Why DH left me disappointed with one of my favorite characters

[torchedsong.livejournal.com]

(I've been lurking in this community for a couple of days now, reading posts from way back and enjoying the discussion [and snark]. I know this topic has been done before numerous times, but I hope it's okay for me to offer my thoughts as well.)

It is over a decade later and I am still disenchanted with how Severus Snape was flattened as a character in DH by having everything connect to Lily. I rarely encounter fans of Snape on Tumblr who feel the same way, so I decided to post this here to find other people who can empathize.

From books 1-6, I found Snape to be a fascinating character. He was a mean teacher and a bitter man, but also (seemingly) on the side of the good guys with his own mysterious agenda. Despite his cruel nature, he was presented as capable of protecting and helping those whom he loathed or did not care for. He had a sense of right and wrong when it counted, even while remaining bitter. This unpleasant man left a group of prejudiced and dangerous criminals because even unpleasant people are capable of stepping away from evil. All of this made him an intriguing character full of potential, and I hoped that JKR wouldn’t waste that potential by making everything he’s done be for the Love of a Good Woman that Got Away.

But then she did, and I ended up disappointed. Snape’s character was demolished for me. No longer was he a complex man capable of both good and bad, but a man reduced to a static lovesick figure who never changed at all. Defecting from the Death Eaters, protecting innocents, working for the good guys, striving to win the war, risking his life… all for Lily. All for an ongoing obsession that made him look pitiful. He had no sliver of light or goodness of his own merit as a person; everything was for and about Lily.

It didn’t help matters that Lily was nothing more than a cardboard cutout of a character. She had no flaws. She was an angel that every (male) character was meant to adore. James, Sirius, Remus, Peter, and Snape were all presented as men who made mistakes. But Lily? Everybody loves her because she’s always right and a symbol of Purity and Goodness for every man in the vicinity!

And you mean to tell me that Snape, a man known for holding grudges and festering in his vindictive anger, would continue to love a woman who chose his tormentor, popular and privileged Gryffindor bully James Potter, over him? Really? Another way Lily was presented as perfect and exceptional; even Snape couldn’t dislike or hate her. How convenient (and, in my opinion, out of character).

Snape, the lower-class, ugly, greasy, mean, miserable, and unhealthy mess of a man wasn’t allowed any redeeming qualities of his own volition. No, it all had to come back to Lily, the middle-class, beautiful, popular, kind, pleasant, and perfect mother and wife. Who needs character development, growth, and depth when you’ve got the “power” of Loving the Good Woman?

I never expected Snape to become a selfless and nice saint. Of course not. What I did expect and hope for was the lesson that "good" is not always pretty and pleasant, just as "evil" is not always ugly and mean. That bravery can be found in the unlikeliest and darkest of people; that even the people you hate can still be heroic and do the right thing. I thought that was the lesson readers (and Harry himself) had to learn through Snape, whether he survived the war or not.

But I was wrong. It wasn’t meant to be complex and profound. It all came down to Loving the Good Woman. Lily was the linchpin for everything. Instead of finding it interesting or meaningful, I found it insulting, trite, and boring. Snape went from being a character full of potential to another shallow example of a brooding, broken man following the whims of obsessive love as a stand-in for morality. I couldn’t agree with other Snape fans who liked his reasoning for turning ex-Death Eater, but I couldn’t stand with people who hated every aspect of his character either. I was torn (and still am).

My ideal ending for Snape would’ve been him surviving the war and walking away from everything. With no masters, no obligations, and no need for atonement, he would have the freedom to finally control his life. He would have to question his purpose in the new world. Death is the easy way out for a complicated messy character; it’s easy to honor Snape when he’s dead, but how to deal with him alive? How would Harry see Snape if Snape had survived and remained unpleasant as ever, despite his bravery and loyalty? What would have their final interaction been like?

