How ‘Half-Blood Prince’ Looks at Snape’s Magical Personality

Professor Severus Snape is one of literature’s most curiously complex characters. Pottermore delves into what else we can glean about him in “Half-Blood Prince.”

From the moment we met the Half-Blood Prince himself Severus Snape, we thought he was going to be the big bad of the Harry Potter series. Not so, as we pleasantly found out. Instead we came to know a highly emotional man who was torn between light and dark for most of his adult life. And although Snape was an accomplished Occlumens, it wasn’t always easy for the readers to get inside his head.

Pottermore took a look at Snape’s role in the sixth Potter book and dug up a few more interesting bits about his often severe personality. We wanted to look at some of the spells he’s known for creating to see how it relates back to the hard-to-love Hogwarts professor.

Courtesy: Warner Bros.

Spellbinding

Snape is known for discovering several vastly different spells. One of them is Langlock, a charm that glues the target’s tongue to the roof of his or her mouth. This parallels Snape keeping his mouth shut as he played a magical double agent, helping Dumbledore discover how to destroy the Dark Lord.

He also created Muffliato, which Harry, Ron, and Hermione have all used. Anyone who is nearby when this spell is cast will hear a buzzing in their ears, allowing a covert conversation to take place. Snape more than likely had to use this one when discussing how to handle Dumbledore’s death.

Finally, the Sectumsempra curse is surprisingly dark, but not when we remember who created it. Snape was once a Death Eater, so it makes sense he would dabble in the dark arts as well. We know he was picked on a lot during his time at Hogwarts, and this spell may have been created as a last resort to use against bullies. Seeing how wounded Draco was after getting a full blast of this spell shows us Snape really wasn’t anyone to mess with.

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Pottermore has a few more observations about Snape’s personality while taking quotes from the book Half-Blood Prince. Make sure to check it out here.