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From the category archives:

Severus Snape

Sectumsempra, by Arabella Figg

by Travis Prinzi on July 2, 2009

Our next guest post comes from Arabella Figg! ~ Travis

c24-sectumsempraThis is my first post here, and what a chapter to work on! So, no metaphorical Dung Bombs, please. (All page references are from the American edition.)

Sectumsempra could well have been titled Truth or Consequences, as deceit plays the starring role. Moreover, two events we’ve long-anticipated—a confrontation between Harry and Draco, and another kind between Harry and Ginny—occur.

The chapter begins with good news—Katie Bell’s return and the Ron/Lavender and Ginny/Dean breakups, Harry can now pursue Ginny, but fears Ron will disapprove; is he right (Ron has previously indicated how he would feel)? He returns Katie to the Quidditch team, displacing Dean who has played most of the year; was this fair? [click to continue…]

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Christmas Eve at the Burrow

by Travis Prinzi on June 11, 2009

c16-a-very-frosty-christmasWe’re halfway through Half-Blood Prince!

More Snape irony in this chapter: As Harry what he overhears to Ron, he’s convinced he knows that Snape is on Voldemort’s side, because “No one’s that good an actor, not even Snape.”  Wrong!  Funny that as Harry is being vindicated about Malfoy, he’s completely wrong about Snape.

Dumbledore really becomes a show-stealer on a re-read. [click to continue…]

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A Party and a Promise

by Travis Prinzi on June 8, 2009

c15-the-unbreakable-vowHarry was supposed to have been reading Quintessence: A Quest. Perhaps if he’d actually read it, he’d not have spent so much time wandering around and having to pass yet again through the three stages of alchemy in Deathly Hallows? “Quintessence” means:

  • the fifth and highest element after air and earth and fire and water; was believed to be the substance composing all heavenly bodies
  • the purest and most concentrated essence of something

Either that, or he would have been skipped the whole Voldemort quest to join a Finnish jazz band. [click to continue…]

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Snape Victorious

May 23, 2009

Am I missing something, or does the artwork for this chapter in the U.S. edition have nothing whatsoever to do with this chapter?
It’s always fun to see Rowling playing with quick lines of foreshadowing after having read what was being foreshadowed.  In the beginning of Chapter 8 of Half-Blood Prince, while Harry is paralyzed from [...]

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Severus Snape, Fiery Snake

May 6, 2009

The last two words of Chapter 2 of Half-Blood Prince, “Spinner’s End,” are “fiery snake.”  These were very well-chosen words by J.K. Rowling, especially given what she wrote in Deathly Hallows. The term “fiery snake” is used to describe the third and binding magical movement of the Unbreakable Vow.
Dumbledore said to Snape in “The Prince’s [...]

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Sorcerer’s Stone Week, Day 4: The Snape Story

September 24, 2008

It seemed pretty evident in the first book that Severus Snape was going to be an intriguing character.  This is a post dedicated to the greasy potions master.  Several questions for consideration and comment:

In what clever ways did Rowling set up the Snape plot in book one?  
Any Snape foreshadowing that you missed in the [...]

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Voldemort is a Failed Character (Part II)

August 8, 2008

by Dave
Part I of this series: Why Joker Succeeds and Voldemort Fails
“Behind the scenes” is a trope of long standing tradition in many forms of literature. In a recent essay on Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Terry W. Thompson argues that the violent deaths occur off the page as a direct result of Shelley’s love of classical [...]

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Why Joker Succeeds and Voldemort Fails (Part I)

July 17, 2008

by Dave
Since Deathly Hallows release last year, I’ve been perpetually puzzled by Voldemort’s characterization in the last two novels. Half Blood Prince humanizes Voldemort in a way that lends HBP a sophistication most of the earlier novels lack — Voldemort’s backstory both enlightens and befuddles the reader, at once shedding light on his origins [...]

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The Snaped Crusader (#2): The Rise and Fall of Harry’s Nemesis

February 18, 2008

by Dave
A standard literary trope is to set characters against each other, playing one’s personna in relationship to another. Typically, we find the “arch”-nemesis, especially in adventure or heroic stories. The main character is opposed by a primary antagonist, and the juxtaposition of these characters reveals something about one or both to the [...]

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Snape is Heathcliff is House, M.D.?

November 18, 2007

by Travis
This is not an academic essay. It contains random musings, and I welcome all comments, questions, and declarations of heresy.
In many ways, my 6 year detour from English and literature studies into Theology prepared me well to be able to handle the fringe Christian response to the Harry Potter series, but put me [...]

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Voldemort and the Perversion of the Hero

September 18, 2007

by Dave]
The heart of the classical Hero type drives towards some sacrifice — either in a quest for glory sometimes doomed from the start, or on the behalf of something judged “the greater good”. Classical epic heroes struggle against their humanity, often goaded by the self realization of their partial divinity. They hope [...]

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Hog’s Head PubCast #34: Snape, a Hero?