But that would’ve been too difficult for JKR to deal with, so let’s kill Snape off in a lame way and let’s give him the power of Loving the Good Woman to wrap everything up quick and easy. How painfully lazy.

I have long speculated that JKR never wanted her major Slytherin characters to have any depth or redeeming qualities of their own because it would overshadow the heroic Gryffindors or send the "wrong" message. Slytherins are regulated to two roles: evil (e.g. Voldemort, the Death Eaters, Umbridge, etc.) or pitiful (e.g. Snape and the Malfoys). Snape couldn't make his own choices, have his own motivations, or live his life on his terms; it had to revolve around Lily to give him the worth he didn't "deserve" for being a Slytherin.

Anyways, if anyone has read this long overdue rant of mine, thank you for taking the time. I had to let it out after re-reading the series and experiencing great frustration all over again.

Edit: Fixed some mistakes and changed to a different layout. Forgive me, I'm rusty with LJ.

Comments

[aikaterini.livejournal.com]

I agree with you. I don't find anything uplifting about Snape's motivation being Lily, because of the way that it was presented and the way that it ties into JKR's overall treatment of Snape.

I think that JKR did intend for us to Lily as Snape's only motivation to leave the Death Eaters, and not because of any moral scruples on his part. Every time someone asks her about Snape, she's surprised that people like him.

But I think this all goes back to a recurring issue that started with the first book. Harry learns that Snape wasn't the villain after all and that he was actually trying to save Harry from Voldemort. Does anything change about their relationship? No, because Dumbledore tells Harry that the only reason why Snape did it was because he owed James a life debt. Nothing about Snape's responsibility as a teacher. Nothing about Snape's code of honor or duty. No, don't worry, Harry, that horrible man is still a horrible man because he hates you. And why does he hate you? Because he hated your father. So, it has nothing to do with your own behavior. It's not your fault.

And it's the same thing with Lily. No, Harry, that horrible man doesn't keep trying to save you because, deep down, he actually cares about you (which would disprove your notion that he's an awful man who hates you). Or, again, because it's his duty. No, he just wants to save you because of your mom. Again, it has nothing to do with Harry. Nothing to do with the relationship between him and Snape. It's all about people who are long dead at this point.

Really, the whole state of affairs sounds like a wild accusation that Harry or another kid in his position would throw out at a teacher they didn't like. "You only gave me a bad grade because you hated my dad! You just hate me because you're still hung up on my mom!" Only in Harry's case, Snape really is still hung up on his parents. Which means that Harry doesn't have to reflect on anything.

Also, if we're supposed to be so sad that Lily and Snape's friendship didn't make it because of his bad choices...why doesn't DH show us a Lily who really is nice and kind, who does care about Snape? Actually make us believe that they still would've been friends if Snape hadn't joined Voldemort? Because nothing that we saw in the flashbacks convinces me that any of the above is true. What we see is a shallow and self-righteous hypocrite who hangs around with Snape only because she pities him and he's the only other wizard kid she knows at the time, who doesn't bother to get his side of the story after the Prank, constantly dismisses and blames him when he tries to argue with her, and blindly believes everything that his bullies say. And this is all before she abandons him while he's being humiliated in public and puts a guilt trip on him for calling her a bad word. And she dates and marries his bully not long after, showing that she truly never cared about how James treated her 'best friend'. And yet Snape's supposed to take moral guidance from HER? He's supposed to be inspired by her example of...dumping a friend when he gets 'difficult' and turning a blind eye to awful behavior as long as the bully's hot?

Maybe it's the same problem with the treatment of Peter Pettigrew. Both Snape and Peter are meant to be bad, so every character has to read the script and treat them accordingly. Voldemort can't be wary of Peter, given his history; no, he has to constantly call him a pathetic coward. Lily can't ever show signs of liking Snape, because she's righteous and he's corrupt, so she has to instinctively know that he's bad and browbeat him for his sinful nature. Peter will forever be a coward and Snape will forever be nasty, so he needs a righteous angel like Lily in order to see the light.

