How is snape a death eater

It is founded that Snape was extremely saddened and disappointed in his failure to protect Harry from Voldemort in the final battle, and was also engaged in assisting Scorpius in fixing the timeline so Harry was alive and Voldemort defeated. One of the details he revealed after convincing Snape of his tale was that in his timeline, Harry had named his second son after him.

This deeply touched Severus, who later told Scorpius to convey to Albus in the original timeline that he is proud that the boy carries his name and legacy, feeling a part of time he will never experience for the greater good of the world. He died without hesitation for the better world that Scorpius sought to restore, knowing his purpose could finally be served.

Snape once again died for the legacy of his love, showing the kind of man he was at heart. After the original timeline was restored, Harry visited Cedric Diggory's grave with Albus, describing his son's two namesakes — Dumbledore and Snape — as very much alike, despite their sorting into different houses: " great men, with huge flaws, and you know what - those flaws almost made them greater.

Snape criticised Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger whenever possible, most likely because of the fact that they were friends of Harry as well as being Gryffindors. Although Snape seldom found anything wrong with Hermione's work and marked her grades accordingly, he never awarded her house points and sometimes accused her of being an " insufferable know-it-all ". Despite this, Snape saved their lives in when Professor Lupin had transformed into a werewolf at the full moon, and even after they had stopped being his students, continued to assist the three of them in their quest to destroy the seven Horcruxes without them being any the wiser, of course.

It is unknown how Ron and Hermione reacted to the revelation of Snape's loyalty though as Harry recounted Snape's memories they were described as shocked. Albus Dumbledore , his former headmaster. Snape's relationship with Dumbledore was one of close, but not indefinite trust. Dumbledore was Snape's headmaster whilst at Hogwarts and was presumably impressed with Snape's academia and abilities. Snape likely felt no real loyalty to Dumbledore as a student and may have resented the latter's failure for stopping the torturous bullying Snape received at the hands of the Marauders.

Despite this, he agreed to keep Remus Lupin's lycanthropy a secret when the headmaster ordered him though likely out of self-serving reasons.

Before allying himself with Snape, Dumbledore viewed him with, in his own words, disgust, for the latter's selfishness. After having accidentally put Lily's life in jeopardy by delivering a prophecy to Lord Voldemort without knowing at the time that it was referring to her son , Snape turned to Dumbledore to keep her safe.

Dumbledore chose to capitalise on Snape's remorse and initiated him into the Order of the Phoenix as a double agent. As a spy for the Order, Snape silently kept his place within the ranks of the Death Eaters, while informing Dumbledore about their movements. He also adopted the role of secret agent for Voldemort and supplied him with strategic scraps of information about the Order. The content of these reports was often dictated by Dumbledore. It is implied that Snape withheld little, if any, information from Dumbledore that was relevant to the Order's success, while Snape deliberately did the opposite for Voldemort.

Snape resented Dumbledore's secrecy and was offended by this perceived lack of faith in his abilities. However, when Snape discovered that Dumbledore had intended for Harry to die all along, he was horrified, seeing it as a calculated betrayal of Lily's memory.

Dumbledore clearly underestimated the depth of Snape's feelings, and, years later, was very surprised to learn that he still maintained his devotion. In , Dumbledore became aware of Voldemort's plan to kill him.

Knowing Voldemort expected Draco Malfoy to fail, and assuming Snape to be Draco's successor, Dumbledore assigned Snape the task of killing him when the situation arose. Snape was genuinely reluctant to do this and even stated when Dumbledore stated that it was necessary to protect Draco's soul that his soul may very well be damaged from such an act, showing Snape had grown to genuinely care for the Headmaster.

Even with the revelation of Dumbledore's true plans for Harry, Snape hesitated for a time before carrying out his mission, his face being described as holding disgust and hatred for himself for what he was about to do. Dumbledore also entrusted Snape with protecting the students once Hogwarts fell into Voldemort's control. In spite of their mutual trust in each other, Dumbledore never allowed Snape his coveted position as Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher.

It was claimed that he did it so that Snape wouldn't experience a resurgence of "old habits". The truth may in fact be that Dumbledore believed the post to be jinxed by Lord Voldemort after he failed to attain the post, and this jinx had prevented any teacher from lasting beyond a year.

