#'b-but snape is an incel!!'

[mild-lunacy]

I always thought of myself as someone who's a big fan of 'unlikeable' or difficult characters in fiction, from the most psychologically complex to your basic 'bad boy' types (if written well enough). So it's difficult for me to reconcile this with the fact that I gave up on Mira Honfleur's Blade and Rose series at least partly because of the 'bad boy' problem. It seems I make an exception for... entitled internet asshole types, I guess?

If you've read the book(s) more than a quarter of the way, feel free to enlighten me or let me know it improves. At this point, it seems like my issue is that a) there's a love triangle (which I default to hating in any romance where it's a source of drama) and b) the 'bad boy' is just really entitled and... weak because he's insecure, I guess? Like the sort of guy that blames the woman for his own insecurity, while being responsible for meeting his needs and solving his issues.

I mean, insecurity can be sympathetic, but when a person blames someone else for not solving their problems.... You can argue it's realistic, but I think it's *too* realistic. Or rather, it's so frustrating and annoying that it starts to make me annoyed not at the guy, but at the supposedly 'strong' female character who would tolerate this bullshit, even if it's in the past by the time the couple's temporary reconciliation eventually occurs (according to spoilers).

I think I'm used to 'bad boys' just being extra ruthless, possibly violent, empathically challenged, overly ambitious but not... personally odious, I guess? Like in a gross way. Like... a loser way. Not being a sad loser is kind of a prerequisite to being a 'bad boy' love interest and not... a YA villain, basically.

I find myself making comparisons to incels and like, Tate fanboys, though this is just vibes mainly. Basically, this guy wants the main character to shut up and marry him because he needs his curse lifted ASAP, and it's inconvenient and embarrassing for him to have to wait while she gets the magical education she needs to be safe. Therefore he's going to seduce and scheme, and if that fails, try to ruin her life. That's not really the sort of thing I can find cute or forgivable on any level. Perhaps that's unsurprising after all.

Anyway, this is why I never truly liked Snape in HP . Not really. I mean, I loved Draco and he was bitter and envious and insecure... so why was that attractive, then? Well, it's because there was a power imbalance in Harry's favor between them. Unlike Snape, who abused his power over Harry, Draco just kinda... tried and failed a lot. His insecurities and immaturity were also more justifiable in my mind 'cause he's a kid and then a young teen, who was scheming against a favored school peer, even if Harry's an orphan and Draco had higher social status. By contrast, this 'bad boy' currently has higher social status than the main character that he schemes against (who's also an orphan), and he's in his mid-twenties. Definitely time to know better.

I'll admit though, partly it's that I'm okay with Harry and Draco 'cause a) they were both boys and b) the narrative doesn't make Draco a major character, let alone a love interest. He's a rival. Rivals in YA books get to scheme and be little jerks in pathetic, even disgusting ways. If a love interest and ongoing major POV character (even if he's not endgame) is a 'pathetic little cockroach' , you've got a problem in an adult romance storyline.

To be honest, this is why I used to almost exclusively read slash or m/m fiction. Would this whole gross dynamic be okay with me if everyone was male? Well... probably? It wouldn't be great 'cause I still hate love triangles, but there's still an irrefutable power dynamic issue when an older male character in a position of social and romantic authority tries to abuse his power at the expense of a young woman. It doesn't matter if she's strong, and doesn't buy what he's selling and is even able to defeat his earlier schemes. Any ethical retreat or future accommodation made might be considered big-hearted and generous from a male main character... but seems like validation of the male abuser when a woman is involved.

Even then, there's a special wrongness in a man who attempted to rob the main character of an education. Maybe that's just me, but I'm much more likely to get over an attempt on their life, money or liberty (those are pretty commonplace, really). People's personal issues, needs and insecurities don't really matter that much when they're used as an *excuse* for truly antisocial behavior. And even though the main character never *actually* excuses this behavior as an adult, and the text explicitly doesn't justify it in any way, just merely being a POV love interest is enough to create a dynamic where readers will be likely to hand-wave these things or become increasingly frustrated. Like, there's being empathetic and then there's being a sucker. 💁

[ironborealis]

I fell in love with Snape at 2 AM on a Sunday morning, when Quirrel revealed that he was the real villain all along... because as mean as Snape was to Harry, he went out of his way to protect him. He was a more complicated antihero than the book really called for and that intrigued me.

I got into the series before book 3 was released, joined some of the first HP fan sites and chat rooms, followed the the move over to LiveJournal, so I got to watch the fanon for Snape grow and change with each new piece of information we obtained. Snape fans caught pretty quick onto the flower language in his question to Harry in book 1 (asphodel "My sorrow folIows you to the grave" / wormwood "bitter sorrow"), and since asphodel is a type of lily, was he referring to Lily Potter? Since no one knew much about Lily at the time, the theory stalled out. Snape was definitely telling Harry he regretted something, but what was a mystery.

I assumed he was pureblood of some wealth up until book 3 and the Shrieking Shack scene... I remember being very irritated because his accent changed and it seemed "out" of character for him to talk like that -- I eventually put together that it was probably meant to indicate that his family was not only poor but that he grew up in a historically impoverished area.

Draco's the only Slytherin that we KNOW is rich but the Author gives an old money inbred snob vibe to the whole house. Even Tom Riddle, orphan, doesn't talk like he's poor. We later find out he has an old money background on his father's side and impoverished purebloods on his mother's. (Voldemort using Cockney slang would have been divine though)

So for someone with Snape's accent to end up in Slytherin, I knew he had to be scrappy, and that was just further confirmation that he had layers that none of the other characters in the book had.

