Poll: Favorite Snape Pairings?
Which do you like and why? Please fill out our poll, and feel free to elaborate on your responses!
Obviously, Snape and Lily Evans (Potter), because she was the love of his life. I also think they were quite well balanced intellectually, which can often help. Lily Evans was 'a dab hand' at Potions (if I remember correctly), a subject which is Snape's lifelong passion (aside from DADA).
I like to think of Snape and Lily staying up late together mixing new potions. I also like the mentor dynamic between them, Snape teaching Lily as much as he can about magic out of admiration that she is already very talented, despite being a Muggle-born.
I enjoy the dynamic between Snape and Hermione, even though I certainly don't like Snape belittling her in class. I get the impression, however, that Snape was a fair teacher. He might choose to indulge his age-old bitterness towards Gryffindor, but when it came to marking essays and examinations, he had to give Hermione her due. (I need to reread the books, but I think it was Snape who marked the OWLs.) This might explain why Hermione continued to respect him despite his snide remarks; she was more willing to criticise the teaching of Hagrid, but never Snape. So even on a teacher-student level, this is fascinating. If Hermione was grown up and using her evident talents in the magical world, I think Snape could overcome his bitterness to some extent.
Also, Snape alone and miserable! 😀 That is, basically, the entire series.
Severus and Lily. Lily was not only one of the few people in his life to show him genuine kindness, but she is also his only love. This isn't to say their relationship was perfect, as the only memories we see with both Severus and Lily shows some degree of conflict between the two of them, and I also think that both Severus and Lily were very flawed people, to the point where their flaws (along with their respective social groups) doomed their friendship. But flaws and all, I love seeing the two of them together, and in a better world, they would recognize their own flaws earlier on and work to fix their relationship. It's a heck of a lot better than Jily.
My other favorite pairing is Severus being alone and miserable, as that's really the best way for him to steer clear of everyone else's nonsense.
Severus and Lily are my favorite pairing, too. You're right that they're both flawed people, though (canonically), I think many people underestimate the age/maturity factor. They were only 15 (16?) when their friendship ended – it isn't realistic to think that either of them would've been capable of intense self reflection or effective conflict management skills. Those are things we learn as adults, which is what makes their story so tragic. Who knows how their relationship might've played out if they'd had a little more time to grow up and learn from their mistakes?
Of course, Severus did, but Lily never had that chance. That's one of the reasons I get so frustrated with people who are hard on her, especially when they hold her to adult standards and/or criticize her for not making perfect choices. She was just a teenager, one who clearly cared about Severus and did the best she could to hold onto their friendship. She was also young and naïve (just as he was), both of them dealing with difficult circumstances/factors beyond their control.
Yeah, I'm definitely Team Snily, and Team Lily, too. Such a beautiful pairing… I'll never get tired of imagining what could've been.
Quote from The Gestalt Prince on November 28, 2022, 9:52 pm...as the only memories we see with both Severus and Lily shows some degree of conflict between the two of them, and I also think that both Severus and Lily were very flawed people, to the point where their flaws (along with their respective social groups) doomed their friendship.
To be fair, even with an acknowledgement of Lily being a teenager, she did seem better able to resist social pressure than, say, Sirius Black or Severus Snape. When she finally did break off her friendship with Severus, she noted that her friends could never understand why they were even friends. To have ignored that pressure for years shows some strength of character in the first instance-- and ironically makes it understandable why she did, in the end, cut Severus off. It would have been interesting to see the justifications that Lily gave to said Gryffindor friends every time they asked this question.
You make a good point about Lily's strength of character, and I'd go in-depth on her characterization, but this isn't the post to do it. I'll probably make a new one if one doesn't exist.
First it's Snape and Lily - It is because Lily was Snape's primary love interest and he basically suffered all his life for her love and I like the stories where that love get reciprocated. I like Lily having a flawed but good nature and hate the Saint Lily approach which marauders' fans often take to justify James Potter's alleged turnaround. I hate the doormat Snape approach often seen in many Snily fics where it is all Snape's fault and he takes all her crap. I like this pairing for wish fulfilment.
Second it's Snape and Hermione - I like Hermione because being one of the main characters, her personality is explored and it fits quite well with Snape. She is kind, patient and intelligent complimenting the Snape's character. She is type of person who gives her all for her friends, never abandoning them and makes sacrifices for them selflessly. I love Hermione of age paired with Professor Snape fics and time travel Snamione where they are of similar age. I hate Mary sue approach of Hermione's character and hate abusive asshole DE approach of Snape's character in those fics. I like this pairing for their compatibility.
Third being Snape and OCs - I have recently came across many of those fics and came to like them. I like the character building of OCs, different different personalities and how they fall and make Snape fall of them. Their variety is enormous and in good written fics the romance, world building, characterization and variables brought by OCS into the canon are epic. Some of my best read fics have this pairing. I hate the Mary Sue approach of the OCs. I like them for the variety and the fact that their Snape are often canon compliant in personality. I like this pairing for the OCs ultimately healing the Snape through their love and care.
Snily is my favorite pairing overall. My favorite kind of fic are those where Severus, in spite of prejudices, comes out of school living well and becoming successful, and showing people that not all Slytherins are destined to become Death Eaters. While this obviously doesn't *have* to involve Snily, I always got the impression that it's what would have happened had he not fallen in with Slytherin DE peers.
However, while I like Snily, it's not the only pairing with him that I read. I don't mind postwar SSHG (I avoid teacher/student versions of it) where she has matured, or in fics where she ends up in the 70s. I could also see Severus/Narcissa in fics where Lucius is abusive, but I always got the impression in canon that even if Lucius was despicable and that Narcissa, at best, was at least a blood purist, that they loved each other and Draco as a family. I headcanon that they could, if they had wanted to, fuel a Patronus using their love for the family.
Since Ao3 is *not* friendly towards people searching for character-centric fics, I basically have a bunch of "acceptable Snape ships" tags that I use when searching for Snape-centric fics there; namely Severus/Lily excluding Jily, Severus/Hermione excluding the teacher/student tag, Severus&Harry (i.e. platonic) and Severus/OC excluding reader tags. In the past I also searched for Severus/Narcissa, but ao3 mostly just turns up smut if you do that.
My prefer the pairing of Snape with the OC because for me any canon girl actually didn't fit him quite well. They are usually characterized as the woman which fits with Severus, have patience for his issues, place him in top of their priorities and treat him with love and kindness. I generally hate a perfect Mary Sue OC and reader fics with student pairing.
My favourite Oc is Evelyn Black from the Post War by JosieCarioca. She is a muggle descended from a squib Black and crossed path with Snape while searching for some clues about her heritage. Snape ends up drawn to her for their shared academic interests, her kindness and outlook of life and eventually it led to friendship and more.
I've never actually read Snape paired with an OC. I'm not big on OC main characters to begin with, and I'm very attached to the idea of him with Lily. I occasionally like Severus/Hermione too, depending on how it handled, but yeah… my preferences are fairly limited.
Having said that, I can see the appeal of pairing him with an OC. Most canon characters are connected with negative events/trauma in his life in one way or another… it's nice to imagine him having a fresh start with someone who doesn't have that kind of baggage. I might be willing to check out some Snape/OC stories for that reason… among other things, it's always good to get out of one's comfort zone.