To place Snape in such a position might have risked his safety, and Dumbledore would not have permitted such a risk, in case he required Snape's aid against Voldemort again. When Dumbledore was infected by the curse on Marvolo Gaunt's ring, he asked Snape to kill him. Knowing that such an act would vilify Snape beyond any doubt in the mind of the Wizarding public, Dumbledore allowed Snape the position because he would have to leave immediately anyway.

Snape first met Petunia Evans during their childhood. She was the sister of Lily Evans , but Petunia was a Muggle , unlike her sister. Snape and Petunia strongly disliked each other, from the first moment they met.

Petunia, who was contemptuous of anything out of the ordinary, viewed him with disdain because of his poor economic status and because he was such an oddball. Snape, on the other hand, regarded her balefully because she was a Muggle, and because she made disparaging comments about his clothes.

It is unknown how Petunia reacted to or if she even ever knew about Snape calling Lily a Mudblood , but it can be assumed that this incident caused Petunia to hate him even more. Ironically, Petunia and Snape's negative encounters with each other as children and adolescents helped lay the foundations for their respective adult personalities.

It is possible that Petunia's interactions with Snape exacerbated her already growing disdain for the Wizarding world and eventual estrangement with Lily. Likewise, Snape's antipathy towards Petunia helped fuel his dislike towards Muggles in general, causing him to experiment with Pure-blood supremacy and the Dark Arts , culminating in his recruitment in the Death Eaters.

Even more tragically, Snape's actions as a Death Eater caused the death of Petunia's sister Lily to be murdered by Voldemort, which in turn caused Petunia to grudgingly adopt and abuse and neglect her nephew Harry Potter. Years after Snape's death, one of Petunia's great-nephews would be named after Snape. It is unknown if she had known about this, given how she likely severed contact with Harry after he left her house.

In , Snape overheard part of a prophecy foretelling Voldemort's downfall. After being caught, Snape hurried to tell Voldemort what he had heard, unaware that his information was incomplete. However, he turned against the Dark Lord the moment he decided to target Lily Potter. When Voldemort returned to physical form in , Snape ostensibly returned to him as a spy for the Order. Using Occlumency , Snape was able to close his mind, hide his true allegiance and maintain his cover as a faithful Death Eater.

Snape was one of the only Death Eaters to have the Dark Lord's complete trust and, after he murdered Albus Dumbledore, he became Voldemort's most trusted adviser. He was held in such high regard that Voldemort accepted making him Headmaster of Hogwarts after seizing power.

However, Voldemort coldly had his snake , Nagini, kill Snape in , believing it would make him the true master of the Elder Wand. Although he claimed he regretted its necessity, he felt no remorse over murdering one of his most faithful advisors. After Snape's death, Harry Potter revealed to Voldemort that Snape had managed to deceive him for years because he acted entirely out of love for Lily Evans — something Voldemort neither understood or cared about. Indeed, at the time Snape asked Voldemort to spare Lily's life, he erroneously believed that Snape's interest in her was merely physical, and callously stated that there were other women "of purer blood, worthier of him" after her death.

Voldemort also reacted with indifference to Snape's true loyalties, as Voldemort mistakenly believed that Snape's death made Voldemort the master of the Elder Wand. This error soon cost Voldemort his own life while ensuring that Snape's sacrifice was not in vain. It is possible that part of the reason Voldemort put so much trust in Snape was because he identified with his background.

Both Muggle men had nothing but hatred for their sons and wives and neglected their sons and as a consequence both Riddle and Snape yearned to shed their unhappy beginnings. Voldemort's father had abandoned his wife when she was pregnant with their son, while Snape's father was abusive towards his wife and their young son.

Both Riddle and Snape claimed greater identification with their maternal lineage than their paternal ancestry —the Gaunt family and Prince family , respectively. Both men grew up in poverty — Voldemort grew up in an orphanage , while Snape lived in Spinner's End. In addition, both Riddle and Snape were Sorted into Slytherin , and were known for their intelligence.

Both men had a passion for the Dark Arts and blood purity as childhood, and bestowed grandiose titles onto themselves Riddle was known as Lord Voldemort, while Snape adopted the name the Half-Blood Prince.