When they announced the title of Book 6 I knew that the Half-Blood Prince had to be Snape, because it would explain his accent and how he entered and survived Slytherin.

When Snape killed Dumbledore I still believed that he was a "good" guy and that there had to be more to the story, because Snape's motives outside the classroom are never obvious.

Then came book 7, aka Harry Potter and the Compulsory Heterosexual Relationships, also a lot of fucking camping.

When Snape's connection to Lily is finally revealed I remember being vaguely disappointed by the romantic connotation. It seemed like a very cliche motivation. I'm fine with it being a romantic relationship, I just think it's not done convincingly.

The Author wanted a Heathcliff and Cathy, Wuthering Heights style tragic romance for Snape and Lily. They forgot that part of what makes Heathcliff/Catherine so iconic is that Catherine is as unhinged and cruel as Healthcliff at times, they are toxic4toxic 4ever.

The Author got the Snape/Healthcliff parallel right, but unfortunately wrote Lily to be a Madonna figure, since she's the mother of The Savior. Lily's perfect to priggishness, because the woman who will deliver unto us The Savior can't have flaws, because she's just a vehicle and there's no point in making her complicated unless you want to raise questions the sanctity of The Savior.

That's why when read shallowly Snape comes off as an obsessive incel who is unredeemed by his actions. Loving a Madonna figure is compulsory, so loving her is unremarkable.

The Author needed to properly flesh out their magic system so that "dark arts" wasn't just code for violent facist, and then not wait until the end of the series to flesh out Lily's character in one chapter, so that Lily could be complicated.

Lily needs to have a real struggle when she chooses James over Snape, just as Catherine does when she chooses Edgar over Healthcliff. For Catherine choosing Healthcliff and their mutual darkness means choosing figurative/social destruction. As written, Lily choosing Snape means choosing literal destruction because his darkness is tied explicitly to anti Muggleborn beliefs.

early snape fans, what were your first impressions? did you clock his blood heritage early? what did everyone think? did you immediately call bs when he killed dumbledore? any inklings towards lily?

[keister-meister]

What annoys me the most about the "sNaPe wAs an iNcEL hOw dAre yOu sTaN an iNcEL" kind of posts is the assumption that the "Snape is an incel" is the correct, and the only correct, reading of the text. That the conclusion everybody should come to after reading the books is that Severus Snape is nothing more than a gross, creepy misogynist who sees women as objects to possess and control and whose bitterness and negative outlook on life stems from the inability to "get" a woman for himself. (And this is not even taking into account the fact that the issues of real-life incels are much more complicated than this.)

You're obviously entitled to your personal feelings of a character, but I'm encouraging you to consider how much of your reading of a character is influenced by personal bias and experiences, which are not universal – and how much of it is based on what is explicitly written in the text.

Before going on another "I don't get how everyone doesn't hate Snape, he's just a disgusting incel" -tirade, maybe consider that many people have read the books just like you, yet somehow... they do not see Snape as an incel.

It's not that they are ignorant and uninformed about incels and toxic masculinity and in need of being lectured and educated by a more enlightened individual such as yourself.

It's most definitely not that they are incel apologists who condone and support misogyny, or god forbid sympathize with the idea that poor little unfuckable men like Snape deserve to be supplied with sex slaves by the government in order to feel good about themselves.

No.

It's simply because the evidence of Snape being an incel does not exist in the books.

I recently read a book that had the first character I've ever come across who can be read as a contemporary incel based on what is expressed in the text. I'm bringing this up because this character was in many ways very similar to Snape (even up to the physical characteristics) and initially reminded me of him a lot, but what stood out to me was that he was actually, genuinely written as a misogynist and a misanthrope, consumed by the self-pitying, society-blaming victim complex that is the incel calling card. He is practically an unemployable man and a chronic moocher, abandoned by his family for his absolute refusal to take responsibility for himself. He regularly goes on blackpill-esque rants about the Strong Men™ in the Stone Age and what he (or society/nature, according to him) considers to be the rightful "place" of each sex, despite himself being the antithesis to those very ideals. He thinks himself above everything and everyone, rejects seemingly all opportunities for even just a bit of normal engagement in society because he feels entitled to better things than he is offered, and then he blames society for ostracizing him. He has love for nobody, the least of all himself. He is genuinely an abhorrent person who unashamedly and openly expresses sexist and defeatist views of the world and humanity – an unresolvable self-loathing mess beyond all help, yet I can't help pitying him for this reason.

And thinking back at this book, it becomes even more starkly obvious to me how none of this is present in Snape's story. How Snape absolutely fails to compare when measured against an actual incel-type character – in a good way.

Snape exhibits many characteristics that are common in members of the incel community – social isolation, a negative outlook on the world, depression, self-loathing, a victim complex or a feeling of being persecuted, a tendency to blame others, feelings of helplessness, bitterness, spitefulness, lack of self-care, obsessiveness, idealization of loved ones, poor social skills, revenge fantasies... the list goes on and on.

Yet there are many other people and even groups of people, who exhibit those same characteristics but are not incels. If anything, these traits are pretty common in different kinds of social outcasts and people with adverse life experiences – and in no way enough to identify someone as an incel.

Looking strictly at what is actually written in the books, do you see Snape express even one single view that is specific to the incel ideology?

