Hey everyone,
Welcome to another installment of Harry Potter Theory.
Today, we’re going to be discussing some popular fan theories pertaining to Severus
Snape.
I’m going to discuss 5 theories in total, some good and some bad.
If you enjoy this type of video, let me know by liking the video and leaving a comment.
I’ve got 5 more ready for a part 2!
Let’s get started.
Why Snape Never Became DADA Professor
Defence Against the Dark Arts is a CORE subject taught at Hogwarts that (purportedly) teaches
students how to defend themselves against dark magic.
But one thing that the position is perhaps best known for is the CURSE placed upon it
by Tom Riddle after his application had been denied.
The resulting curse meant that, for as long as the role existed, no professor would be
able to hold the position for more than 1 school year.
And Tom was true to his word, as after cursing the role each and every professor had their
own unique reason for leaving it.
There were MANY different witches and wizards that acted as DADA professor during Harry’s
time at Hogwarts, but one wizard that always WANTED The position (but never got it) was
Snape.
Dumbledore respected Snape (for the most part) and knew that he was more than qualified for
the role, so why wouldn’t he have given Snape what he wanted?
Well, the predominant theory states that Dumbledore KNEW the role was cursed.
Dumbledore KNEW that he wouldn’t be able to keep a DADA teacher for more than a year,
and he KNEW that if he gave it to Snape that something bad might happen to him.
For these reasons, he never allowed Snape to become DADA professor…to protect him!
Snape is a vampire
We don’t see or hear about Vampires too much in the Harry Potter Story, BUT we do
know that they exist in the Harry Potter universe because Harry meets one named Sanguini in
the Half-Blood Prince.
The theory I’m about to introduce to you suggests that there was one vampire in the
story that hits much closer to home- Severus Snape.
Why is Snape a vampire?
Well, his character just so happens to possess MANY of the defining characteristics of one.
The first major characteristic of a vampire that I want to touch on is avoiding sunlight.
It’s well known that vampires, like some animals, avoid light.
They have a tendency to inhabit dark conditions, and some spend their lives in permanent darkness.
This describes Snape to a tee.
Snape’s office in the dungeons of Hogwarts is described as follows:
“The office was a gloomy and dimly-lit room found in the school dungeons.
The shadowy walls were lined with shelves of large glass jars filled with slimy, revolting
things, such as bits of animals and plants, floating in potions of varying colours.”
Snape’s office is perhaps the darkest and eeriest of all of the offices belonging to
Hogwarts staff, and the ‘dimly-lit’, ‘gloomy’ room in the DUNGEONS of the school seems like
the perfect place for one type of creature..A vampire.
Yes, we have seen Severus Snape under direct sunlight in his schoolboy days, but you can
always become a vampire later in life.
He could have also figured out a way to spend time in sunlight, as we know that he is an
incredibly talented wizard, and an excellent potioneer.
The next characteristic I want to discuss is heightened senses.
Vampires are said to have heightened vision, hearing, and sense of smell.
Though I don’t have too many specific examples of snape exhibiting ‘super-heightened’
senses, he does seem to have a habit of making an appearance whenever students are breaking
rules- wandering out of their common rooms when they shouldn’t be or meddling in matters
that do not relate to them.
Sure, he’s always lurking around the castle at night, but he also seems to be particularly
aware of what’s happening at the castle at all times.
If you can recall the night that Harry wandered in to the restricted section of the library
with his invisibility cloak, you’ll remember that he bumped in to Snape and Quirrell.
Even though Harry was under the invisibility cloak - an extremely advanced magical artifact
- Snape still had a strong intuition that someone was there, this was shown by him reaching
in to the air.
I think that is a reflection of his (perhaps) heightened senses.
Next up we have ‘morphing’ or in the Harry Potter world ‘transfiguration’.
Vampires are said to have the ability to ‘morph’ in to another form, like a bat - often behind
the shroud of a cloak.
After morphing they simply disappear- creating the illusion that they have vanished- flying
away from their aggressor.
On one occasion, Snape does exactly this.
In the Deathly Hallows, we see Snape jump from the tower of the Hogwarts castle.
The following passage depicts Snape flying in front of Mcgonagall, Harry, and some of
the students:
“He jumped,” said Professor McGonagall...
“You means he’s dead?”
