Character

Snape was once a death-eater and heavily involved in the Dark Arts, even while still at school. According to Dumbledore, Snape became a spy for the good side "at great personal risk to himself" so that the activities of Voldemort could be known. For no reason other than Snape's word that he abhors the Dark Arts and Voldemort, Dumbledore trusts him. Other people believe that there must be another reason because of the strength of Dumbledore's belief. It seems as thought this trust is founded on nothing more than the former when, in the sixth book, Snape's activities reveal him to be double-spy and working for Voldemort. This culminates in his killing of Dumbledore and run from Hogwarts.

On overhearing the first part of the prophecy, it was Snape as a death-eater who originally caused Voldemort to go to Godric's Hollow in search of Harry. However, it was also Snape who prevented the return of Voldemort numerous times by killing neither Harry nor Dumbledore on the many occassions when he had the chance.

Snape is an extremely gifted Legilimens and also skilled at Occlumency. However, Voldemort is supposed to be the most skilled of all wizards in both of these arts. If Snape was a spy for the good side, he would have had to conceal this at all times from Voldemort. If successful, this would make him better occlumency than Voldemort was a Legilimency.

Theories

Nearing the end of "Goblet of Fire," Dumbledore, McGonnagal, and Snape burst into Moody's office, just in time to prevent the imposter Moody - Barty Crouch Junior - from killing Harry. As they stand in the doorway, Harry sees them clearly in the Foe-Glass.

"Harry...saw Albus Dumbledore, Professor Snape and Professor McGonagall looking back at him out of the Foe-Glass."
(Bk 4,pg 589, UK Paperback edition)

"Snape followed him, looking into the Foe-Glass, where his own face was still visible, glaring into the room."
(bk 4, pg 590)

"Dumbledore got up, bent over the man [the Moody imposter, now returned to his original appearance of Barty Crouch Junior] on the floor, and pulled him into a sitting position against the wall beneath the Foe-Glass, in which the reflections of Dumbledore, Snape and McGonagall were still glaring down upon them all."
(Bk 4, pg 593)

Why would JKR mention the Foe-Glass so many times if it was not to give us a clue about something? From all these quotes, we can form several theories:

• Snape is, at least at this point in time, an enemy of Barty Crouch Junior; and therefore presumably also an enemy of Voldemort - Barty's master. Unless Snape's loyalties change in between this incident and "Half-Blood Prince" - no indication is given of this in his attitude towards his students or Dumbledore - we can assume that Snape remains a loyal supporter of Dumbledore and is truly opposed to Voldemort.
• The mirror shows only the enemies of the real "Mad-Eye" Moody and, for some reason, he counts Dumbledore and McGonagall his enemies. The fact that Snape appeared with them is another piece of evidence that Snape is loyal to Dumbledore at this point.
• If the mirror identifies foes through looking into their minds then Snape could use his accomplishment in occlumency to hide the fact that he is really supporting Barty Crouch Junior and therefore presumably also Voldemort. Therefore the mirror may have mistakenly identified Snape as a foe.

Voldemort refers to Snape as "my most faithful servant"?

After Voldemort's rebirth, as he surveys the Death-Eaters in the graveyard, he makes references to the reaons behind several missing death-eaters:

"And here we have six missing Death Eaters...three dead in my service. One, to cowardly to return..he will pay. One, who I believe has left me for ever...he will be killed, of course...and one, who remains my most faithful servant, and who has already re-entered my service."
(Bk 4, pg 565, UK paperback edition)

However, what if Voldemort is refering to Snape as "my most faithful servant" and to Barty Crouch Junior as the one "who I believe has left me forever"?

This would be possible if the following two things were true:

• Because of madness, inflicted by a long period of being under the imperius curse, Barty disguised himself as Moody, believing that he was under Voldemort's orders to do so.
• Snape turned the cup into a portkey for Voldemort
• Snape concocted a potion which would have a similar effect on the manner of speech - flat, expressionles - as veritaserum; but which would cause Barty Crouch to tell a story which would incriminate himself. In this way, Snape would seem to remain a loyal supporter of Dumbledore while really working for Voldemort.

