Editing Severus Snape (section)

==Character development==
In an interview,<ref name="Bloomsbury chat" /> Rowling described Snape's character as an "[[antihero]]". She has said that she drew inspiration for Snape's character from a disliked teacher from her own childhood,<ref name="The Connection">{{cite web |title=J.K. Rowling interview transcript |work=The Connection |publisher=WBUR Radio |url=http://www.accio-quote.org/articles/1999/1099-connectiontransc2.htm |date=12 October 1999 |access-date=14 March 2008 |archive-date=22 April 2011 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20110422235410/http://www.accio-quote.org/articles/1999/1099-connectiontransc2.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> and described Snape as a horrible teacher,<ref name="bnchat">{{cite web |title=Barnes and Noble and Yahoo! chat with J.K. Rowling |publisher=barnesandnoble.com |url=http://www.accio-quote.org/articles/2000/1000-livechat-barnesnoble.html |date=20 October 2000 |access-date=15 September 2007 |archive-date=3 March 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180303031502/http://www.accio-quote.org/articles/2000/1000-livechat-barnesnoble.html |url-status=live }}</ref> saying the "worst, shabbiest thing you can do" as a teacher is to bully students.<ref>{{cite book |last=Fraser |first=Lindsay |year=2001 |title=Conversations with J. K. Rowling |url=https://archive.org/details/conversationswit00fras/page/20/mode/2up |publisher=Scholastic |location=New York |page=21 |isbn=978-0-439-31455-8}}</ref> However, she does suggest in the books that he is generally an effective teacher.<ref name="Professor Umbridge" >{{HPref|book=5|chapter=12}}</ref> Although Rowling has said that [[Gilderoy Lockhart]] is her only character that she "deliberately based on a real person",<ref name="Book Festival" /> Snape was reportedly based, at least in part, on [[John Nettleship]], who taught Rowling [[chemistry]] and employed her mother as an assistant at [[Wyedean School]] near [[Chepstow]].<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/1731602.stm |title=Rowling's 'spell' on science teacher |date=28 December 2001 |access-date=8 November 2012 |work=BBC News |archive-date=3 February 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080203123234/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/1731602.stm |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.thisisgloucestershire.co.uk/news/s-Snape-Severus-Snape/article-1105099-detail/article.html |title=The name's Snape, Severus Snape |publisher=Northcliffe Media |work=This Is Gloucestershire |date=25 June 2009 |access-date=9 November 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110101111214/http://www.thisisgloucestershire.co.uk/news/s-Snape-Severus-Snape/article-1105099-detail/article.html |archive-date=1 January 2011 |df=dmy-all }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.southwalesargus.co.uk/news/gwentnews/8912179.Chepstow_inspiration_for_Harry_Potter_prof_dies/ |first=Lia |last=Hind |title=Chepstow inspiration for Harry Potter prof dies |work=South Wales Argus |date=16 March 2011 |access-date=9 November 2012 |archive-date=27 September 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120927071137/http://www.southwalesargus.co.uk/news/gwentnews/8912179.Chepstow_inspiration_for_Harry_Potter_prof_dies/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Rowling based Snape's given name on "Severus Road" in [[Clapham]],<ref>{{cite tweet|number=1264240159278731264|user=jk_rowling|title=Real Harry Potter inspiration alert:...|date=23 May 2020}}</ref> and his surname is borrowed from the name of a village in England.<ref>{{cite web |title=Rowling eToys Interview |url=http://www.accio-quote.org/articles/2000/fall00-etoys.html |year=2000 |access-date=16 July 2007 |archive-date=30 September 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930201202/http://www.accio-quote.org/articles/2000/fall00-etoys.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Dresang |first1=Eliza T. |editor1-last=Whited |editor1-first=Lana A. |title=The Ivory Tower and Harry Potter: Perspectives on a Literary Phenomenon |date=2004 |publisher=University of Missouri Press |isbn=9780826215499 |page=212 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iO5pApw2JycC&dq=hermione+granger&pg=PA211 |access-date=30 August 2024 |chapter=Hermione Granger and the Heritage of Gender}}</ref> In a 1999 interview<ref name="works her magic">{{cite web |title=Harry Potter Author Works Her Magic |url= http://school.familyeducation.com/harry-potter/reading/37736.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110718094110/http://school.familyeducation.com/harry-potter/reading/37736.html |last=Abel |first=Katy |work=Family Education |publisher=Pearson |year=1999 |access-date=3 September 2007 |archive-date=18 July 2011}}</ref> and again in 2004,<ref name="Book Festival">{{cite web |title=J.K. Rowling at the Edinburgh Book Festival |publisher=J.K.Rowling Official Site |url= http://www.jkrowling.com/textonly/en/news_view.cfm?id=80 |date=15 August 2004 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721043646/http://www.jkrowling.com/textonly/en/news_view.cfm?id=80 |archive-date=21 July 2011 |access-date=4 November 2012}}</ref> Rowling singled out Snape as one of her favourite characters to write.

Rowling was less forthcoming about Snape than she was for other characters, because his true loyalties and motivations were not revealed until the final book.<ref name="World Book Day">{{cite web |title=World Book Day Chat |url=http://www.accio-quote.org/articles/2004/0304-wbd.htm |date=4 March 2004 |access-date=3 September 2007 |quote=I'm not going to tell you [what form Professor Snape's Boggart and Patronus will take], but that's because it would give so much away. |archive-date=16 August 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070816113645/http://www.accio-quote.org/articles/2004/0304-wbd.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> However, she hinted numerous times at Snape's important role, suggesting that people should "keep their eye on Snape".<ref name="The Connection" /><ref name="Royal Albert">{{cite web |title=Interview with Stephen Fry at Royal Albert Hall |url=http://www.accio-quote.org/articles/2003/0626-alberthall-fry.htm |date=26 June 2003 |access-date=3 September 2007 |quote=It is worth keeping an eye on old Severus definitely! |archive-date=23 April 2011 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20110423234917/http://www.accio-quote.org/articles/2003/0626-alberthall-fry.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> In 1999, answering a question regarding Snape's love life and the redemptive pattern to his character, Rowling expressed her surprise at the foresight.<ref name="The Connection 2">{{cite web |title=J.K. