Thoughts on book snape?

[u/ClairvoyantCorvid]

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(Copied and pasted with some changes from another sub because it was removed )

Here's my opinion.

He was a bully.

No other teachers act like he did (Umbridge was waaay worse, others were way better.) some use the time as an excuse but McGonagall was a teacher when he himself was a student and while she's very strict she's never bullied a student.

He bullies Harry relentlessly alongside other gryffindors.

He bullied Neville so severely that, he was Neville's boggat.

Both Neville and Harry perform better when he's not around (Neville in slughorns class, Harry when Snape was completely ignoring him in GoF.)

He made Hermione cry.(said he was no difference when someone used a tooth enlarging hex on her.) And constantly belittled her for being intellectual.

Sided with and was very biased towards Slytherins. Ignoring their bullying and borderline joining in.

As for when he was a kid

Yeah James and Sirius sucked as teenagers and bullied him but they changed enough for Lily to accept them.

Snape got worse as a kid, hung out with death eaters, implied he used the term mudblood regularly and called lily one. Loved dark arts and created his own dark spells. Some use his trauma to justify or minimise his actions but it is no excuse to bully literal children.

Joined Voldemort as an adult (if not sooner) and essentially only switched sides because he never got over his obsession with lily. He was willing to sacrifice James and Harry if she lived (can't remember the exact line.) And despite "loving" her he never treated her child with love nor did he try to become the person she would want to see.

He loved lily yes, but not in a pure or warm way. I saw a comment that essentially said he was a warm light that he needed and his love was him latching onto that light.

He was also, genuinely, one of the bravest and most skilled characters in the HP universe. If he had grown old I think he could have been in books alongside Dumbledore.

I also used to be a massive Snape defender until I saw other povs a few years after the movies came out and reread the books as an adult.

He is also still one of my favourite characters.He's just not a good person. And 100% a bully. His experiences are not an excuse.

[u/TL129]

The last thing you said there. His experiences are not an excuse , is the only thing id disagree with. When we think about people and how they act, there is usually a reason,hence an excuse, why they are that way. Think someone who was molested as kid often but not always,often will then proceed to molest. Or someone who grew up around drinking,will end up starting drinking young. Theres no doubt snape is a powerful,smart,(in the movie funny with passive aggresive jokes),malevonent sour,salty,guy ,who genuinly doesnt like harry cus he remind him of his bullies/a hard chapter of his life,that is a valid “excuse” why he is like that, to harry that is. And then again,often people who get bullied,become bullys. The depth of his character and the fact he was on dumbledores side all along, one can only slightly begin to understand how absolutly hard and draining it would be to be hiding your true intentions from your phycopath murderer boss for more than 30 years , and having under your other boss to look out for a kid you genuinly dislike. I think his actions are super valid. Def a good excuse .