Both saw Hogwarts as sort of a real home as opposed to their default home. In addition, both men kept a book related to the Dark Arts in their sixteenth years — Voldemort had the diary that he converted into a Horcrux , while Snape had a Potions textbook that he used to write original magic. Lastly both were part of a gang of fu ture Death Eaters who bullied their fellow students.

Voldemort may have seen him as a trusted Death Eater who shared the same hatred for his father as he had for his own. The only major thing that differs between Voldemort and Snape's relationships with their fathers is murder; Voldemort had murdered his own father while Snape did not murder his. Voldemort must have also recognised Snape as a powerful and intelligent wizard, traits which would manifest as usefulness to his ideology.

However, there were other differences between Snape and Voldemort. Snape had a secret love for Lily Evans for most of his life, which motivated him to defect from the Death Eaters and protect her son after her death at Voldemort's hands. Voldemort, on the other hand, disregarded love as a weakness that was beyond his comprehension, and had allegiance to only himself.

This had coincidentally led to his own undoing. In addition, unlike Voldemort, Snape had known about the existence of the wizarding world before he was eleven years old likely due to the fact that Snape's mother was actually present in his childhood. Snape possessed the ability of independent flight, which was presumably taught to him by Lord Voldemort as he displayed the same ability during the Battle of the Seven Potters.

This shows that Lord Voldemort had a great deal of trust in Snape as he taught him a very unique ability, something he might not have done with any other Death Eater. The Weasleys had a neutral if not unkind relationship with Snape. The Weasleys were blood-traitors, supporters of Muggles and Muggle-borns and opposed to the Dark Arts, all things Snape held opposite views towards as a Death Eater. Snape had relinquished most prejudices after switching sides though. It is unknown if Snape was still loyal to the Death Eaters when Fabian and Gideon Prewett were killed or if he had defected before their deaths.

Both events occurred in The Weasleys, like Snape in his youth, were profusely financially strained. Molly and Arthur had left Hogwarts before Snape started but knew him through their membership in the Order. They seemed to, like most, trust him because Dumbledore did. Little is known about their relationship, although Molly, at least, did not let Snape's maltreatment of her children staunch her respect for him as a teacher.

Given Molly was a good potioneer, this could have helped her find some common ground with him. Snape taught seven Weasleys at Hogwarts. Bill and Percy , despite being Gryffindors, earned many O. Despite this, Ginny mentioned once that Bill and Snape did not get along when Bill was a student.

There was, in fact, only a decade separating Snape and Bill. Fred and George irked Snape profusely with their pranks and disinterest in school work. Interestingly, they were their generation's Marauders , map and all, and as such Snape may have viewed them as a reincarnation of his childhood bullies. It is mentioned the twins got many detentions and house point losses which were likely Snape's doing.

Ginny was the final Weasley to attend Hogwarts before Snape's death and she bore a remarkable resemblance to Lily. She was also the only remaining Weasley at Hogwarts during Snape's time as headmaster and co-lead the reformed Dumbledore's Army, unknowingly allying herself with Snape. Notably Snape seemed as worried as the other teachers when Ginny was taken into the Chamber of Secrets.

Ron knew of Snape's treatment of students before attending his classes, likely hearing it from an older sibling indicating a long string of antagonism between Snape and the Weasley children.

Snape's murder of Dumbledore in close conjunction of Bill being maimed by Greyback and accidently maiming George gave birth to the family's hatred of him. A new member of the family was eventually named for him. Lucius and Draco Malfoy , whom he was on good terms with. Snape appeared to be on good terms with the Malfoy family.

Lucius Malfoy was a Slytherin prefect when Snape began attending Hogwarts, and the two ran in the same social circles, which included other future Death Eaters.

It's unknown if Lucius was suspicious of Snape's true allegiance, though he most likely believed Snape to be truly loyal to Voldemort. Lucius continued to think and speak well of Snape later in life. Perhaps because of this, Snape also favoured Lucius's son Draco. Draco seemed to look up to Snape, once sycophantically saying that he would make a far better Headmaster than Albus Dumbledore. However, after his father's imprisonment in Azkaban following the Battle of the Department of Mysteries , Draco came to resent and mistrust Snape, suspecting that he was trying to usurp his father's place in the Death Eater ranks.

