Snape is Actually a Huge jerk and Deathly Hallows DOES NOT Redeem Him

Please note that in this post I will be discussing the character of Severus Snape in the books, not his portrayal in the movies which I think is different in several important ways.

I'm going to be totally honest here. I think that almost everyone, whether they romanticize him or despise him, completely simplifies the character of Severus Snape. In my opinion, he's one of the most fascinating Harry Potter antagonists. And yes, he is an antagonist. You don't get to abuse your position of power over the main characters and do everything in your power to make their lives miserable and then pretend you're not an antagonist, no matter how supposedly tragic your backstory is.

A lot of people who hate Snape say that he is a completely despicable person with no redeeming qualities and that his character is not remotely interesting. I both agree and disagree. I absolutely despise Snape, and I do not forgive him for his actions, but I do not think that his character is uninteresting. I find Snape interesting in the same way I find Voldemort and Bellatrix interesting. As an antagonist.

So, from now on, I'm not going to be refuting the arguments of diehard Snape haters, because, overall, I agree with them. I am going to be refuting the arguments of those who (for some inconceivable reason), think that Snape was a good person and that all his past actions can be forgiven because of the revelation in DH.

Do you think that Snape deserves to be forgiven? He bullied his students repeatedly and showed extreme favoritism toward his own house over the others. He threatened to KILL Neville's pet toad. Like what the hell? He bullied Neville so much that he became Neville's literal worst fear. And then remember that time he got so mad that he hadn't been allowed to have Siruis' soul sucked out that he exposed Remus Lupin as a werewolf, causing him to loose his job and making the rest of his life even more difficult than it already was? How can you possibly justify that?

These are just a few examples of the horrible things that Snape did throughout the series. Pretend, just for a moment, that you had not yet read Deathly Hallows. How can you possibly excuse these actions? How can you possibly excuse a teacher psychologically abusing his students?

Now, a lot of people would answer these questions by saying, "Well, his love of Lily redeems him." This is actually one of the things about the HP series that annoys me the most. Snape's obsession with Lily is treated as "romantic" and the best thing about his characters which is just bullshit. Snape did not love Lily as a person. She was more of an object to him, a kind of symbol. This is pretty clear to me in the books. His obsession with her was understandable when he was a child, but the older he got, it became less understandable and more creepy.

Remember that time Snape found a photo of Lily and her family and then ripped that photo in half so that he could keep only the piece with Lily? Does that seem like the action of someone who loved another person unconditionally, or the action of a creepy guy who had an obsession with a woman who died at the age of 21? Snape's "love" of Lily is not romantic and it does not redeem him. It is creepy and disturbing.

I have one last point to make. If you believe that Snape was truly a good person, remember this. If Voldemort had chosen to go after Neville instead of Harry, Lily would have never been in danger and Snape would never have switched sides. If Neville had been the chosen one, Snape would still be a deatheater.

A lot of Snape haters think that it was ridiculous for Harry to forgive Snape at the end of the series. I actually disagree with this, even if I would never have forgiven Snape myself. Forgiving someone for the things they've done often has very little to do with the person being forgiven and much more to do with the person doing the forgiving. I totally understand why Harry would want to forgive Snape after he died, and how this might have helped him cope with everything.

That said, sometimes I think that J K Rowling falls into the same trap as her readers and romanticizes Snape to an extreme extent.

My Fun Thoughts on Harry Potter Ships Part 1/?

Ah. The Harry Potter fandom. It has more ships than anyone could ever count, from canon ships, to ships with tons of subtext, to ships that make absolutely no sense but are incredibly fun anyway, to ships that kind of make me want to throw my computer out of a window. You didn't ask, but here are my thoughts on some Harry Potter ships. This post will include only ships between the "big seven" characters (Harry, Ron, Hermione, Neville, Ginny, Luna and Draco).

(My rating system for ships might be a little bit unusual. Anything six and above I ship, anything below six I don't really like. There is also literally only one ship in the entire book series that I would rate 10/10, so keep that in mind.)

(Also, please remember that these are my OPINIONS. You are welcome to ship and not ship whatever you want, regardless of my or anyone else's personal opinions. Literally whatever. I don't care if you ship Mcgonagall and the Giant Squid. These are fictional characters.)

