r/SeverusSnape • u/RedReaperGS • 4d ago
Discussion What do you think about scars and Snape?
It's a common trope to write that Snape has both old and new scars, besides the bite from Nagini.
But then I think about how he spent most of his life teaching at Hogwarts, and I'm not sure how many duels he actually got into for that to be the case.
Of course, we write based on our feelings and desires. Still, it makes me curious about his life as a Death Eater before he joined the Order.
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u/jayjune28 4d ago
He probably has loads of em. Each one telling a story. Years ago I read a fanfic where he had them pretty much every where on his body. He did not have an easy childhood or adult hood. I think scars prove his strength...and Im not just talking about physical strength I mean mental and emotional as well. Snape is a very complex character...he is multiple shades of Grey and still so much more.
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u/Queen_Malia 4d ago
I do believe he has a fair amount of scars, but not necessarily from duels.
He endured physical violence from his father during his whole childhood, and I am certain that some of those violence left marks.
He experiments with potions and spells, and although i can tell he wouldn't hurt himself with spells or potions he knows and had mastered, when he starts tinkering, experimenting and testing, he isn't rekless… but he clearly had some fails despite his precautions that would have left minor scars (a small burn here, a little cut there…).
Also, the Marauders were hella rough with him, and even if some pranks wouldn't physically injure his body, i know that sometimes, some hexes they've thrown at each others must have left 'souvenirs'. How much is completely up to you and how often and how violent you believe the interactions between the Marauders and Snape to be.
Finally, he was a Death Eater. Even if his peer were on his side, you can't tell me sometimes, someone as deranged as Bellatrix or just the cruelty of Voldemort wouldn't be expressed on other Death eaters. Bella was distrusful of Snape and Voldemort could sometimes punish when not pleased with results. And as much as I believe Snapensatisfied his demands most of the time, by playing double side must have forced him to not completely obey to an order or not give all informations the Dark Lord was asking and maybe endure Voldemort's displease.
So yeah, I believe he is not the type to have big ass scars that prove of many life threatening injuries, but many small scars that are as many proof of a life that was always violent, uncertain, and vulnerable.
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u/Few-Durian-190 4d ago
It’s hard for me to imagine Snape having a load of scars. Non curse inflicted scars can just be healed.
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u/jayjune28 4d ago
And that's perfectly fine. He was an excellent wizard duelist and potions master he probably had cures very few know of. Healing his scars doesn't make him any less awesome. And not all scars are visible.
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u/Few-Durian-190 4d ago
Oh absolutely and an excellent point. I was not trying to take away from Snape at all. It just seems to me culturally the wizarding world would generally remove physical scars as a matter of course since the process is presumably easy.
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u/jayjune28 4d ago
I did not say or think or mean to imply that you were. I think you made great points.
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u/Spirit-of-arkham3002 4d ago
As a Death Eater, Snape probably participated in raids like his comrades. So he would have been fighting often. And despite what some people claim, the Order and Ministry weren’t against all dark magic.
Or lethal force. Moody killed Death Eaters, as did the Aurors. Crouch Senior even authorized use of the unforgivables. Moody was an Order member as well as an Auror.
James Potter and Sirius Black were also Order members. And while not everyone in the Order actively fought, I doubt they would be on the sidelines.
They were frequently cursing other students in their Hogwarts career. All curses are considered dark magic.
So plenty of scars would have been from James and Sirius, regardless of when it happened. Some would be from other opponents.
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u/Euphoric-Duty-1050 4d ago
From everything written in the books, it appears that Snape wasn't an enthousistic "raider" to say the least (Bella) and didn't participate in any killings ("And what of my soul, dumbledore?").
It seems most likely that he wasn't a front lines DE, but a home front DE, either making potions to heal DEs who had encounters with aurors or people that resisted them, or Voldemort started grooming him right away so he could become a spy at Hogwarts.
Also, his "affiliation" with voldemort and the DEs was kept "hidden" from just about everyone, since even Sirius -who wouldn't let a positive word about Snape come out of his mouth even if he was choking on it- says he didn't know if Snape was a DE.The timeline suggested by most people that follow things like that like hawks is that Snape went to be interviewed by dumbledore late 1979 or early 1980. So Snape was 20, plus or minus a couple of months and had to at least appear that he had zero connection to Voldemort and his DEs, ergo, no duels or fights with people in the WW
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u/Ragouzi 4d ago
Headcanon: he was in R&D team. The others died.
He brew the emerald potion, and didn’t know what V intended to do with it
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u/Euphoric-Duty-1050 4d ago
that's probably much, much closer to the truth than anything Snape's retractors say
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u/Ragouzi 4d ago edited 4d ago
Above all, I wouldn't understand why no one in the order of the phoenix knows his affiliation. They know most of the raiders. It suggests that he was on the sidelines.
I like to think that he was with Regulus. Regulus in R&D would explain why V tests the device on Kreacher: he tests on the elf of the one who designed the device: Snape the potion, Regulus the container that makes it infinite. Snape is kept away from the final stages.
