So many questions unaswered about Snape...

[Phinea Rogue]

Wasn't JKR supposed to be giving us answers in the HBP book? Well, we've been given plenty of information on Voldemort, but apart from that, she's managed to completely confuse us with Snape (I bet she's having a wonderful time now reading all those theories!). Now I don't want to speak about whether he's evil or not, but about his family.

In OotP we can see little Severus crying in the corner while his parents are arguing or rather - his father is yelling at his mother who is cowering from him. Many people assumed that Tobias Snape (as we now know his name) was an abusive, aggresive husband and father. But... he was a Muggle! That really came a surprise to me. I would have thought that Tobias was a powerful wizard terrorizing his family with his magic. And that if Snape is not a pure-blood, than it's his mother who was Muggle-born or a Muggle. But it's Tobias Snape and he was just a Muggle, not even a Muggle-born wizard. Why would Eileen, who was a pure-blood, marry him? Was she in love with him? How did they manage to meet each other if he was not a wizard, they lived in perfectly different worlds. And Snape... do you think that he started using magic against his father? We have quite many similarities between him and Voldemort. Did Snape hate his Muggle father too?

And the Prince family, the pure-bloods... I can imagine them when talking about Eileen, that they called Severus Snape "the Half-Blood Prince" --> to distinguish that he didn't really belong to them.

[Stumpy]

I think that could be the very reason that LV probably trusts him. They come from the same situation, yet Snape only began to use his magic in a bad way to protect his mum, which although wrong is kinda noble. but LV used it to scare and control, not out of love for anyone

[selene]

i don't know, but that orphanage does not seem a very loving environ to grow up in. besides, his (lv) mum was dead before he could try to protect her and everything so ...

[Mistress Siana]

Severus's backstory spoiled all my fanfiction ideas, sob!

Anyway, I was surprised beyond expression that Snape was a half-blood with a Muggle father, for the very reasons you put down, Phinea. Thinking about it, I guess the reason Eileen didn't defend herself was probably the same reason Merope stopped using magic. Possibly the reason their marriage went wrong was the fact that Tobias Snape couldn't cope with his wife and son both being magic, perhaps he felt inferior and looked for ways to cover up for it. Maybe Eileen didn't defend herself using magic because she was afraid to lose her husband. And Severus grew up to hate his father for that, practising magic even more. I'd even go further...considering all the stunning parallels between Severus and Tom Riddle, I actually wonder if Snape possibly killed his father as well? Mabe Voldemort persuaded him to do so?
I was honestly surprised to see how much Voldemort actually seems to like Snape. I've always said he was more than a simple follower, but Voldemort's favourite? Wow. In my opinion it's strange and also ironic to see how similar Snape's situation is on both sides. He's trusted by noone except for the 'leaders', Dumbledore and Voldemort. Is the story he told Bellatrix enough for Voldemort, or is there more they share? Okies, I'm ranting now, and this is off topic.

What I found interesting is what JKR said in one of her late interviews. She was asked whether Snape had ever been loved by someone, and her answer was that he had, and that this made him more guilty in a way than even Voldemort. Any comments on that? I believe this refers to his family, rather than to a love affair or whatever.

[Phinea Rogue]

That's what I thought too, I can't imagine him being in love or in a love affair and I don't believe in Lily/Snape theory. My guess is that it was Eileen who loved him, we can see her in Snape's memory so she must have been alive during his (at least early) childhood. Voldemort had no mother who would love him...

There go my fanfiction ideas too, I've never thought that he's not a pure-blood and if I ever imagined him as half-blood, it was always the mother who was the Muggle or the Muggle-born, not his father.

[Lelie]

maybe that was in reference to dd? he must have loved him (platonically of course) to give him the benefit of the doubt like that. it would certainly make snape guiltier than lv if he'd killed the only person that really loved him.

[highsorcerer]

Snape seems to have sold his trust to a lot of people, including the two most powerful wizards of his time - Dumbledore and Voldemort. He indeed preyed on Dumbledore's greatest weakness - a trust in people, and a belief in redemption. Sad to say, Harry has no such belief. He never trusted Snape, and he never trusted Draco Malfoy. Despite his friends, he continued that distrust in book six, and in the end Draco ended up on the wrong side (though he may be redemable) and Snape murdered Dumbledore. I don't know if he is redemnable, but he sold a lot when he killed Dumbledore.

HighSorcerer

[glamourweaver]

Snape seems to have sold his trust to a lot of people, including the two most powerful wizards of his time - Dumbledore and Voldemort. He indeed preyed on Dumbledore's greatest weakness - a trust in people, and a belief in redemption. Sad to say, Harry has no such belief. He never trusted Snape, and he never trusted Draco Malfoy. Despite his friends, he continued that distrust in book six, and in the end Draco ended up on the wrong side (though he may be redemable) and Snape murdered Dumbledore. I don't know if he is redemnable, but he sold a lot when he killed Dumbledore.

HighSorcerer

Unless of course he was ment to kill Dumbledore if it came to it. Dumbledore might have been begging Snape to go through with it & kill him. If he hadn't then Dumbledore would still have been killed by another one of the Death-Eaters (or even worst, Draco would have become a murderer) & this way Snape can move deeper into Voldemort's trust, not break his Unbreakable Vow he took to maintain his cover, & use his added standing to protect the Malfoys. I'll bet you anything Snape is going to die in the next book betraying Voldemort in some way that aides Harry (or at least buys him time).

