First off, a well written character does not mean they are a good person.
You can like a character while also accepting that they are flawed, as it's implied that being a fan of a character doesn’t mean you think they’re a flawless angel. I like this character, knowing he’s not a great person, because his character being interesting and intriguing to read.
Snape is interesting because he is complex. He might be a jerk, but he was also playing a very dangerous game. He was selfish, and cruel, but also cared very deeply about the person he cared for, that complexity made him interesting, and this is what that made him a well written character.
He was never the perfect guy that you wanted him to be and it’s conflicted.
It's fascinating how the writer managed to make such a complex character in the Harry Potter universe that made not all but some of us feel that they ought to be pitied now and then despite their flaws.
Eh I like Voldemort, but that doesn't mean I'm a pureblood supremacist. Basilisk was also quite interesting, but I have no desire to watch children be petrified by a monster.
Severus, abusive household, miserable child, bullied by his peers, lost someone he loved that later became obsessive, because of his own decision and he carried it till death.
The guy was a total jerk but some of the circumstance shaped him to be a miserable old bat even in his adulthood, thus it can be reasonable that he wasn't inherently evil. He did have a streak of honour and bravery in him that didn't come out till Dumbledore guided him, however everyone is entitled to their own opinion on this argument.
He didn't become a saint but you do recognise the tragedy of a character that could have turned out different if he wasn't blinded by hatred in his youth.
Alright, no one's denying that some of the stuff he did was nothing but plain sadistic. You'd think someone who had been hurt and bullied like him would learn to show a little compassion. But he didn't.
I think that’s quite a realistic portrayal though, a lot of the time where the cruelest bullies are people who have been bullied themselves, or abusers even who have been abused, doesn’t mean it’s acceptable but there definitely is a cycle of abuse.
Is there anyone who never did something inexcusable? He did inexcusable things. But he also sacrificed so much for Harry and for everyone.
Most people who like Severus, is not saying that he's a good person. He's not a good person, that's the entire point y'all can't figure out when you see a Severus fan and then those who decide to come at them for liking a character like that, you think a person with glaring flaws can't be good or admirable, and bring up his every single awful act on a post where someone said that Severus was a redeemable person, and even make things up. Or act like you were the victim of his bullying yourself, might would as well dance on his grave.
He's not a good person, that's why he was the perfect candidate to go undercover in a fascist terrorist organization for 17 damn years sitting next to the world's best mind reader and most lethal killer.
A good dude would've been found out, but Snape's a mastermind and his method is how he was able to pull one over on the effing Dark Lord for so long. He's legit.
You don't need a good person for that mission. You need someone so effing committed that the Dark Lord himself couldn't even see through it. Even readers were fooled, and that being said, you were fooled.
That's commitment, that's flaming black ops, sheer flaming will.
Stop trying to impose your weak morals on a character that doesn't need them. Not trying to be rude, but you 10-ply gryffin-slyther-raven-puffs wouldn't have lasted an entire day as undercover double agent death eaters, you'd be dead inside a weekend. But Severus Snape flipping did it and lasted longer than most of you people that would've been alive. You would've gotten Harry and the entire Order of the Phoenix killed, this is why you would never survive eye-to-eye with Voldemort, oh well never meant to sound offensive like this.
He's not a good person. But he was the right person for the job and no one suspected a damn thing because he flipping committed, even if it meant hurting your feelings. Even if it meant he would give his life for the cause. He infiltrated, spied, and fed misinformation to Voldemort and other Death Eaters.
How about when people ignore that fact that Snape bullied Neville so bad that Neville’s worst fear is him, and not Bellatrix who tortured his parents to insanity or Voldemort her master, or even a generic death eater, but his teacher. He was a bad person, and the only person in the world who could complete that job.
Now saying he was a disgusting jerk that bullied children and abused toads, you forgot how Dumbledore covered-up an attempted murder and the silenced the victim with the threat of expulsion, McGonagall locked a student outside the Gryffindor Dorms into the halls, while a supposed mass-murderer was on the loose. Even the Marauders didn't do anything bad because Snape fought back so he was never a victim of bullying or whatever the excuse of the day is. But hey, Snape saying cruel things is the real crime here /s
Now saying he was selfish and would have remained a Death Eater that's willing to slaughter people for their blood status if Voldemort decided to go after the Longbottom instead and never kill the person he was obsessive for, that's literally the entire point of his redemption arc.
But oh well, for me this is the whole argument. Morality of a situation shouldn’t depend on whether or not you had a high school crush on someone, right is right, and wrong is wrong.
He did horrific things and acted in an objectively reprehensible way, then one day it all caught up to him and he was forced to deal with the consequences of his every single choice and action where the object of his obsessive affection was destroyed. He was absolutely broken over what he had done and the knowledge that he could have prevented it. He volunteered to spend the remainder of his life in abject misery and did whatever was required of him to at least partially atone.
He hated where he is and hated what he had done, and he completely loathed the fact that he had to save Harry, the reincarnation of James, the person who ruined his life for the most part, the embodiment of his deepest love rejecting him, and the catalyst of his life of power as a Death Eater disappearing.
He subjected himself to the misery for much longer than a decade which none of the people who's saying he was a selfish person would have survived or lasted more than a day. He risked being tortured and killed. He rejected his position of power in the new world, then when it came down to it he gave his life.
He wasn't a likable, or even a tolerable person, but he also wasn't intended to be. You're not supposed to feel good about his character, but you're supposed to empathise with his suffering and realise that there was a reason that he acted the way he did.
You guys are ignoring his entire character arc and trying to place him into these binary boxes of good or wicked while in fact, he was always grey and a villainous anti hero.
I don't know where people get this idea that whoever that's a fan of Snape ever said he's a good person, from what I've seen they do agree with that he's a bully and a bad person, but they like him cause he's a complex character, and broken as well who probably doesn't even want to be a teacher and he clearly hated himself. His fight against Voldemort was completely personal and yet without him the good guys probably would've lost.
Not including them who in fact does, stop pretending you guys don't get along with us because you have the moral high ground over us. Oh well, cruelty is your very best friend as long as it is used against someone you deem an acceptable target, because even here you don't have to target other people you do know nothing about for liking the wrong fictional character.
It's not that Snape is a good person, but he is however a good character, and there's an ocean of difference between the two. He was written very well. Ergo, I like his characterisation and development.
Who's saying he was the bravest and a good person with a wonderful moral compass? Can you please take me to these people, where are they? I don't know where to find them, oh no.
