Snape - Half Blood/Half Prince? R.A.B. Snapes true father?

[Peter Whitehead]

1) I’m convinced that Snape is not a half-blood Prince but a Half Blood Prince, meaning half Blood and half Prince, meaning his real father was a true blood wizard named Blood.

Clues:

Snape calls Lily Evans a mudblood in a manner inconsistent with him being one himself.

Snape was a Death Eater, again suggesting that he may be true blood.
Hermione said she’d found ‘a tiny announcement about Eileen Prince marrying a man called Tobias Snape, and then later an announcement saying she’d given birth’; this strikes me as odd wording – why not ‘they had a child’ or similar, and how much later was this announcement?

Hermione goes on to say ‘So … I was sort of right, Snape must have been proud of being “half a Prince”’. This is the real give away clue – was

Snape proud to be mudblood, or proud to be true blood, i.e. “half a Blood”?

We also know that Tobias Snape was not a good husband/father so perhaps he knew that Severus wasn’t really his son?

Questions:

If this is true why did Snape keep it secret? Did Eileen tell him about his real father? Perhaps she asked him to keep it secret, or perhaps he didn’t want to discredit his mother in any way, or be known as an illegitimate child?

Did he let Voldemort and/or the Death Eaters know of his true blood lineage when he joined them?

Why didn’t Blood marry Eileen?
Did Blood even know he had a son?
Is Blood still alive, and if not when/how did he die?
Blood would have been from Dumbledores generation, did they know each other.
Was Blood good or bad? He would have pre-dated Voldemort but could have joined him later.
Did Snape join the Death Eaters because his father had?
Did his father change sides and try to destroy the horcruxes? If so why?
Did Severus help his father get to the locket horcrux in much the same way that Harry helped Dumbledore? If not who?
Does Snape have half brothers/sisters or other Blood/Prince relatives? Was the laughing girl in the broomstick memory a mudblood half sister?

2) I suspect that Snape’s father, Blood is, or was, R.A.B.

No real clues I just think it fits JKR's style better than it being Regulus Black.

3) Snape had a teenage infatuation for Lily Evans.

He never did anything about it but jealousy was a large part of his feelings towards James Potter. Snape turned against Voldemort when he killed Lily because he still loved her and because he felt guilty about his part in her death. Snape’s attitude to Harry is coloured by his physical resemblance to James, but Harry’s eyes remind him of Lily. Snape has to maintain his cover as a Voldemort follower; this combines with his more emotive response make Snape’s relationship with Harry complex. Nevertheless he protects and guides Harry at crucial moments.

4) If Snape is a good guy then why does he kill Dumbledore?

Either Dumbledore willingly sacrifices his life to maintain and deepen Snape’s cover as a double agent, or Dumbledore isn’t dead.

Clues:

Snape hesitates during the Unbreakable Vow – perhaps thinking of a loophole in what he was being asked to do?

Hagrid overhears Snape and Dumbledore arguing, Snape “didn’ wan’ ter do it any more” but “Dumbledore told him flat out he'd agreed ter do it an' that was all there was to it”. I take this to mean that Snape’s plan is risky and he is offering to die (by not going through with the Unbreakable Vow) rather than kill Dumbledore.

I believe Snape must have killed Dumbledore or else the Unbreakable Vow would have killed Snape.

In the US edition Dumbledore tells Draco “He cannot kill you if you are already dead”; I wonder if this can be extended to ‘It’s impossible to die completely if you’re already partly dead’.

What if Dumbledore’s blackened and withered hand was ‘dead’, left or prepared that way with Snape’s help as part of their plan. I think they hoped, but were not absolutely sure that this would allow Dumbeldore to die but be re-born.

I think the initial description of the hand being “his flesh had been burned away” may be significant, together with the fact that Dumbledore’s patronus is a phoenix and the nature of the end of the funeral - white flames obscure the body & Harry thinks he sees a phoenix fly away. Could Dumbledore have been re-born from his ashes in the same way that Fawkes was after being hit by the AK curse? If so why wasn’t Dumbledore found as baby at the bottom of the tower? Well perhaps Aberforth could have taken his place by the time they find him, having taken the Draught of Living Death. If this is true then we will see Dumbledore again, probably as a younger man?

Another possibility is that Fawkes was concealed within Dumbledore’s clothing and took the AK curse, but this doesn’t explain why Snape didn’t die for breaking the Unbreakable Vow (but there are other theories about inherent loopholes in the vow itself, e.g. relating to whether Dumbledore’s death is ‘necessary’).

[Simatra]

Hmmm,... You've been thinking a lot about this, haven't you? First I want to welcome you. Second, I believe your theory has it's ups and downs. The RAB thing, I like it. It's unexpected, you have some very good points about it too. If Blood was Snapes real father though:

1) He would be a good guy (or at least that's what it leads too) and I'm not a big fan of the whole Snape's a Good Guy thing.
2) If he knew about the Blood father, does DD know?
3) where's the RA? we have the B. But what about RA?

Then I'm not so sure I understand your whole Lily thing.

