images and memories at least in part, a memory where he desired Lily would've been useful. And I'm just using that as an example, because Voldemort would also presumably at some stage have interrogated what Snape thought of Dumbledore and Harry, and Snape would've had to lean into feelings of hatred and loathing - which he'd manage just fine for Harry, but Snape would have leant into his feelings after Dumbledore silenced him after nearly getting eaten by a werewolf and again freeing Sirius in PoA, but I digress

When Harry finally learns Occlumency (by his own admission) in the wake of Dobby's death, it's grief that helps him master it - which, for me personally, is not a detached, clear-headed feeling in any sense. It's visceral, emotional, and painful; all-consuming. It's love/grief/loss/strong loving emotion that forces Voldemort out, after he loses Sirius and again when he loses Dobby. But it's a contrast to the emotions Voldemort uses of Harry's to draw Harry out, via his fears for Sirius. But with grief, Harry's dived headfirst into feeling what Voldemort doesn't want to feel (unlike the anger), to keep Voldemort out of his mind. Whereas Snape would do the opposite, and dive right in to the feelings Voldemort would want to sense - to the exclusion of others. Would Voldemort even think to search for Snape's love for Lily, if he was first presented with something more visceral, with more negative connotations, like desire or jealousy, hurt or betrayal? These are the emotions Voldemort thrives on and can exploit, that he's familiar with, that he understands. In the context then of 'grasping' that's how I think Snape leads Voldemort down a path of believing him - by bringing honest 'negative' emotions to the fore that Voldemort understands.

this is really where I think skilled Occlumency differs from dissociation or wall-building. I think Snape would simultaneously have to dampen his 'lie' feelings and to raise the volume on the 'fitting' feelings for his chosen interpretation. My interpretation of this all stems from my experience of writing, of getting lost in music, in using those activities to "wallow" in certain feelings. Snape does not present Voldemort with his true feelings, but they are real feelings. So in that way, I feel Snape was like an artist or writer; he felt deeply, he felt conflictingly, and dived headfirst into those wells of emotion when he needed to - diving so deeply that it cuts off and hides the conflicting evidence. I feel that when I'm writing, when I'm listening to music, when I'm wallowing. And I feel a lot of sympathy for Snape, because it can feel like a real whiplash when you're midway through writing an intense scene or listening to some excellent music that really fills you up with something, it can take you to some dark places, and it's quite shocking somehow when abruptly interrupted - which would be what his life was constantly like after Voldemort's return, leaning into and shying away from/shutting down emotions and memories he didn't necessarily feel whenever he was called, and then having to return to work or meetings in that headspace, where everything feels out of touch and you're in internal turmoil. (Granted, I can snap out of it because the music or the writing is neither here nor there, really, but he'd be doing it with his own life experiences, with his own life on the line, and to repay a debt of guilt - there's a lot more emotional baggage there, and even more once Dumbledore died). And I think it would take its toll in other ways, too, which leads me to Lily...

Far from some people's cries that possessive or obsessive attraction or desire is some huge moral failing, I'd argue that you'll find a level of it in most teenagers and indeed the regular spectrum of human emotion - I know I've certainly experienced feelings of intense jealousy and whatever 'Snaters' (I'm not a massive fan of the term, but as a shorthand) accuse Snape of, whether I acted on it or not. So I'd suggest that Snape 'leant into' that for the sake of being on the receiving end of Voldemort's Legilimency. Whether Snape regularly, or actually, felt those emotions of his own free will or not is hard to say - since there's no actual evidence he did act possessive or jealous beyond the normal teenager level (and that's without addressing the fact that we didn't know how he would've ended the sentence "I won't let you -"). And I'd also go as far as to say that Snape probably, truly, had some awful thoughts (don't we all?) and so he was able to lean into some very dark and gloomy nooks and crannies of his mind, the parts we're told healthy people steer clear of acting on but also undoubtedly experience (jealousy, possession, rage, bitterness) in much the same way as a writer, artist, or musician might, to make his 'lies' and the stories he told more 'truthful' - which was why Voldemort trusted him so much.