Snape killed Dumbledore for the Order

When a secret-keeper dies, the secret they are keeping remains in the same status as it was when they died.

Dumbledore was secret-keeper for 12 Grimmauld PLace, the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix.

In theory, therefore, Dumbledore's death would ensure that the headquarter's of the Order of the Phoenix would remain forever hidden from all but those who had been told of its location by him, prior to his death.

In Dumbledore's death, it seems that 12 Grimmauld Place would forever remain hidden from Voldemort meaning that Harry, believed to be the only one capable of defeating The Dark Lord; and those helping him, would always have a safe place to use as a base from which to fight Voldemort.

If Dumbledore understood this and believed his death to be necessary to Voldemort's ultimate defeat, then it is possible that he ordered Snape to kill him.

If this was the case, then Snape was actually showing great faithfulness, bravery and strength of character in following Dumbledore's orders. For he must have known that, from the moment he committed the deed, he would become an outcast, despised by the order. In order for him to remain alive, he would have to exert powerful control over his mind, constantly using occlumency while in the presence of Voldemort and his followers.

Snape always seemed to have a genuine respect for Dumbledore and Dumbledore, although believed by many to have too a trusting and forgiving disposition, had real faith in Snape's having truly turned from the dark arts. If Snape killed Dumbledore for no other reason other than he would die by the bondage of the unbreakable vow otherwise, then it would show that Dumbledore had made a fatal mistake in trusting him for so many years.

A mistake in such a serious matter would imply that some of Dumbledore's other ideas and judgements of character may well be gravely wrong. If this was the case, should Harry continue the hunt for Voldemort's horcruxes which Dumbledore begun?

There are many examples of instances throughout Dumbledore's long life where he held an opinion of great controversy, thought to be wrong by most, both on politics in the magical community, and on someones character. However, we are shown time and time again the perfect correctness of Dumbledore's opinions in these matters:

• In "Chamber of Secrets" we are told that the majority of the teachers liked Tom Riddle (the young Lord Voldemort), and believed him to be an intelligent, hardworking, and polite boy who would be very sucessful in the future. We even hear Slughorn convey this to him in the memory Harry and Dumbledore see together in the Pensieve in "Half-Blood Prince." Riddle's encounters with Dumbledore are in some ways similar to the case of Snape. When Dumbledore first met Riddle, he saw how obsessed he was by power and how he had harnassed his magical powers to use cruelty against the other orphans. However he decided not to fully judge Riddle by that one meeting. It is made clear that Dumbledore never trusted Riddle fully, both by what Riddle says to Harry in his diary memory, and by Dumbledore's refusal to give Riddle a teaching post at the school. Snape, also, was very involoved in using magic in very harmful ways in his early encounters with Dumbledore, and he even led Voldemort to kill Lily and James Potter. Unlike Riddle, when Dumbledore decided not to judge Snape's character entirely by these things, his trust in Snape grew, rather than diminished, as had been the case with Riddle. Dumbledore demonstrated his trust in Snape in many ways: by repeatedly telling others of this trust, by giving him a teaching post at Hogwarts, and eventually allowing him to teach Defence against the Dark Arts, in asking him to teach Harry Occlumency, and through telling him of the location of the Headquarters of The Order of the Phoenix.

Snape knows that the prophecy refers to Neville

Snape was the one who heard part of the prophecy and passed this information on to his master Voldemort. However, what if, even at this stage, Snape was already a spy working against Voldemort? If he actually heard the prophecy in its entirety - rather than only a part of it, as implied - he would have known that both Harry and Neville fitted the description. Perhaps, somehow, he knew without a doubt that the prophecy referred to Neville and not to Harry. In this case, Snape's continual focus on Harry should prove to contribute greatly to Voldemort's eventual destruction for it pulls all attention away from Neville and provides him with a chance to destroy Voldemort completely. Thanks to Morgan

Why does Snape attempt to protect Harry so many times?