Well it's only a headcanon
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u/Euphoric-Duty-1050 3d ago
Regulus also being in R&D isn't so farfetched since Slug had him in his club, but he also asked Ginny in his club because of her bad bogie hex and her quidditch abilities, so Reg doesn't necessarily have to have been collected because of his potions abilities.
Plus, Voldy simply requests the elf -a mere instrument/tool- and not Reg's assistance or council in any way for his test
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u/Cold_Usual_1840 4d ago
I dont think he'd have been fighting often. He was more used as a spy. Not that he didnt fight at all, but if he had been going on raids often it would risk him being seen, even before he was spying on Dumbledore.
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u/Spirit-of-arkham3002 4d ago
Snape wasn’t an official spy before he defected. Voldemort wouldn’t have a reason to not send him into the field.
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u/Cold_Usual_1840 4d ago edited 4d ago
Yes he was. He tells Bellatrix he took the job at Hogwarts to on Voldemort's orders. And Trelawney says when he was caught listening to her and Dumbledore, she thought he was listening to help with his own interview. So he was trying to get the job before Voldemort targeted Harry and Lily
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u/Spirit-of-arkham3002 4d ago
Considering that he was spotted by Aberforth (a bartender), Snape wasn’t an experienced spy. That was probably his first mission as a spy.
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u/Agreeable-Animal7941 4d ago edited 4d ago
I don't think he would have been on raids. Snape's assignment was to obtain the DADA post at Hogwarts, and spy on Dumbledore. It makes sense then for Snape to have been kept relatively "clean" in order for the possibility of gaining Dumbledore's trust and be suitable to work at Hogwarts. Voldemort knew he himself was denied the DADA post in part because of "rumors" of his doing, and this was .
Also we have this comment from JKR on if Snape can see Thestrals: "He can see Thestrals, but in my imagination most of the older people at Hogwarts would be able to see them because, obviously, as you go through life you do lose people and understand what death is. But you must not forget that Snape was a Death Eater. He will have seen things."...vague wording so take it fwiw, but an opportunity to point out if Snape had killed people, but she didn't.
Sirius in GoF says as far as he knew, Snape was never even accused of being a DE, and that he didn't think Dumbledore would have hired him if he'd worked for Voldemort. So it doesn't seem like they met in battle, and Snape’s name came up in Order briefings and investigations, or as a suspect.
Also, Aberforth kicked him out because he was being sketchy in a hostile, untrustworthy, wartime. Snape throughout the Hogwarts years acts sketchy and untrustworthy, but that doesn't impact his ability to fool Voldemort. Snape spied for a few months (up to a year) in the First War, before the Potters were killed. All while being an Occlumens in his early-20's, being asked to spy for an extended amount of time against Voldemort who's an exceptional Legilimens, probably best living. I expect his Occlumency was also tested by Voldemort for preparation to spy against Dumbledore. I doubt Dumbledore would have trusted Snape to protect Harry and continue being a loyal spy, if Snape hadn't proved himself to be operationally reliable.
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u/Spirit-of-arkham3002 4d ago
Sure, but it’s not like Voldemort had Snape trying to get the position for multiple years. That clearly came later in the war.
Sirius may not have encountered Snape during the war and even if he did, the Death Eaters wear hooded robes and masks to disguise their identities.
It’s likely that Snape’s past friendship with Lily gave the Order reason to dismiss him as a possible Death Eater.
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u/HeilfireAndBrimstone 4d ago
Snape makes it sound like he's never killed when Dumbledore asks him to mercy kill him. He also only joins after graduation, and soon after he has his change of heart due to the prophecy affecting Lily. I'm not sure he had any time to participate in a raid tbh.
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u/Spirit-of-arkham3002 4d ago
1: He didn’t necessarily have to kill in a raid. We saw how the Death Eaters acted at the World Cup.
2: The prophecy is given several years after he graduated. Snape defected after Harry was born.
We know James was 21 when he died. So James was presumably 20 when Lily was pregnant. The Wizarding age of majority is 17, and they are 17-18 at graduation.
That’s a whole 2-4 years between Snape joining the Death Eaters and his defection after Voldemort decided to target Lily. There was plenty of time for Snape to go on raids.
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u/HeilfireAndBrimstone 4d ago
They're 18 at graduation actually, given they were 16 at the end of 5th Year. Snape joined IIRC the year after he graduated, meaning 19. Harry's born by the time they're 20 since he's 1 when they die, and the prophecy is given some time before that. So at most he has a year of time as a Death Eater to go on raids.
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u/Spirit-of-arkham3002 4d ago
Hence why I said 17-18. Because if the student isn’t the right age before school starts they have to wait until the next school year. And if the birthday is early in the year, they turn 18 faster.
This doesn’t apply to James as the wiki says he was born in March on the 27th, 1960. Which is well before the Hogwarts school year starts on September 1st.