[torchedsong.livejournal.com]

I agree with your entire comment! You've eloquently articulated everything I've wanted to touch upon.

The whole Lily motivation made me consider that JKR never intended Snape to be anything more than an evil Death Eater who was "saved" because he chose to worship a Saintly Woman. He can't change or start to care for others because, well, he's meant to be evil to the core with the one special exception for a Pure Lady he puts on a pedestal. He wasn't meant to be complex or complicated: just another bad person to be pitied for his lifelong obsession....

The few times Snape shows concern for his students and colleagues, and tells Dumbledore he tries to save as many people as he can...I guess that was OOC for Snape since JKR wanted his existence to revolve around a dead woman who rejected him. Even Snape's last words have to be about Lily. I preferred the interpretation of "look at me" to be Snape's way of finally asking someone to see the real him and look at him as the man he is, not the role he played for decades. But no, it's gotta be about staring into Lily's eyes. Bleh. Even in death, the pitiful man can't have his last words be his own!

About Harry and Snape: after their duel in HBP, I was hoping for an emotional confrontation between them in DH. Even if it ended up being nothing more than a screaming match, I wanted the two of them to finally deal with their major grievances with one another and find closure. Instead, Snape died and Harry doesn't have to make the difficult choice of interacting with the man face-to-face after finding out the truth. All the possibility for tension, conflict, emotional ambivalence...down the drain. Or rather, down the Pensieve, which allowed Harry to eventually forgive Snape without, ya know, dealing with him in person.

And oh do I have some problems with Snape and Lily's supposed beautiful friendship.

"And she dates and marries his bully not long after, showing that she truly never cared about how James treated her 'best friend'. And yet Snape's supposed to take moral guidance from HER?"

I will never understand how in the world JKR wrote Snape to be deeply spiteful and vindictive to everyone BUT Lily. It makes zero sense to me. If I found out my best friend hooked up with the boy who bullied and assaulted me, I'd be pissed off and betrayed. Lily is rightfully angry and hurt that Snape called her a "mudblood", but Snape is not allowed to be angry and hurt that his close friend is canoodling with his tormentors? He continues to have nothing but undying love for a girl who dropped him for his bad tendencies to go and hang out with... a bunch of bullies with bad tendencies? Even the most decent and well-rounded man would be at least slightly annoyed. But mean and cruel Snape is magically okay with it because, of course, no one can dislike Lily! (Except Petunia, but we're not meant to care about Petunia and she's there to make Lily look more favorable as well.)

"Peter will forever be a coward and Snape will forever be nasty, so he needs a righteous angel like Lily in order to see the light."

At least the men were allowed to have flaws and a personality in the first place. Lily was given neither. As I said in the OP: James, Sirius, Remus, Peter, and Snape were presented as men who made mistakes. But the sole female character of the group is never presented as making any mistakes? I hate it when a woman exists in a story to be a beacon of light and morality to the men around her rather than being presented as human. The perfect partner to James (doe to his stag), the perfect mother to Harry (Harry criticizes his father but never his mother), and the perfect symbol of Goodness to Snape (because he can't have his own redeeming qualities). That's all Lily represents. And it's damn boring.

As you can tell, I can rant about this all day....

[oryx_leucoryx]

The ironic thing of course is that she actually wrote Severus as the person who did the most to protect Harry, protect students in general from all kinds of (physical) harm, especially in an environment like Hogwarts where it is a wonder that students aren't getting killed in droves. He does so while being insulting so it apparently doesn't count.

[torchedsong.livejournal.com]

In the world of HP, students go to a school where incompetent professors are hired, a basilisk slithers in the pipes, a three-headed dog guards a stone, detentions are spent in a forest, staircases move, ghosts float about in bathrooms, and all sorts of chaotic things are considered acceptable. It makes Snape's vicious classroom behavior seem just as over-the-top as the rest of Hogwarts. It's hyperbolic and fantastical.