• Harry/Ginny: We're starting here with the main character and his canon love interest. A pretty popular ship in the fandom, but not one that I personally consider an OTP. It's good in principle, and, to be honest, if it weren't canon, I'd probably ship it a lot more. As it is, the actual romance in the book was quite underdeveloped. I do not, by any means, dislike this ship. I just think it wasn't written particularly well. 6/10
• Ron/Hermione: The biggest and most developed canon relationship in the books is clearly going to be a favourite for a lot of people. I definitely ship it more than Hinny, but again, I can't say that I love it. I've got to be honest here. Ron and Hermione argue a little too much for me to be convinced they're going to have a healthy relationship. Their dynamic is interesting, but not necessarily my favourite thing. 7/10
• Neville/Luna: I actually used to ship Neville and Luna a lot. And then I kind of became annoyed at myself for completing the circle and pairing the only two main male and female characters who didn't have romantic interests together. And, no, Hannah Abbot and fucking Rolf Scamander do not count as canon love interests. I mean, the ship is fine on principle and kind of cute, but I just can't. The series is already too straight. 5/10
• Draco/Harry: This is possibly the most popular ship in the fandom and... I totally get why. There is an incredible amount of subtext for it in the books. I personally love this ship as an unrequited crush on Draco's part. I can't see a relationship between these two characters actually working out, but really who gives a fuck about that. It's a really interesting dynamic. 9/10
• Harry/Luna: The friendship between Harry and Luna is one of my favourite relationships within the canon of the series, and I'm not necessarily opposed to shipping them romantically. I really like their dynamic. 7/10
• Harry/Ron: I like the canon friendship between Harry and Ron, but I have to say that it's not even close to being one of my favourite relationships in the series. A romantic relationship between the two of them is even less interesting to me. 4/10
• Harry/Hermione: I like their friendship, but I just don't ship them romantically. I'm sorry, their canon interactions just make it impossible for me to think of them as having anything other than a platonic relationship. 3/10
• Hermione/Ginny: Yay! Femslash! There are too few femslash ships in the fandom, and this is one of my favourites. I think the two would mix really well together, even though I generally headcanon Hermione as straight. Overall, a pretty cool ship. 7/10
• Hermione Draco: This ship is possibly the most popular non-canon f/m pairing and I have to be completely honest. I don't get why. Not only do I not see a relationship between these two working, I just honestly don't find their potential dynamic very interesting. At all. And I have a hard time shipping Draco or any other prejudiced Slytherin with a muggleborn like Hermione. 1/10
• Hermione/Luna: I feel bad about not being able to ship this, but I just can't. I am in favour of all femslash, but I just can't personally make myself to like even a friendship between these two. They're just too different and their personalities do not mesh well. 5/10
• Ron/Draco: This is one of those ships that I don't really have an opinion on. I don't particularly find it interesting, but I don't have anything against it. I literally can't think of anything else to say. 5/10
• Ron/Luna: I've always had something against this ship and I can't really put my finger on what it is. Maybe it's that I've seen it paired often with Harmony. Also, I tend to headcanon Luna and gay and the only male character I really actively ship her with is Harry. 2/10
• Ginny/Draco: I used to dislike this ship but it's grown on me. I pretty heavily headcanon Draco as being gay, and Ginny is the only girl that I even remotely ship him with. Strangely, it was actually reading the Cursed Child that changed my mind about this ship. They have a pretty interesting dynamic. 7/10
• Ginny/Neville: I've always thought that this ship is really cute. They don't have many interactions in canon, but I can imagine them having a very nice relationship. 7/10
• Harry/Neville: This is another one of those ships that I don't have much of an opinion on, either negative or positive. I just find their dynamic pretty boring, to be honest. Still, there's nothing I actively dislike about the ship. 5/10
• Luna/Draco: No. No no no. I don't know why, this ship just freaks me out. I don't like thinking about it or hearing about it. No. 0/10
• Ginny/Luna: I don't care what anyone says, this is the best Harry Potter ship and I will defend it to my death. Ginny and Luna are perfect for each other. Ginny's one of the only people who I think can really understand and appreciate Luna, and Luna is the best person to complement and support Ginny's strength. I will forever be upset that we didn't get any more scenes of these two interacting in canon. But that's what fanfiction is for, I guess. 10/10

And here are some poly ships just because:

• Harry/Ron/Hermione: I'm obviously a fan of the golden trio. Who isn't? The idea of their relationship being romantic is pretty interesting, but I generally prefer them as friends. 5/10
• Harry/Ron/Luna: Not really my thing. In a poly ship, it's kind of necessary to like all the individual relationships between characters, and the only individual relationship I find interesting in this ship is Harry and Luna. 4/10
• Harry/Ron/Draco: This is one of the most common Harry Potter OT3s that I've seen. I personally don't find it that interesting. 4/10
• Harry/Hermione/Ginny: As I don't particularly ship any of the three combinations of characters, this ship is not one of my favourites. 4/10
• Harry/Hermione/Draco: I feel like this should be a really popular OT3 given how popular all three ships within it are, but I guess Harmony, Drarry and Dramione shippers are generally very different people. I can't say that I'm a particular fan of the poly ship. I don't think Hermione works romantically with either of them. 3/10
• Harry/Ginny/Luna: This is one of, if not my number one, favourite HP poly ship. I enjoy all the individual dynamics, and I think they would all work really well in a relationship together. 8/10
• Harry/Ginny/Draco: This is another one of my favourite poly ships. Again, it was weirdly Cursed Child that got me shipping these three. I'm not saying that this would be a healthy relationship, but it would be very interesting. 7/10
• Harry/Luna/Draco: No. I'm just too opposed to Luna/Draco to even consider this. 1/10
• Hermione/Ginny/Luna: A femslash OT3! I can't say this is one of my favourites, but I don't dislike it. 6/10
• Hermione/Ginny/Draco: I feel like this ship inherently focuses too much on Draco for my liking, and I just really dislike Dramione. 3/10
• Neville/Ginny/Luna: This is one of the best poly ships out there! Not only is it really adorable, it also totally works with canon. I've always been interested in reading a take on the events of Deathly Hallows from the perspective of these three. 8/10
• Harry/Hermione/Ginny/Draco: This is the most common 4 person poly ship I've seen in the fandom. I really like some of the dynamics between these characters, but I dislike others. 5/10
• Harry/Neville/Ginny/Luna: This ship combines two of my favourite OT3s, Harry/Ginny/Luna and Neville/Ginny/Luna. This is the only four person combination within the big seven in which I do not dislike any of the individual relationships. 7/10

OotP Harry is the Best Harry and I will Fight You

It's always interesting to hear what a person's least favourite Harry Potter book is. My personal least favourite is Philosopher's Stone which I think had the weakest writing and plot. Many people dislike the later books because they're too dark, while many people dislike the earlier books because they're not dark enough. There are many different reasons why a certain book might be a person's least favourite in the series.

But here's the thing. If a person's least favourite book is Order of the Phoenix, nine times out of ten it will be for the exact same reason. They found OotP Harry annoying.

I get it. Reading about a main character who is not perfect all the time and who actually has interesting personality flaws can be unenjoyable. Reading about a character who is actually emotionally affected by the traumatic things that they've gone through rather than acting as if nothing happened can be annoying. Wait, no. I actually don't get it at all.

Can it be a little bit difficult to read OotP Harry's POV? Totally. But that's what makes his character in this book so brilliant. He's so real. If you think that I'm wrong and that the way Harry acted in OotP was not realistic, here is a list of only some of the things that happened to him before and during this book:

• He spent ten years of his life living with people who hated him and abused him.
• He discovered that he was part of a secret magical world, only to discover that he was already famous in this world for something he can't remember, causing him to constantly be the center of attention.
• He discovered that his parents were MURDERED and that he was almost murdered with them as a baby, rather than just being in a car crash like he'd been told all his life.
• He met and fought with the man who murdered his parents not once, not twice, but THREE times, each time only barely escaping with his life.
• He watched Cedric, a person he liked, die for absolutely no reason and felt that it was his fault.
• He had basically the entire wizarding world including some of his friends, despise him and believe lies about him on several occasions.
• He has the entire wizarding world hating him AGAIN in this book, this time with the government and the media calling him a liar and an attention seeker and completely demonizing him.
• He is forced to spend the entire summer locked in the house of his abusive family with barely any news from the wizarding world.
• He has one of the people he respects most in the world completely ignore him for the entire year (Fuck you, Dumbledore).
• His teacher literally makes him carve words into the back of his hand.

Keep in mind that this is not a complete list.

I want you to go out and experience everything that Harry did. Now come back and tell me that you're Just Fine, not emotionally affected at all, and are going to continue being a perfect sefless hero. Harry's anger and angst in OotP are completely justified and realistic and I will fight you. It is a little bit frustrating when he takes out his frustration on Ron and Hermione, yes, but in my opinion, it's understandable. He was 15 years old. 15 years old.

This is somewhat unrelated, but Order of the Phoenix is, more than any of the other books in the series, a tragedy. It is not the only book which ends with the protagonists losing, but it is the only book in which Harry himself fails utterly and completely. I understand that some people do not like tragedies. They do not like that everything that Harry does in this book is futile and pointless and ends up resulting in the death of Sirius. But that's what life can be. For me, Order of the Phoenix represents being a teenager, and the feeling of complete powerlessness and terror that can accompany that. It's a mix between wanting more responsibility and feeling as if you have far too much.

Also, the scene where Harry screams at Dumbledore and smashes up his office is the second most emotional scene in the entire series and it never fails to make me cry.