This obsession came up again on the social media after the sad passing of Alan Rickman, the actor who played Severus Snape (again, if you don't already know this, what is wrong with you?). My facebook page was inundated with the grossest of Snape quotes:
“Dumbledore watched her fly away, and as her silvery glow faded he turned back to Snape, and his eyes were full of tears.
"After all this time?"
"Always," said Snape.”
― J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
If you can't remember what this is from, let me briefly explain. Snape has just done the Expecto Patronum spell, and his patronus is a doe. Lily's patronus was also a doe- this shows that Snape was deeply affected by her death, as magic folk's patronuses (patroni?) can change after a big emotional event.
So, there are many fan art images, a video that supposedly makes people weep for the strength of this love, and etsy items that glorify and romanticize this quote as if it indicates some pure, deep love that we all should strive for. It does not.
Instead, it indicates a life-long obsession. And, say it with me, OBSESSION IS NOT HEALTHY. Let me explain my strong feelings in list form, as I try to be more succinct: - Just because Snape liked Lily, and James Potter (who she married, hence producing Harry Potter) was a jerk and a bully as a teenager, does not mean it's justified for Snape to hold a life-long, crippling hatred towards James and a romanticization of Lily. She never dated Snape, she clearly didn't want to date him. So Snape thinking that James somehow stole her away from him takes away her agency, and allows him to ignore the fact that she was just not that into him. Move on, buddy.
- Snape transferred this teenage hatred of James into hatred of Harry Potter. He's incredibly cruel to him throughout the book series, even when we know he's working on the side of "good" with Dumbledore. (Come on, we all knew that he was trying to teach Harry to cast spells in his mind so that he wouldn't have to block his spells in a fight, but Harry wasn't capable of this). Snape needed some wizard therapy, but mental health was apparently not a thing they cared about in this universe. I mean, Harry, Hermione and Ron could've also used some therapy after all their dealings with He Who Shall Not be Named, but Dumbledore was all "You're fine, see you next term. 10 points for Gryffindor."
- I feel that people would not be so into Snape's obsession for Lily if their genders were reversed. Snape is basically a rotting wedding cake away from being Miss Havisham, and no one ever thinks her love is cute. It makes me think of things like boys pulling girls pigtails and people ooing instead of talking with the boys about consent.
There are weird quirks of the wizarding world and the series that allowed this obsession to continue.
- Dating in the Harry Potter universe is very antiquated. (Rainbow Rowell parodied this with a small mention in Carry On, which you should read if you haven't. It makes me understand why people write Harry/Draco slashfic). Everyone seems to find their future spouse at Hogwarts and if you don't, you are bound to a life of singledom. The one exception I can think of is Tonks and Remus Lupin- way to break the mold, guys! So perhaps since Snape did not meet anyone whose feelings for him were mutual at Hogwarts, he was destined to be a sad, bitter man easily swept up by an evil dictator.
- Dumbledore takes advantage of Snape's obsession in a very twisted way. One of the most interesting things about Dumbledore is that while he's Harry's hero he's not the best person, especially when it comes to Snape. He knows Snape will be tortured by looking after Harry, and he forces him to do it anyway. Bit of a shit move, Dumbledore. Maybe because he wasn't allowed to be with his love, he wanted Snape to suffer with him. That's a stretch, but how Dumbledore treats Snape is sick and twisted.
- Snape is weird and socially awkward, especially compared to James Potter. In the flashbacks we see him being bullied at Hogwarts (where are the teachers??) when he is not alone. Lily seems to be his only friend, and he wanted her to be everything for him. It's not healthy to have all your eggs in one basket, so to speak. She symbolized love, inclusion, friendship, and popularity- all things that were unattainable for him. When he was angry as a teenager he called Lily a "mudblood" (slur for muggle-born witches and wizards) and this was the end of their friendship. Lily already didn't approve of his involvement with the newly-formed Death Eaters.
- Perhaps most importantly, Snape felt extreme guilt over Lily's death. Snape overheard part of the prophecy (THE prophecy. Don't pretend you don't know) and relayed it to his boss The Dark Lord, which resulted in the murder of Lily and James Potter. Was he sad about James? Nah. Just Lily. Did his love for Lily make him love her son? Nope, just be angry at him when he resembled his dead father.
So again, let me state that I don't think loving someone your whole life is necessarily romantic, especially when they never loved you and you had no hope of reciprocation. Snape should've let it go and got on with his life, but instead he lived a bitter and sad existence. Perhaps one of Rowling's triumphs with this character is to show the flipside of one of Harry Potter's largest recurring themes: that love is powerful. In this case, "love" was not triumphant. Yes it motivated Snape's actions, but this didn't do him any favors. Did it protect Harry? Kind of, but Harry had other forms of love (his own and those of his friends) that protected him. Maybe what everyone misses is that Rowling showed how love can be twisted and turn dark. I hope that she did not swoon when she wrote the "always" passage.
TL;DR- Snape is not cute y'all, stop with the "always" already!
