So after my rant about my favorite characters the other day, this post came to mind. Because out of all those characters I'd say probably my favorite is Severus Snape, my favorite character of the Harry Potter series. Especially when Alan Rickman is in mind because he gave such a stellar performance of that character.
I find that I'm not alone in liking Snape. And why should I be? He has a dry sense of humor and a mysterious edge about him... and he switches sides way more than any character ever. Honestly. I think J.K. Rowling just enjoyed throwing him back and forth like that to confuse the readers.
First Snape is bad because he's mean and Harry thinks he wants the philosopher's stone.
But it turns out he was actually protecting Harry the whole time and VOLDEMORT was behind it!
Then in book four it turns out he was a death eater and might still be helping Voldemort.
But it turns out it was Barty Crouch Jr. Disguised as Mad eyed moody and Snape really IS on the good side.
Then in Book 6, Snape kills Dumbledore. Surely he's bad now right?
Nope, in Book 7 the entire thing is revealed and Snape is truly a good guy... OR IS HE?
Yeah. Yeah, he is. But readers everywhere were struggling to figure him out all across the series. Which of course is a mark of a complex character and what makes me love him. He played is role so well that he had the readers confused, therefore it made sense that Voldemort would trust him.
I myself was in denial when I read Dumbledore's death. And when everyone was saying "Well, guess Snape really was evil" I was defending him. Why? Because it didn't make sense that after flip flopping Snape back and forth between good and evil so many times that J.K Rowling would keep him evil. That wouldn't have been a fitting end to his character. Snape is one case where if he had been a straight up villain he would have been less complex. Plus we wouldn't have stumbled on one of my favorite themes in literature.
What is it? Well, I'll tell you.
Redemption.
I love redemption, wherever it is, just so long as it makes sense. I know there are plenty of cynics out there who say that people don't change and once you're bad you're always bad but I've never adopted that point of view. And I'm pretty cynical.
Nothing gives me greater joy (OK maybe some things but, you know) than seeing a character you thought was all bad do something genuinely good. Like when Darth Vader saved Luke from the Emperor. Or when Smegal banished his demons and really tried to help Frodo (Granted he succumbed to Golem again later which was probably one of the saddest things ever, but more on that in another post)
Because I do believe in forgiveness and redemption and change. People are constantly changing because of their environment. Often times evil characters are the product of terrible and heart breaking circumstances. Seeing a "bad guy" triumph in spite of that makes me happy, and it almost assuredly makes them my favorite character in the book.
The sad part about Snape's redemption was he was already dead when it happened and I was beat my head against my bed going "WHY, WHY, WHY!" The chapter where Harry finds out everything about Snape is my favorite chapter in all of the Harry Potter Books. I practically have it memorized because I read it so much.
Not to mention that after I finished the book I went running around to all my friends who doubted Snape going "HAHAHAHA! I was right!" (Including my brother. Best day of my life)
In these next few days I'll be going over my other favorite themes in fiction. Until then!
-Authoress Anonymous
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