General speculations about Snape
Here's some general Speculations about Severus Snape.
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• Well, I think he could
be a spy without Voldemort knowing. Here's why: In book 5, Snape gives Harry Occlumency lessons. Oh, lets go back a bit first. After Harry, Hermione and the Weasleys leave the Knight Bus after Christmas, Lupin tells Harry, on page 527, "Harry, I know you don't like Snape, but he is a superb Occlumens and we all -Sirius included- want you to learn to protect yourself, so work hard, all right?" And I'm pretty sure I'm not wrong when I say that Occlumency blocks another person's mind from getting feelings/memories from your own. So, wouldn't Snape be able to lie to Voldemort and the Death Eaters and not be caught? (Meagan C) |
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• First I agree with Megan C..that Severus' skill with Occulmency allows him to keep some if not all his emotions hidden.Therefore it could be a hard read even for Voldemort. I was thinking about this a day or two ago..perhaps Prof. Dumbledore is the one who taught it to him. He mentioned to Harry that he knew how to do it (and perhaps should have taught Harry himself)and he also mentioned that Severus was very good at it..maybe he knew since he was a part of Severus' learning first hand. Also since Voldemort did not make it known that Quirrel was working for him then Severus still has a shot at fooling him...for one thing he could point out that Quirrel could be after the stone for himself..therefore Severus was "protecting" it for Voldemort. (Afterall Quirrel came back from romania acting like a jumpy rabbit..afraid of a vampire) For another he could say he was trying to keep in Prof. Dumbledore's favor so he can keep tabs on him and that he thought Quirrel might ruin everything. I agree that it is confusing but Severus has gone back to spying and the Malfoys still seem to trust him so whatever story he gave must have been good. Of course it brings up another question..Quirrel knew Severus saved Harry's life in book 1...now why would a death eater save the life of the kid who defeated Voldemort? Unless again he is claiming that he is trying to be trusted by Prof. Dumbledore or something. Also DShanFan mentioned that a picture of the aurors is shown to Harry and Hagrid is in it so how come Severus Snape couldn't be one. My ideas: 1) if anyone on the side of Voldemort saw it (since obviously we know not everyone who claimed to be good was-Peter Pettigrew)his cover would be blown and he is as good as dead..it's for his own protection..afterall in book five Harry says he forgot that someone from the Order was within his reach to go to for help..Snape...so Severus must be a member but a hidden one. 2) Since it was an older picture perhaps at that time he was still just a death eater and therefore not in the picture or perhaps again it was Prof. Dumbledore's idea to keep him covert and protected. Though honestly I don't remember the picture being of aurors so much as just the Order of the Phoenix people..which would be anyone against Voldemort.hence Hagrid being there.Other than that the thing I wonder about is why he wouldn't be allowed to be the DADA teacher..he obviously is an excellent wizard, clever, and knows about dueling and everything else a DADA teacher should know...though maybe he's the only one so gifted in potions but still...make him both then (Severus' lady) |
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• My theory is that Snape first joined Voldemort because of James. After reading OOTP it is a fact that James as a child bullied Snape for fun and then later became an auror along with Sirius and Lupin. If Snape knew that James, Sirius, and Lupin(?) enjoyed causing him pain, wouldn't he want to stay away from them at all costs? I have come to believe while he feared them, he also wanted to prove he was just as good. Even now he tries his hardest to make Draco a better student than Harry even though the Malfoy family should hate him for betraying the Dark Lord. Snape would have known that Sirius had not killed Peter because as a death-eater he would have known who was on their side and who was not yet he still led the ministry to believe that Black was guilty. When he wasn't able to become an auror, (he probably failed in character since he hates mudbloods about as much as Draco) and he probably would have tried to become one just to show that he could do anything that James could, he may have resorted to showing he was better in other ways; he would become even more powerful than the Dark Lord himself. As he came into closer contact with Voldy he began to realize that this would not prove anything and would just end in his own death. His only way to escape and still not give in to James and Sirius being stronger and smarter than himself was to not just run away, but escape the dark lord by teaching himself occlumency. Having this skill, he would be a valuable member of the order and would once again be in competition with James. His plan does not work because someone discovers he was previously a death-eater and like Umbridge says, when becoming an auror the ministry looks at your criminal record. His occlumency skills would also explain why he's the teacher chosen to teach Harry because the others would have no reason to know. Is this theory realistic? Through out the books there are other hints. The whole DADA position is so important because as a potions master he has gone back to almost the same position he was in as a child, just some creepy evil guy who's life really sucks. If he had the DADA position he would be thought of differently than he is now and if he did well at the job, and Snape is very confident he could be good if just given the chance, people might forget about him being a geek who grew up to kill lots of people in hopes that he would get recognized and think of him more as a person. The only thing that really thing that screws up my theory is Hagrid. When Harry is being shown a picture of all the aurors Hagrid is in the picture which makes the deciding of aurors a very questionable procedure. He can't hide from people, he's got a very unpredictable personality, and he only went to Hogwarts for three years. If they choose people like this, why Winky could be an auror if she wanted to. So why not Snape? So what if he's evil? Hagrid has to get kids to solve all of his adult problems, Lupin has a very tight schedule that involves the possibility of accidentally killing other aurors, and Sirius was guilty of attempted murder at age 15. All Snape has got is a job spying for the order. (DShanFan) |