Harry sprinted to the window…
“No, he’s not dead,” said McGonagall... “…he seems to have learned a few tricks
from his master”
What this passage suggests is that Snape flew away.
JK Rowling is reported to have stated that ALL wizards have the power of flight innately,
but that the vast vast majority need a broom to achieve it.
In Voldemort’s case, he was so focused and powerful that he was able to channel the power
to fly unsupported- harnessing the energy through himself rather than the broom.
MAYBE Snape did the same, but I really think that he achieved it another way- a vampiric
way.
Going back to the first passage where Snape jumps from the Hogwarts tower, there’s one
line that really piqued my interest.
I think that it could shed some light on his method of flying:
“…Harry saw… …a huge, batlike shape flying through the darkness…”
As far as the books are concerned, When Voldemort uses unsupported flight, he maintains his
original form - so what’s this BATLIKE shape?
Why would Snape resemble a bat?
My answer?
Snape’s a vampire.
Snape’s secret message to Harry
This theory is centered around Severus Snape, Harry Potter, and one of their first encounters
in Snape’s first year potions class.
It suggests that Snape may have relayed a secret message to Harry when they first met.
The moment occurred right at the beginning of the series, in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s
Stone, when Harry first sits down in Snape’s potions class.
Already suspicious of Snape, Snape makes it very clear right away that he does not like
Harry- mocking him as Hogwarts’ ‘new celebrity’ right before quizzing him on the spot about
different magical herbs.
In spite of his fame, Harry had known nothing of the wizarding world until very recently,
and this meant that he had no chance of being able to answer Snape’s questions.
This is something that Snape undoubtedly knew, hoping to make Harry look foolish.
“Mr. Potter.
Our new celebrity.
Tell me, what would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?
You don't know?
Well, let's try again.
Where, Mr. Potter, would you look if I asked you to find me a bezoar?...And what is the
difference between monkshood and wolfsbane?...Pity.
Clearly, fame isn't everything, is it, Mr. Potter?”
At first glance, all this dialogue shows us is that Snape wants to bully Harry a bit-
he’s purposely asking Harry questions to which he does not know the answer.
However, the theory that I want to discuss suggests that Snape’s questions are actually
relaying a secret message to Harry.
However, it’s not a message that he ever expected Harry to understand.
Snape is a complex individual, and the message in question was simply for himself.
Let’s dissect Snape’s ‘secret’ message.
His first question to Harry is:
"What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"
And what’s curious about this is that according to the Victorian Flower Language, ‘Asphodel’
is actually a type of Lily.
This lily means ‘my regrets follow you to the grave’ and the second part of Snape’s
question - ‘wormwood’ means ‘absence’- which is symbolized by sorrow.
Combined this could be interpreted as 'I bitterly regret Lily's death'."- and this is of course
significant because Lily is Harry’s mother, the only woman that Snape ever loved.
Deep, right?
To add to this even further, Snape’s question even contains an allusion to his own death-
as asphodel was once believed to be a cure for ‘snake bites’ which of course Snape
eventually dies from.
Or…Does he?
Snape is ALIVE (why he never 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.
“‘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.
“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 the 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 sanentur.
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.
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.
Felix Felicis Gone Wrong
Felix Felicis- or Liquid Luck, is introduced to us in the Half-Blood Prince.
It’s a potion that, put quite simply, enables the consumer to become successful in all of
their endeavours.
Professor Horace Slughorn, potions master of Hogwarts, once expressed that he had taken
liquid luck ‘twice’ in his life- with each occasion resulting in a ‘perfect day’.
A potion like liquid luck certainly has an allure to it, but it’s also worth mentioning
that it’s not very straightforward to brew.
I have no doubt in my mind that over the centuries many successful potioneers have tried to brew
the concoction and failed.
One popular Snape theory suggests that all of Snape’s hardships- failing to court Lily,
failing to become DADA professor, being bullied, and being blamed for Dumbledore’s death,
are all the result of a Liquid Luck potion gone BAD during Snape’s youth.
Snape was an avid potioneer, so there’s no question that he had tried to brew the
potion.
It’s also highly likely that Snape had tried and failed various methods as he had instructions
on how to brew the ‘perfect’ concoction in his own potions textbook.
I imagine this took some trial and error.
Could it be that Snape drank a bad batch?
And that’s it for this video!
What do you guys think of these theories?
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Until next time
Remember
It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live