Hey everyone,
Welcome to another instalment of Harry Potter Theory.
Today, we’ll be discussing the life of the infamous Professor Severus Snape—in under
10 minutes.
With a life like Severus Snape’s, that created such public—not to mention INFAMOUS—speculation
throughout the wizarding world, it’s easy to understand why so many of the videos and
resources out there describing his life are so, so VERY long.
But, I know that not all of you have the time to sit back, crack open a six pack of Fanta
and listen in for hours at a time.
This, of course, doesn’t mean that you don’t WANT to know about Severus.
You just have other places to be and things to do.
I get it.
So, it’s to you that I dedicate this video: The Life of Severus Snape in 10 Minutes!
Let’s get started.
Born on January 9, 1960 as the only chi*ld to a Muggle known as Tobias Snape and a witch
called Eileen Prince, Severus was raised in the Muggle dwelling of Spinner's End.
If you’ve never heard of it, Spinner’s End is a shabby suburb of Cokeworth—which
is, in actual fact, a fictional town in the English Midlands.
Throughout his chil*dhood, Severus was badly mistreated by both his parents.
On many occasions as a boy, he was physically abused by his father, while his mother was
more emotionally abusive and neglectful, failing to intervene when her husband would go after
him.
It’s rumoured that Tobias and Eileen Snape also fought with each other quite frequently,
although it is unknown whether these fights between his parents ever resulted in physical
altercations.
Attempting to escape the misery of his home life, Severus would often spend his time wandering
about the neighbourhood of Spinner’s End.
As this was an area where the majority of inhabitants are Muggles, most of the encounters
Severus had with his neighbours were with people who neither descended from magical
families nor had magical abilities of their own.
So, it was likely for this reason that Snape was so excited when, at the age of 9, he happened
upon the Evans sisters, Lily and Petunia, and quickly became aware of Lily’s abilities
to perform magic.
It is said that Severus almost immediately fell for Lily.
And this really should come as no surprise, since he likely had little interaction with
other witches or wizards at this time in his life—as it seems unlikely that his mother
was hosting great big family gatherings with her magical relatives, and his father was
a mean and abusive Muggle.
The sheer fact that she could do a little magic probably had him SPELLBOUND—pun intended!
When it came to Lily’s older sister, Petunia, however, Severus had a rather different outlook.
In fact, it’s said that Snape held great disdain for Petunia, which, in my opinion,
seems rather warranted and was likely due to the fact that she made incredibly rude
comments regarding his shabby appearance.
After all, due to his relationship with his father, Severus had a little bit of a chip
on his shoulder when it came to Muggles…
It would also appear that his feelings of contempt towards Petunia were reciprocated.
Not only did she insult his clothing and overall appearance, she also tried to undermine his
character to Lily, calling him a liar and accusing him of fabricating Hogwarts and the
wizarding world.
We can see evidence of this in the following conversation between a not-yet-eleven-year-old
Lily and Severus:
“It is real, isn’t it?
It’s not a joke?
Petunia says you’re lying to me.
Petunia says there isn’t a Hogwarts.
It is real, isn’t it?”
“It’s real for us,” said Snape.
“Not for her.”
But, of course, what Snape told Lily was true, and in 1971, the two of them received their
acceptance letters to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and began their first year of
magical education.
Sadly for Severus, who continued to pine after Lily, the two drifted more and more apart
the further into their education they went.
This began with their arrival to the castle and immediate separation, with Severus being
sorted into Slytherin House and Lily being sorted into Gryffindor.
As the years at Hogwarts progressed, the divide between Severus and Lily continued to grow.
And a rift with James Potter—who also fancied Lily—only made matters worse.
The dislike between the two young wizards began on the Hogwarts Express, before they
even arrived at the castle in their first year, and continued for the majority of their
time at Hogwarts.
And before James had the opportunity to mature and grow up, him and his best mates—also
known around the school as the Marauders—consistently made it their mission to torment Severus.
The Gryffindor boys were constantly picking on Severus and it was through their bullying
that the friendship between Snape and Lily came to somewhat of an end—at least to Lily.
This particular instance saw James lift Severus up by his ankles and expose his underwear,
which resulted in Snape being so thoroughly embarrassed that he lashed out at Lily, calling
her a “Mudblood”—something she never forgave him for.
In accidentally distancing himself from his former best friend, Severus went on to make
closer friendships with his fellow Slytherins.
It’s said that, especially later in his tenure at Hogwarts, he fell in with a gang
of Slytherin students, including Bellatrix Black and her future husband Rodolphus Lestrange,
all of whom later became Death Eaters.