September 1, 2007

Is Snape a Hero?; announcement about forthcoming book; changes at SoG; introducing the Blogengamot.
You can subscribe though iTunes, where you can also write glowing reviews of the pubcast. You can do the same at Podcast Alley.
Some funky sound issues with this one.
Pub Menu

Zossima Press
The Classic Tales
Store of Gryffindor

 
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Snape in Love

July 5, 2007

The whole of fandom has been round and round about whether or not Snape has ever been in love, and usually Lily and Narcissa are given as possibilities.  I’m not going to venture any more guesses about that.  But tonight, listening to some interviews with Rowling, I came across a few quotes that have been [...]

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Hog’s Head PubCast #29

July 1, 2007

Snape, Wormtail, and Draco; Lily as Christ figure; “Close to the Dead” – what does it mean?; E-Owls
Some sound issues with this one, mainly my voice getting louder and softer, depending on where/when I was recording. Next podcast, I’ll be trying a new mic set-up, and if it works, sound should be crystal clear [...]

 
icon for podpress  Hog's Head PubCast #29 [32:20m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
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Snape and Machiavelli

June 17, 2007

John Granger has returned to regular blogging, and he’s begun with an interesting post on the Machiavelli theories that have appeared on multiple HP sites and in various comments here at SoG. Be sure to stop by HogPro, read the post, and jump into the discussion.
In SoG news, I’m planning to try to sneak [...]

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Hog’s Head PubCast #24: Snape (again)

May 28, 2007

Orson Scott Card’s Essay, “Who is Snape…?”; Snape and Lily; Snape vs. Slughorn – better teacher?; Snape’s “loyalty” to Dumbledore; revisiting racism (briefly)
I’ll post the pub menu tomorrow. If anyone would like to do me the favor of counting how many times I used the word “fascinating” or any of its derivatives in this [...]

 
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Book Review: The Great Snape Debate (part 2)

May 22, 2007

Be sure to read Part 1 for my overall introduction to the book.
“The Case for Snape’s Innocence” is the far better half of the book, in my opinion. Made up of 5 essays that parallel the five from “The Case for Snape’s Guilt,” it presents a fairly thorough examination of the evidence for Good [...]

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Book Review: The Great Snape Debate (part 1)

May 14, 2007

Revision: This book review has been revised.
This is the first of a two-part review of the Borders special release, The Great Snape Debate (available in Borders and Waldenbooks stores), by Amy Berner, Orson Scott Card, and Joyce Millman. The book is divided into two sections, each arguing the opposite point of view about Snape.

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Snape, Hogwarts Teachers, Umbridge: Who’s the Real Bully?

May 11, 2007

Severus Snape is taking over this blog.
We’ve had a post arguing that Snape is a bully. We’ve had a post examining that as the strongest point for some version of Evil Snape vs. the best argument for Good Snape. We’ve had a post placing Snape in a certain version of evil, if indeed, [...]

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The Dumbledore-Snape Dilemma

May 9, 2007

This post will get more detailed over time.  It’s late, and I’m too tired to get all the citations, but I’ll get them eventually.  I wanted to present one of the dilemmas in the Snape debate and get the discussion going.
The Strongest Evil!Snape Argument: I don’t believe the best Evil Snape argument lies in a [...]

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Shades of Evil

May 5, 2007

“You have no subtlety, Potter.” Said Snape, his dark eyes glittering. “You do not understand fine distinctions. It is one of the shortcomings that makes you such a lamentable potion-maker.” (OP, p. 521)
Commenter shadowquill linked an interesting essay from The Leaky Cauldron by “caltheous” on Snape. While I think it’s fair to say that [...]

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“The Great Snape Debate” Book

April 17, 2007

The Great Snape Debate, by Orson Scott Card, Joyce Millman, and Amy Berner.
Since I absolutely love Orson Scott Card (does it get any better than Ender’s Game?), I’ll be ordering a copy immediately. I’m really excited to read what he has to say about “the great Snape debate.”
Here’s the press release about it.

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Snape, the Bully

April 11, 2007

As I write this, there are 169 votes in the Snape poll in the sidebar (the other 900 of you that come each day need to vote, k?), and “Good Snape” is not just winning – it’s annihilating the other two.
Frequent commenter seriously_black has frequently pointed to Snape’s bullying of children. Indeed, in an [...]

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Hog’s Head PubCast #20: The Snape Surprise

March 24, 2007

Can Rowling pull off a surprise with Severus Snape?
Pub Menu:

Janet Scott Batchler: What Will Harry Do? (seriously, if you don’t have this yet, what are you waiting for?)
Felicity has two stellar essays that relate to the question of Snape’s loyalty: The Avada Kedavra on the Astronomy Tower and Fantastic Potions and How They Helped [...]

 
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James Potter’s Invisibility Cloak, Take Two

September 14, 2006

Update: Move along to another essay. JKR destroyed this theory a couple days ago. So much for my attempts at predicting things!  Rowling’s statement doesn’t entirely annihilate the theory, since my particular version of the theory doesn’t have Snape hiding under the cloak at the house while the Potters were killed, but I’m [...]

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