TLDR: Snape's a man of many contraditions and very much emotional depth, and he manipulated his own emotions (likely to the detriment of his mental health) for years. But just as I, a fanfic writer, can vicariously experience the bitter resentment for a person who doesn't love me, can imagine a world where he can think those thoughts, embody them, and still not take them on as part of his identity.

anyway i don't have a conclusion, I just had thoughts

[Side note not strictly related to ANY of the above: I find it interesting as well that Voldemort's skill is apparently specifically in working out whether people are lying to him, suggesting that you could specialise even further into different aspects of behaviour. But people do lie to Voldemort (Narcissa, Snape, off the top of my head, but there's no indication of Voldemort using Legilimency on Narcissa in that moment where Harry lives - Voldemort was too elated, once again caught up in his own glory). [side side note: Harry's treatment after his 'death' does make me wonder, briefly, about Snape's own treatment when he returned at the end of GoF - public torture and humiliation, an opportunity for the other DEs to turn on one of their own to 'increase their own standing' in Voldemort's eyes, crucio to weaken Snape's defences, to check that his information and loyalty true? i get the impression that Snape shared his information with Voldemort privately, given that Bellatrix didn't seem to know much about Snape's return, but who's to say there wasn't some 'fun' beforehand, or at other points during his time as spy]

[snapecelebration]

“Break out your best hats and robes, because a special event to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Battle of Hogwarts has been announced by the Ministry of Magic. The noblest families of all are expected to attend, from the Malfoys to the Notts, and the soirée promises to be a night to remember.

However, what your humble correspondent knows is really on everyone’s minds is the mysterious wizard whose alleged death took place that same fated 2 May. Severus Snape was left for dead by the Dark Lord. Only following the tragedy did the Wizarding World come to learn of his true allegiance, but even after the dramatic and now mythical revelation, some things remain unsolved. Do not miss Rita Skeeter's most astonishing journalistic feat yet, as she reveals long-hidden truths and exposes lies, aided by a very exclusive source, and theorises on what might have really happened to Severus Snape.”

The Daily Prophet, 23 April 2023

How it works:

Art, writing, headcanons, meta – we’d love to share all of your creations with the rest of the fandom.

The prompts are:

Week 1 - The Muggle: Tobias and Eileen Snape; Childhood; Cokeworth; Friendship; Holiday

Week 2 - The Professor: Potions Master; Head of Slytherin House; Colleagues; Slytherin favouritism; Bullying

Week 3 - The Spy: Secret Society; Unforgivable; Vow; Right-hand Man; Occlumency

Week 4 - The Martyr: Shrieking Shack; Memories; Lonely; Sacrifice; Patronus

Week 5 -  The Survivour: Ghost; Freedom; Retirement; New Identity; Hero or Hunted

Don’t worry about tackling the themes in order, or about being late. In fact, if you have older winter-related works you’d like to show the Snapedom again, go ahead and send them in!

Either submit the post to our blog, or tag your own post using #snapecelebration.

[usagirln12003]

Tomura Shigaraki: Hogwarts AU

Tomura Shigaraki was a Pureblood wizard that was born on the 4th of April 1965 and started attending Hogwarts on the 1st of September 1976, being sorted into Slytherin House.

He had a Yew wand with a Dragon Heartstring core.

His Patronus was Non-Corporeal.

His favorite subject was Defense Against the Dark Arts and his least favorite was History of Magic.

Tomura Shigaraki was a very twisted, malevolent, and maliciously warped young man, who was considered to be the polar opposite of Izuku Midoriya. He didn't care for his or almost anyone else's life, having no qualms about performing evil deeds like murdering innocent people. Tomura was initially perceived to be a "man-child": arrogant, selfish, dependent, and demanding, becoming angry if things didn't go his way and likening reality to some sort of game. Unlike his mentor, Tomura lacked subtlety, preferring to eliminate problems through force. Much like a child, Tomura seemed unable to cope with his own feelings, instead lashing out and abusing both others or himself, tearing at his own neck when he becomes frustrated. This particular meltdown stemmed from the abuse he suffered from his father and being alone during his childhood, with All For One claiming that it represented his suppressed urge to kill and destroy. A very irritable person at the beginning of the Izuku's story, Tomura would learn to be more patient and self-controlled in subsequent appearances, as a consequence of multiple failed plans and All For One's arrest.

Tomura was proud of the League of Dark Wizards, wanting to prove that his organization had the necessary power to shake society and taking pleasure in mocking those standing in his way. He didn't tolerate others making light of the League's name and loathed the idea of certain personalities joining him, as was the case with Dabi and Himiko Toga at the beginning, which was made worse by the fact that they were both inspired by Stain, who had previously refused membership and overshadowed Tomura's goals in terms of media exposure after the Diagon Alley Incident. For similar reasons, he looked down on the wizarding mafia for their intentions of ruling the underworld over the League. In the end, however, Tomura was able to set his pride aside in order to do whatever was needed to accomplish his goals, having adopted Stain's ideology to enlist more members to his cause and forming a deal with the mafia for the development of the Magic-Destroying Drug.

