Snape: The Bravest Man

This is probably my second or third post defending Severus Snape. The other two are on my main tumblr (link found on the side bar thingy of this blog). I guess I just hate Snape hate because it reduces a highly complex character to his negative traits.

Is Snape a saint? No, but he is not the devil a lot of people make him out to be either.

Severus Snape has some good things about him and some very negative things about him. Let's start out with the negatives so we can later compare them to the positives. Mind you this is not intended to be a comprehensive list so I will end up leaving some stuff out.

One of the main bad things that people like to bring up is Snape and Lily's relationship. Specifically the fact that he seems to think he owns her and deserves her. They start off as good friends, but as Snape becomes more and more of a Death Eater their relationship can't continue.

Snape uses the word 'mudblood' one day and she is more than right to be insulted and stop talking with him. However, he holding a grudge against James Potter for dating and then marrying Lily I can sort of see why he would not like her to choose James specifically, as the boy and his friends made Hogwarts a living hell for Snape.

Snape's jealousy of James marrying Lily was so great that when he had to decide between Harry and Neville, he chose Harry. The fact that he would want two people to be dead just so he could have Lily is beyond despicable.

Snape also abused students with his teachings. While Hermione Grange is one of the smartest people in the school, Snape constantly puts her down. Calling her a 'know it all' and making it appear like she knows nothing. A teacher/professor should respect a student who has a keen sense of learning and is good at the class. But Snape doesn't like Hermione, nor does he respect her when she's his student.

When Neville had to face a bogart it took the form of Severus Snape. That, for all you non-Harry Potter fans that are reading this post for some reason, means that Snape is the thing that Neville fears the most. He doesn't fear the dementors or Death Eaters that drove his parents to madness. Nope, he fears a professor. What the fuck, Snape?

But Severus Snape is not all evil. In the first book of the series, he protects Harry Potter from Professor Quirrell who had Voldemort on the back of his head. Snape was paying off a debt made when he had James and Lily Pottery killed. So Snape does pay back his debts.

Snape was beyond regretful that he his actions killed Lily Potter. As he held her dead body in his arms, he suddenly realized how evil he had become. He had never intended to kill Lily and had made a deal with Voldemort to spare the woman. This woke him up and then he became a double agent.

This hurt him so badly he risked his life to try and redeem himself.

But the biggest thing that makes Snape my favorite character is when he killed Dumbledore.

You have to remember a few things:

1.) Dumbledore is probably the last person to ever truly know Snape. He is the only person who could understand all that Snape is going through and the risks he's taking. He is the only person Snape probably trusts nowadays.

2.) Snape was doing so on Dumbledore's orders. He wasn't doing it out of malice, but because his friend told him to.

Snape was risking himself being thought as a monster and Death Eater for the rest of time if Dumbledore's plan hadn't worked out. And no one knew if Dumbledore's plan would work out. Snape was going off on a lot of hope and a lot of trust.

When someone doesn't care what history thinks of them and only what is right, it's with that I consider them beyond brave.

Should Harry Potter have named his son after Snape? His son's name is a whole 'nother story.