Why the conflict of the Potters and Snapes?

[Dumbledores Master]

What happened to make them hate each other so much? Could there have been a bit of sibling rivalry? Giving rise to the Q. could they be related?

[Nobby]

i think that its just hatred from school! just good old fashioned hatred!!!

C'mon i bet that everyone can remember to people from school who absolutely hated each other!!!

[Nightcrawler]

Well, Snape and Harry hate each other for a multitude of reasons.


Harry is not very skilled at making potions, therefore, teaching the subject to him must be most frustrating.

Harry hates Draco. Draco is Snape's favourite student, therefore Snape will side with Draco.

Harry and Snape "got off on the wrong foot" so to speak. In their first class together, Harry was taking notes instead of listening to Snape.

Snape is always a jerk to Harry. Snape abuses his authority to the largest degree.

Harry bonded almost instantly with Proffesor Lupin, the DADA teacher. Harry's relationship with Lupin represents the kind of love and respect that Snape secretly fears that he may never get from anyone. This is very symbolic, because the position of DADA teacher is the occupation that Snape desperatly wants and may never have. Becuase of this, he resents both Harry and Lupin.

There is house rivalry, Harry is in Gryfindor and Snape is the head of Slytherin.

Snape is jealous of Harry's fame. Sanpe has done just as many things to help mankind as Harry, yet Harry gets all the glory. Harry is remembered as the kid who survived death, whereas Snape is just some teacher. Snape has risked more, been fighting for good for longer, yet Harry is remembered.

The Potters have always been popular. That is yet another thing that Snape desperatly wants, but can never have.

Harry is never polite to Snape.

Harry's father, James, tormented Snape merely for existing. This was very cruel and unfair. Understandably, Snape hated James. Now that James is dead, his memory is hailed -only Snape is able to remember what a bully James was.
However, taking out his hatred for James on poor Harry is totally unnaceptable.

Harry looked inside Snape's pensive, and was able to watch Snape's worst memory firsthand. Harry had absoloutly no right to do that.

Snape was a Death Eater.

James hated Snape as a teenager becuase of Snape's interest in the dark arts.





We know that Snape was a Death Eater at one point. At this point in time, we can only wonder why he decided to become one, and why he decided to stop. As a teenager, Snape was quite interested in the dark arts. Perhaps he merely researched it as a hobby, perhaps he actually practiced the dark arts.

If it was a mere hobby, he probably would have outgrown it. Therefore James had no right to give him a hard time about it, everybody needs a passtime. If Snape was merely reading about the dark arts, then he had every right to do so.

If Snape was actually practicing the dark arts, behind teacher's backs and such, then perhaps bullying Snape was the right thing to do. It was giving him a message: "If you continue to use this type of illegal magic, then this is the way that the world will treat you.

Because we don't know enough about Snape's motives, we do not know James's either.

It is probable that Snape became a Death Eater bacuase he wanted to be a part of something. He wanted somewhere to fit in. His peers saw him as a loser and treated him poorly. No doubt the Death Eaters treated him with respect and dignity. I'm sure that they were true freinds to Snape (Kind of makes you wonder who the real bad guys are, huh?). James would not allow Snape to be in the "lightness", therefore Snape chose to sink into the "darkness".

It's a matter of cause and effect, really. Did James hate Snape because Snape practiced dark magic, or did Snape practice dark magic becuase Snape hated him? Maybe if James had been freinly towards Snape, Snape may have felt welcome to be a part of mainstreme society and would not have become a death eater.

[Nightcrawler]

Personally, I doubt that the Snapes are in any way related to the Potters.

(BTW, do we know of any Snapes besides Serverus? I beleive that we caught a breif glimpse of a crying, mother Snape in OotP. I could be mistaken though.)

[Nobby]

totally agree

[Dumbledores Master]

Oh no I meant James and Severus not Harry oops sorry maybe I should have made that clear.

[Athena Appleton]

First, I think the idea that the Potters and the Snapes are related is totally baseless... There's no reason to believe that it's anything more than just conflicting personalities.

With James and Snape:

James, in school, was fairly arrogant, talented and well-liked, while Snape was a loner, unpopular, and self-concious.

James had some talents that Snape was clearly jealous of (Quidditch being one of them).

This led to a dislike between the two of them that only escaladed (sp?) through their years at Hogwarts, until the whole incident with the Whomping Willow happened, which only made Snape hate James and his friends even more.

This incident, though, put Snape in a position he really didn't like being in: indebted to James.

It was this debt to James, I believe, that made Snape later inform Dumbledore that the Potters were in danger, but when that act didn't save James's life, Snape was still grudgingly indebted to the Potters.

Fast forward 11 years.

Snape, who spent many years feeling inferior to James and his friends, is now in a position of authority when it comes to James's son, Harry. Those old resentments of the arrogant schoolboy come back and Snape takes out his feelings on Harry, who, coincidentally, possesses a lot of the qualities that Snape couldn't stand in James (arrogance, Quidditch talent).

