Snape: The Real Protagonist of the HP Series

[harmony_bites]

Found this article via sylvanawood's post in dh_oh_shit. It’s chock full of spoilers, so don’t read it unless you’ve finished Deathly Hallows, but it expresses eloquently and succinctly something I think a lot of us feel about Snape.

Missing from ‘Harry Potter’ - a real moral struggle

Oh, and how does Rowling feel about Snape now?

Comments

[harmony_bites]

Although in a way I jumped the gun. I just saw an exact quote of what JKR said now on Snape in an article:

Confused by Potter?

“I don’t really see him as a hero,” Rowling said. “He’s not an unequivocally good character … He’s a complicated man.”

Rowling said Snape is bitter, spiteful and a bully, but he is also immensely brave and capable of love.

“As we know from the epilogue, Harry really sees the good in Snape ultimately … there’s redemption,” Rowling said. “I wanted there to be redemption and I wanted there to be forgiveness. And Harry forgives, even knowing that till the end Snape loathes him unjustifiably.”

I'd still say Snape is a flawed hero--dark, but still a hero, but I can't otherwise argue with that. And someone corrected a misconception of mine--Hugo is Rose's younger brother, so whenever Hermione got married, at least she was no teen mom, so it's not as bad as I thought.

But yeah, the Unforgivables... After all the fuss made, and Snape himself saying to Harry "no unforgivables like you" Harry casts Imperio and Crucio. Based on what we're shown as opposed to what can be assumed, Harry's darker by far than Snape.