Snape has saved Harry's life on numerous occasions and has often protected him. If he has indeed used legilimency on Harry the number of times which he appeared to have the opportunity, then Snape has not punished Harry for much of his rule-breaking and other activities which we would normally expect to deserve immediate punishment in Snape's opinion.

Snape saved Harry's life in book one when Quirell was attempting to kill him on his broomstick. Dumbledore's explanation for this to Harry was that James Potter had saved Snape's life in their schooldays. However, in later books, it becomes clear the extent of the bullying that James and Sirius forced upon Snape and also that Snape seems highly ungrateful and unimpressed by James's so-called "saving of his life."

Could it be that Snape saved Harry's life because he has stronger morals and more human decency than anybody gives him credit for? Any other teacher would have attempted to protect Harry in the same way if they had been fully aware, like Snape, of the situation at the quidditch match in book one. Maybe, in this situation and in others, Snape saw Harry as merely another schoolchild and not the son of his childhood enemy. Maybe this was the reason that he tried, and has tried, so many times to save and protect Harry.

Snape's seeming unwillingness to take advantage of his skill in legilimency

Snape is clearly accomplished in legilimency. He should therefore have known that Harry knew about the Philosopher's Stone. Why did he do nothing but display hatred towards Harry in the potions class? (page 162, UK paperback edition)

Was it because he hoped that Harry would do as he did (attempt to pass through the guarding spells and prevent Voldemort from getting the stone) and be killed in his attempt, either by Voldemort himself or one of the guradin enchantments?

Or was the reason he allowed Harry to continue in his endevours to discover more about the stone because he knew that the only way Voldemort could gain the stone was by Harry to reaching "The Mirror of Erised"?

Snape's seeming inability to hide his feelings

In "Philosopher's Stone," Snape seems unable to hide his pleasure during Draco Malfoy's flattery. Indeed, his actions are expressed thus:

"he couldn't suppress a thin-lipped smile."
(page 198, UK paperback edition)

Is Snape really as good an actor as would be necessary for him act both loyal to Dumbledore and Voldemort at the same time?

Could he really have managed, for over five years, to pretend to be loyal to Dumbledore and those fighting against Voldemort and his supporters while he was, in reality, working for Voldemort?

Is this seeming inability to hide his true feelings in book one merely a clever device used by JKR to manipulate our attitudes toward Snape and our opinions of him?

Snape is Good

Although he killed Dumbledore, some believe that Snape is actually good. If he performed this terrible deed to help the order, his reasons for doing so are as follows:

• This would enable him to become Voldemort's most trusted supporter. In this position, he would gain a well of information and would therefore be able to help the Order from the inside.
• He had previously planned this with Dumbledore. and it was on Dumbledore's orders that he killed him. Dumbledore, "pleaded," with Snape and Dumbledore would never plead with anyone. Dumbledore knew the powerful position that Snape would be in to overthrow Voldermort if he carried out this action. He also knew about the unbreakable curse and did not want Snape or Draco Malfoy to die.

Snape was/is in love with Lily

There is some evidence to show this.

1. Although Snape always insults Harry's father, he has never once insulted his mother.
2. It is possible that Snape's worst memory was not his worst because he was humiliated by James and Sirius, but because he had insulted Lily, whom he loved.
3. The hand-writing in the potions book belonging to "The Half-Blood Prince" is described as "feminine." Perhaps it was not Snape who wrote those spells, but Lily. Maybe this was why Slughorn had kept commenting that Harry was just like his mother at potions - because Harry was using exactly the same instructions as his mother.
4. Each time Snape and Harry glare at each other, it seems as though Snape is the first to look away. Is this because he cannot bare to glare at Lily's eyes?

Snape is more skilled at Legilimency/Occlumency than Voldemort

If Snape was a spy for Dumbledore, he would have to conceal this from Voldemort by using Occlumency. This would make him more skilled in these arts than Voldemort which seems extremely unlikely. Is this proof that Snape is actually a double-double-crosser who is in reality working for Voldemort and has been all along?

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