Initially, Tomura seemingly caused destruction just for the sake of it and felt directionless about the League's path forward after Stain's arrest. It would take a fateful meeting with Izuku in Hogsmead for him to develop an epiphany and become aware of his true convictions: to crumble hero society through Toshinori Yagi's death. Tomura always had a desire to kill All Might, but out of an impulsive expression of anarchy towards a society that hurt him and caused his mental instability. After hearing from Izuku, Tomura realized that Yagi is what he hated about both Izuku and Stain, wishing to see them, as well as the wizarding society as a whole, lose their Symbol of Peace. Following Yagi's retirement and during the League of Dark Wizards' encounter with the Meta Liberation Army, Tomura's convictions grew from crippling society to completely destroying it, apparently as a result of an innate sense of pain and suffering caused by the past memories of his abuse. By Tomura's own admission, he hated everything that breathes, displaying an extreme form of nihilism.

Despite Tomura's general disgust of life, there were a select number of people he held in high esteem. He had a close relationship with his mentor, All For One, the one person who came to his aid when he found himself alone and lost as a child. Tomura held a great amount of respect and attachment for All For One, always referring to him as "Sensei"/"Master" and being concerned for his well-being. Incidentally, Tomura happened to carry All For One's family name (Shigaraki), which symbolized a relationship close to father and son. Tomura also had Kurogiri as a trusted confidant and adviser, despite treating him harshly at times. Kurogiri's capture was noted to have made Tomura upset as the latter valued the former's company and abilities.

Aside from those two and Kyudai Garaki, who all had a hand in raising him, Tomura initially appeared rather distant towards his other allies in the League, however he did show to care about them in his own ways. He bonded with Spinner over their shared love of muggle video games, to the latter's surprise. He also cared about them enough to prioritize their comfort once he obtained the necessary finances, and became enraged when Overhaul killed Magne and destroyed Mr. Compress' arm. Beforehand, when Kurogiri labelled the other League members as disposable pawns, Tomura corrected him by saying that they are instead valued allies. Tomura displayed both faith in the League's capabilities and trust in them to do right by him and their group, as seen when he confided in Himiko and Twice before appointing them to aid Overhaul (knowing they would intentionally sabotage the Hassaikai from within, even without his orders).

Furthermore, when Himiko questioned Tomura on his newfound goal to destroy everything, he revealed that his allies were exceptions, saying that he always has room for them and their goals while telling them to live life however they see fit. This proves that Tomura had developed a true form of care towards his allies, even if he only seldom showed it. This further set Tomura apart from All For One as he actually had goals and desires beyond himself, and genuinely values his allies, while All For One saw his "friends" as nothing more than disposable tools. His exclamation that he "won't be corrupted" by his master's influence implied that, while Tomura was potentially more dangerous and destructive than All For One, the latter was far more darker and evil for caring about nothing but himself.

As a child, Tenko was shown to be relatively normal, even kind and compassionate. He held a great love for his family and a strong desire to become an auror someday, not unlike Izuku. However, the constant abuse he suffered from his hero-hating father made him psychologically fragile, being terrified of his mere presence. Because of this oppressive upbringing and the inaction from the rest of his family, Tenko felt that his whole family had never been supportive of his desires, becoming increasingly frustrated when the abuse grew worse. Eventually, his magic manifested for the first time, and Tenko's sanity finally snapped, destroying his household and all his family members.

At first, Tomura expressed heavy remorse for accidentally killing his family upon losing control of his newfound magic. The severed hands that Tomura wore all over himself were the only physical remnants of his dead loved ones, and he claimed that they made him feel simultaneously sick and calm. Despite his sadness, Tomura experienced a partial relish in his family's demise since he considered them responsible for letting him suffer at his father's will. Tomura admitted that he felt a cathartic pleasure while ending Kotaro's life as retaliation for his abusive treatment. During his fight against Re-Destro, Tomura overcame his past shackles of guilt after getting his memories back, having used his childhood feelings to further fuel his hatred and becoming even more driven to end society.

