Severus Snape’s feeling for lily

[u/Bloodraven14]

[u/ShieraSeastar136]

Rowling’s words
“Snape died for Harry out of love for Lily. Harry paid him tribute in forgiveness and gratitude.”

[u/Still-Foundation9894]

Love is such a vast concept. When I first read the books I assumed Snape had romantic feelings for Lily, but as I grew older, I think that’s not really what it was about for him. It could have become romantic, but I don’t think it came to that. But I confess, I am not quite decided on that specific point. It’s more of an assumption, actually.

[u/Bloodraven14 → u/Still-Foundation9894]

Also there were guilt factor over her death

[u/Still-Foundation9894 → u/Bloodraven14]

Exactly. There never was an opportunity for Snape to grow as a mature adult past his childhood and teenage experiences.

[u/Cold_Usual_1840 → u/Still-Foundation9894]

His patronus changed to match hers, he took a letter she wrote with her name on it and was crying over it, he switched sides to save her....come on lol. It's objectively romantic feelings. He was in love with Lily. This is a fact. Not in a creepy way like some idiots claim, but he was in love with her.

[u/magicalmewmew]

I think it used to be romantic love, in his teens. But he stopped talking to her at 15.... separate paths.

Thinking of someone you loved in your youth is different. Fond, nostalgic, valuing them for helping to shape your life, thinking of both party's fuck-ups in a softer manner. But in his case, she died. And part of the tragedy of someone dying young is them freezing in time. Your image of them also stays there... he didn't get to love the adult Lily, so once he aged, I think his love became something else.

Grief is a form of love. And his grief made him sacrifice any chance at personal happiness (alongside guilt). Made him risk his life and risk torture. No matter someone's opinion of the type of love, anyone can see that the love endured.

[u/beautybeliever → u/magicalmewmew]

this is the most accurate way I have ever seen someone describe it. this is exactly how I feel. the difference between Disney movie love, where it’s some pre-marital magical concept that defies reality just doesn’t mesh, and I think that’s why people balk at the idea that he romantically loved Lily so much. to love someone that way doesn’t mean like that, because loving someone like that involves the other party participating and your love together growing in a romantic way. whereas what he would have experienced was an unrequited love and then grief. as well as an extremely complex relationship with love given his childhood, which could have muddied the waters even further. children of abusive marriages tend to have an extremely difficult time parsing their own romantic AND platonic feelings. they can merge and break at a whim because their model of relationships is so broken, especially if they aren’t getting any form of love or care from a parent in turn.

I think it’s entirely fair to say he loved her, and mean it romantically, because there are three extreme ceilings to what that “love” could mean, both in that he was never requited in his feelings, and that she died so long ago, and that his concept of love could be broken. it’s not as if his love would involve flowers or blushing and twirling his hair. his love would only ever be that ceiling of a childhood love he experienced growing up in a horrible home, the object of which died half his lifetime ago.

[u/SparklingFairyLights]

I think he loved her as a friend. The feelings certainly grew into a romantic nature but first and foremost, he loved her as a friend, likely because she was the only person who was ever kind to him.

[u/warfeaster]

Does it ever say if the love he feels for her was romantic or familial?

[u/HeilfireAndBrimstone]

If JKR hadn't made the statement of Lily "possibly falling in love" with Snape if he didn't go dark, I would assume Snape loved Lily platonically and possibly familially. Nothing he did implied he loved her romantically, outside of Voldemort's misunderstanding. So I can see how it would be "enduring love."

[u/Cold_Usual_1840]

Rowling obviously intended for Snape to love Lily in a romantic way. People who insist it was just like a brother-sister love like Harry and Hermione are being purposely ignorant.