Snape, though, still being indebted to James, is finally able to repay that debt in P/SS when he saves Harry's life. But that doesn't mean that he likes James, or Harry, any more than he ever did, it just means, as Dumbledore says, that Snape can go on "hating James in peace."

[Nobby]

*round of applause 4 athena*

thank god someone put my exact thoughts into words!!!!!

[Athena Appleton]

Thanks, nobby! Where you been?

[Dumbledores Master]

Okay then why would James have resented Snape?

As far as I can see they wouldn`t have had much contact with each other. Snape would have known of James certainly and been angry with him but unless Snape cursed him and it went on from there then I can see no reason for him to have hated Snape.

So we have the Snape hates Potter now lets get the other way around bit

[Alice I]

Athena that was a very good explaination however I wish to slightly disagree with you.

Harry, who, coincidentally, possesses a lot of the qualities that Snape couldn't stand in James (arrogance, Quidditch talent).

I do not feel that Harry is arrogant, rather the opposite which makes Snapes resentment of him even more out of place.

Everything else is bang on target.

[Nobby]

i have to disagree alice! i think that harry does have a slight arrogance about him! i know he's the hero and all but it does show in the books (espicially the later ones) that harry does think he's slighter superior due to what he has done! in book 5 he also thinks to himself that he is better than Ron and that he deserved to be prefect more!

Harry can also be seen as arrogant to Slytherins, Malfoy in particular! he also thinks himself as superior! if that's not arrogance what is! Arrogance doesn't always mean a bad thing, because often arrogance is a part of being confident!

[Athena Appleton]

Okay then why would James have resented Snape?

As far as I can see they wouldn`t have had much contact with each other. Snape would have known of James certainly and been angry with him but unless Snape cursed him and it went on from there then I can see no reason for him to have hated Snape.

So we have the Snape hates Potter now lets get the other way around bit

James hates Snape because Snape's a jerk. He picks on him because Snape is unpopular, different, self-concious and, like I said, Snape's a jerk.

Why would you think they have hardly any contact, when our main character (Harry) has an arch-nemisis (Malfoy). Two boys, same age, in different houses, hate each other. Very similar situation.

I do not feel that Harry is arrogant, rather the opposite which makes Snapes resentment of him even more out of place.

I think Harry is arrogant. Yes, he's the hero, I like him, but he ain't perfect, and he does think a lot of the rules don't apply to him, that he can take care of things better than some other more qualified people (couldn't leave things alone with the Sorcerer's Stone, had to go to the ministry in OotP), and he has a certain amount of thinking that he's better than others (as seen in his jealousy of Ron getting made prefect.) He's not across-the-board arrogant (he doesn't befriend the best of the best, he befriends the outcasts, and encourages them), but there is a touch of arrogance there. Not vanity or honestly thinking he's better than everyone else, just an underlying believe that drives his actions.

That said, I was really talking about through Snape's eyes, and one thing Snape really couldn't stand about James was his arrogance. That's also a trait that Snape really believes Harry has, too, and regardless of whether it's true or not, that's what drives Snape's actions.

[Dumbledores Master]

Athena-Coming from someone who is still in school I think it safe to say that I know a smidgeon more than you do about the popularity system in schools.

The cool kids have nothing to do with us lesser mortals, the mortals automatically hate the cool kids for being cool, and they have nothing more to do with each other apart from forced meetings where not very much is said and they just look anywhere but at each other while looking at them often enough to keep the teachers away.

Everyone is superior to Slytherins

Malfoy and Harry met each other in Madame Malkins and there wasn`t much else to do but talk to each other.

Don`t you think he does handle things better than everyone else? Philosophers Stone-No-one else knew about it and when he told McGonnagall she dissmissed him, he went down because if he didn`t then Voldemort would have risen again. What would you have done?

OOtP-His Godfather was going to die, he tried to warn DD but he was in London. What would you have done?

I would have done what Harry did

If my best friend was made prefect I know I would have been jealous of him

Anyway if I could drag this thread back to the point

Why did they hate each other
[/i]

[harrylover]

that thread leads to nothing.
athena mentioned all the things...

Athena wrote:
With James and Snape:

James, in school, was fairly arrogant, talented and well-liked, while Snape was a loner, unpopular, and self-concious.

James had some talents that Snape was clearly jealous of (Quidditch being one of them).

This led to a dislike between the two of them that only escaladed (sp?) through their years at Hogwarts, until the whole incident with the Whomping Willow happened, which only made Snape hate James and his friends even more.

This incident, though, put Snape in a position he really didn't like being in: indebted to James.

It was this debt to James, I believe, that made Snape later inform Dumbledore that the Potters were in danger, but when that act didn't save James's life, Snape was still grudgingly indebted to the Potters.

i think everything has been said...