Weekly Discussion: Favoritism
I feel most of us have headcanon of having Eileen dead, particularly before Werewolf prank to explain Snape's descent to Dark side.
I find your opinion about Eileen interesting @darkangel because it's true that Eileen didn't appear a loving or caring mother to young Snape at King's Cross.
This might be an unpopular opinion but most of us headcanon Eileen as a good mother because Tobias was definitely not a good father.
I feel Eileen was not a good mother. Her marriage turned toxic and she took out her own issues on Snape so Snape had physical abuse from Tobias and mental abuse from Eileen.
Some people think Eileen a good mother because Snape seemed proud of calling himself Half-blood Prince. My explaining is based on parallels between Snape and Riddle because Harry Potter series loved this theme of parallels and foils. Tom Riddle hated his mother yet he was proud of his Slytherin ancestory. It won't be far-fetched to assume that young Severus could've resented his mother for abuse and not protecting him despite being a witch yet felt proud of his magical heritage from Prince family.
I don't have much opinion about either of his parent being alive but I find everyone's views interesting. Personally I don't think either of them being dead by Snape's graduation but they could be dead before his own death, mostly because Tobias doesn't seem the type to abandon his own house or giving his son anything, including that poor house.
6. Today's discussion: What you think about Snape's interest in Dark arts?
Quote from Naaga on June 23, 2023, 3:13 amToday's discussion: What you think about Snape's interest in Dark arts?
I make a small premise: as a professor, I have never understood the tendency to exclude certain teachings to children by considering them "dangerous" to their education. In my opinion, professors have a duty to teach every aspect of knowledge and then give the right tools to make the child understand what is right or wrong.
All this would involve more effort, so "prohibition" is much more comfortable in education and beyond (unfortunately).
Hogwarts, in this case as in others, has been found wanting.
I find nothing wrong with Severus loving the Dark Arts; it is a fascinating and intriguing subject that has always been relegated to a corner just as he has.
Perhaps that is also why Severus was fascinated by it and, in my opinion, also why he thought it gave him the power he so longed for to be superior and powerful.
I would like to remind that to teach a subject and know how to master it fully one must first know it, and I do not understand this fear of the Dark Arts when at Hogwarts there is precisely a course on how to defend oneself against them.
How can a teacher explain them if he doesn't know them first?
That seems like nonsense to me.
I'm sorry Severus was alone in this, even his dearest friend Lily (I'm being sarcastic 😂) lacked this. He never respected her passions.
The best way to counter the Dark Arts would be to know them ourselves, just as doctors need to know the diseases in order to cure them.
Severus was probably attracted to the power aspect of the dark arts in his youth, and later turned that knowledge to help fight for the light. I headcanon that Severus knew more about the dark arts than Dumbledore, which is why Dumbledore felt fortunate to have him as an ally.
And all this light and dark classification is nonsense when hypocritical marauders also use dark arts like illegal hexes and the Order characters, including McGonagall, use unforgivable curses.
7. Today's discussion: Which subject do you think Snape liked more - DADA or Potions?
Quote from Naaga on June 24, 2023, 1:40 amToday's discussion: Which subject do you think Snape liked more - DADA or Potions?
Good question.
I think he liked both of them however DADA more because he has coveted that professorship for years😂.
It is hard to choose, but I think it would be DADA. Sev's interest in the Dark Arts and the fact that the DADA job is often discussed in the books tipped the scale in favor of DADA.
Quote from Naaga on June 24, 2023, 1:40 amToday's discussion: Which subject do you think Snape liked more - DADA or Potions?
Interesting Question.
Personally I think that Severus was naturally gifted in both subjects, and I think neither one was a stronger subject for him.
I mean... While still in Hogwarts he already invented spells and made potions more potent, he probably also invented some potions at that point already (ain't sure if that was mentioned somewhere).
At the end I think that it always depended on his mood, if he was angry he probably preferred DADA. But if he wanted to empty his mind or concentrate it on only one thing... Then Potions.
As I have to decide on one... I think DADA is slightly ahead of Potions.
8. Today's discussion: Do you think Severus Snape was friends with Regulus Black in his Hogwarts days?
Quote from Naaga on June 25, 2023, 2:41 amToday's discussion: Do you think Severus Snape was friends with Regulus Black in his Hogwarts days?
I don't think so.
Regulus was Sirius' brother, although they didn't speak, one of his bullies at school.
We noticed how Severus was influenced by similarities and kinship (see Harry), I think at the time he was a teenager this behavior was even more pronounced.
At most they could exchange a brief greeting in the Common Room and also they did not have many opportunities, since Regulus was smaller than Severus.
Surely they would have recognized each other and perhaps talked more during their time as Death Eaters.
What if Severus had noticed that Reg was up to something behind Voldemort's back? He might have expressed his doubts....🤔
