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Severus Snape Gave Up

Essay put together from This Post by freyaboo

Published without permission but these words ARE IMPORTANT. ~That Woman

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As someone obsessed with the character of Severus Snape, I guess I’ll chime in and school people on their useless Snape hate. This is gonna be long, be warned.

Facts about Eileen, Severus’ mother:

The Prince family was a Pure family 

Eileen was a genius at potions 

She was a Slytherin 

She was athletic 

She wasn’t a purist, because she MARRIED one 

She was disowned which means her family was - otherwise why would she and her husband have gone to live in some slummy industrial town that is a bang on impression of Salford? 

She was interested in Dark Magic 

Severus learned from her either because he read her old books or because she actively taught him 

She was abused by her husband

Facts about Tobias Snape:

Abusive 

Hated magic 

Hated his son 

Hated his wife 

“He doesn’t like anything, much” 

Fought all the time with his wife

Facts about Severus Snape:

Genius 

Despite the words he uses, there is no indication he is actually a purist - more on that 

He was a halfblood in a mostly Pure House with mostly Pure students who had Pure parents who were probably purists (given the way JK protrays the House) 

Wore ill fitting, old clothes as a kid and well into his teenager years 

Was poor 

Abuse victim of the Marauders, his father and Housemates 

Hated his father 

Never once mentioned his mother 

Abusive 

Used as a tool both by Dumbledore and Voldemort against the other 

Unpopular 

Is said to have known more about the Dark Arts in first year than most seventh years

Is anyone a psychologist? I’m not but even I can see what this trifecta is. The Snape home was a nest of abusive behaviour, negative energy and an apparent lack of concern for a child that seemed to be unplanned or the victim of a failing marriage. There is a reason Eileen and Tobias got married and it was probably a bad one, because they obviously didn’t care for each other in any real way.

For the first nine years of Severus’ life the only things he experienced in life were abuse, neglect and a steady stream of hatred from his father for being something he couldn’t help being. Then he met Lily, a girl who was different than anything he had ever seen before and, as many little boys are wont to do, he fell for her immediately. Despite growing up and watching his father abuse his mother, he knew that Petunia calling Lily a freak for her magic was wrong and stepped into help Lily. He only begins an abusive type of response to Petunia when she begins to abuse him. That’s unsurprising given his background because he likely saw that stuff play out at home. ‘If someone hurts you, you hurt them back’. In my own past that was a running theme and to this day I struggle to control my bad coping issues.

Their friendship was never perfect. Severus was severely traumatized and never got help. No one ever paid enough attention to him or said, ‘can I help you?’. He had no idea how to have a healthy relationship. We have no explanation as to why they were friends for so long but I think that is evidence of Lily being a patient, long-suffering person who recognized that her best friend was messed up. From the snippets of conversation there was with them in the past about Severus’ life, Lily must have known of the abuse Severus went through. Yet she was unable to help, being a child. Maybe her parents didn’t like Severus and didn’t want to help. Maybe they didn’t know of the abuse. Who knows? All we know is that their friendship was real. Six years of hanging out with the same person isn’t a fluke. When we see Severus and Lily as teenagers there is tension there because Lily is frustrated with Severus’ choices but there is obviously at least a half-way positive relationship there. Why else would a strong-willed witch like Lily (who was a genius in her own right) choose to stay around with someone like Severus?

There is absolutely no indication that Lily was abused and accepted abusive treatment from Severus. There’s no indication that he stalked her. There is nothing in canon that says Severus ever admitted his feelings or that Lily ever turned him down romantically.

I’m going to let that bit sink in for a second. Snape-haters seem to have thick skulls regarding that bit so please repeat it a few times until you think you can remember it as I continue.

So. Most of what we see of Lily and Severus’ relationship was shortly before, during or just after ‘the incident’. At that point, there was already tension in the friendship for multiple reasons.

I’m going on a tangent for a second, but follow me, please…

I grew up in an abusive home. No details, just trust me when I know what it’s like to be abused by a parent. I grew up in a private ‘Christian’ school where rich children made fun of me for being poor and where the ‘pretty’ and 'thin’ girls made fun of me for being fat. I had boys pretending to like me and making fun of me when I finally admitted I had a crush on them. 'Don’t wear that you look fatter than you really are’. Had rocks thrown at me. We’re talking serious bullying. Even my friends eventually turned on me one year and began making fun of me. Blah, blah, blah. Again, I understand abuse from my peers.