(Although, I do find it strange how Harry's background with the Dursleys is written in a black comedy sort of way, while Snape's sad childhood is played straightforward with no humor. Similar to how Tom Riddle is shown to be psychopathic from a young age with no hope of change. But this is a different topic.)

Even so, it's true that Snape protects the students from physical harm. Before DH, I thought this meant the man was a human being capable of caring for the safety of others regardless of how he personally felt about them. He was mean, but not wicked.

But I suppose JKR had a different vision. Any time Snape shows concern for another person, it must be because his guilt over losing Lily is driving him to act decent for a few seconds! It can only be about Lily, not anything else!

I'm being half-way sarcastic, although I seriously wonder if that was JKR's intention all along. "No, Snape wasn't capable of both bad and good; he was ALL bad with his only good quality being love for Lily."

I wish that weren't the case, but I think that's what JKR meant for the character.

[aikaterini.livejournal.com]

/JKR wanted his existence to revolve around a dead woman who rejected him/

He is just never allowed to be given the benefit of the doubt. He went alone to the Shrieking Shack? Oh, it wasn't to rescue the Trio, it was just to go after Sirius and Remus. He hated James? It's just because he was jealous and he should get over his childhood grudge. He made an Unbreakable Vow? It wasn't for Draco's sake, it was part of Dumbledore's master plan. He tightly gripped a chair when he heard that a student had been taken to the Chamber of Secrets? He...actually, I don't know what the fan explanation for that one is.

/staring into Lily's eyes/

To think that when JKR mentioned that Lily's eyes would play a role in DH, fans were imagining all these theories. Nope, it's just that Harry's eyes are the same color as hers. That's it.

/Pensieve, which allowed Harry to eventually forgive Snape without, ya know, dealing with him/

Harry and Snape were simply never allowed to have a civil conversation with each other. In PS/SS, Harry doesn't ask Snape about what happened; he hears all of the answers from Dumbledore, so that's it, as far as he's concerned. He doesn't apologize to Snape or thank him for trying to save his life. They both tacitly agree to keep acting like they hate each other. And every time that Harry feels less than dislike for Snape, it's when he doesn't know who he is or when Snape doesn't look like the man he hates. They were never allowed to just TALK. They either scream at each other or Snape sneers while Harry fumes.

/JKR wrote Snape to be deeply spiteful and vindictive to everyone BUT Lily/

The entire chapter of "The Prince's Tale" read like a fanfic to me. From the cutesy nicknames that Lily gives Petunia and Snape to Snape's characterization, it just didn't seem to fit.

I remember reading a comment from someone about how they'd written fanfics prior to DH that featured the Death Eaters and their reasons for joining Voldemort. In these fanfics, one of Snape's motivations for desertion was his love for his wife (an OC created by the author), who was in Azkaban after Voldemort had framed her. The fanfic author wryly noted that the people who bashed the OC were the same people who loved Snape/Lily when DH came out.

People on the Internet have mocked Snape x Female Character fanfics for years, but at least in those fanfics, those female characters, you know, LIKE Snape? They actually want to be his girlfriend/wife, instead of his judge and prosecutor? I don't see how Snape being in love with someone who doesn't care about him is supposed to be better than a story where he's with a character who does, no matter how badly that story may be written. If Snape had to fall for someone who did nothing but tell him how awful he was, there were plenty of candidates other than Lily.

/Snape is not allowed to be angry and hurt that his close friend is canoodling with his tormentors?/

He's not even allowed to be angry that Remus almost killed him in werewolf form (and that his 'best friend' doesn't care that he could've died). Nobody in the series cares about Snape's feelings.

/the men were allowed to have flaws and a personality in the first place. Lily was given neither/

She was, just not flaws and a personality that I think JKR intended. We're supposed to see her as a strong woman who bravely stood up to that loser Snape who was already in awe of her, bravely talked back to her soulmate without actually doing anything to help the situation, and bravely threw herself in front of her baby without trying to do anything else to stop Voldemort.