He refused Snape's repeated offers of help with the task Lord Voldemort assigned him in his sixth year. Narcissa Malfoy , on the other hand, begged Snape to assist Draco in his task to assassinate Dumbledore, fearing that her son was being set up to fail. She ignored the warnings of her sister, Bellatrix Lestrange , who did not trust Snape, and had him make an Unbreakable Vow to help Draco and take over the task should he fail.

This speaks highly as to the trust and respect the Malfoys had for Snape. It's unknown how the Malfoys reacted upon learning of Snape's death and true loyalties. They were possibly saddened due to their longtime friendship. It's possible that they were also sympathetic due to their own disillusionment from Voldemort. Bellatrix Lestrange , whom he had little patience for. Unlike her Malfoy relatives, Bellatrix Lestrange invested none of her faith in Snape.

It's possible that the two got along better during the First Wizarding War as Sirius once described the two as old acquaintances; however, later in life, she showed nothing but distrust toward him. She saw right through his triple agent charade, even though Lord Voldemort could not.

Part of the reason for this may have been Snape's half-blood status and his avoidance of imprisonment in Azkaban , while she was incarcerated there for years. Given Bellatrix's obsessive, slavish love for Voldemort, she may have envied the trust the Dark Lord put in Snape, whom she considered her inferior in both blood and service.

She was suspicious when Snape did not immediately return to Voldemort after his rebirth nor come to the Dark Lord's aide before that, and why he never took an opportunity to kill Harry Potter when, as one of the boy's professors , he had easy access to him. When Snape easily backhanded all of her accusations, bringing up that Lord Voldemort himself interrogated him of those lines, Bellatrix was lost for words; Snape was cunning enough to use the power of mere words to render Bella such, for he knew that to further her doubt of Severus would, by extension, mean that she would also be doubting the Dark Lord.

And she was too fanatical to let such disparity in opinion between herself and her master go too far. With her logical reasons for distrusting Snape were gone, her irrational jealousy was all she had left to give her a reason to hate him. For that reason it perhaps grew stronger. Bellatrix was uneasy speaking openly about things around Snape, and tried to discourage her younger sister from asking him for help with Draco's task.

Although Bellatrix did not fear or respect Snape like most others did, she seemed to only avoid his bad side so as to avoid Voldemort's bad side by extension. Snape, on the other hand, seemed to regard Bellatrix coldly.

He had very little patience for her dramatics and tendency towards hysteria. He even took the opportunity to mock her for her struggle against the six teenagers from Dumbledore's Army during the Battle of the Department of Mysteries , and that she was losing her status in Voldemort's eyes.

Snape and Bellatrix were Voldemort's most powerful and trusted servants or so Voldemort thought as far as Snape was concerned and as such they never picked a real fight with one another. They were also the Death Eaters that the Order of the Phoenix and its associates hated the most and the ones the other Death Eaters feared and respected the most. Bellatrix never managed to convince anyone of Snape's true loyalty and died moments before it was revealed to everyone that she had been right all along.

Snape and Karkaroff had a little bit of history with each other from the First Wizarding War. Karkaroff was captured by Alastor Moody and during his trial, in a desperate attempt to avoid going to prison he gave to the Ministry many names of Death Eaters, including Snape. However, at the time he was not aware that Snape was a double agent.

He desperately tried to convince the court that Snape remained guilty despite the judge telling him Snape was cleared. During the Triwizard Tournament , when Karkaroff's and Snape's Dark Marks were burning stronger, Karkaroff told his worries to Snape, who expressed little concern to him.

As the year progressed, Karkaroff continued to pursue Snape over the issue, to which Snape became increasingly annoyed, and even started to evade him. Snape described Karkaroff as cowardly and had no intention of joining him in hiding once Voldemort returned. Karkaroff's death did not seem to surprise Snape. Severus became a member of the Death Eaters after Hogwarts.

During his time at school, he was a member of a "gang of Slytherins that would later become Death Eaters". Lily Evans could not understand how he could be friends with them, as they had an "evil sense of humour". It's unknown how close he really was with the members of this gang, however he did seem somewhat defensive when Lily spoke ill of Mulciber and Avery implying a possible level of intimacy with them at least.