Why does he kill DD? I have no clue, I wish DD wasn't dead, but I truely believe he is. Sorry to disappoint you.

[Peter Whitehead]

Hi Simatra - thanks for responding and the welcome. I’ve not been involved in a forum before so I hope everyone is patient with any blunders I make.

I had the 'Snape’s father was named Blood' idea when I first read the book two years ago and having searched Google and forums/blogs for it on and off since I thought I should get it out there before book 7 comes out. I’ve re-read OP & HBP again recently and still like this idea.

The thought that R.A.B. might be Blood was a wild leap from there. I’ve looked hard for clues to the R & A but can’t find any so I’d agree this is more of a guess than a deduction. As you say he would be a good guy if he was trying to destroy Voldemort’s horcruxes, but he could have changed sides (like Snape?)

I’d also agree that Snape being a good guy is the obvious twist, almost so obvious it isn’t a twist at all, and it would be nice if it turns to be more complicated. There’s been a lot of thinking on that subject already, so I doubt if the clues I’ve spotted would be new to anyone, but I’m fairly sure that Dumbledore’s trust in Snape was not misplaced. Dumbledore obviously has reasons for this trust and these might include knowledge of Snape's true parentage, but that’s just speculation.

I’m torn on whether Dumbledore will make an appearance of some sort in book 7 but I think it’s likely and I quite like the idea that it will be as a young man. I know its partly wishful thinking.

If however Dumbledore has been dead for a while then perhaps he bumps into Sirius before he’s re-born? Also, what would happen if Harry finds Sirius’ two-way mirror and tosses it through the arch/veil – I think this will happen in book 7 and Harry will thus be able to talk to Sirius. And is Sirius really dead in the normal sense of the word, or just ‘with the dead’ or ‘in the land of the dead’? So a little more wishful thinking can get me Sirius back too!

[Simatra]

My thoughts with Sirius are: how can you die in the endless abbis? And wow, you just told me your BAO life history!

[Run Away!!!]

I think the Blood thing is a good idea, its definitely more unexpected that Regulas Black and I like that.
And Mr Whitehead, you do have some very interesting ideas there..

[Simatra]

Yes, and for future advise. i've make a topic for each of your idea's. That way one doesn't get lost in this topic. This one can be for the idea of Blood RAB/Snape.

[GodrictheGriffon]

I like it, too. but how do we know that his father was a bad one?
And welcome to BaO!

[Simatra]

How do we know? We don't. this is theroies Godric, the place of guesswork.

[FawkesthePhoenix]

hmm..... i like the rab idea, it's surprising, but if you look back, you'll find that it's completly probable. just JK's style.

BTW, welcome to BaO!

[Peter Whitehead]

Thanks to everyone for the welcome to BaO messages. You're a friendly lot.

I take Simatra's point about too many topics - sorry! I will find existing threads for other stuff; the Blood RAB/Snape angle is probably my only original idea anyway.

Godric - The idea that Tobias Snape was a poor husband and father comes most directly from OP26 (Pages 521 & 522 in the UK edition). Harry sees a Snape memory of a family scene and an abusive hook nosed man - generally taken to be his father.

[Simatra]

Yes, so it never confurms that he was Tobis Snape, it could be anyone. In the world of JKR nothing is a coinisidence! CONSTATE VIGILANCE!
So if he was snapes father, was he a squib? a Wizard? A Muggle?

[Peter Whitehead]

I agree, it's just a theory.

HBP30, P594UK - "Tobias Snape was a Muggle from what it said in the Prophet."

[Simatra]

Okay. well that answers that but what about Mr. Blood? Any guesses?

[youknowwho]

Well, since snape obviously took pride in his lineage from Mr. Blood I think it's safe to asume that he was a wizard or at least snape believed him to bee one.

BTW welcome to BAO

[Phoenix in the Ashes]

I’m convinced that Snape is not a half-blood Prince but a Half Blood Prince, meaning half Blood and half Prince, meaning his real father was a true blood wizard named Blood.

Except that he is a Half-Blood Prince, not a Half Blood Prince.

Snape himself says it with the hyphen, and the hyphen is also in the title of the book..

If it wasn't, then you might have something. But it is. The half-blood is a recurring theme in the story. Voldemort was one... Harry's maternal side of the family is virtually all muggle.

I believe the Prince is more of a memorial to his mother, whom he dearly loved. Possibly she's the only person that has ever shown Snape love. But why Half-Blood? Why would he wish to show off his paternal side, when his father is supposed to be cruel and abusive?

Well, he wouldn't. I believe Tobias Snape was none of those things. That's the only feasible explanation for the Half-Blood part of his name, and why he would want to advertise his muggle half.

Maybe Eileen Prince wasn't so loving toward his father? Maybe Tobias was just driven to an abusive state by his witch wife? Perhaps, like Merope Gaunt did to Tom Riddle, she used a love potion on him, and when she stopped its usage, he rebelled?

It's a memorial to both his parents.
The "Mr Blood" theory disregards the small details, namely the hyphen. In these books, you can't disregard the small details.

There is a hyphen there.