Hey everyone,
Welcome to another installment of Harry Potter Theory. In today’s video, we’re going
to be discussing the Harry Potter books, the Harry Potter films, and none other than Severus
Snape. More specifically- we’re going to be taking a look at Snape’s character- and
uncovering a few little known facts about Snape that only book-readers will know. That’s
right, the films left things out! If you haven’t read the books then your next moves should
be a. Continue watching this video, then b. Buy the complete Harry Potter book set and
get to reading.
Now, the first thing worth mentioning is that Snape is quite different from book to film-
not just in his actions, but in his demeanour. His character, while very similar in some
ways, has a bit of a different undertone. Alan Rickman’s portrayal was excellent,
in fact, to me- it was one of the best acting performances in any role, ever, but that certainly
doesn’t mean that the films didn’t take certain liberties where they could. Book snape
was arrogant, apathetic, and seemingly without any kind of moral compass. He showed blatant
favouritism toward students of his house- Slytherin, bullied students until they couldn’t
cope any more, and showed very little indication of valuing other human lives. He was a vindictive
and cruel man that would often let his emotions get the better of him in the form of anger
fuelled outbursts. Movie Snape was a little frightening at times- and quite strict/feared,
but overall was not nearly as bad the Snape from the books. Movie Snape also bullied students,
a little, but it was all just toned down to a much more reasonable level. Furthermore,
he was much more in control of his emotions- he was controlled, brooding and calculating-
rather than outwardly emotional and vengeful.
With all of this said- there are a few things that we need to bear in mind. First of all,
Snape is in the films far less than he is in the books. The films are much more condensed,
and for this reason, the ‘highlight’ reel of Snape that we get may not be indicative
of his true nature. Furthermore, the books are written much more from the perspective
of Harry, who is naturally heavily biased toward Snape. For this reason, looking at
Snape through the lens of Harry may have inflated how bad he actually was. Perhaps the film
Snape actually gave a better unbiased impression of what Snape was really like.
One thing is for certain, however, movie-goers are certainly more forgiving of Snape than
book-readers, and that’s because they weren’t exposed to the ‘darker’ Snape that others
had become accustomed to. When Snape’s true motivations were revealed in the last book/film,
the film version had somehow vindicated himself- whereas book Snape was possibly not worthy
of this same vindication.
With all of this mind, I want to look at 5 things that movie-goers won’t know about
the Snape from the books. 5 actions that he took or things that he was a part of that
were entirely left out of the films. Let’s dive in to it.
1. James Potter Saved His Life
Now, it shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone that Snape and Harry’s father James
didn’t get along. In fact, they were the biggest of enemies- rivals who were both in
pursuit of Lily Evans’ heart. In school, James was awful to Snape, as were the other
Marauders. Snape was bullied for being ‘different’ - and being so different meant that he was
a constant target for the Marauder’s antics. The movies touch on Snape’s relationship
with James, but one thing that they neglected to include was the fact that James once saved
Snape’s life. One day, while bullying Snape, the antics of the Marauders got out of hand-
putting Snape’s life in danger. When James recognized that the prank had gotten outrageously
out of hand, he ended up saving Snape’s life. However, it’s also worth noting that
Snape didn’t see James’s actions as ‘heroism’- he saw it as James simply looking out for
himself so that he wouldn’t be punished, which is probably the case.
2. Snape told Voldemort about the Prophecy
The ‘prophecy’ in question is of course the one foretold by Sybil Trellawny in hogsmeade
pub in the year 1980. We know Sybill as the professor of divination at Hogwarts, and we
know that she has a track record of successful predictions- predicting at the end of the
93-94 school year that Pettigrew would escape, and that Voldemort would return. However,
she was not always so successful, and in 1980 found herself in the Hogsmeade pub with Dumbledore,
interviewing for her post as professor. While her track record was not good at this time,
Dumbledore gave her a chance because she was the great grand-daughter of famous seer, Cassandra
Trelawney. During her interview, a disappointed and unimpressed Dumbledore began to lose interest,
when suddenly Sybill entered a trance. In her trance, Sybill spoke of the famous prophecy
that we all know, explaining that Voldemort would be defeated. It spoke of a boy, that
would be born at the end of July, that possessed the power to defeat the dark lord himself.
In Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix, Dumbledore mentions to Harry that a spy overheard
Sybill Trelawney’s prediction and relayed all of the information to Voldemort. What
we later learn is that this spy was in fact Severus Snape. A loyal Death Eater at the
time, Snape was hoping to build brownie points with Voldemort- but his biggest error here
was that he failed to make the connection between the Prophecy and Lily Evans’ life.
3. Snape is responsible for Lupin losing his job
In the Prisoner of Azkaban Hogwarts is once again graced with a new DADA professor- but
this time it’s someone with quite a few close personal connections to Harry- Remus
Lupin. Remus was born a wizard, but later in life became a werewolf after being attacked
by notorious werewolf Fenrir Greyback. Given that there is a considerable amount of stigma
towards werewolves in the wizarding world, Remus and his friends always tried their best
to keep his werewolf status a secret.
At the end of the school year in the Prisoner of Azkaban film, Remus is seen packing up
his desk. He explains to Harry that word had gotten out regarding his werewolf status-
and that Hogwarts had become inundated with angry messages from parents who were not happy
with the situation. This is why Remus lost his job. In the book however, it’s actually
Snape who is responsible for Remus losing his position. Snape despised Remus and wanted
him to leave Hogwarts, which prompted him to tell his students about Remus’s secret.
4. Snape Protected Harry from Umbridge
In the Order of the Phoenix Dolores Umbridge had essentially taken over Hogwarts. She started
as the new DADA professor, and quickly advanced to become Hogwarts high inquisitor, then Headmaster.
While presiding over the school, she abused her power and put all sorts of rules in place
that oppressed students. Umbridge, very much aware of Harry’s antics- would continually
challenge and question him- hoping that he would divulge information about Dumbledore
(who was now at large), as well as Sirius. In order to extract this information from
Harry, Umbridge gets a truth potion from Snape in the hopes that Harry would divulge every
piece of information he knew about the Order of the Phoenix. However, what film-goers won’t
know about this part of the story, is that Snape actually gave Umbridge a fake truth
potion. This is later reinforced by Dumbledore when addressing Harry:
It was he too who gave Professor Umbridge fake Veritaserum when she was attempting to
force you to tell of Sirius’s whereabouts...”
5. Snape passed on the message that Sirius Black had been captured in Order of the Phoenix
Piggy-backing off of the last point, when Harry is captured by Umbridge he tries to
tell Snape that Voldemort is holding Sirius captive at the Department of Mysteries. To
this remark, Snape plays dumb- essentially ignoring what Harry has just told him. In
the film we never really get any clarification as to whether or not Snape passed the message
on, but in the book Dumbledore later clarifies that Snape did in fact relay the message,
which is why the Order of the Phoenix showed up to save Harry and his friends.
And that’s it for this video! Did you know all of these little factoids about Snape?
Which Snape did you prefer? Let me know in the comment section below.
Until next time
Always