Do you ever see Snape supporting male supremacy, or enforcing strict, oppressive gender roles? Do you ever see him express sexist bias that is not in line with the author's own? Do you see him expressing entitlement for what he does not have (and it's important to differentiate desire and entitlement – entitlement implies the feeling of being owed)? Do you see any proof of him believing that a woman's place is to service him? That women should not be allowed to have their own thoughts, feelings and ambitions but be forced to solely live for the pleasure and affirmation of men? For all you accuse him of moaning and whining about being single and not getting to have sex with Lily, do you actually ever see him do that in the text?

Or could it possibly be that you are simply imagining things that aren't there?

For once, I feel like urging everyone to put Harry Potter down for a moment and read another book – and preferably seek out those with an actual portrayal of an incel/misogynist. Might give you some new perspective – and if not, then at least a new fictional scapegoat to vent about.

[idreamtofmanderleyagain]

Hot takes about Severus Snape are a wierdly decent glimpse into how a person with progressive values analyses things. Literally every time someone talks about Snape, it’s like this tiny window into how one-dimentionally people actually think.

Recently saw a twitter post that was a fantastic example. Here’s how it goes (paraphrasing):

Person A:“Snape is POC and Queer coded, that’s why you guy’s hate him uwu lol.”

Person B: ��Actually I hate him because he was mean and abusive to children under his care uwu but go off I guess lol”

Both of these takes are designed to be dramatic and/or reactionary. They each use partial truths to paint very broad strokes. These are get-em-in-one-hit quips. This is virtue signalling, if you’ll excuse that loaded phrase. Nobody had a substantial conversation, but now everyone who sees their statement knows the high ground they took.

At least a hundred other people chimed in to add their own little quippy hot takes into play, none of which add anything significant, but clearly made everyone feel very highly of themselves.

So many layers of nuance and complex analysis is completely lost in this kind of discussion. On tumblr, you get more of this kind of bullshit, but you don’t have a word count limit, so you guys just spew endless mountains of weak overblown evidence backing up your bullshit arguments, none of which was really about engaging in a real conversation anyway.

Here’s the thing about Snape.

He is a childhood domestic abuse victim. His abuser is a muggle.

He becomes a student at a magical school that takes him away from his abuser and immediately instills in him the idea that being a part of this magical world is a badge of self-worth, empowerment, and provides safety and security - provided that he keeps in line.

There is a war is being waged in that world over his right to exist (he is a half blood).

He is a marginalized person within the context of the narrative, forced to constantly be in the same living space as the children of his own oppressors who are being groomed and recruited into a hate group militia (the pureblood slytherins). They are in turn trying to do the same to him.

He is marginalized person bullied by children who are also part of his oppressor group, but who have “more liberal” leanings and aren’t direct about why he’s being targeted (the mauraders are all purebloods, Sirius, who was the worst offender, was raised in a bigoted household, the same one that produced Bellatrix.).

He had a crush on a girl who is a muggleborn, and therefore she is considered even lesser than him and carries a stigma to those who associate with her. That girl was his only real friend. In his entire life.

For both Snape and Lily, allying themselves to a pureblood clique within their own houses would be a great way of shielding themselves from a measure of the bigotry they were probably facing. There would have been obvious pressure from those cliques to disconnect with one and other.

Every other person who associates with Snape in his adulthood carries some sort of sociopolitical or workplace (or hate cult) baggage with their association. Some of them will physically harm and/or kill him if he steps out of line. He hasn’t at any point had the right environment to heal and adjust from these childhood experiences. Even his relationship with Dumbledore is charged with constant baggage, including the purebloods who almost killed him during their bullying getting a slap on the wrist, the werewolf that almost killed him as a child being placed in an authority position over new children, etc. Dumbledore is canonically manipulative no matter his good qualities, and he has literally been manipulating Snape for years in order to cultivate a necessary asset in the war.

He is a person who is not in the stable mental state necessary to be teaching children, whom has been forced to teach children. While also playing the role of double agent against the hate group militia, the one that will literally torture you for mistakes or backtalk or just for fun. The one that will torture and kill him if he makes one wrong move.

Is the math clicking yet? From all of this, it’s not difficult to see how everything shitty about Snape was cultivated for him by his environment. Snape was not given great options. Snape made amazingly awful choices, and also some amazingly difficult, courageous ones. Snape was ultimately a human who had an extremely bad life, in which his options were incredibly grim and limited.

In fact, pretty much every point people make about how shitty Snape is as a person makes 100% logical sense as something that would emerge from how he was treated. Some if it he’s kind of right about, some of it is the inevitable reality of suffering, and some of it is part of the cycle of abuse and harm.

Even Snape’s emotional obsession with Lily makes logical sense when you have the perspective that he literally has no substantial positive experiences with other human beings that we know of, and he has an extreme, soul destroying guilt complex over her death. Calling him an Incel mysoginist nice guy projects a real-world political ideology and behavior that does not really apply to the context of what happened to him and her.

Even Snape’s specific little acts of cruelty to certain students is a reflection of his own life experiences. He identifies with Neville; more specifically, he identifies his own percieved emotional weaknesses in his childhood in Neville. There’s a very sad reason there why he feels the urge to be so harsh.

Snape very clearly hates himself, in a world where everyone else hates him, too. Imagine that, for a second. Imagine total internal and external hatred, an yearning for just a little bit of true connection. For years. Imagine then also trying to save that world, even if it’s motivated by guilt. Even if nobody ever knows you did it and you expect to die a miserable death alone.