In terms of his grades, Severus was a fairly good student, with a reputation for having
excelled in the Dark Arts and Potion Making from an early age.
According to those who knew him at Hogwarts, Severus knew more curses and hexes as a first
year student than most of the school’s seventh years.
In fact, Severus has been credited as the inventor of quite a few well-known spells,
including Levicorpus, Liberacorpus, Muffliato, Langlock, the Toenail Growth Hex, and his
signature curse, Sectumsempra.
As we learn in The Half-blood Prince, Snape was also an incredibly talented potion maker,
as his textbook—which Harry acquired by accident in his sixth year—was riddled with
notes and annotations that improved upon what was written in the text itself.
In this book, we also see Severus’ preference for his mother and her magical side of the
family, as it was inscribed with his self-proclaimed nickname, stating: “This book is the property
of the Half-Blood Prince.”
After graduating from Hogwarts, Snape joined the majority of his Slytherin friends and
became a Death Eater.
In his work for Voldemort, he became a member of the Dark Lord’s inner circle and was
known by many as one of his most trusted followers.
In fact, it was Severus who shared Professor Sybill Trelawney's prophecy about Harry Potter
with the Dark Lord, after overhearing it during her interview with Albus Dumbledore at the
Hog’s Head Inn.
Tragically, it was this very secret that led to Voldemort targeting the Potter family,
and that ultimately resulted in the death of his beloved Lily, Harry’s mother.
Before Lily’s death, Severus begged Voldemort to spare her, but knowing how unpredictable
the Dark Lord could be, he also went to Albus Dumbledore for help in protecting her.
In exchange for trying to keep Lily safe, Albus asked Severus to become a double agent.
Snape agreed and, even after her death, vowed to help Dumbledore keep her son protected
from what Albus believed to be Voldemort’s inevitable return.
Severus then began teaching Potions in 1981, also taking up the position as the Head of
Slytherin.
The timing of this appointment, of course, aligned with his agreement to aid Dumbledore
as a double agent.
As a professor, Snape was incredibly biased and would frequently favour Slytherin students,
sometimes even bullying pupils from other houses.
Throughout the course of the series, we see him do so with a number of Gryffindor students,
including Hermione Granger—calling her an “insufferable know-it-all”—Neville Longbottom,
and, of course, Harry.
Severus also had extremely high expectations of his students and only admitted those who
had top grades into his 6th- and 7th-year classes.
Due to his storied past with Harry’s parents, Severus’ feelings towards Harry were rather
murky.
He clearly disliked the boy and constantly insulted him.
However, he did also save Harry from harm’s way on many occasions, including counteracting
Professor Quirrell’s attempt to knock Harry off his broomstick and preventing Professor
Umbridge from torturing him.
For better or for worse, it would seem that some of the most courageous actions of Severus
Snape were widely unknown by the greater wizarding world, as he frequently had to play the part
of a devoted Death Eater in order to maintain his cover as a double agent for Dumbledore.
Severus himself even requested that Dumbledore never tell anyone about his part in helping
The Order of the Phoenix and the Potter family as a whole.
Then in June 1997, Severus killed Dumbledore.
But, as we later found out, this supposed “murder” was part of a larger plan concocted
by Dumbledore himself, and was done to help save Draco Malfoy from having to commit the
crime.
Not to mention the fact that Dumbledore was dying from a curse.
After Dumbledore’s death, Severus convincingly played the part of one of Voldemort’s most
trusted followers.
He became Headmaster of Hogwarts in 1997, which enabled him access to Dumbledore’s
enchanted and sentient Headmaster portrait, to which he frequently conferred with.
He died near the end of that same school year on May 2, 1998 at the hands of Voldemort…And
Nagini.
This was not due to the Dark Lord uncovering his double agent status—but rather Voldemort’s
realisation that Dumbledore had possessed the Elder Wand, and Severus had killed Dumbledore.
Because Voldemort believed Severus was the owner of the wand at that time—he killed
him to gain the Elder Wand’s loyalty.
Before his death, Severus was able to share his memories with a conflicted Harry, to help
him understand that his motivations had actually been pure and that he hadn’t in fact betrayed
Albus.
Ultimately, Severus Snape is an incredibly divisive character who didn’t always do
the “right” or “just” thing but who was utterly redeemable in his love and devotion
to Lily.
And, with that, we’ve come to the end of another video!
What did you think?
Did I miss anything of great importance?
Please share your thoughts in the comments below!
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the channel!
Until next time…remember
Always…