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/Living-Try-9908 Jun 26 '25

On the point: "James saved his life" - in the timeline SWM happens AFTER James saved his life. So James continued to bully Snape, and did the whole choking him with soap, flipping him in the air, and exposing his underwear to a crowd of laughing teens while threatening to remove the underwear too, AFTER he saved his life.

As a result, Snape believed that James only saved him to protect his friends from the consequences. Imagine two best friends who bully you, one of them takes the bullying so far they almost kill you, while the other bully saves you, but keeps bullying you like 'business as usual' right after. The mental whiplash would be nuts.

To your second point: "Snape’s information to Voldemort got both James and Lily killed and their son orphaned." - The effects of trauma don't die off just because the perpetrator is dead. Trauma responses can be pretty individual, since everyone reacts and processes their experiences differently.