You may hate the character or love it, but the importance of Severus Snape in the series cannot be denied. He is one of the most controversial characters of the series and even JKR has called him a ‘grey character’. Alan Rickman became Snape on screen and his performance is one of the best performances of all time. These are some of the lesser known facts about the Half-Blood Prince.
10. Severus Snape’s wand:
As we all know Severus was extremely skilled at dark arts, potion making and occlumency and a skilled wizard requires a good wand. Snape’s skills helped him fool Voldemort for years and that is not an easy thing. His original wand’s specifications were not mentioned in the books but by his excellent command at magic, we can deduce that it must have been a powerful one.
9. He wasn’t a good mentor/ teacher:
We love Snape but cannot deny that he has his dark shades too. As a teacher, Snape was sometimes abusive to his students (especially Gryffindors) and he was too partial towards the Slytherin. There are many instances where he bullied Harry, Hermione, and Neville and gave unnecessary points to Slytherin house.
8. Snape fooled Voldemort:
Snape may have been the bravest man but he was also extremely powerful. The potions master was a brilliant occlumence that let him keep the biggest secret and fool Voldemort for such a long time. He was a big threat to Voldemort from the beginning and could have been a match for Voldemort if he got the chance to fight him.
7. Snape’s obstacle puzzle:
When the trio goes through the trapdoor guarded by Fluffy, they find many obstacles before they reach the sorcerer’s stone. Almost every teacher has put an obstacle to guard the stone to the best of their abilities. Snape being the potions master puts a table of different potions which contain poison and what not and Harry had to drink one to go through. Hermione comes to the rescue and cracks the code to find the right potion!
6. He was a good healer:
Severus Snape had many extraordinary abilities and one is that he was good at healing magical maladies caused by dark magic. A good example of this is that only he could help Dumbledore when his hand had been cursed and also knew exactly how to heal Draco when he was struck by the Sectumsempra curse by Harry.
5. Lily hated his interest in dark arts:
Lily and Severus had always been close and Lily really cared for Snape and told him not to walk the path of dark arts. She was heartbroken when she found out Snape had chosen the path of dark arts and even became a death eater. She turned away from him because of this reason and also the company he started keeping.
4. He was the only death eater who could produce a Patronus:
Death eaters can generally not produce a Patronus as it is a manifestation of positive energy and thoughts which they are incapable of producing. Severus Snape is the only death eater in the series who can produce a Patronus and his Patronus is a doe that is the same as Lily’s.
3. The bullied turned into a bully:
Snape was bullied when he was in school and mostly by James Potter and Sirius Black as he often meddled in their stuff. Instead of becoming sensitive about bullying, he turned into one as a grownup. As a teacher he bullied many students and especially the Gryffindor students.
2. He called Lily a mudblood:
Once when James and Sirius played a prank on Snape and bullied him, he was enraged. Lily tried to comfort him but in his rage he called her a ‘mudblood’ and told her he didn’t need her help. This created a huge divide between the two and their friendship almost ended there. He also treated Hermione badly who was also a muggle born and makes us wonder whether he had prejudice against muggle-borns.
1. He was one of the best students at Hogwarts:
Snape was an extremely powerful wizard as we know and he was always good at academics and subjects like potions and DADA. He was so good at potions that he corrected the course book and added extra notes that later helped Harry excel in the subjects. Snape also made many spells on his own including the deathly ‘Sectumspemra’.
