Why I Trust Severus Snape

Professor Severus Snape, potions master at author J.K. Rowling's fictional Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, frightens us in the way that only a particularly nasty teacher can. No matter how the adult brain reminds us that teachers aren't in reality any more frightening than waiters or receptionists, the child brain insists that they are more terrifying than the most ravenous monsters that ever growled from within a dark closet. That's because, while the ravenous monster - a reminder lodged in the primitive part of our brains of some real ancestral predator - may merely rip us limb from limb, the nasty teacher may rip from us any vestige of self-respect our young minds may have begun to forge. In short, the monster may eat us, but the teacher will humiliate us in front of our classmates, a fate far worse than death and infinitely more repeatable.

That is the primal threat which Professor Snape represents. He activates every childhood terror thought to be safely buried beneath the sands of time. He's vile. He's cruel. He has a record of working with the most dangerous villain ever to darken Rowling's magical world.

And yet, I trust him.

Part of the reason I trust him, a reason which can't be discounted no matter how much I want to be an original thinker and not a follower of a character I admire, is because Albus Dumbledore obviously trusted him. It is of course tempting to believe that Dumbledore's compassion and desire to give his former students a fair shake is misplaced. But in spite of what he allows people to think, Dumbledore is no fool. If he trusts Snape it is because he sees something everyone else is missing.

One would think that, in this day of high-powered marketing and slick, charming, unreliable salespeople, the public would know that things and people are not always what they seem. But for the most part that simply isn't the case. Most people still fall for serpentine charm, even in the face of obvious evidence that a charming person is not being truthful. Charm soothes and most people value it above actual benevolent intent or competence. That's why it's better to "show face" and smile than to simply do a good job at your place of employment. That's why networking and social graces are more valuable than anything you could possibly do to increase your competence.

The converse is true. If someone is not a nice person, we assume that he must be evil. Of course Severus Snape is evil - he dresses in black and snaps at his pupils. His name sounds like "snake," for crying out loud! Yet Rowling has created a world in which things are not always as they seem. Why should Snape be such an open book? Of course he's mean, but a foul temper does not a criminal make. Besides, if you consider Snape's own history, it becomes a little easier to understand why he may not be in the best of moods. Snape is the product of an abusive household, who grew up witnessing his father being cruel to his mother. Add to that the fact that James Potter and his crew were often unspeakably cruel to the young Snape and you may not be so surprised that he doesn't care much for the offspring of his old nemesis. And before you cry foul and insist that Snape should be able to move past all of that, especially since it wasn't Harry's fault, et-cetera, ad infinitum, consider how you felt the last time someone told you that you should be able to move past something.

Snape was an unhappy child who grew into an unhappy man. He was taught at a young age that the world is not a safe place, especially for him. He probably suffers from depression. Perhaps his interest in potions grew from a desire to brew something to help him cope. Perhaps he has an addiction. It is no wonder that he responded when approached by Voldemort's people, when he craved belonging so strongly.

However, he seems to have moved past that to the best of his ability. Perhaps not emotionally, but intellectually. Perhaps he has responded to Dumbledore's willingness to give him another chance, yet can't bring himself to fully embrace the world. Perhaps he is terrified of still more rejection. If my assessment is correct, then he is one of the bravest characters in the entire series, because he is willing to play the part he loathes so much - the part of outsider - to make sure that Dumbledore's plan comes off. He plays the bad guy and "murders" Dumbledore because that is what the old wizard asked him to do. Snape, then, is one of the book's many sacrifices, putting his own head on the chopping block to save a world which has rejected him over and over. And that is where he will find his redemption.

Severus Snape is a meanie, no doubt about it, but he is not entirely what he seems. I believe he has, at some point, become a good man.