There are more elements here to consider, including the way Rowling described his looks (there may be something in there re: ugliness and swarthy stereotyping). These are just the things that stand out the most prominently to me.

J.K. Rowling is clearly also not reliable as an imparter of moral or sociopolitical philosophies. I don’t feel that her grasp of minority experiences is a solid one, considering how she picks and chooses who is acceptable and who is a threat.

All of that said, this is a logically consistent character arc. Within the context of his narrative, Snape is a marginalized person with severe PTSD and emotional instability issues who has absolutely no room available to him for self-improvement or healing, and never really has. And yes, he’s also mean, and caustic, and verbally abusive to the students. He’s also a completey miserable, lonely person.

There are elements in his character arc that mirror real world experiences quite well. If nothing else, Rowling is enough of an emotional adult to recognise these kinds of things and portray something that feels authentic.

In my opinion, it’s not appropriate to whittle all this down by comparing him directly to the real world experiences of marginalized groups - at least if you are not a part of the group you are comparing him to. There have been many individuals who have compared his arc to their own personal experiences of marginalization, and that is valid. But generally speaking, comparing a white straight dude to people who are not that can often be pretty offensive. This is not a valuable way to discuss either subject.

Also, I believe that while it’s perfectly okay to not like Snape as a character, many of the people who act like Person B are carrying Harry’s childhood POV about Snape in their hearts well into their own adulthood. And if nothing else, Rowling was attempting to say something here about how our perspectives (should) grow and change as we emotionally mature.  She doesn’t have to be a good person herself to have expressed something true about the world in this instance, and since this story is a part of our popular culture, people have a right to feel whatever way they do about this story and it’s characters.

The complexity of this particular snapshot of fictionalized marginalization, and what it reveals about the human experience, cannot be reduced down to “he’s an abuser so he’s not worth anyone’s time/you are bad for liking him.”

And to be honest, I think that it reveals a lot about many of us in progressive spaces, particularly those of us who less marginalized but very loud about our values, that we refuse to engage with these complexities in leu of totally condemning him. Particularly because a lot of the elements I listed above are indeed reflected in real world examples of people who have experienced marginalization and thus had to deal with the resulting emotional damage, an mental illness, and behavior troubles, and bad decisions. Our inability to address the full scope of this may be a good reflection of how we are handling the complexity of real world examples.

Real people are not perfect angels in their victimhood. They are just humans who are victims, and we all have the capacity to be cruel and abusive in a world where we have been given cruelty and abuse. This is just a part of existing. If you cannot sympathise with that, or at least grasp it and aknowledge it and respect the people who are emotionally drawn to a character who refects that, then you may be telling on yourself to be honest.

To be honest, this is especially true if you hate Snape but just really, really love the Mauraduers. You have a right to those feelings, but if you are moralizing this and judging others for liking Snape, you’ve confessed to something about how you’ve mentally constructed your personal values in a way I don’t think you’ve fully grasped yet.

I have a hard time imagining a mindset where a story like Snape’s does not move one to empathy and vicarious grief, if I’m honest. I feel like some people really just cannot be bothered to imagine themselves in other people’s shoes, feeling what they feel and living like they live. I struggle to trust the social politics of people who show these kinds of colors, tbh.

But maybe that’s just me.

[thedreamermusing]

Debunking the myth that Severus Snape is an incel

So, I've seen this go around a lot in the HP fandom, but unlike a lot of other exaggerated statements, this one...doesn't seem to be based on any real truth or fact.

Let's look at the definition of an incel from Wikipedia.

Incels, a portmanteau of "involuntary celibates", are members of an online subculture who define themselves as unable to find a romantic or sexual partner despite desiring one. Discussions in incel forums are often characterized by resentment, misogyny, misanthropy, self-pity and self-loathing, racism, a sense of entitlement to sex, and the endorsement of violence against sexually active people.

Alright, so which part of this definition does Snape fit? Does he define himself as being unable to find a romantic or sexual partner? Nope. He doesn't seem to want or even wish for companionship. Is he characterised by resentment? Yes, but not because he can't get laid. Is he a misogynist? Certainly not, he treats people of all genders equally badly. Misanthropy, self-loathing? Yes, but none of these issues is related to his inability to have sex. Racism? Given that he joined the Death Eaters, yes. But once again, his views on blood purity were independent of Lily, the seeds of it were there as a child. A sense of entitlement to sex, and the endorsement of violence against sexually active people? This is a confident and definitive no.

The parts of Snape that do correlate with the incel movement: resentment, self-loathing, misanthropy, are missing the core tenet of the incel movement: misogyny. Snape's resentment is not from the fact that he's unable to get laid. He does not blame women for not giving him sex. His resentment of James Potter was not solely due to Lily, either, although that was a factor. It was also based on the fact that James Potter had what Snape at that point lacked, which Harry pinpoints so accurately in 'The Prince's Tale: 'an air of being cared for and even adored'. James also had power and privilege, and regularly used it to abuse Snape, and of course, a young, poverty-stricken, ugly, half-blood child would feel resentful of that. So, his resentment was not based around any misogynistic idea that James could 'score' women while Snape could not.

Snape was self-loathing, but not because he could not get laid. It's actually the opposite. The first time he exhibits traits of self-loathing are after Lily dies when he says 'I wish I were dead.' He hates himself for being responsible for getting her killed. If he was an incel, he would actually celebrate her death, thinking it was the price she paid for not choosing him. But Snape's self-loathing comes from being unable to protect her.