/That's all Lily represents/

And when you think about what happened to Ginny, it's almost like her characterization in HBP was foreshadowing, because, in the same way, Ginny is the perfect girlfriend to Harry. She's a pretty and fiery redhead who's quick to put that loser Ron in his place, but stays out of battle when her soulmate tells her to. She righteously attacks the people that Harry dislikes, but she's not a part of the Trio and doesn't go with them on their adventures. And when Harry finds out that she was just using her ex-boyfriends to make him jealous, he thinks it's fine. No doubt James thought the same thing about Lily's rejection of Snape.

[torchedsong.livejournal.com]

"He tightly gripped a chair when he heard that a student had been taken to the Chamber of Secrets? He...actually, I don't know what the fan explanation for that one is."

Well, uh, let's see: Ginny has red hair, and Lily ALSO had red hair, so once he found out the taken student was redheaded Ginny, he really was thinking about, um, Lily being hurt and didn't give a damn that a student was in danger of dying. Uh-huh. Let's go with that. =P

"Nope, it's just that Harry's eyes are the same color as hers. That's it."

Lily and Harry are the only people in the Wizarding World with green eyes apparently. I'm surprised JKR didn't take it a step further and had Snape weep every time he was forced to look at his house colors. "Is that Slytherin student wearing green? Oh no, better be reminded of LILY'S EYES!" (Okay, now I'm being silly, but that's the mood I'm in.)

"Harry and Snape were simply never allowed to have a civil conversation with each other."

Yeah, I found it weird how JKR made the decision to "reset" their interaction back to hostile even after providing Harry with information that Snape wasn't downright evil. Not only after PS/SS, but OoTP too. I thought Harry learning that his dad and the Marauders were less than kind to Snape would be the light bulb moment for Harry to start considering that maybe there's more to Snape than meets the eye. It kind of happened...until Sirius died and then it was back to blaming Snape for everything.

I didn't expect the two of them to have a heart-to-heart session in the middle of school. That would've been too much for either of them, especially for a distrustful and bitter man like Snape. Too much bad blood for that to work. But, as I said before, I did expect a confrontation in DH and was let down when JKR chose to wrap things up between them in a convenient manner: kill Snape, have Harry see the memories, show Snape was working for DD, and...that's it. No conflict, no difficult choices, no closure. It would've been more profound to me if Harry forgave (or at least learned to understand) Snape while the man was still breathing, but oh well.

"People on the Internet have mocked Snape x Female Character fanfics for years, but at least in those fanfics, those female characters, you know, LIKE Snape?"

I'm sure the average fanfic writer would do a better job of convincing me of Snape/OC than JKR did with Snape/Lily. And having Lily call Snape "Sev" was very fanfic-y. The whole concept of poor unattractive geeky boy in love with middle-class pretty popular girl is cheesier than most fanfics I've read.

"She was, just not flaws and a personality that I think JKR intended."

I agree. Readers can interpret Lily having flaws through her behavior in the text, but that wasn't JKR's overall intention. And I never quite got what set Lily apart from other mothers who choose to die for their children. It's something any decent parent would do for their child.

As for Ginny: I was never a fan of Harry/Ginny. I understood the appeal of Ron/Hermione, and at least the two of them got 7 books of build-up, but H/G? Ginny went from being an ordinary little sister to a hot, popular, and feisty Quidditch player with minimal page time. Harry barely acknowledged her existence aside from rescuing her in CoS and conversing with her in OoTP, but by HBP, the chest monster took over and Ginny was his ultimate soul mate.

I do think that JKR wanted Harry/Ginny to be James/Lily Version 2.0. So Ginny had to be made "worthy" of Harry by becoming a fiery, sassy, and athletic witch. Well, sassy enough to be cool but not cool enough to tag along with the Golden Trio and be as important as them. She was regulated to Harry's love interest as Lily was James'.