In my personal life, the day I went to a public school and the anry, 'I hate authority and everyone, fuck you’ punk/goth kids showed up and invited me to be friends with them…I threw myself into the deep end of their fucked up social circle and didn’t look back until I was older. Even now I struggle to maintain healthy relationships. Many friends have written me off for one reason or another. I’ve called friends horrible things. I’ve used them. I’ve been abusive. I admit this. I know that I am damaged and traumatized and I know that my brain chemistry got rewired because of those traumas and that as an adult I have to actively work at undoing it all.

So imagine a small boy, abused and traumatized and terrified of being alone without the one person in the world who accepts him despite his huge, overwhelming flaws. Imagine going into a House where people know who your mother was. They know she fucked a Muggle and had you. Hell, maybe he had cousins in Slytherin, Prince cousins, and they made it all worse. Then imagine that one or two them, for some reason, reach out to you. Offer protection maybe. Obviously they wanted something but Severus was desperate for anything positive in his life.

By the age of fifteen he’d been dragged deep into their shithole and couldn’t get out. Not even Lily could save him, which is evident in the scene where he calls her 'that word’; let me end this sentence by saying that Lily was not responsible for saving Severus in any way…I’m simply saying that not even his best friend could get to him. Having grown up in a deranged home, Severus was already a bit deranged himself. Being scooped up by the clever, cunning boys of Slytherin was probably Severus’ doom from the beginning.

There is no explanation as to why Severus got so in with the Death Eaters but I suspect it’s the same reason I decided my soul was black, that washing my hair was stupid and that threatening to suck the blood from people’s jugular’s was cool. Children, who are wildly immature, weak and stupid, are prone to doing stupid shit to get accepted. I believe that’s what it started as. He couldn’t be with Lily in Gryffindor.

Which brings me to another point. Gryffindors. If you notice in the books, the majority of Gryffindors have all sorts of nasty, hateful things to say about Slytherins. None of them are kind about it. I can’t recall any scene where a Gryffindor says anything positive about Slytherins but correct me if I’m wrong. Who wants to bet that the moment Gryffindors found out Lily was friends with Severus, they told her how bad Slytherins were? Maybe Lily, a child herself and vulnerable as many children, bought into some idea of what Slytherins were. Maybe her Housemates began to discolour her view of Severus.

Maybe their friendship became strained because both of them were trying too hard to be accepted by those around them. But maybe not. There’s nothing that indicates this, but I believe it’s a realistic idea.

Back from the tangent…

The day Severus called Lily a 'Mudblood’, she also called him 'Snivellus’, a word James Potter had been using for four years to abuse Severus with. They both said awful things to each other. Yes, the term Mudblood was a terrible slur, and yes Severus shouldn’t have said it but he was fifteen. Mortified that the girl he loved was seeing him like some dangling, broken mess while James Potter, the rich and popular boy of Gryffindor - who constantly threw himself at Lily (and yes this is canon I will fucking find every mention of it if you disagree) - stood looking like some clever, windswept bad ass to those around him. Everyone was laughing at Severus. His own Housemates included. Probably his Slytherin friends too.

It’s all well and good to say that you would not have done what Severus did, but as someone who has been abused more than I want to admit, I will tell you that it is FAR easier to take the angry, dark way of things than to step back and be the bigger person. Severus said an awful word but he was a stupid, traumatized, abused little boy who had reached a breaking point. He was not an evil, child-killing Death Eater. He wasn’t a dark wizard looking to murder Muggles. Yes, he ran his mouth, he was crude. He hung out with the wrong crowd. But he was still a child when he was thrown into the air, turned upside down and used as a living laughingstock to anyone and everyone who wanted a look.

And no one saved him. Even Lily let it continue when he called her a name. In the end, Severus was left to his abuse because everyone gave up on him.

So you know what Severus did? He gave up on them. He was left without his best friend, was left to be a laughingstock even more than he had been before. There was nothing in his life except those Slytherins who had 'befriended’ him. Not even his Head of House gave a shit about him. He was too busy doting on Lily, a seemingly well-adjusted, clever, pretty girl (which creeps me out tbh). Severus became exactly what everyone assumed he was when he was eleven. Because what else was there? There were no friends at school. No friends at home. His parents obviously didn’t care. The staff obviously didn’t care.

Severus Snape gave up.

The character of Severus Snape is a realistic portrayal of someone who has been severely abused and never gotten help. He perpetuated the abuse that was done to him. He held grudges. He never learned how to interact with people properly. He never let got of his anger.