Misanthropy: I mean....this is self-explanatory. He's a misanthrope because he doesn't like anybody, period. It's got nothing to do with sexual conquest.

Now that I've (hopefully) established why Snape does not share any notable traits related to the incel movement, let me try to debunk some often repeated 'truths' in the fandom that people repeat to play into the idea that he was an incel.

1) Snape couldn't handle Lily rejecting him, so he joined the Death Eaters.

People always say this as if Snape wore a fedora and asked Lily on a date, and when she rejected him, decided that all muggleborns were bad and joined the Death Eaters...when that's not what happened at all.

First of all, the timeline here is wrong. Snape's fascination for the Death Eaters was independent of Lily. We already know he was likely abused by his Muggle father. We know that he loved dark magic. We also know that Slytherin is a breeding ground for blood purist views. And so, Snape was groomed into this movement; he certainly did not join the Death Eaters in reaction to Lily 'rejecting' him.

This brings us to the other point. Lily did not 'reject' Snape because Snape never told her how he felt. We don't know if Lily even knew how he felt. Lily rejected his friendship because he was on the path to becoming a Death Eater.

2) Snape stalked Lily and harassed her all the time.

Once again, false. Snape left her alone after Lily rejected his apology. He never tried to speak to her again or bothered her again. I'm certain Sirius Black would have brought it up if that were the case. But the fact that neither Remus nor Sirius even remembers that Snape and Lily were even friends suggests that they went their separate paths.

3) Snape offered James and Harry to Voldemort hoping that he could get with Lily after her death.

There are several misconceptions here.

Snape did not offer James and Harry to Voldemort in exchange for Lily. He simply did not care if James or Harry's lives. That is of course terrible in its own way. But there is a definite difference between the two. Voldemort would have gone after the Potters either way. There was no deal made between Voldemort and Snape where Snape said 'I'll give you James and Harry if you let Lily live.' What happened was Voldemort was already set on killing the Potters, and Snape made a desperate request to protect Lily. His situation was a) Let the Potters all die and b) Let only James and Harry die and Lily survive. There were no other options. He wanted to save her life and let her live. It wasn't out of some hope that she would fall in love with him. She was the only person who had ever cared about him and he just did not want her to die because of his actions, nothing else.

I know Dumbledore says 'in exchange for the mother' in the hilltop scene but people are forgetting that scene is one of powerplay and negotiation between Dumbledore and Snape. Snape is a terrified Death Eater fully expecting Dumbledore to murder him. Dumbledore holds the upper hand in that interaction. It is in Snape's best interests not to defend himself and simply accept the judgement Dumbledore gives him. Dumbledore, meanwhile, is trying to make Snape as ashamed as possible to get him on his side and deliberately uses phrasing to guilt him.

4) Snape bullied Harry because he didn't get the girl.

Snape's feelings towards Harry are complicated and are wrapped up in all sorts of messy emotions including hatred, resentment, guilt, anguish, and trauma. But the foremost emotions in his hatred for Harry have to do with James. Harry is a carbon copy of James, who was his primary bully in school. We have seen how bad James was to him in SWM. It is irrational of course, but a lot of his hatred for Harry has to do with looking exactly like his bully. A lot of his feelings are also guilt because Harry is proof of Snape's own failings, of not being able to save Lily. Part of it is also resentment because protecting Harry is quite possibly the own reason Snape is still alive. He wasn't able to protect Lily and to atone, he has to protect her son. He is resentful of the fact that he has to protect his bully's son, resentful that his life has become stagnated because of this child, and of course resentful that Harry constantly gets into a lot of trouble at Hogwarts, which solidifies his image in Snape's head as 'James-lite' while also making his job of protecting him harder. So his feelings towards Harry are projection of his failings and trauma and not an inability to get the girl.

Tl;dr: Snape lacks the core tenets of incel ideology i.e misogyny and an obsession with not getting sex. The incel ideology is a violent hate movement built upon hatred towards women. Snape has never once shown any inclination to be misogynistic. He never blamed Lily for the end of their friendship; rather, he understands that it was his mistakes and choices that led their friendship to end. Just because Snape is an ugly man who loved someone one-sidedly does not mean he was automatically a violent misogynist who hated all women. 'Snape is a bully' is a fact because it is canonically supported by the text. 'Snape is an incel' is not a fact; it is a lie.

[snictionary]

The Snobels 2018 snominees masterlist

updated  29/11/2018

The snominations will close 30.11.2018. After that, you’ll have the entire December to snote for your favourite in each category. The winners will be announced 9.1.2019, which is the birthday of our snord and snaviour, Severus Snape. 

If someone you snominated isn’t on here, it’s because you did not provide a link. Without the link, some bad guesswork is the best I can do. The only way to make sure the people you snominate appear here is to submit a link. 

I will keep checking the snominations and updating this list!

