#oh one last thing. kind of an asshole move by jkr to be like yeah this abused child who wants a friend? a friend who shares an extremely

[superfallingstars]

I mean, I think there is a legitimate argument to Snape’s love for Lily verging on obsession (and I say this as a someone who loves Snape lol)... like yeah, it's actually kind of surprising that he "did everything in her name," he devoted his entire life to honoring her memory, and yet he still couldn't find it within himself to be nice to her son lmao. And JKR's descriptions of Snape, especially as a child in the flashback scenes with Lily, do nothing to dispel any sort of creepy or obsessive interpretation of his relationship to her (and at worst, hint at a sense of entitlement over her):

There was undisguised greed in his thin face as he watched the younger of the two girls swinging higher and higher than her sister. [Btw my illegally downloaded PDF doesn't have page numbers but these are all from Ch. 33 "The Prince's Tale" in DH]

He watched her greedily as he had watched her in the playground.

Snape’s whole face contorted and he spluttered, “Saved? Saved? You think he was playing the hero? He was saving his neck and his friends’ too! You’re not going to — I won’t let you —” “Let me? Let me?” Lily’s bright green eyes were slits. Snape backtracked at once.

So idk, as much as I like Snape, I don't think it's unreasonable to characterize his feelings toward Lily as obsession – there is legitimate textual evidence for that interpretation of his character, and I could see how someone would come to that conclusion. Maybe the real debate should be about whether its possible to determine the line between love and obsession, or whether doing the right thing (saving everyone's lives, basically) for the wrong reason (still obsessed with the girl who rejected you as a teenager) is enough to redeem someone...

Why do you think a large part of the fandom sees Snape’s love for Lily as obsession ?

Cinema therapy said it well, Severus left Lily alone when she asked him not to be friends.

There are a lot of books that I’ve read with male characters having life long crushes on one woman in their lives. Yet Severus Snape’s love for Lily is considered a obsession because he still harbors feelings for her after nearly seventeen years after her death. Because he took a piece from a letter she wrote to Sirius. Because he did everything in her name.

because a large part of the fandom are teenagers.

one of the great privileges of being a teenager is being allowed to be dogmatic about things which are rather less straightforward in reality. i enjoyed that part of my teenage years thoroughly, and i hope these fans have the time of their lives doing the same.