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• The photo that Hagrid shows Harry is NOT a photo of Aurors, but a photo of the ORIGINAL Order of the Phoenix. This does not mean that those people necesarily needed to be Aurors to be in the order. Look at Mr. and Mrs. Weasley... And the reason Snape was not in the photo, is because at the time he possibly had JUST renounced Voldemort OR was being hidden by others in the photo until the Voldemort threat was over... (AgentMoonHunter) |
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• In Book 1, Snape corners Quirrell in a dark hallway, and says something to the effect of "It's about time you figure out where your loyalties lie", because he knows Quirrell is after the Sorcerer's Stone. BUT in book five he all but tells Harry he is a double agent. NOW, wouldn't the fact that in Book 1 Lord Voldemort took up residence on the back of Quirrell's head kind of rain on Snape's "double agent" parade? He basically blew his cover in front of Voldemort, and Voldemort doesn't seem like a very forgiving sort. It's just a query...I'm hoping someone has some sort of answer to this (Christiana Maria) |
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• Snape is obviously doing something with Lucius Malfoy. In book 5 Sirius says some stuff abut Snape being malfoys 'lap dog' and Harry said later and your job is seeing what the death eaters are doing, or something, and Snape said yes, that's right. i think Snape doesn't actually like Malfoy Jnr, he has to pretend so Lucius likes him. and also, further on Umbridge said 'i expected better of you Snape, Lucius Malfoy always speaks highly of you' or something along those lines. so that is obviously what Snape is doing! getting friendly to Malfoy Snr so he can find out what Voldemort is doing!! WOOHOO i worked it out. Snape probably doesn't hate Harry as much as Harry thinks, he ahs to ACT that way in front of Malfoy and Harry so they dont get suspicious and work out what Snape's doing! (Hannah) |
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• I have a theory on why Dumbledore trusts Snape so much and generally encourages Harry to respect Snape (always reminding him about calling him Professor Snape, for instance). James saved Snape's life, as told in POA. Snape and James ALWAYS hated each other and this alone must have made Snape incredibly angry, for why would he want to be in debt to someone he resented? I believe that he was the one that found out about Voldemort's quest to kill Harry and was the one who originally told the Order so they could perform the Fidelius Charm. Snape may have found this a good excuse to cross over to the good side (maybe because he’s not really that bad) and become a spy, but also to repay James his “life-debt”. This alone may have created the trust between Dumbledore and Snape, for Dumbledore may have realized that it was an incredibly difficult thing for Snape to do, considering his animosity towards James. But James was killed. The debt was never repaid. Along comes Harry, ten years later and Snape still has a great deal of animosity towards the now dead, James and of course, his look-alike son, Harry. But he still has the debt to James. Since he can't save James, he must now save Harry at least once to repay it. He tries to save him from Quirrrell with the broom incident but it wasn't Snape that saved Harry, but Hermione and her fire. So Snape still hasn't repaid his debt. He hates Harry just a little more but he definitely does not want Harry dead. He still needs to save his life, so he can finally repay his debt. Third year comes along and Snape tries to save Harry's life again, this time from Sirius. He didn't want to hear that Sirius was innocent and not dangerous because it wouldn't be a chance to save Harry's life again. He may have even believed that Harry and his friends were under the Confundus Charm, as he suggested to Fudge. He wants/needs to be the one to save Harry so he can go on hating him in peace but, alas, Harry was never in any danger, so therefore, Snape never saved his life. The debt was still unpaid. By fifth year, he REALLY despises Harry, probably because he's tried all these times to save James and Harry and yet, he still can't do it. He's still in debt. He tries at the end of the year by looking for the kids in the forest after Umbridge goes in with Harry and Hermione and no one comes out. He searches and tries to help the situation but once again, he doesn't really "save" Harry's life. In a way he does, by alerting the Order but any Order member would have done the same. It was his job. I think it's a bit of a far cry from actually saving Harry's life. After all, there were six of them, not just Harry. Dumbledore stresses the importance of having
a "life-debt" such as the one between Harry and Peter
as well as the one between Snape and James in SS and POA. Snape The reason why Dumbledore truly trusts Snape will be hopefully disclosed, eventually. It’s been kept a secret up until now. It’s obviously an important secret or else we’d know about it by now! (Flower Child) |
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• I was just wondering, what if Snape was Harry's father? Sounds crazy because Harry looks a lot like James, but he has Slytherin blood, Snape was in love with Lilly, and Lilly didn't dislike him, plus Snape is always treating Harry bad (probably because James got to raise him instead) but he still protects him all the time when danger comes. (Dreama) |
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• First, I really disagree with Dreama, In book two, we actually hear, that Dumbledore thinks, that Harry got some of his powers from Voldemort, when he tried to kill him. And that menans also a little Slytherin blood, and actually, even though the wall says that only One with Slytherins Blood, can open the Champer, then "all" you actually need is to speak Snake-language. And, Snape DIDN'T like Lily, he told her to shut up, when she tried to help him. And I don't know about you, but I don't tell the one I like, to shut up! And as you also mentioned, he looks A LOT like his father. And we also hear, that the reason Snape allways helps him when he is in danger, is because Harrys father saved his life once. And second, I agree with Hannah, I think he is trying to spy on the Death Eaters. There's to many signs, that he does, so you can't believe that he doesn't anymore. (Artemisia) |
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• I thought of an Easter Egg from Book 5. When Umbridge is "interviewing" all of the professors and she goes to "interview" Snape at her visit. She makes a point of asking him about his applications for the DADA position, but it is never answered because they are interupted. I bet in one of the next books it says exactly WHY he never got the position. (AgentMoonHunter) |