But at the age of twenty, after handing over secrets to the Dark Lord - someone else who manipulated him and got him to believe he was useful, it seems - Severus was faced with the reality of what he’d signed up for. I believe he shut down after that day he lost Lily. I believe he stopped being anything but what people expected him to be. He had no way of coping with the shit in his life so he just…gave up. But when he found out that his actions were going to get Lily killed, he panicked. She had gone off and married his worst tormentor, but his knee-jerk reaction was to run to Dumbledore and grovel and beg to make things right.

Remember how when they meet up, Dumbledore says 'you disgust me’ because he assumes Severus wants Lily for himself? He hates Severus, a boy of twenty, a boy who was never shown an ounce of mercy as a child. Dumbledore knew the abuse was going on when Severus was a kid, because Dumbledore is shown to have somehow known everything going on around him. There’s no way he was ignorant of what was being done to Severus. But he never stepped in, did he? He left Severus to the 'mercy’ of James Potter and his friends. Why? I think that’s a question that needs to be answered - but not by me, not here, because this is already too long.

Severus asked for Lily to be spared in exchange for Harry. Voldemort was a monster incapable of love or mercy or anything positive. Asking for any kind of altruistic mercy would have been stupid and Severus knew that. He played the situation the only way he could, but with Dumbledore he readily asked for the entire Potter family to be saved.

“And what will you give me in return, Severus?”

That was Dumbledore’s answer. For the rest of the memories involving Dumbledore, there is nothing but Dumbledore reminding Severus over and over and over again of what he did. Of how he is responsible for Lily’s death - which is simply not true. Even when Severus hands his whole existence over to Dumbledore, becomes a fucking pawn, he is never allowed any mercy, only reminded that he is nothing, that he is a mistake and that all he ever does is make mistakes.

No wonder Severus Snape never healed. No wonder he never became a kinder person.

*drops mic*

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Severus Rant in 3...2...1 bing!

You know what, no! I’m glad Severus was/is flawed.

I’m frankly astounded that with so many morally ambiguous characters in the series that people have the gall to call him out. I am baffled that some fans want or expect such black and white characterization.

Completely floored that some even deny the extent of his personal sacrifice on the grounds that he wasn’t nice. That he wasn’t pleasant. That he didn’t bend the rules for the golden trio and excuse their actions that really should have gotten them expelled.

That he endured years of emotional, physical, and mental torture for years all alone. No support, no healthy coping mechanisms, zip.

How dare you insinuate that everything he did is invalidated because he didn’t like Harry. And honestly did no more harm than any other professor. Maybe he favored Draco but Dumbledore CLEARLY had some favorites in gold and red.

Yes I know “for him?” But actions speak louder than words. Of course he would deny having any kind of affection for Harry, but that didn’t stop him from going well beyond his obligation to protect him. And we all know he saved many others that had nothing to do with Lily or Harry.

So no, I’m glad he’s flawed and imperfect. How could anyone endure all of his suffering and be “perfect” or “pleasant”? Now that would invalidate his pain. No one comes out of that without some scars.

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On my mind, since I lost this long pro snape post this morning

It amazes me that for some Harry Potter fans redemption lies in only getting married and punching out a kid. That this is somehow beautiful character growth.

But no no, spy for 16+ years, endure physical and mental torture, serve two bosses that are megalomaniacs, risk your life on a daily basis, save countless lives, and to do so silently and asking nothing in return only for almost everyone to hate you by association, nope he’s a dick so he’s not worthy of redemption, consideration because he’s not nice.

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The HP fandom is split into two parts

Those who read the books and understand them and those who hate Severus with no relevant evidence

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I am so alive rn guys

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Evidence for you, anon, who claims he’s a racist. Direct screenshot from Deathly Hallows. He let go of his prejudices. He was a half blood himself.

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When Snape defected from the Death Eaters

Dumbledore: For once in your life Snape, try to do some fucking good.

Snape: *Protects Harry multiple times, protects Draco multiple times, becomes a pariah by killing Dumbledore, risks death and torture everyday by spying, protects the students from the Carrows, learns to heal Dark Curses and heals Draco, Katie, and Dumbledore, tries to save Lupin over Little Winging, saves people by spying, dies to save the Wizarding World all while being a petty, caustic and curmudgeonly asshole*

Dumbledore: Now try to do some fucking good without being a dick about it.

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favorite Snape quotes....

There are some Snape quotes I really miss in the movies. I would have loved to see them performed by Alan….

“Hang on” Harry muttered to Ron “theres an empty chair at the staff table…wheres Snape?”