Rosier and Wilkes were killed by Aurors after the First Wizarding War ; Rodolphus, Bellatrix, and Mulciber were captured but later escaped , while Avery managed to defect. Besides Bellatrix, it's unknown what kind of relationship he had with his old school friends as an adult.

Judging by Amycus's reaction upon seeing Snape at the Astronomy Tower it seems that he and possibly Alecto truly believed that Snape was on their side. They were both sadistic, and they liked to torture the students who opposed them. They also ordered the students to practise the Cruciatus Curse on punished students.

Death Eater Corban Yaxley appeared to be friendly with Snape too however he seemed resentful when Voldemort valued Snape's information and accomplishments over his own. Along with Fenrir Greyback , they seemed to fear Snape's abilities, as they instantly stood down when he approached to kill Dumbledore, despite Draco being tasked with the job. For many years, it was believed that Barty Crouch was dead.

However, he escaped from Azkaban and planned to send Harry Potter to Voldemort, who would be reborn. Snape was surprised that Crouch was still alive. All those Death Eaters were either killed or imprisoned after Voldemort's final defeat. According to Snape some of them believed that he was not truly loyal to their cause, however none of them save Bellatrix openly confronted him about it.

It is unknown how the surviving Death Eaters reacted — either as a group or as individuals — to reveal of Snape's demise if they found out or the revelations of his true loyalties.

Neville Longbottom , his student. Neville Longbottom was perhaps one of the worst Potions students Snape ever taught. As such, Snape was especially cruel to him and often made a point of ridiculing his failures in class. Even outside of his own classroom, Snape did not hesitate from offering harsh opinions of Neville. This treatment made Neville extremely nervous to be around Snape, and further contributed to his poor performance in Potions.

Neville admitted in that Snape was his greatest fear, and, predictably, Snape was the form Neville's Boggart took at that time. Snape soon heard about Neville's boggart and treated him, if possible, even worse than he usually did.

Neville was surprised that Snape killed Dumbledore but did learn the truth later. Snape chose to do a subtle favour for Neville when he was caught along with Ginny Weasley and Luna Lovegood attempting to steal the Sword of Gryffindor. Snape chose to send Neville, Luna and Ginny to detention with their friend Hagrid rather than subject them to the sadistic forms of discipline practised by the Carrows.

Travers pops up several times throughout the series. He is often one of the most vocal Death Eaters about his vitriol toward everyone but pure-blooded wizards. He proved useful in battles, capturing Ginny Weasley in the Department of Mysteries and dueling students in the Battle of Hogwarts.

In between battles, he worked for the Ministry of Magic with authority over the Muggle-Born Registration Commission, providing him semi-legitimate government power. Travers was also the Death Eater who happened upon Hermione Granger polyjuiced to look like Bellatrix Lestrange, but he failed to detect the subterfuge and was Imperiused by Harry Potter.

Travers was ultimately more of a bureaucratic bigot and less of a real threat as a Death Eater. Augustus Rookwood started as a spy for the Death Eaters. His spycraft might have gone undetected if not for Igor Karkaroff's testimony. After breaking out of Azkaban during the Second Wizarding War, Rookwood's experience in the Department of Mysteries was instrumental in Voldemort's plan to obtain the prophecy.

He was also shown as a good duelist when he took part in battles. Among the Death Eaters, Rookwood was uncommonly useful with uncommonly subtle tactics. Macnair was an executioner through and through. He avoided being sent to Azkaban by claiming he was Imperiused, and he continued to work at the Ministry of Magic as an executioner of dangerous creatures including Buckbeak. Macnair was given the crucial task of recruiting the giants to join Voldemort, which he accomplished despite Hagrid's best efforts to stop him.

Macnair was further tasked with infiltrating St. Mungo's in disguise to deliver a Devil's Snare that would be fatal to the poor Ministry employee Voldemort had Imperiused to take the prophecy from the Ministry of Magic.

Whenever Voldemort needed a violent man to clean up a mess, Macnair was there. Regulus Black joined the Death Eaters at a young age, as he was swept up in Voldemort's vision of the world with pureblood wizards at the center. He had already been indoctrinated by the Black family into believing Voldemort's prejudice.

