Snape

[Un'Anima Persa]

Snape is probably one of the characters I am most interested in.
I believed for the most part that he was working with Dumbledore, because Dumbledore always seemed to trust him so much.

[teyannanecole]

It is extremely dificult to categorize Severus as "good" or "bad" because he is a complex character who is playing a dual role. If you look at the characters as being on two different sides as opposed to being of two different natures. Dumbledore was was leading many in the fight against Voldemort which Snape eventually joined because of his love of Lily. After her death he remained on the Dumbledore side for two reasons, in memory of Lily (to protect her child) and also because he promised Dumbledore he would. Snape is a man of his word and throughout the series never broke a promise no matter what.

I think Snape's horrific attitude and behavior is due to the fact that he is complete heartbroken. He came from a disfunctional family and yearned to find niche within which he would fit. His parents faught all of the time and being so young I"m sure he just wanted a happy home. Unfortunately being raised by a Slyterin (I'm assuming his mom was a Slytherin since he came to Howarts thinking Slytherin was the best house) he thought that house was the niche he'd been searching for. Another fact to make him more of a mystery is that like Harry Snape had a choice Gryffindor or Slytherin. It's obvious which choice he made, and maybe in latter years he regretted it because of the influence his house made on him (catering to his fascination witht he dark arts side).

Another reason why Snape is heart broken is because he never had the opportunity to be with Lily. They were best friends on the verge of becoming more when it all ended dramatically because of poor decisions he made trying to impress her. Of course this hurt and disappoint became hate towards James, Sirius and Harry. Snape hates Harry so much because he is Harry Potter not Harry Snape, and looks like James with Lily's eyes and not Severus with Lily's eyes. Snape targets Harry so much because he's a constant reminder of a love lost, and more importantly lost to another who threw it back in his face every chance he got.