Hey everyone,
Welcome to another installment of Harry Potter Theory. In this video, we’re going to be
exploring the possibility that potions professor Severus Snape never actually died.
We see what we believe to be Snape dying in the Deathly Hallows, after Voldemort thinks
that he needs to kill Snape in order to become the true owner of the elder wand. We of course
later find out that Snape died in vain, as he was never the true owner of the elder wand
at all - and was unnecessarily killed by Voldemort. However, what was always interesting about
Voldemort killing Snape was that he didn’t do it himself-he used Nagini.
"Why doesn't it work for me, Severus?" In the silence Harry imagined he could hear the
snake hissing slightly as it coiled and uncoiled--or was it Voldemort's sibilant sigh lingering
on the air? "My--my lord?" said Snape blankly. "I do not understand. You--you have performed
extraordinary magic with that wand." "No," said Voldemort. "I have performed my usual
magic. I am extraordinary, but this wand...no. It has not revealed the wonders it has promised.
I feel no difference between this wand and the one I procured from Ollivander all those
years ago."
"The Elder Wand cannot serve me properly, Severus, because I am not its true master.
The Elder Wand belongs to the wizard who killed its last owner. You killed Albus Dumbledore.
While you live, Severus, the Elder Wand cannot truly be mine."
“My lord!’ Snape protested, raising his wand
‘It cannot be any other way’ said Voldemort. ‘I must master the wand, Severus. Master
the wand, and I master Potter at last’.
And Voldemort swiped the air with the Elder Wand. It did nothing to Snape, who for a split
second seemed to think he had been reprieved: but then Voldemort's intention became clear.
The snake's cage was rolling through the air, and before Snape could do anything more than
yell, it had encased him, head and shoulders, and Voldemort spoke in Parseltongue.
"Kill."
There was a terrible scream. Harry saw Snape's face losing the little color it had left;
it whitened as his black eyes widened, as the snake's fangs pierced his neck, as he
failed to push the enchanted cage off himself, as his knees gave way and he fell to the floor.
Nagini ‘killing’ Snape, rather than Voldemort using avada kedavra-which would surely end
his life- does actually leave the door open a little bit. Particularly as it’s supposedly
Nagini’s venom that ends up bringing Snape to his inevitable demise.
He did not know why he was doing it, why he was approaching the dying man: he did not
know what he felt as he saw Snape's white face, and the fingers trying to staunch the
bloody wound at his neck. Harry took off the invisibility cloak and looked down upon the
man he hated, whose widening black eyes found Harry as he cried to speak. Harry bent over
him, and Snape seized the front of his robes and pulled him close.
A terrible rasping, gurgling noise issued from Snape's throat.
"Take...it...Take...it..."
Something more than blood was leaking from Snape. Silvery blue, neither gas nor liquid,
it gushed form his mouth and his ears and his eyes, and Harry knew what it was, but
did not know what to do - A flask, conjured from thin air, was thrust into his shaking
hand by Hermione. Harry lifted the silvery substance into it with his wand. When the
flask was full to the brim, and Snape looked as though there was no blood left in him,
his grip on Harry's robes slackened.
"Look...at....me..." he whispered.
The green eyes found the black, but after a second, something in the depths of the dark
pair seemed to vanish, leaving them fixed, blank, and empty. The hand holding Harry thudded
to the floor, and Snape moved no more.
The above passage suggests that Snape died, but at the beginning of the next chapter we
should take note of the fact that Harry gets distracted almost immediately after Snape’s
‘demise’.
Harry remained kneeling at Snape's side, simply staring down at him, until quite suddenly
a high, cold voice spoke so close to them that Harry jumped on his feet, the flask gripped
tightly in his hands, thinking that Voldemort had reentered the room.
There are a couple of things that support the fact that Snape may not have actually
died. First of all, Harry didn’t really stick around to make sure that Snape had died.
It looked that way, but, this is a magical world after all, and I think that it’s definitely
within the realm of possibility for him to have survived.
Additionally, Snape's corpse was never found or mentioned. After the battle of hogwarts-all
of the bodies were accounted for- even the bodies of death eaters. Harry sees the corpses
of people that he knows and loves - Lupin, Fred etc. and provided that Harry knew of
Snape’s sacrifice it’s reasonable to assume that they would search for his body as well.
Snape was bitten by Nagini, and presumably died from snake’s venom, but one glaringly
obvious issue with this is that snape was a potions master. The likelihood that Snape
wouldn’t know of or carry an anti-venom is highly unlikely, particularly as he was
playing the dangerous role of a spy in the wizarding war. Snape was a smart man, and
would have likely been prepared for any eventuality-Nagini biting him included. So- how does that explain
Snape’s lifeless body? There’s always a possibility that the venom only paralyzed
him-and placed him in to a comatose state. There’s plenty of snake venom out there
that does just this-and this comatose state could have easily been confused as Snape dying.
Harry never really examined Snape after he ‘died’-so if Snape had taken an anti-venom
before being bitten, it may have just taken some time for the effects to kick in. I don’t
think that Snape bled out either, as he had even invented his own countercurse that could
stop blood from flowing from the body - vulnera santentur.
Another thing that could potentially support the argument that Snape never died, is the
fact that Harry never saw him in the Forbidden Forest.
When Harry produces the Resurrection Stone, he sees the shades of his father, Sirius,
Lupin and his mother. All of these people were massively important in Harry’s life.
"They were neither ghost nor truly flesh, he could see that. They resembled most closely
the Riddle that had escaped from the diary so long ago, and he had been memory made nearly
solid. Less substantial than living bodies, but much more than ghosts, they moved toward
him, and on each face, there was the same loving smile."
The fact that Snape wasn’t there could work either for or against the argument that he
never died. Here’s why: First, it’s important to note that the Stone
shows you your loved ones- and people who are massively important to you. Given that
at this point, Harry was aware of all of the sacrifices that Snape had made, you’d expect
that he would show up along with the other shades. Snape protected Harry for years, and
even died with the ultimate goal of saving him, so you’d expect to see Snape, wouldn’t
you? The issue with this is that Snape is just not on the same level as his parents,
Sirius and Lupin. Snape made huge sacrifices for Harry, yes, but Harry wasn’t aware of
them until very close to the time that he presented the stone. His feelings for Snape
were still settling in- as he had only recently had a change of heart about the man who tormented
him for much of his youth. Additionally, the stone was meant to bring back the people that
Harry never got a chance to say goodbye to- and with Snape he did get this opportunity.
I know that in the epilogue Harry references Snape, when he says to Albus Severus ‘you
were named for two headmasters of Hogwarts. One of them was a Slytherin and he was probably
the bravest man I ever knew’.
And I know that ‘knew’ sort of suggests that perhaps Snape might have died- but it
also might just mean that Harry hasn’t seen Snape in a very long time.
In closing, do I think that Snape is alive? Most likely not- but there is definitely an
argument here for how and why he could be. What do you guys think? Is Snape still alive?
I’m interested to hear what you guys think. Let us know down in the comment section below.
Until next time
Yer a wizard arry