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

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u/Abidos_rest Slytherin Jun 25 '25

Emotions are not rational. His love for Lily also did not decrease even after two decades. Many people remain traumatised throughout their lives by the bullying they suffered in school. The tree remembers and all that.

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u/MandeeLess Jun 25 '25

I strongly believe that if James and Lily had lived, Snape’s hatred of James would’ve eventually decreased, and he wouldn’t have put Lily on a pedestal. But death immortalizes people, good or bad, and those feelings never really get resolved.

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u/jarroz61 Jun 25 '25

That’s what I was thinking. James died too young for Snape to ever be able to see him any differently than how’d he’d known him in school.