Hey everyone,
Welcome to another installment of Harry Potter Theory. In this video, we’re going to be
discussing Severus Snape’s iconic death, Lily Evans, Harry Potter- and the famous lines
that Snape delivered on his deathbed.
It’s a line that’s up there with “Always” and “Yer a wizard Arry”- and it helps
us to peel back the many layers of Snapes character. At the beginning of the books and
films, Snape is portrayed as a bully- an outlier- a recluse. However, this general perception
of Snape only worsens over time- as he is later perceived to be evil- a cold-blooded
and manipulative man who follows the dark lord himself. There are certainly glimpses
of a less severe Snape that shine through- but ultimately he is portrayed as a dark and
brooding individual.
In the The Order of the Phoenix, Harry gets a glimpse in to Snape’s mind during his
Legilimency lesson- revealing a side of Snape that Harry was not previously familiar with.
In that one moment- despite only seeing a glimpse of what lay in Snape’s mind, Harry
learned more about him than he had ever known. In spite of a total lack of context, It gave
him some small semblance of an idea as to why Snape was the way that he was- the subject
of incessant bullying at the hands of Harry’s own father. But while this portion of the
books and films made us feel something for Snape - this sympathy is short lived as in
the very next book/film Snape is revealed to be a death eater once again.
It’s not until much later on, in the Deathly Hallows, that Snape finally gets some proper
redemption- at least in the eyes of Harry. Watching on, Harry witnesses first-hand Snape’s
fatal attack from Nagini. When the coast is clear, and Voldemort and Nagini are gone,
Harry approaches the dying professor- backed up against the wall slowly bleeding out. Snape
was in a state unlike anything that Harry had ever seen before- the strong, enigmatic
Snape was suddenly so helpless- and it’s at this point that the idea is planted in
Harry’s mind that perhaps Snape isn’t quite as bad as he thought. He didn’t know
why, but he knew that he had to approach Snape. In perhaps his bravest moment ever- Snape
died looking in to the eyes of a boy that was more significant to him than Harry ever
knew. This was the boy that shared the same face of the man that bullied him for his entire
childhood, and the eyes of the only woman that he ever loved- the same woman that spared
her own life to save this boy. With his final breaths (in the film version) Snape looked
straight in to Harry’s face, and uttered the iconic line: “You have your mothers
eyes”. These were the same eyes that caused Snape more pain than anything else in his
entire life, but at the same time, they were the eyes that enabled Snape to feel love-
to feel...alive. In the book he simply says to Harry - “Look at me” and in the following
chapter, after reviewing Snape’s memories, Harry begins to understand the significance
of that line.
“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
blood 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 tried to speak. Harry bend over
him, and Snape seized the front of his robes and pulled him close.
A terrible rasping, gurgling noise issue from Snape’s throat.
“Take… it… Take… it…”
Something more than blood was leaking from Snape. Silvery blue, neither gas nor liquid,
it gushed from 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 hands 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 grab 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.”
As we can see here, just before dying, Snape instructs Harry to collect his tears- tears
that could reveal Snape’s full story- helping Harry to understand his tragedy- to understand
‘The Princes Tale’.
“The stone Pensieve lay in the cabinet where it had always been: Harry heaved it on to
the desk and poured Snape’s memories into the wide basin with its runic markings around
the edge. To escape into someone else’s head would be a blessed relief...nothing that
even Snape had left him could be worse than his own thoughts.”
When Harry approached the Pensieve he was exhausted- withered and wartorn- and ultimately
it was his willingness to escape his own reality that allowed him to fully dive in to and absorb
what he was witnessing in the memories of Snape. He fearlessly allowed himself to become
immersed in Snape’s world-his reality- and it was here that he began to piece together
Snape’s full story. It started right at the beginning- where Harry witnessed a young
boy that was familiar and unfamiliar all at the same time. This boy looked like Snape,
but, he was happy- he had a smile on his face, and he had a companion- Harry’s mother Lily.
The pair were in the muggle town of Cokeworth, where they grew up together, and life was
good. Tragically, this was the happiest time of Snape’s entire life- the period that
preceded 27 years of heartache.
When it came time for the young pair to embark on their journey to Hogwarts, they took the
train together- leaving Lily’s sister Petunia behind. However, what was supposed to be the
most exciting time of Snape’s life quickly became his worst nightmare, as him and Lily
were sorted in to different houses - Lily to Gryffindor and Snape to Slytherin. It wasn’t
enough to sever the connection entirely, but it was enough to cause them to gradually drift
apart- going down two very different paths. Snape hung out with the wrong crowd- some
of which would later become followers of Lord Voldemort, and Lily openly expressed her concerns
surrounding the kinds of people that Snape was associating himself with. In an argument
one day, Snape calls Lily a ‘filthy Mudblood’, an insult which he immediately and frantically
retracts- however, for Lily, it was the last straw- and it ended things between them forever.
Next Harry sees a very different Snape- an older Snape, begging and pleading with none
other than Albus Dumbledore on a hilltop. At that time Snape was a full-fledged death
eater, but here he was, pleading with the leader of the opposition- why? As their exchange
continues- Harry begins to understand what was going on - Snape had observed Trelawney
predicting the fabled ‘prophecy’ and relayed that information to Voldemort. Overcome with
guilt, and knowing that Voldemort’s knowledge of this prophecy directly put Lily’s life
in jeopardy, Snape had no other choice than to go to Dumbledore- the only wizard powerful
enough to directly oppose Lord Voldemort and protect Lily.
The next memory that Harry witnesses is after the tragedy at Godric’s Hollow had already
occurred- after Lily and James had been killed. He sees Snape and Dumbledore in Dumbledore’s
office, and Harry witnesses first-hand Snape agreeing to devote his life to Harry - to
protect him in Lily’s honour.
After reviewing Snape’s memories, Harry begins to see his old potions professor in
a different light. Gone was the murky, bitter death eater that he had grown to hate- for
in Harry’s mind and heart there was a place for redemption in Snape. This is reflected
by Harry later naming one of his own children after the man that he had hated for so many
years.
‘The Prince’s Tale’, the 33rd chapter of the Deathly Hallows, is one of my favourite
chapters from the entire franchise- as it finally reveals Snape’s true nature to Harry.
Snape wasn’t a dark and troubled man of his own volition- he was a man perpetually
haunted by his past. He was neglected by his parents, rejected by the one girl that he
ever loved (only to witness her marry his school bully), and later endured a stressful
life as a double agent in an ongoing wizarding war.
I know that there are plenty of fans that have an undulating perception of Snape- some
finished Harry Potter with the feeling that the little bit of good in snape was not nearly
enough to offset the bad, while others felt that Snape was certainly deserving of some
form of sympathy- a man that was soured by his own tragic existence. The moral ambivalence
surrounding Snape’s character is perhaps what makes him so enigmatic- and the divisive
opinions toward his character make him one of the most interesting talking points from
the franchise.
I’m eager to find out- after you all had finished the books and films, what was YOUR
perception of Snape? Was he worthy of redemption? Let me know in the comment section below.
Until next time
You have your mothers eyes