Severus Snape

[tbsbooboo]

I know there is a thread in the General Fanfiction Forum, but seeing as this is a character question, I think (hope) its probably just fine discussing it here.

I have several questions about Snape. First of all, do you think he killed anyone before HBP? Would it seem out of character for a young Severus Snape to refuse to kill someone?

My second question is when do you think Snape learned Occlumency? I think he had to be relatively powerful Occulemns by the time he turned spy for Dumbledore. How long did it take him to develop his skills?

My last question is how powerful do you think Snape truly is? If someone he cared about were injured or killed, would it seem out of character for Snape to be violently and powerfully upset?

Thanks much for the help looking into our enigmatic potions professor!
~Gina

I think that Snape is very powerful in his own right and I do believe that if someone he cared for we truly hurt that he would be able to react quite violently. Now finding someone he actually cares about is the hard part.

As for Snape's Occlumency, I think that he must have been a natural, I mean what talent did he really have in school? I think that he developed it during his school years. But that is just a possibility.

As for him killing people, I think that as a death eater on many levels, he had to have killed someone by now. I think that killing would be one of Voldermorts favorite tasks, so I don't see how snape could have gotten out of doing so .

[tbsbooboo]

I'm writing on a one-shot about Snape (his POV) and basically what he did involving Dumbledore & the death of Lily and James. My question is, do you think he could feel guilt about Lily and James' death, more specifically, James'? He hated James, we know that, but do you think he is capable of feeling any sort of remorse or guilt about it?

I don't really think that he would feel guilty about Jame's death. I think that more than anything, he would feel guilty because Lilly loved James, and it would hurt Lilly. But sense Lilly is dead as well, I can't really say the he would feel any guilt for James.

[cmwinters]

As for Snape's Occlumency, I think that he must have been a natural, I mean what talent did he really have in school? I think that he developed it during his school years.

. . .

". . . What talent did he really have in school"??? Are we talking bout the same Severus Snape?

He was prodigously talented in Dark Arts (knew more when he arrived as an 11 year old than "half the seventh years". He was sufficiently talented in Potions to suggest amendments to the *textbook* at no older than sixteen (and possibly younger), and he was inventing spells by fifteen.

Nobody, but NOBODY else, invents spells. Not Dumbledore, not the Dark Lord, not Hermione. Just Snape.

(Psst! no double posting! I know you're brand-new to the forums but the mods can be picky about that . . . )

[Kcharles]

Do you all think that Snape would cry when he found out that Lily was dead?

[bertiebott12]

Do you all think that Snape would cry when he found out that Lily was dead?

Good question. I don't think that Snape would cry upon Lily's death. Throughout the book, we see Snape as a tough character, who keeps his emotions inside of him. There are many ways of expressing sadness. I don't think that Snape's was crying. Think about it this way. Snape had been through so much abuse and hard times in an incredibly young age. I think that he would have learned that crying doesn't cure everything.

Studies show that abuce victims turn into very tough people, who don't like other people to see their emotions. If Snape could withstand bullying from James, abuse when he was a child, and killing Dumbledore, then I don't think that he would shed a tear. I'm not saying that he wouldn't be sad; I imagine he would mourn inside of him for days, and maybe get some alone time.

I think, being the tough individual he is, that he would want to say strong for Dumbledore. Many males who haven't been through all of the hardships that Snape had, consider crying as a sign of weakness. I imagine that Snape would have cried his share when he was a boy, and that he would want to stay strong for Dumbledore and the Order.

But, I think that sadness would be evident for many days. I think that he wouldn't talk as much, and be a lot more, well, snappy with students and other people.

/Claire

[Elmindreda]

Do you all think that Snape would cry when he found out that Lily was dead?

I personally think - no. But for somewhat different reasons than Claire.

I think, being the tough individual he is, that he would want to say strong for Dumbledore.

I believe that at that moment, he was beyond wanting to stay strong, for Dumledore or anyone else. Some part of me actually thinks that he couldn't possibly care about anything to do with Dumbledore at that moment, because Dumbledore failed to keep Lily safe, as he promised.
This is not ME accusing Dumbledore, this is how I think Severus was thinking then.

But regardless of his feelings towards Dumbledore at the time:

...something was making a terrible sound, like a wounded
animal

...looked like a man who had lived a hundred years of misery since leaving the wild hilltop.

Snape's breathing was shallow.

...seemed to peer through a haze of pain, and Dumbledore's words appeared to take a long time to reach him

...ferocious, anguished face.

We can see that he is not trying to appear like anything. He does not try to put up any facade. He is devastated, and he doesn't care who sees it (whether he would be able to control himself enough to appear composed if he was in anyone else's presence remains a question I am too afraid to ponder, because this may lead to depths of angst I'm unwilling to explore).

I think that sadness would be evident for many days.

I personally think that his 'sadness', even though the word does not measure up, was with him for YEARS. Losing Lily left a wound that time would not heal.

In short - no, I don't think he would cry. But not because he would consider tears a sign of weakness. But simply because there is pain that is beyond crying.
We may cry if we cut a finger. But if we're seriously wounded, we will more likely gasp and feel numbed.

Some emotions are too strong for tears. And among them is the feeling that there is a void where your heart should be, feeling that some part of you, some significant, vital part of you was torn away. The feeling of losing someone you have loved more than anyone, someone you were willing to do anything for.

[MissyQuill]

*Squishes El who got here before me*

With all due respect to the poster, 'sad' is a HUGE understatement on how Severus felt after Lily's death. The following is a discussion that took place in El's duelling thread about Sev's feelings for Lily and how she was the 'ultimate exception' in his life. Meaning he would do (anythig) for her what he would never do for anyone else. he would do 'anything' for her and do it 'always', regardless of whether she was around to see it or not.

The question asked was why Lily was the ultimate exception.

Well, I think that the main reason Lily became the ultimate exception for Severus is that because she pretty much WAS an exception in his life, from day one. She was a long list of things beginning with 'the only one ever to...'.
The only one ever to be interested in him, to be friendly to him... to accept him, basically.

Also, I think that to a ten-year-old Severus, from the moment he saw Lily, she was the ultimate contradiction. A Muggle-born, but with so much magic, and more importantly, a completely non-Muggle approach to everything. Someone cheerful by default, curious, lively and welcoming - a creature that appeared to be a complete opposite to him in so many ways. No wonder he felt irrestibly drawn to her, the more he watched. And then the impossible happened - despite the first meeting that did not turn out so well, she still accepted him as a friend.

In one of the books about the Moomins by Tove Jansson (unexpected deviation!), there were creatures, whose name I can't remember, which were drawn to fires in winter, because they were always cold. But no fire could warm them, and they would draw the fire in until it was out, and cold they would remain. Well, somehow the young Severus reminded me of that kind of creature... except the impossible happened, and Lily managed to warm him before it was too late for him.

Please pardon me my sentimentality... *sniff*

But really, I think that Severus by the age of nine had already realized the fact that he is not loved by anyone, and therefore, won't be. The best thing he could strive for would be being rewarded for doing something well or punished otherwise. And then suddenly, there is someone for whom he is not 'that Snape boy' (and those three words tell volumes about his relationship, or rather, complete lack of, with the people his age in the area) - but Severus, someone interesting, someone to be friends with.

No doubt, then, that for someone who's done something no one else has, ever, he is willing to do anything. Always.

Well, there isn't much left to say after this eloquent answer but I do think that a part of Severus died with Lily that night. You see, to him, life meant Lily, so logically, without Lily, there was no life. He said himself in chapter 33 that he wanted to die.

The 'sadness' would not have remained for days. As El said, it would remain for years. 16 years to be exact where every day would be a monotanouse, continouse nightmare that has to be lived for the sole reason of protecting Lily's son.

Sure, he would learn better controll and throw himself even more in the mental discipline of Occlumency to hide that pain, but it would be there, still as fresh and raw after sixteen years as it was before, largly due the fact that he has to see Herry everyday during the boy's stay at Hogwarts.

As Sev mentioned in The Prince's Tale and Slughorn in Birthday Surprises, some curses and potions stregnthen over time and this pain was of that kind. it would never be healed.

But these are of course, my opinions and need not be anyone elses.=Sammy

[Flobberworm93]

A new question, and something that's very important to a plot bunny I got last night:

Do you think he had any motivations other than Lily?

I know that he didn't at first. If Voldemort hadn't killed Lily, he probably wouldn't have left the Death Eaters, and if Voldemort had purposely spared her, that would have been all the more reason to stay. But in the sixteen years between then and his death, do you think it was more than just her that he was fighting for? A decade and a half had to have matured him somewhat.

[Amber0_o]

Do you think he had any motivations other than Lily?


Absolutly, although this may just be my own bias on the subject. I do believe, however, that Severus regretted joining the Death Eaters soon after he did so. There is reason to believe that many people really didn't know what went on in that group. (Regulus trying to back out once he found out what people wanted him to do) And after Lily's rejected Severus desperatly needed somewhere to belong, so joined the only group that would take him in.

However, I believe that, like Voldemorts attack on Kreature pushing Regulus to finally turn away, Lily's being put in danger finally convinced Severus that he needed to get out of there as fast as he could, even if it meant putting his own life at risk to do it.

The Traveling Thespian Troupe!

[Ravenclaw_Soprano]

Do you think he had any motivations other than Lily?
I know that he didn't at first. If Voldemort hadn't killed Lily, he probably wouldn't have left the Death Eaters, and if Voldemort had purposely spared her, that would have been all the more reason to stay. But in the sixteen years between then and his death, do you think it was more than just her that he was fighting for? A decade and a half had to have matured him somewhat.

I think that initially he would merely be acting due to Lily... though we immediately see his maturity in that he understands that life must go on for him. An immature person would sit there and brood over the death; Snape at least realizes what must be done even though he feels like he can't go on.

But after all that time? He is constantly putting himself in harm's way for the Order; I find it hard to believe that he would do that simply from love for Lily. Between Lily choosing James and all of the time that had passed, I think Snape (if he's truly mature as we had already seen) would have found another strong reason to fight. I am not belittling the power of love (it did win the war, after all), but I think love for certain aspects of life can be just as strong as love for another human being.

Perhaps we don't see his other motivations because they are hidden in the act that Severus is forced to keep up. He has to keep himself clear of emotion for Voldemort, and he's always under some sort of facade due to his spying mission; maybe these keep us from clearly seeing his other motivations.

~Lauren of the Traveling Thespian Troupe!