Common Misunderstanding of Snape as Voldemort's Spy
Common Misunderstanding of Snape as Voldemort's Spy
A common misreading of the text that I see all the time, which is that Snape was a bad spy for not acting nice to Harry and co. as Barty Crouch Jr. does in GoF. The belief goes, if Snape were a good spy (from Voldemort’s point of view), he would have been nice to Harry/been a popular and nice teacher/etc., so it would make sense for Voldemort to be mad at Snape for being his nasty self.
But this line of thinking would only work if Snape were pretending to have spied for Voldemort continuously from before his downfall on October 31st, 1981 and onwards through his return in GoF. This isn’t the story Snape gives Voldemort. The story Snape gives Voldemort is that:
- He, like all the other Death Eaters who had avoided Azkaban, believed Voldemort was dead after Halloween 1981
- From Halloween 1981 until the night of Voldemort’s return in the graveyard in 1994, he was operating entirely in his own self-interest
- Now that Voldemort is back, Snape has returned as a loyal Death Eater
- The Death Eaters is where Snape’s true allegiance lies (i.e. in the 13 years that Snape believed Voldemort dead, he hasn’t been tempted to befriend Dumbledore/he doesn’t care about his cushy job at Hogwarts/etc.)
The big discrepancy is that Voldemort believes the lie that Snape thought him dead for 13 years when the truth is that Snape knew Voldemort would return because Dumbledore told him so. This is the secret Snape has to keep from Voldemort because it would reveal him as Dumbledore’s spy. So from Voldemort’s point of view, Snape isn’t a 13+ year spy; rather, he has 13 years’ worth of information.
From here, some people make the argument that Voldemort would prefer a reality where Snape fooled Dumbledore and the rest of the wizarding world by faking a nice persona for his OWN gain to a reality where Snape was a mean, miserable bastard. But there’s no definite reason to believe this. Each scenario has pros and cons for Voldemort. In neither scenario is Snape as loyal a Death Eater as Barty because Snape didn’t try to search for his master and only looked out for himself. In both cases, as long as Snape is presently loyal to Voldemort, here’s what he can offer:
- 13 years’ worth of information to present to Voldemort now that Voldemort’s back
- He can resume spying on Dumbledore
- He is in Hogwarts, a major pro (and thus has access to Harry and Dumbledore)
We assume that a reality where Snape faked a nice persona would favor Voldemort and be dangerous for Dumbledore because Voldemort could use Snape’s connection to Harry to access Harry. But would being decent to Harry really give Snape so much more access to him than being a mean teacher? Not really. Snape sees Harry more often than Binns or Sinistra do because he gives Harry detentions. For Snape to really have more access to Harry than any teacher would by default, Harry would have to actively seek him out because he likes him and trusts him. Snape would have had to be extra good to him, but what reason would he have to be super nice to the child of the guy he hated and the woman he couldn’t have if he believed Harry Potter caused the downfall of his beloved dark lord who can’t be brought back? There isn’t a good reason.
Then, some people are also skeptical that Voldemort wouldn’t question how Snape could be a cruel teacher without rousing the suspicion of Dumbledore. Many fans ask this question for themselves (“How could Dumbledore let this guy teach?”), but there’s no reason to project it onto canonical Voldemort. Why would he be scandalized about child welfare in Hogwarts? From what we’re shown of Hogwarts, Snape isn’t as much of an outlier as some fans like to claim. Filch works at Hogwarts; he vocally misses the days of corporal punishment, yet Dumbledore keeps Filch around. Molly tells us Filch’s predecessor caned Arthur, giving him scars. That’s the standard Voldemort would remember. To him, Dumbledore is the guy who demonstrated magic to his 11 y.o. orphan self by pretending to burn his possessions. On top of that, Voldemort knew Snape tried to save Harry in year 1 with a counter jinx on the broomstick Quirrel was cursing. Altogether, Voldemort has good reason to believe that Snape passes whatever middling Hogwarts student welfare standards exist. Unless someone is writing an AU where Voldemort is the good guy, an evil dark lord wouldn’t care more for students’ emotional wellbeing than Deputy Headmistress McGonagall. Canon Voldemort would be mad at Snape for many reasons other than being a scary teacher.
TLDR: Snape isn’t a bad spy for being mean to Harry because from Voldemort’s perspective, he wasn’t an active spy between 1981 and the end of Harry’s 4th year.
I didn't even know this was an argument people attempted to make, but yeah, it's a weird one. Not just weird, but nonsensical. Snape has no reason to be warm and cuddly with Harry, and it would make zero sense for Voldemort to expect that of him.
You know Snaters, they make non sense arguments to hate him so these type of facts are needed for their brain-dead capabilities.
Yeah, I heard that 'Snape was a bad spy' argument repeated by Snaters and even used in Snape bashing fics. Even I had once thought about it, so I can understand the need for this post.
Lol, these people's reading comprehension is abysmal. The fact that Severus is an exceptionally good spy is pretty much the framework of the entire fucking series.
I also get the sense that Voldemort understood Snape was around people who had known him since he was a child, so Snape being a kind, genial man would have been far more suspicious and drawn more attention than being his snarky, solitary self. If anything, Snape being so contemptuous to Harry probably pleased Voldemort in a petty sort of way as he was probably unaware of the Snape/ James rivalry and might have even entertained the notion that Snape tormented the boy out of loyalty or vengeance for him.