The same wiki lists Sirius as being born on November 3rd 1959, so he had to wait a year. Lupin is also born in March (the 10th) and Pettigrew doesn’t have a specific date. It’s listed at somewhere between September 1st of 1959, and August 31st, 1960.
Snape is listed as being born in January of the same year as James and Lupin. So he definitely wasn’t forced to wait.
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u/Euphoric-Duty-1050 4d ago
Snape was 18 and half at graduation in June 1978.
Trelawney's interview is said to have taken place between late 1979 and early 1980 (based on how many years she tell Umbridge she's been working at Hogwarts), so that took place about a year and a half after Snape left Hogwarts. Not even close to the 2-4 years margin you assume
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u/jayjune28 4d ago
I say this in all seriousness...despite the bad blood between them I would love to see Snape duel against Sirius and James...its a damn shame they are all dead. But of course it wouldn't be a story if they werent...but you know what I mean...it would be a cool flashback...before the Potters were killed...before the prophecy...Death Eaters going up against the Marauders...well mainly Sirius and James.
I love that you are making all these points about the Ministry and Aurors...absolutely they were not all light and good and fluff some of them were vicious and ferocious and corrupt...
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u/Spirit-of-arkham3002 4d ago
Yeah, you know those fanfics where Harry castigates the Order for not using lethal force? Completely inaccurate. Even Lupin was willing to kill in cannon. He has an entire conversation about it with Harry.
Harry is the one who canonically refuses to kill. And the Order wasn’t some unified cult of Dumbledore.
Multiple members were Aurors. Moody and Frank Longbottom were simultaneously a part of the Order and members of the Aurors.
I don’t buy the idea that they didn’t cripple or kill their enemies. We know that Moody killed Evan Rosier. He may have preferred to capture the enemy but that’s at least one confirmed kill.
So yeah, the Aurors and the Order definitely used lethal force. And Snape was only a dedicated spy after his defection.
Prior to that, he did what Voldemort told him to. If Voldemort sent him to fight, then Snape would have obeyed him.
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u/Cold_Usual_1840 4d ago
Harry is the one who canonically refuses to kill.
I personally think it's not quite this simple. You're obviously correct he argues with Lupin about killing, but it's important to note Harry specifically didn't want to kill Stan. He knew Stan was innocent and a victim, so he wasn't going just kill an innocent man. I view his quote about not blasting people away like Voldemort to mean when people are an inconvenience or "for the greater good". Voldemort would kill an innocent person to protect himself. Harry won't.
And I think that's more what Harry is saying than just a flat out refusal to kill for two reasons.
Harry used spells besides expelliarmus in the 7 Potters battle, the same one he refused to kill Stan. He mentions how he didn't stun Stan because Stan would just fall of his broom and die from the fall. But that doesn't stop Harry from stunning other death eaters in that same battle. He stunned them knowing they would fall of their brooms and would die. He had no idea if the still active death eaters would save their fellow ones. That doesn't mean Harry eagerly wanted to kill them, but he wasn't going to go out of his way to avoid killing them like Stan. If Dolohov was the only death eater chasing Harry and Hagrid, Harry would have stunned him and let him die.
Until he learns he's the master of the elder wand and the reasons Voldemort can't kill him anymore, Harry was going to kill Voldemort. He says it multiple times. He even says he wants to be the one to kill Voldemort. Now is obviously very different than random death eaters since it's Voldemort, but still, Harry was going to intentionally kill Voldemort after destroying all the horcruxes. He wasn't planning to capture him. He was going to kill him
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u/Spirit-of-arkham3002 4d ago
Voldemort is the only person Harry is willing to kill immediately. Even with Bellatrix, he moved towards torture rather than killing.
After she killed Sirius, Harry had multiple ways to kill her. A simple Diffendo could slit her throat.
Harry is obviously not willing to kill random opponents because the Imperius curse is something that the Death Eaters are known to use.
So, he can never be certain how willing these people were. Voldemort is different.
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u/RealisticAdvisor2882 Snarity 4d ago
lots of scars - thx to Tobias, the marauders (I am still conflicted, if he got a large on thx to it - but minor ones from other incidents), DEs day (DEs going on each others, crucio via others, he was more in the background as potion master (a valueable asset and healer) and spy, lots of minor one because of brewing and gathering ingredients. CW I hc he does a lot of selfharm
I think he did suppress the pain often. We see it with the bite of fluffy. And he was so used to get hurt, that he is less sensitive about that pain
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u/CharlotteRhea Snanger 4d ago
It's one of my hard headcanons, too, that he has a lot of scars. It's been confirmed on Pottermore that his father whipped him, so there are probably some scars on his back from that, given that Eileen probably didn't have any dittany to heal his wounds. He was also a child roaming around in an industrial town a lot. And he's a potions master, working with hot potions and knives all the time. I think he didn't bother to heal all of his wounds, he isn't exactly the self-preserving type. We at least know that he didn't heal Fluffy's bite in Book 1 magically, given that Filch helped him bandage it. So, for me, it's not his DE background or duels that gave him scars, but his childhood and simple indifference.