Meta

@severusdefender, @akashikadoesthings, @deathdaydungeon, @raptured-night, @idealistic-realism00: Marauders vs Snape and Draco vs Harry, the difference between bullying and rivalry (meta 1)

@aworldofgrey, @thegreatsnapescape, @wormwoodandasphodel: Lily should’ve done more to help Severus during the events of Snape’s Worst Memory (meta 2)

@legilimensxsnape, @thegreatsnapescape: Sirius’ hate for Snape (meta 3)

@severusdefender: The end of Prisoner of Azkaban (meta 4)

@sayruq: Severus Snape never stood a chance (meta 5)

cj_whitehound: But Snape is just nasty, right? (meta 6)

@snapedefender: Why is it the accepted norm that Snape was obsessed with Lily? (meta 7)

@potteryet: One thing people forget (meta 8)

@rainfiresnowearth: Not fond of his looks (meta 9)

@rainfiresnowearth: Daily Snamione #88 (meta 10)

@maximoffsrogers, @deathdaydungeon: House points (meta 11)

@queersnape: About House points (meta 12)

The World of Severus Snape: Discipline at Hogwarts (meta 13)

@deathdaydungeon: Always (meta 14)

Literature

@thegreatsnapescape: Rue and Rainflower (literature 1)

@deathdaydungeon: A dealer, not a Death Eater (literature 2)

@humanveil: si vis amari ama (literature 3)

@severusdefender: One small step (literature 4)

@thesnapewecandreamof: Harry Potter AU idea (literature 5)

flamethrower: Of a Linear Circle (literature 6)

@humanveil: Curiosity (killed the cat) (literature7)

Paganaidd:  Memories and Dreams (literature8)

@rainfiresnowearth: A Gloomy Poem for Our Dour Potion’s Master (literature 9)

@rainfiresnowearth: Lost by the Seashore  (literature 10)

@deadcatwithaflamethrower:  Harry Potter’s third year (liteature 11)

@thesnapewecandreamof: Missing (literature 12)

Art 

@bananagege: Proud boy in Pride Month (art 1)

@elenianz: that snape boi (art 2)

@thegreatsnapescape: Redemption (Out of Reach) (art 3)

@the-mr-lolipop-things: Severus with his Pygmy Puff (art 4)

@elenianz: the good old days (art 5)

@a-substantial-trash-pile: Snapetober 13: Guarded (art 6)

@madfantasy: fairy kisses (art 7)

@doodlebat: Tiny Sneep stole his mum’s old Hogwarts uniform, skirt included (art 8)

AnastasiaMantihora: Impedimenta (art 9)

IrenHorrors: Always... (art 10)

Hellanim: The hot wet bat (art 11)

Vizen: Welcome to Slytherin (art 12)

@elenianz: Severus Snape is Gina Linetti of the wizarding world and no one can convince me otherwise (art 13)

@thegreatsnapescape: Inktober day 2: “Worst Fear” (art 14)

@bananagege: Week 3 of Snape Appreciation Month : Snape Experimenting Alone (art 15)

@madfantasy:  Spauldron (art 16)

@lifeofapottedplant:  How dare you stand where he stood? (art 17)

@nazonopurinsu: The place where we met for the first time (art 18)

@kedroboiz: Early Saturday morning in the Hogwarts kitchens (art 19)

@RainFireSnowEarth: The most beautiful thing (art 20)

@RainFireSnowEarth: When my time is up (art 21)

@RainFireSnowEarth: Cowards (art 22)

@RainFireSnowEarth: One day (art 23)

@RainFireSnowEarth:  Poem - Nikita Gill (art 24)

@RainFireSnowEarth: I will cry (art 25)

@RainFireSnowEarth:  Poem - Lang Leav (art 26)

@RainFireSnowEarth: Strangers and Secrets (art 27)

@RainFireSnowEarth: Quote - Russell Brand (art 28)

@RainFireSnowEarth: Quote - Mandeq Ahmed (art 29)

@RainFireSnowEarth:  Author - n.d  (art 39)

@RainFireSnowEarth: Similar Personalities and Traits (art 40)

@RainFireSnowEarth:  Different Personalities and Traits (art 41)

@RainFireSnowEarth:  Similar Magical Abilities and Skills (art 42)

@RainFireSnowEarth:  Different Magical Abilities and Skills (art 43)

@RainFireSnowEarth:  #79 - Daily Snamione (art 44)

@RainFireSnowEarth:  #82 - Daily Snamione (art 45)

@RainFireSnowEarth: #85 - Daily Snamione (art 46)

@elenianz:  Layers & layers (art 47)

@semiramis-audron: Severus has been known to knife a motherfucker in his time (art 48)

Meme

@thegreatsnapescape: car salesman: *slaps Snape* (meme 1)

@potions-and-potters: Turn against the dark lord (meme 2)

@snapedefense: no (meme 3)

@ktnissevurdeen (@lvnderbrown) : What do you do? (meme 4)

@hharringtcns: B e c a u s e   h e    i s    w o r t h    i  t.  (meme 5)

@snapeseverus: Updog (meme 6)

@uchuu-nosuri: This is canon, right? (meme 7)

@1800areyousnappin: Snape flirting (meme 8)

Shitpost

@a-snarling-slytherin: swaying Snape around in the air (shitpost 1)

@snapedefense, @pessimistichogwarts: How Snape Haters Think The HP Books Were Written (shitpost 2)

@buffspiderman: you must join the festivities, Severus (shitpost 3)

@potions-and-potters: Severus I’m still missing your photo for this year’s faculty newsletter (shitpost 4)

@severusdefender:  Level with me (shitpost 5)

@doodlebat:  When you find bargain priced Dark Mark tattoos (shitpost 6)

@deathdaydungeon, @astronema-princess-of-all-evil, @xxtheforgottenonexx, @mollymcgiftens, @a-snarling-slytherin: Stage (shitpost 7)

@dungeonsblues: Is Sev a good dancer?  (shitpost 8)

