Rowling's take on Snape as a non-hero
from MSNBC.com:
>>
Is Snape good or evil?
After seven years at Hogwarts, we finally learn that Severus Snape, albeit somewhat grudgingly, has always been working to protect Harry. But is he really a good person?
“I don’t really see him as a hero,” Rowling said. “He’s not an unequivocally good character … He’s a complicated man.”
>>
I think something Rowling fails to acknowledge is that not all heroes are unequivocally "good." In fact, it's not exactly a necessary qualification, is it? Isn't it a person's humanity (and therefore inherently flawed character) what really makes a person admire him/her when herioc actions are performed?
Edit: Oops, never mind, she gave a different (more thorough?) answer in the Bloomsbury webchat:
Lechicaneuronline: Do you think snape is a hero
J.K. Rowling: Yes, I do; though a very flawed hero. An anti-hero, perhaps. He is not a particularly likeable man in many ways. He remains rather cruel, a bully, riddled with bitterness and insecurity - and yet he loved, and showed loyalty to that love
J.K. Rowling: and, ultimately, laid down his life because of it. That’s pretty heroic!