This made it all the more remarkable that Regulus openly defied the Dark Lord. Regulus took the Horcrux locket from Voldemort's hiding place, even signing his name to the act and vowing to destroy the Horcrux. Regulus never made it out of the cave to finish the job, but he still struck a huge blow to Voldemort's plans at a time when almost no one else knew of the Horcruxes.

The Lestrange Brothers were fanatic followers of Voldemort as much as Bellatrix was. Voldemort considered them loyal Death Eaters for looking for him after his disappearance and refusing to forsake the cause. This devotion to Voldemort made them extremely dangerous. The pair was noted to be present during every important battle, though their actions did not seem noteworthy.

Rodolphus even managed to survive through the series, appearing again in Cursed Child to tell Voldemort's child Delphini of her heritage.

Alecto Carrow and her brother, Amycus, were the bane of Hogwarts students. Alecto's first major appearance was in the infiltration of Hogwarts, when she left the fray of battle to help trap Dumbledore in the Astronomy Tower.

Next time the Carrows are seen, they had been appointed professors at Hogwarts under Headmaster Severus Snape. They were placed in charge of discipline and made life a nightmare for any Hogwarts student that crossed them, even forcing Neville into hiding. However, her power at Hogwarts mattered little when she tried to corner Harry Potter. She was stunned by Luna Lovegood and stayed tied up in Ravenclaw tower until the Battle of Hogwarts was over.

Amycus ruled Hogwarts with an iron fist right alongside his sister, Alecto. He took over the position as Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, turning it into a position that solely taught the Dark Arts.

He showed incredible cruelty by forcing his class to practice the Cruciatus Curse on students in detention. Upon Harry's return to Hogwarts, Amycus discovered his stunned sister and planned to blame the students for the mistake of calling Voldemort without having Harry Potter in hand. Unlike his sister, who was taken down by only Luna Lovegood, Amycus' defeat required a Cruciatus Curse from Harry and a binding from McGonagall , placing him slightly higher in the ranking.

Lucius Malfoy is the first true Death Eater fans are introduced to. While he avoided Azkaban and did not go looking for Voldemort, he continued to put the Dark Lord's plans in motion. In Chamber of Secrets , Lucius Malfoy is the main instigator for everything that happens in the book. After his defeat, though, Lucius falls out of favor with Voldemort, and he is reduced to living in fear for himself and his family. In the end, he no longer cared to be a Death Eater, abandoning Voldemort to ensure his family's safety.

One fan asked about what Snape smells like , and although the original tweet with the question has since been deleted, Rowling's reply is still up.

Rita Skeeter is a journalist and author in the Wizarding World known for her sensationalized tell-alls, including "The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore. In a interview with Bloomsbury , Rowling joked that Skeeter would probably have gone on to write a biography titled "Snape: Scoundrel or Saint? World globe An icon of the world globe, indicating different international options. Get the Insider App. Click here to learn more. A leading-edge research firm focused on digital transformation.

Stephanie Ashe. Severus Snape is one of the most divisive characters in the entire "Harry Potter" series. He was a double agent, so many character details were kept a secret, and little is known about his life outside of Hogwarts. However, it is known that his mother was a witch and his father was a Muggle, which led to the moniker "The Half-Blood Prince.

Visit Insider's homepage for more stories. His first and last names loosely translate to mean "stern" and "disgrace," respectively. He was possibly the only Death Eater to conjure a Patronus. Snape pretty much fits the description of a Potions Master to a T. His father was a muggle. Are all Death Eaters Slytherin? All the Death Eaters besides Peter Pettigrew are either mentioned as being in Slytherin House, or not mentioned as being in a house at all, as indicated in this list of Death Eaters.

When did Snape overhear the prophecy? Did Snape love Harry? Snape did everything for Lily's sake. Snape never liked Harry. And for Snape, however he might have tried to find Lily in Harry, all he would have found was James. Even though deep down by heart Harry was like is mother as Dumbledore said, his appearance and his behavior was more like that of James and Sirius.

What did Snape do for Harry? Dumbledore asks in response if he has finally taken a liking to Harry, to which Snape responds by conjuring Lily's doe-shaped patronous, meaning that he has and always will love Lily, and is his sole reason to protect Harry. The reason that I suspect Snape could never like Harry is because of his father James.

How many times did Snape save Harry? Why did Snape become teacher?