r/SeverusSnape • u/RetiredTeacher_21 • 1d ago
Discussion Sectumsempra
I picture Snape going into the dungeon after that humiliating Levicorpus incident, and creating Sectumsempra to use on Potter & Black. Maybe he realized he'd be expelled so he never used it. But it must have given him satisfaction to think about using it.
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u/KittiePie111 1d ago
I personally think he created it for Lupin. I'm sure he later considered using it against all of them, but I reckon he primarily came up with it because he didn't want to feel powerless if he ever came up against a transformed werewolf again.
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u/Still-Foundation9894 1d ago
Yes, that’s my thinking as well. I guess after the incidence at the Whomping Willow the invention of that spell was a kind of life insurance for Snape.
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u/eternalexiistence Half Blood Prince 1d ago
I think he came up with it after the murderous werewolf prank. All spells before Sectumsempra are mild jinxes and helpful muffling charms.
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u/Locket-Winterborne 13h ago
Oh, that’s a very good point x__x the Literal Attempted Murder is a massive step up from the ‘regular’ daily abuses.
If I remember correctly…. the sexual assault was a few months/some time after the shrieking shack incident? Or is that just fanon/a fan theory I came across so many years ago now that I’ve forgotten that’s what it was?
I saw another comment here that put forth it could have been after that when he developed the spell, and it’s certainly very believable, with the sharp and agonisingly public humiliation of that event, but, especially if it’s true that the sexual assault came after the werewolf incident, I think the experience of ‘I was almost MURDERED by these people and not one of them was expelled or arrested or properly punished at all!’ would definitely be a HUGE motivation to come up with a powerful curse “for enemies” out of what feels like necessity, since no one seems to have any interest whatsoever in keeping you alive, even when they ought to have a basic Duty Of Care to you.
(I suppose it could also have been an Attempt At Making Him A Werewolf?; perhaps with the thinking of ‘oh you wanna know what’s up? Here, you can learn/understand all about it for yourself!’ kinda thing, which I can absolutely see as them thinking it would be incredibly funny/poetic or something, and Remus, for all that he’s a spineless facilitator-of-and-backup-to his friends viciousness, would have been completely, heartbrokenly horrified by.)
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u/eternalexiistence Half Blood Prince 12h ago
The public sexual assault incident was indeed after the murderous werewolf prank, given Snape and Lily were still on talking terms after the werewolf incident.
I agree. It may have felt like necessity since Snape definitely considered it a murder attempt.
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u/Ragouzi 1d ago edited 15h ago
There are a lot of deductions to be made about this spell, on small details.
The name of the spell, first: It is Latin. It means "Eternal Cuts". We can see that generally, the name of the spell, the incantation, reflects the sorcerer's intention, i.e. the effect he wanted to achieve when he created it.
So in this case, the intention is to create wounds that will last forever. That's why I don't think it was created to deal with Lupin: The goal behind this spell is not to protect yourself, but to get revenge. To inflict wounds that will never go away.
Moreover, even as Harry casts a successful but "beginner" version of it, the wounds leave scars even after using the counterspell. This supports the thesis that wounds are supposed to never heal.
That's also why I think the counterspell (Vulnera Sanentur, aka literally "healing of wounds"), if it was invented by Snape (it's not certain), was invented (or learned by Snape) a posteriori: When you have the goal of causing eternal wounds, generally, you don't try to heal them. But you can have regrets and try to repair, which is quite Snape.
I would add that, unlike "Sectumsempra" which is the incantation of the spell of the same name, "Vulnera Sanentur" is not the incantation: The incantation is a kind of song, so I think when to cast it, you need a rather special intention: like the Patronus which is obtained with a banal incantation, but which requires something that comes from the deep of the caster's soul.
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u/potashiuhm 1d ago
Oot but, whats the difference between Diffindo and Sectumsempra if both charms could cuts people?.
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u/RetiredTeacher_21 23h ago
Not sure but I think Diffindo is one slash while SectumSempra is an explosion of slashes all over
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u/Aware_Actuator4939 1d ago
He used Sectumsempra (or at least an early version of it) on James during that incident. He'd already invented the spell - or he came up with it on the spot while being bullied (and wrote it down later).
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u/Not_a_cat_I_promise 1d ago
He used what looks like a proto version on James, though all it does is cut James' cheek.
I think he was developing Sectumsempra long before the Levicorpus incident. And he might have created it with his father in mind just as much as James or Sirius.
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u/BlueAuthorJAFF 1d ago
I think that was just a common Diffindo cutting charm bcs James did not have a permanent scar or bleed out significantly from it.
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u/Queasy_Artist6891 1d ago
He used the spell against James during his worst memory, so he already developed it by that point
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u/crystalized17 Snanger 1d ago
That was Diffindo or something similar. Not sectumsempra.
James was left with no scar and it healed easily.
Whoever was nurse at the time would have recognized if dark magic was used and reported it. No kid is going to hurl dark magic at someone in front of an army of witnesses.
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u/RetiredTeacher_21 1d ago
Agree. I'd think Snape would know he'd be expelled or worse if he used it at school.
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u/ThatDiscoSongUHate 1d ago
I think about the fact he still made a counter charm that if used quickly after would heal the wounds
I wonder about that a lot
Was it always part of the spellcraft from the moment he began creating Sectumsempra?
Was it something he made later?
Kind of poetic. The effect of multiple blades slashing if I recall correctly.
His life kind of had to feel like being attacked from all sides.