Despite his past, however, Tomura held no hatred towards his family. This was shown when he assured his sister in his visions that he wasn't mad at her for framing him and also assured his mother that he was fine while turning back into a child in front of her, proving that a part of Tomura still cared about his family. However, he was willing to reject their pleas in order to continue the pursuit of his evil conquest, telling them not to reject who he had become and showing that he wouldn't let them hinder his goals. Upon meeting his paternal grandmother, Nana, for the first time, he coldly expressed his hatred for her regardless of the circumstances that allowed them to meet.

After becoming one of All For One's horcruxes, as well as the enhancements to his body, Tomura began to show traits similar to that of his master, such as a condescending and mocking demeanor, along with a terror-inducing presence and a desire to steal any magical artifact that piqued his interest, such as the Philosopher's Stone and the Elder Wand. Regardless, he still maintained his nonchalant yet menacing attitude during battle and was capable of showing a savage anger towards his enemies, as demonstrated during his fight against Izuku and Shota Aizawa. Even after having been incinerated and inches away from death, Tomura refused to give up and vowed to destroy the wizarding society that had caused him so much suffering, believing that his sheer power and determination would see him through.

Despite feeling grateful towards All For One, Tomura outright stated to him that he wished to carve his own legacy and become even greater than his master. However, Tomura quickly began to detest All For One after learning that his true goals were to use his body as a vessel and take it over permanently. Tomura even went as far as to try and attack All For One's vestige and later refused to be his master's "pawn" whilst trying to regain control of his body. When he sensed his master's death, Tomura expressed no remorse or sympathy for him, though blamed himself for failing to break Katsuki hard enough. Nonetheless, he was indebted to All For One for raising him and granting him his power, because if it wasn't for him, he wouldn't have become the strongest dark wizard.

As their time sharing the same consciousness continued, Tomura had shown to have entered a state of identity crisis, being unsure of whether or not he was actually Tomura Shigaraki, All For One, or even Tenko Shimura. This was shown to be the result of Tomura and All For One's wills merging together, with the elder Shigaraki summarizing that they would combine to become a new evil entity altogether, with Tomura's hatred accelerating the process. Despite this, Tomura still continued to fight his former master's control, unwilling to let this happen.

By the time of the Final War, Tomura and All For One's minds had nearly melded together as one, creating an entity that featured a mix of Tomura's nihilism and desire to destroy everything, and All For One's will to use his power to rule over all. However, deep within the vestige lies another entity, that of Tomura's previous form as a young Tenko.

During their first encounter in the vestige world, Izuku revealed that he could hear a crying child deep within Tomura, and following the latter's fight against the main auror of the United States, Tenko was shown to be surrounded by an onslaught of hands, thinking about Izuku. During the fight against the light side, Mirio Togata unintentionally caused Tenko's personality to re-emerge after he claimed he didn't have any friends, which Tomura furiously denied, bringing up his childhood friends Mikkun and Tomo, and his pet dog Mon. This suggested that a part of Tomura still wanted to be saved and that his previous scared and lonely self wasn't completely gone.

Despite that, Tomura affirmed that he and Tenko both held the same goal upon reclaiming his body from All For One: the destruction of everything. "Tenko" was representative of his origin that he implanted deep within All For One's vestige as a means of winning back control of himself and the his magic. Even though Tomura acknowledged that a part of him was still in pain, he didn't desire anyone's pity and saw the rest of the world as no different from the abusive house he grew up in, desiring to eradicate everything associated with it while claiming that this would be the only thing that would grant him salvation. He also claimed that he had no desire for the Elder Wand, and that his previous obsession with winning it over was just a forced extension of his master's will, but was still willing to steal it in order to rid himself of Izuku, the only one capable of stopping him.

Tomura also took the opportunity to taunt and mock Izuku during their final battle, being impressed by his opponent's strength, but annoyed that he was holding back and still treating him as a human being despite his desire to decimate Britain. Despite this, he still had his fellow comrades from the League in his mind, having expressed his desire to make the "flattened horizon" that Spinner was looking forward to.

Once Izuku successfully breaks through Tomura's shell of hatred, he gets him to explain his desire for destruction. It's revealed that Tenko and Tomura were one and the same, with Tomura having deluded himself into thinking that he wanted to kill his family because he couldn't understand why he was born that way otherwise. Eventually, he genuinely opened up to Izuku and revealed that he would continue to destroy because he insisted the dark wizards need a hero of their own, in a way showing that Tenko never truly lost his desire to be an auror.