@lifeofapottedplant: No foolish wand waving (shitpost 9)

@thegreatsnapescape: Every time I see this comic (shitpost 10)

@thegreatsnapescape: Expectdough patronyum (shitpost 11)

@snapeseverus: Those cunning folk (shitpost 12)

@mysnarkyslytherinsecret: Snape is walking across the Great Hall (shitpost 13)

@supiprimi, @severace-snape, @bayneko, @askfordoodles, @justdrarryme, @pandas-cant-fly-ks, @thepurplewombat, @cannithebear: Ridiculously overpowered

Conspiracy theory

@tetragon4: The Headmaster Snape Conspiracy (conspiracy theory 1)

@we-built-the-shadows-here, @dungeonsblues: Ruthless Dumbledore (conspiracy theory 2)

@severit, @prosnapeblogging, @potteryet, @thegreatsnapescape: All up in their faces (conspiracy theory 3)

@thoughtsaboutsnape: Severus marries the whomping willow (conspiracy theory 4)

@severus-snape-fans394, @snapeingturtle, @snapedefense: 3 lives saved (conspiracy theory 5)

@snapeingturtle: Gay deer (conspiracy theory 6)

Peace

@snapedefense, @snapeingturtle: the incredible cellist (peace 1)

@snictionary: incel (peace 2)

@supiprimi: The saga of snevor (peace 3)

@aworldofgrey, @sevi-seviyorum, @onecolorgirl, @wormwoodandasphodel, @thepotionsmasterwife, @librarydaze, @mollymcgiftens, @saltyqrow: Sounds more intimate (peace 4)

@snalendar-snofficial, @snictionary, @severus-snape-apreciation-blog, @madfantasy, @elenianz, @thegreatsnapescape, @agalemnon, @suffer-my-displeasure, @elfarock-art, @run-and-hide21, @lcsslr, @justyouraverageshittyblogger, @captainhellaradsart, @banana-ge-ge: The Snalendar 2019 (peace 5)

Headcanon

@thesnapewecandreamof: Hiding from Madam Pomfrey (headcanon 1)

@thoughtsaboutsnape: Severus’ patronus wasn’t a doe. It was dough. (headcanon 2)

@sxvxrxssnape: facts (headcanon 3)

@severussnapeimagines: Snape being human (headcanon 4)

@deathdaydungeon: Snape’s greasy hair (headcanon 5)

@snapped-snape: Hot take (headcanon 6)

@thoughtsaboutsnape: Swole Snape (headcanon 7)

@deathdaydungeon, @thoughtsaboutsnape: Sev’ socks (headcanon 8)

@RainFireSnowEarth: Is this the DADA Classroom? (headcanon 9)

@RainFireSnowEarth: #145 - Daily Snamione (headcanon 10)

@RainFireSnowEarth: #157 - Daily Snamione  (headcanon 11)

@thesnapewecandreamof: Missing (headcanon 12)

@snapeingturtle: A little sneadcanon (headcanon 13)

@prosnapeblogging: Snape’s ears (headcanon 14)

@thesnapewecandreamof, @deathdaydungeon, @raptured-night, @somuchanxietysolittletime:  I Have a Question (headcanon 15)

@sevi-seviyorum, @severusdefender:  Snape moves to Vegas

[officiallytrs]

Hot take: Two people of different sides can be in the wrong, but just because I point out the wrongs of Person A, just being like "ohh well Person B is wrong too" is dumb, unhelpful, and it makes it sound like you are excusing the actions of Person A. AND,,, it has nothing to do with the conversation I was having. 

For example, if I say that Snape was a racist incel and someone responds with "Sirius came from a family of blood supremacists and he treated his house elf bad" I will also respond with "What does that have to do with Snape?" 

I wasn't talking about Sirius. I was talking about Snape.

"Well James was a bully"

So was Snape. As a teacher to students. Next please

"Sirius almost killed him"

Yeah that was bad. What does that have to do with Snape joining the army of a genocidal manic though???

[ruiningvoldemortday]

Cali Reads DH- Chapter 33- The Prince’s Tale

I haven’t forgotten about this!  That would really suck with like four chapters left.  The holidays just got super busy with family visiting.  And I was hoping to finish by the end of the year but oh well.  Time to get back into it!

Before I start this chapter I would like to reiterate my disclaimer from waaaay back in Sorcerer’s Stone Chapter 8 The Potions Master.  I  do not like Snape.  I mean I really do not like Snape.  And this chapter all about his backstory and what a *~hero~* he is actually has the opposite effect of what JKR intended.  It makes me dislike him more.  So, if you have an issue with me seeing Snape as a selfish dudebro who thought not getting laid justifies becoming an abuser, please don’t open the Read More.  Because frankly, I’m really not in the mood for thirteen-year-old discourse.

