Snape Headcanons
Quote from The Gestalt Prince on February 16, 2023, 4:21 pmSnape puts on a different voice and accent to disguise his common origins, and he sometimes over-emphasizes it due to insecurity and a want to fit in with the upper class. His natural voice is much more relaxed and common, but he almost never uses it with anyone unless he's enraged.
This is a headcanon I share. In my stories, his speech is very proper. There's a definite contrast between that and his internal dialogue, which is much more expressive/full of swear words. 😂
New headcanon: Severus has a permanent scar on his thigh because Petunia accidentally stabbed him when he was 13.
😂
Snape deals with his trauma by attempting absolute control. During SWM he loses all control: of his body, of his wand, his clothes, his temper, his mouth. What happens at this moment? He loses the most important person in his life. This is the moment that truly sets him on his dark and terrible life path.
After publicly losing control, being humiliated, and made a laughing stock, Snape must have picked himself up off the ground, gathered his clothing about him, and returned to the relative safety of Slytherin house. Once there as many bullying victims do he took stock a post-mortem if you will to see what went wrong and what he could do about it to prevent such a thing from ever happening again in the future.
Control. This becomes his solution to prevent humiliation, and his overarching goal as far as his public Persona goes.
What kind of persona does he cultivate? dark, forbidding, intimidating, acid tongued, fierce with a curse and quick reflexes, total situational awareness, hyper-vigilance, poker faced, with a perfectly modulated voice, buttoned-down and protected by his layers of clothing which also help project a large and menacing presence.
It is all a dominance display. It’s constant psychological warfare against those who would attempt to harm him. His life experience has trained him to act as if there are mountain lions about to pounce on him at any time; most likely when he gets comfortable, lets down his guard, or gets distracted. All wilderness enthusiasts know that when faced with a large animal you try to make yourself look big by holding up your coat or your backpack. This is exactly what he is doing: look strong and scary and fierce and big so no one will even consider trying anything against him.
“The best victory is when the opponent surrenders of its own accord before there are any actual hostilities… It is best to win without fighting.”
Sun Tzu: The Art of War
I heard a headcanon that Severus Snape's middle name was actually Severus given by Eileen and he had a generic muggle first name given by his father.
His hatred of his father led to him rejecting that muggle first name and using his middle name Severus for his given and official name.
What are your thoughts about this?
I like that theory. It's certainly more original than the default so many people use (Severus Tobias).
Quote from Naaga on April 14, 2023, 4:02 amI heard a headcanon that Severus Snape's middle name was actually Severus given by Eileen and he had a generic muggle first name given by his father..
Ooh I might steal this
Quote from Motanul Negru on April 14, 2023, 4:29 amQuote from Naaga on April 14, 2023, 4:02 amI heard a headcanon that Severus Snape's middle name was actually Severus given by Eileen and he had a generic muggle first name given by his father..
Ooh I might steal this
Go ahead. 😸
Dumbledore started training Snape after the latter defected from the Death Eaters. This isn't to take away from Snape's accomplishments, but it could be a factor in Snape becoming one of the most powerful wizards of his age.
Yeah, I headcanon that Snape got personal training from both Dumbledore and Voldemort.
I headcanon that Snape favoured Slytherin because no one else did. Slytherin had no one to look after them, their defeat was celebrated by every other house in PS, self righteous Gryffindor openly talked shit about Slytherins behind their back and Slytherin was treated badly as we saw when McG ordered them to the dungeon in DH.
Now Slytherin learnt to stick together and posted a public front where they were united. Snape openly favoured them to give them a sense of belonging.
Snape didn't let them get away with everyone though, he took care of discipline away from the others like when he assigned yearly detentions to Crabbe and Goyle for failing the DADA OWL and Slytherins like Draco took special care to watch Snape's back turned before they bullied Harry.