However, Tomura became truly broken when All For One returned and revealed that he had put him under the Imperius Curse when he was a child, and was the one who had orchestrated the events of his birth and upbringing, including encouraging his father's strict attitude, leading to the abuse and misery he suffered in his childhood, and causing the death of his entire family. In his supposed final moments, Tomura remembered everyone he ever hurt as he disintegrated, presumably reflecting upon his own agency when he committed those actions.

Even when all seemed lost for him however, Tomura would be saved from vanishing by his grandmother and later decided to aid Izuku in destroying All For One for good. As his body proceeded to crumble away, Tomura faced Izuku one last time in the vestige world, recounting how he never managed to destroy anything while also admitting that he may have been a crying child after all, possibly accepting that a part of himself as Tenko still exists. Izuku stated that even though he managed to reach Tenko and shatter his hatred, he remained the leader of the League of Dark Wizards to the very end. As a final request, Tomura tells Izuku to let Spinner know that he never gave up on his goal to destroy and even encouraged Izuku and everyone else to do their best while genuinely smiling at him. Yagi surmises that even though Tomura's life couldn't be saved, Izuku still managed to save his soul, allowing him to pass away in peace.

[hollowed-theory-hall]

Character Analysis

I want to reorganize my pinned post a little, so this is one of the masterposts I'll be posting to link at the top of my blog and continuously edit.

Golden Trio:

Harry James Potter:

Harry Potter is Actually Really Clever

Harry Potter is Really Magically Powerful

Should Harry have been in Slytherin?

Harry failing himself by overthinking

Harry was never really Dumbledore's man

Harry can be scary when he wants to

Harry is willing to kill when he deems it necessary

How much Harry trusts Sirius

DH reread: Harry, Home, and Godric's Hollow

DH reread: Harry, his wand, and the connection to Voldemort

Harry's unique outlook on magic

Harry: fight or flight? Both

Harry's abuse:

Harry & his abuse

How bad were the Durleys actually?

Harry's Romantic Misadventures:

Harry Potter is Probably Gay and Here's Why

Why I don't think Harry actually likes Ginny

What was going on with Cho Chang

Harry & Realising He's Gay

HJP Headcanons:

Harry James Potter Headcanons

What would Harry's Animagus form be?

Harry & Neurodivergence

Hermione Granger & Ron Weasley:

Some rumbling about Hermione's character

Hermione's and Ron's Animagus forms

Ron Weasley's Mean Streak

Tom Riddle/Voldemort:

The Riddle of Tom Riddle:

The Death Tool of Voldemort's Wars

Voldemort Isn't Insane, At Least, Not in the Way You Think

Wool's Orphanage

Home Sweet Hogwarts

After Graduation

The Rise and Fall of Lord Voldemort (the first time)

The Rise and Fall of Lord Voldemort (the second coming)

Other Tom riddle/Voldemort Meta:

Voldemort and Harry's Horcrux

What would Tom Riddle's Hypothetical Patronus be?

Tom Riddle's Hogwarts Timeline

Tom Riddle and a Potential Redemption

Thoughts on Tommary/Harrymort

Regarding Voldemort's Sexuality

Tom Riddle is very Gryffindor for the Heir of Slytherin

Tom Riddle and his obsession with wands

Mauraders Era:

Sirius Black:

Sirius Black was a good godfather to Harry

I don't think Sirius saw Harry as a James stand-in

Harry and Sirius' dynamic

Sirius' Animagus form actually is the Grim

Sirius and Dumbledore's Dynamic

Barty Crouch Jr:

Justice for Barty Crouch Jr: Part 1/2

Justice for Barty Crouch Jr: Part 2/2

Severus Snape:

Snape, his abuse, and his dynamic with Lily

Snape and his treatment of his students + abuse in the Wizarding World

Regulus Arcturus Black: Character Overview

Lily Potter:

Sev, Lily and Petunia

James Potter: Character Overview

Other:

Theodore Nott:

Character overview & Nottpott

Some other Headcanons

Luna Lovegood:

Character overview

Pandora Lovegood and her death

Draco Malfoy: Some Draco and Drarry thoughts

Weasley Family Dynamics:

The Weasleys Aren't Great Parents

Ginny and Quidditch

Albus Dumbledore:

Did Dumbledore care for Harry?

How powerful was he?

Dumbledore, Tom Riddle, and what makes a psychopath

The Dursleys: My thoughts on the Horcrux made them evil theory

Misc:

Top characters I think have textual evidence for being not straight (other than Harry)