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severusish · 2 years

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So for this blog, do you use Snape's Canon character or do you use an au character for him? Bc I totally get using an au character. Sometimes you gotta change some things around, especially if a character is prpblematic

Hi there! You must be the brave soul who commented in @sevsnapes’s recent post. It’s a pleasant surprise to have you send me an ask!

Welcome to the blog, and happy springtime. Thanks for coming to have a conversation about our differing opinions! You can call me ish. ;)

A mix of both, to answer your question.

I continue below the cut.

Also, a bit of AU is used in our interpretation of Snape because all of us in the Snape Fandom (aka the Snapedom) pretty much agree that Snape first of all was too smart to have just allowed himself to get bitten by a snake and die. Like???? He’d have made an antidote as soon as he entered Voldemort’s service. So in that way for example our Snape is AU because he wouldn’t allow himself to just let some reptile be the death of him.

I think the main aspects we really enjoy from his canon self were his loyalty, intelligence, dedication, mastery of potions, wisdom, fashion sense, and sass (aka biting wit and dark humor).

Some things, like the way he spoke to Hermione and Neville, are things that we tend to use as conflict devices in the plot. A lot of us actually really like how nasty Snape was in canon, to everyone and especially Umbridge; there’s something Schadenfreude-y about seeing someone else get absolutely verbally ripped apart in a way that’s elegant. None of us condone abuse towards children; however we also recognize that Snape was a thoroughly feral and unhinged and messed up fictional character so in some ways it makes sense that he gave zero shits about being rude to people of all ages.

In the Snapedom we change a lot of aspects of him in fanfiction. For example many of us headcanon that he was Draco’s godfather when in canon he never was. Some of us headcanon that he was nice enough to be good friends with his colleagues, when in canon he was never portrayed as being nice enough in adulthood to have true friends. Death Eaters don’t count, except for the Malfoys in most of our headcanons; and sometimes we headcanon that the Malfoys were ‘more than friendly’ with Snape, if you get my drift. (Lol).

The vast majority of us create an interpretation of Snape that deals, as canon Snape did, with the bitter hardships and disappointments of life. Snape is a snarky, sarcastic, intelligent character and the perfect vessel in which fanfic writers can dump all the dark stuff we want; he’s pathetic, he’s scrunkly and has trauma and is also relatable to many people, especially adults here.

Snape is problematic in quite a few ways and we here in the Snapedom accept that; but he is a problematic fave. Emphasis on fave.

Snape embodies the tropes we also enjoy; the “enemies to lovers” trope for example, or the “I fell in love with the first shit-ass mcnobody who showed me a sincere act of kindness” trope (this second quote comes from a popular tumblr post), or the “dark character who doesn’t know how to love but desperately wants to, meets light character with mysterious past who has tons of love to give” trope (this quote is my own wording).

Ships like Snarry, Snuna and Snamione are labeled as problematic by people who don’t like Snape in the context where the younger partner is a minor; but the truth is, we in the Snapedom tend to never write ships where one character is a minor; we’ll use time-turners and pretty much anything to make it so that both of them are adults.

We also have crack ships (joke ships) such as Snevor (Snape and Trevor the Toad) and Snumbridge (Snape and Umbridge) although sometimes even I don’t really know if it’s a crackship or not… some people get so passionate about crackships that the lines between joke and seriousness start to blur 😅

There are the ships that are harder to write, such as Snily, Snames, Snupin and Snack (Snape x Lily, Snape x James, Snape x Lupin, Snape x Sirius Black), and the rarer ships as well, such as Sinsev/Sevistra (Snape x Professor Sinistra).

It’s a pretty diverse fandom.

Now. About your comment on the post linked above; yeah. Snape was a dick to Harry. But that doesn’t keep us from liking Snape; it just makes us want to understand him better as a character.

In the books everything that Harry did pretty much infuriated Snape. But if we unpack it — Harry looked like James, but had Lily’s eyes. It would have been super painful to see James Potter, who bullied Snape during their time at Hogwarts together, every time he looked at Harry, while also seeing Lily in Harry’s eyes.

Seeing a living combination of the person he hated more than anything and the person he would have died to save probably drove Snape crazy. He didn’t need a daily reminder of the two people he’d failed to save all those years ago, and yet, here he was stuck having to teach Harry Potter and save his arse when needed, without ever being able to tell Harry “I’m sorry. I failed your mother. I failed your father. You have your mother’s eyes. I have been on your side all these years.”

Yeah, Snape was a dick to Harry, and pretty often as well. That’s not forgivable. It doesn’t excuse or justify his actions. But Harry looking and acting the way he does seems to absolutely explain why he, Snape, was so volatile around Harry. It is surprising that a man of such cool-headed logic and reason with epic control over his mind — who could block both Voldemort and Dumbledore from his innermost private thoughts — would go crazy whenever he saw Harry. But Harry was his weak spot. And sure Snape showed favoritism in some ways to Slytherins but he was pretty harsh across the board to Gryffindors when it came to taking points and not exclusively Harry. We have to also consider that Harry was a little upstart for a few years there who talked back and was very rude towards authority figures he didn’t like, including Snape and Umbridge. To what extent was Snape justified, or not, in putting Harry in his place when he was being deliberately rude and incredibly out of bounds in Snape’s classroom? I think disciplining Harry was needed — within reason of course.

Snape is a complex character. Also he looks great in that outfit they put him in, in the films. Hourglass waist, I shit you not. Watch scenes with him in it and I promise you it’s eye-opening. It won’t make you like Snape but the costumers did an incredible job of bringing the character to life and that’s part of the reason, aside from the character himself, why you’ll see so much Snape art in the Snapedom. He’s fascinating to write about and make art of. We have so many incredible artists and writers in this fandom; they are lovely.

Anyway, thanks for visiting!

Idk if that helps but feel free to go back and forth with me as you like, I’m all for respectful repartee.

Ciao for now!

— ish

#Snape debate #or should I say… Snebate #it’s not really a debate more like a conversation #or should I say… Snonversation #ok bye I’m done #pro snape #severusish asks #severusish says #snape community #snape defender #severus snape #snape #snolidarity #snover #snoyalty

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