- “I do not wish this to happen”  you could just like… not kill them, Voldie. - “Lord Voldemort is merciful”  bullshit and also stop talking in third person you sound crazy - “One hour.”  VOLDEMORT OUT BITCHES. - It’s been like forever since I’ve quoted AVPM sue me - Okay Harry you so did not permit your friends to die for you that’s not even a little bit what happened at all don’t let him get to you - FRED UGHGHGH MY HEART ;-;  JUST SEEING THE WEASLEYS CRY OVER HIS BODY IS NOT OKAY -  AND REMUS AND TONKS DIED OFFSCREEN I’M STILL NOT OVER THE INJUSTICE OF THIS UGH MY POOR OTP WHY HE WAS SO HAPPY LAST TIME WE SAW HIM AND SHE JUST WANTED HIM TO BE SAFE UGHHGHGHGHGHH. - “He wished he could rip out his heart” SAME BUT IT’S FINE BECAUSE JKR ALREADY DID IT. - And now begins the Snape hate.  You have been warned. - There’s “undisguised greed” while he’s watching Lily at the age of ten.  Just the way that’s described is really really not okay. - Lily’s first sign of magic is actual wandless flight which is really really impressive - It’s actually kind of sad that young Petunia wanted to be a witch so badly but she wasn’t born with magic so she ended up getting THAT bitter about it. - Is this the first time he’s actually spoken to Lily?  Because if he’s been sitting in the bushes watching her long enough to blush when he speaks to her that’s… Yikes. - Protip: if you like somebody, A) don’t stalk them and B) don’t insult their siblings in front of them :) - Am I supposed to feel bad that Snape’s bitterly disappointed? - The constant descriptions of Snape watching Lily greedily are making me really uncomfortable - Say it with me kids: being abused does not justify being an abuser and you are responsible for your own shitty actions :) :) :) - AND YEAH YOU SHOULD PROBABLY NOT ASSAULT YOUR CRUSH’S SISTER BY MAKING A BRANCH FALL ON HER???? - And then he lies about it but please tell me again how cute Snily is I care so much. - Damn Petunia already salty that she doesn’t get to go to Hogwarts.  Can’t say I blame her but calling Lily a freak was harsh. - “She’s only a Muggle” is not a comforting thing to say when Lily’s upset about her fight with a sister.  Christ. - I really, really wish we got to see some of the Marauders without it being colored by the lens of being expected to sympathize with Snape. - “where dwell the brave at heart”  I see you, Sorting Hat, repeating lines by the time Harry gets to school. - I like how Lily’s not taking any of the Marauders’ shit even at the age of 11 - I thought Lucius graduated before the Marauders came to school? - Young Snape is already hanging around sadistic creeps and hurting people for fun and completely ignoring Lily’s concerns for him.  And for others. - “Let me?  Let me?”  YOU GO LILY HE DOESN’T OWN YOU AND HE DOESN’T GET TO THINK HE DOES.  YOU MAKE YOUR OWN DECISIONS GIRL <3 - Snape’s jealousy of James over his crush on Lily is really not okay, especially at this point where Lily doesn’t like him back.  It screams that he only sees her as a prize to be won, and James as a rival getting in the way of getting what he wants.  That’s not why Lily never loved Snape back- it’s because Snape was starting to grow up into the magical version of an incel, all sociopathic and skeevy and grossly misogynistic with absolutely no self awareness at all. - Snape doesn’t even care that she’s concerned about the company he’s keeping.  She doesn’t like James so that obviously means she’s his because THAT’S NOT CREEPY AT ALL. - Time to see why Snape is the victim for spewing racial slurs to his crush! - The scene where Lily is finally done with Snape’s shit is probably my favorite in the chapter.  “It’s too late.  I’ve made excuses for you for years” starts an absolutely MAGNIFICENT Reason You Suck Speech that feels like a long time coming even though it’s only been a few pages. - “You call everyone of my birth Mudblood, Severus.  Why should I be any different?”  Oh shit.  You tell him girl <3 - If Snape had an ounce of humanity he’d be at least mildly concerned for the baby Voldemort’s going to kill but no, it’s all about the girl who rejected him - “You disgust me.”  SAME DUMBLEDORE.  I mean, Dumbledore isn’t much better, but I love watching other characters call out Snape for his creepy bullshit. - “They can die, as long as you have what you want?”  That kind of embodies Snape’s entire line of thinking and Snape’s silence after that line is really really telling. - Why would you count on Voldemort to spare anyone? - Using Lily’s eyes to manipulate Snape is pretty gross of Dumbledore, too.  It’s like Dumbledore is trying to stop Snape from moving on with his life after what happened.  And as not okay as Snape’s inability to handle rejection is, Dumbledore encouraging him to never heal from her death is also not okay. - There’s so much ick in this chapter I can’t even. - Snape for god’s sake get over your dislike of James.  It was never a competition for Lily’s favor.  She chose him.  The kid’s not yours.  Fucking deal. - “Sometimes I think we Sort too soon”  no not really being braver than Karkaroff isn’t really a feat.  And anyway, people can totally display more than one of the House traits. - Okay Snape’s not a murderer it was all engineered that makes EVERYTHING FUCKING FINE DOESN’T IT - “dear Bellatrix, who likes to play with her food before she eats it” <3 <3 <3 <3 - Dumbledore is such a manipulative bastard ugh - “I thought… all these years… that we were protecting him for her”  LOL NOPE it’s all for THE PLAN TEN POINTS TO DUMBLEDORE - “After all this time?”  “Always” Basic white girls will have this line tattooed on them for generations to come.  Because we should absolutely romanticize the fact that it’s been like thirty years and he still can’t handle that she chose James and he takes it out on their child.  Yup. - Obsessing over her handwriting and the word “love” is kind of a drop in the bucket after everything else but it’s still weird my dude. - And ripping the husband she chose (have I put enough emphasis on this?) and her child away from her even in photographic form so you can keep her with you is ALSO WEIRD. - Thank God that chapter’s over. - What the fuck kind of redemption was that? - I need a drink.  I don’t even drink.