Back to the original topic, I can definetly see Tobias Snape being an abusive controling Muggle over his Witch wife & son. Think about a more violent Darren from "Bewitched" if you will. This could certainly push Snape to become a Muggle-hater like Voldemort. Their stories stand in contrast with Harry by the nature of their similarities. Harry endured the worst sort of Muggle upbringing & could have easily ended up a Muggle-hater like Voldemort or Snape, but instead by virtue of his strength of character he remains devoid of bigotted attitudes and judges all others by virtue of their character, not their heritage or magical capabilities.

Harry stands in contrast with Voldemort & Snape as a Half-Blood who endured Muggle neglect and/or abuse in his upbringing, just as the Weaslies stand in contrast with the Malfoys as examples of Purebloods without Muggle contact in their upbringing (just as above, one ends up open hearted, while the other ends up closed & bigoted).

[Imelyen]

The difference between Merope and snape's mother, though, is that Merope was surrouned by other wizards. I'm willing to bet anything that Snape's father wasn't just some ordinary Muggle...could have been a vampire! ( i will forever cling to the hope that snape is half-vamp)

[Athena Appleton]

Snape seems to have sold his trust to a lot of people, including the two most powerful wizards of his time - Dumbledore and Voldemort. He indeed preyed on Dumbledore's greatest weakness - a trust in people, and a belief in redemption. Sad to say, Harry has no such belief. He never trusted Snape, and he never trusted Draco Malfoy. Despite his friends, he continued that distrust in book six, and in the end Draco ended up on the wrong side (though he may be redemable) and Snape murdered Dumbledore. I don't know if he is redemnable, but he sold a lot when he killed Dumbledore.

HighSorcerer

Just a note: Rowling has made it pretty clear that Malfoy won't be redeemable, but it's possible he's lost his respect for Voldemort and the Death Eaters... But he'll probably die before he gets a chance to actually be redeemed.

[Mistress Siana]

I wondered whether there might be another significance of the parallels between Snape and Tom Riddle/Voldemort.

When Voldemort applied for the DADA job for the second time, Dumbledore said he deeply regretted he was no longer able to 'frighten him with a burning wardrobe and force him to make repayment for his crimes.' He seemed to think he failed Tom, or failed at stopping Tom from going the way he chose. He kind of seems to regret having lost track of him, or not having kept a close enough eye on him. I have the feeling that Dumbledore regards the fight against Voldemort as a kind of personal quest, as Tom Riddle used to be a student of his, a 'lost' child, sotospeak.

Now there's Snape, with a history remarkably similar to that of Voldemort, already deep into the Dark Arts himself, and showing a similar inclination to resort to cruelty and abuse of power. Maybe Dumbledore did not only want to give Snape a second chance, but also himself? I chance to sort of repair the damage his former student had caused, and this is why he wanted to trust Snape so badly. He might have been afraid to make the same mistake twice. After all, both Voldemort and Snape wanted to teach DADA, and Dumbledore refused the job to both of them. However, while he sent Voldemort away, he offered Snape to teach Potions instead.
Could Dumbledore's trust in Snape be explained with a bad conscience?

[Phinea Rogue]

Now there's Snape, with a history remarkably similar to that of Voldemort, already deep into the Dark Arts himself, and showing a similar inclination to resort to cruelty and abuse of power. Maybe Dumbledore did not only want to give Snape a second chance, but also himself? I chance to sort of repair the damage his former student had caused, and this is why he wanted to trust Snape so badly. He might have been afraid to make the same mistake twice. After all, both Voldemort and Snape wanted to teach DADA, and Dumbledore refused the job to both of them. However, while he sent Voldemort away, he offered Snape to teach Potions instead.
Could Dumbledore's trust in Snape be explained with a bad conscience?

It could be explained like that, I think. But then it's a bit strange that he wasn't keeping an eye on him already when Snape was at school, he could have had much more opportunities to deal with him somehow, maybe to attempt to "change" him. If it's Dumbledore's bad conscience, then it's understandable why he trusted Snape so much, he simple wanted to trust him.

[darkcloak]

At least now we know why Dumbledore would not let Snape be the Defence Against the Dark-Arts teacher.

Nothing to do with Snape being 'tempted' but the fact that Voldemort cursed the position, so that if Snape had been allowed the role, he would no longer be at Hogwarts with Dumbledore.

[Athena Appleton]

Could that be a sort of subconcious thing against Snape then? Dumbledore subconciously knew things weren't right, so he gave him the cursed position? I definately think it would have been subconcious, but if you're right, and Dumbledore hired DADA teachers knowing they wouldn't last, he apparently didn't care if Snape was still there the next year.

[Augusta Longbottom]

Now there's Snape, with a history remarkably similar to that of Voldemort, already deep into the Dark Arts himself, and showing a similar inclination to resort to cruelty and abuse of power.

Are you assuming this or do we find out at some point that Snape really was showing an inclination to resort to cruelty and abuse of power prior to DD hiring him? I don't recall having read this, but I haven't reread most of the books in a while.

Edited to add: I'm such a dumb*ss! LOL! Of course we saw an inclination to resort to cruelty...how quickly I forgot about sectumsempra (sp?) and other notes in the HBP potions book. Duh!

Could that be a sort of subconcious thing against Snape then? Dumbledore subconciously knew things weren't right, so he gave him the cursed position?

Could be, but I doubt it. Doesn't it seem realistic that all the teachers would also know the DaDA job is cursed after all this time? I am still of the mindset that Snape is still good and part of DD's secret plan with Snape included being placed in the DaDA postion despite the curse.