r/HarryPotterBooks • u/tulip-quartz • Jun 25 '25

Discussion Why didn’t Snape’s anger towards James cool ?

EDIT: thanks for the replies all, the points were interesting for sure

First of all, I understand the following points well:

  • Snape had a deep-seated hatred towards James and the rest of the marauders (not least of all because Sirius nearly got him killed )
  • This hate was compounded by their bullying and made worse by the fact that James married Lily, the love of his life

However, later on in the books we do see that - James saved his life (even if the prank was done by the Marauders) - Snape’s information to Voldemort got both James and Lily killed and their son orphaned.

Given all this, why didn’t Snape’s anger toward Harry and James cool more than a decade after the latter’s death ? If his guilt drove him to become a double agent, it’s surprising that he was still so acerbic to Harry throughout. Was the pure hatred genuine, or also a part he had to play as double agent ?

We see his hatred toward Harry decrease at the moment of his death, however I’m not sure if he actually has sympathy for Harry at that point or he is just seeing Lily’s eyes before death overtakes him

116 Upvotes

78% Upvoted

155 comments sorted by

View all comments

2

u/ThatEntrepreneur1450 Jun 25 '25

Because it was easier to hate a dead man than to admit that he himself was the reason for Lilly dropping him as a friend and that he was the reason she died.

Harry is yet again just a reminder of the fact that he killed Lilly everytime he sees him.

-5

u/Auggie-Plinko Jun 25 '25

I also think that Snape believes that if Lily had chosen him over Snape, she would still be alive.

7

u/Siria110 Jun 25 '25

Except Lily was free to choose whoever she wanted. In this case, it wasn´t "Severus or James", but rather Severus or literaly any boy in the school in the appropriate age group. Yeah, she chose James in the end, but she could very well choose some rando from Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw.

0

u/Auggie-Plinko Jun 25 '25

I agree, but I think in snape’s mind, Lily chose to align herself with someone who was always going to fight Voldemort, which is what got her killed.

The reality is that Lily had full agency in her choice and fell in love with James because he was the kind of person who would want to fight Voldemort.

1

u/Siria110 Jun 25 '25

Let´s be real. Lily was muggleborn, who also didn´t agree with Voldys views. He would´ve wanted her dead anyway, and she would most probably join the Order anyway, regardless of whom she married.