There are two kinds of aesthetic things, one like the Holy Grail of Hufflepuff or the crown of Ravenclaw, and most people will be attracted to shine by the overwhelming light it emits. The other is like Gaunt's ring, which looks rough and ugly, with obvious cracks, but in fact carries immeasurable value, a story of thousands of years, a kind of divided beauty.
Snape's character's beauty is the latter, sloppy and gloomy, snarky, selfish and jealous, young and promising, talented, and affectionate. It is a false decent, a false evil, and a strange charm is mixed in the contradictions.
Allowing these conflict factors to play in an individual every day without going crazy requires self-control beyond ordinary people, and from this point on, it has to be admitted that Snape has a genius disposition.
It's easy to focus on the affection that "always" represents, and ignore Snape's genius in nature. If there is only "always", Snape is no different from the obsessive male two often written in idol dramas. Or become a character like "You Tanzhi" in "Tianlong Babu", only because of falling in love with a woman, it makes the glorious life have a point of light.
And Snape doesn't just have "always."
If not Lily
Snape had the first half of his life of being rejected.
The discord of the original family has caused Snape to grow up in a loveless environment from an early age, without friends and friends at school, and from time to time to experience bullying in school. Later, he became curious about black magic, which made many people despise and dislike it. It can be said that Snape lived almost in a completely loveless environment in the years before he became an adult, and such an environment is very easy to spawn the flower of evil, such as Tom Riddle.
Without a sense of good and evil, without the pursuit of morality, and with an extraordinary IQ, and wanting to escape from an unbearable situation, such people will inevitably go to the pursuit of a powerful amount of power, black magic. Snape was able to become a Death Eater and not be discovered during his later undercover work, not entirely because of superb acting skills, and it is estimated that more often than not, it is because of this innate sense of integration. Snape was supposed to be black magic.
However, even among the Death Eaters, Snape was easily pregnant. Voldemort valued loyalty the most, and in terms of loyalty, Snape's loyalty was far less than that of Bellatrix. In terms of ability, Snape, although extraordinary, could easily arouse Voldemort's jealousy. Snape himself was not very fierce and leadership, and it was difficult to stand on his own.
Therefore, if you remove the plot line related to Lily and let it develop, I am afraid that Snape's life will be difficult to have a highlight moment.
Our nature is determined by choice
Without Lily's death, Snape would hardly have encountered one of the deepest dilemmas of human nature, "guilt." Lily's death, on the other hand, gave him the opportunity to choose between good and evil.
Growing up in a loveless environment, Snape was able to develop a crush on Lily, which was a miracle in itself. After Lily's death, Snape's love for Lily was more of a guilt than a simple love itself.
Snape's search for "Lily's Eyes" is not simply looking for his lover's eyes, but seeking forgiveness in those eyes. But those eyes were constantly reminded of his mistakes.
Guilt is the deepest emotion of human nature, a game between the self and the self. Choosing between such games is a problem that Dumbledore could not face directly. The real villains will choose to give up, like Peter Pettigrew, the cowards will choose to escape – forget or seek death. Snape was not, he was such a person who was extremely harsh on himself, this time, he did not easily let himself go.
He chose to always be in a difficult game and undertook it for more than ten years.
Snape did all the good things not because he had universal pursuits of justice and goodness, never because he despised even being a savior. Everything he did was out of a small amount of guilt. However, long-term guilt is the goodness of human nature, and there is no performance component of chivalry and righteousness, nor is there a self-appreciation of becoming a hero.
Dumbledore must have seen this and trusted Snape so much.
There are many possibilities in a person's life, but the trajectory of life can only choose one. Lily's presence did form a fork in Snape's orbit, but pulling the brake knife and changing the track was Snape's own choice.
January 9, 1960-May 2, 1998
Happy Birthday, Professor!
Author: Li Li
Source: Wizarding Encyclopedia