“Maybe he is ill” said Ron hopefully

Maybe he is left” said Harry………………..

“Or he might have been sacked” said Ron enthusiastically “I mean, everyone hates him-”

“Or maybe” said a very cold voice right behind them  “he is waiting to hear why you two didnt arrive on the school train”……………

There, his black robes rippling in a cold breeze, stood Severus Snape. 

I think besides his job to protect Harry, it was really worth to Snape missing the dinner to look for Harry and Ron to tell them off….he is not a bit surprised or really angry about their views. He is aware of that….even more he is working hard on it to remain in cover as the bad teacher in their eyes…..I think, Snape is enjoying himself in that szene pretty well….

Its not important to him to be liked….his life task is important. But sometimes he enjoys the small pleasures beeing a teacher.  :-D

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Another sickening post on Facebook, plus my comment.

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Everyone has been posting about Snape Appreciation Month...

…and now it’s May 2nd and I’m like ‘Hey, I think it’s Snape Appreciation Month’

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HC: Snapes Wizard Chess games....

Snape and Voldemort are both very good Wizards Chess-player. In Severus death eater times he played Wizards Chess against Voldemort very often, because after a short time it turned out Severus was the only worthy match in the DE ranks. Severus lost almost all hard-fought games, because Voldemort   hates to lose, so he started to use Legilimency against Severus when it looked like Severus could win. Because of that the dark lord was able to see his next moves in advance and won all the games in the end. After a while Severus found out he was able to fight against the Legilimency, that he is a natural in Occlumency. So he began to exercise that art in the chess games more and more, unnoticed by the dark lord. Severus was very careful not to show his new skills and made sure to lose every game deliberately. 

He won only one game of Wizards Chess. When he decided to return to the good side and became doublespy. It was the test he would be able to lie to Voldemort without detection. Without realizing the reason for it he was now wrong with his knowledge about Severus next chess moves.

“My gratulation, Severus” said Voldemort grim through gritted teeth, not very pleased. “It seems, it is not my best day today”

“Thank you, my lord” said Severus dry without any dangerous sign to be pleased by that success. 

After that he lost again game after game……

He refused to play Wizards Chess at Hogwarts later because it remembered him to that time.

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Snater: “Another argument for hating Snape is that he probably killed people while being a death eater”

me, an intellectual: An assumption is not an argument and it’s stated in The Prince’s Tale that his soul was still intact when Dumbledore asked Severus to kill him. “And my soul, Dumbledore? Mine?” Feel free to hate a fictional character but if you’re trying to discuss the matter, I’d recommend you to read the books if you don’t want to embarrass yourself.

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All these years.

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snape appreciation month �� day 15, severus snape & harry potter, post-war

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The sacking of Severus Snape

He is still intimidating, maybe more than ever with the dark lord as his   - believed - master and Death Eaters in his back…. but his iron mask is already crumbling. The mask, the cover behind he had hidden himself so perfect he sometimes asked himself what part was his own personality and what part a hated lie he had to maintain.

But at that point, he is also very tired, much to tired of hatred there was not much energy left to feel any hate himself. 

It is also very clear he hesitates to attack Mc. Gonagall as his former and respected colleague - when there was no choice left to him he only defends himself instead of attacking.

He is afraid, not for his own life, but not to be able to fulfill his task, giving Harry the facts he needs to know.

He knows his time is running out to fulfill his arduous life task he took upon himself for redemption  

The end moves closer, also his own. He knows.

He earned to be forgiven, but I doubt he ever forgave himself.

Once again fantastic brought to life for us by Alan Rickman.

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A kind of Disclaimer...or the opposite..

If you think, because I love and support Severus Snape, I quite logically have to  like or excuse everything bad he did, you are wrong. I dont have to. But I love him together with his faults, flaws and also the good side. 

But you dont know me and my own values….maybe I consider some of his bad sides not as that bad like you do…..

Maybe he is also hated so much by some because they know deep inside, they feel like him, but unlike him dont dare to show it outside…..they feel their own dark side but try to deny it is there. Its quite relieving to find the evil Scapegoat Snape for that instead. I am aware of my dark sides, and I am aware it can very easily happen to slip down to the dark sides if just the circumstances are bad enough. I dont excuse him, I feel with him and can understand his reasons.

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classmate: who’s your favourite Harry Potter character?

me: Snape, he’s amazing, i love him and as a character he’s gone through so much, i can really understand him you know.

classmate: okay… but he’s evil tho, he’s the bad guy!

me: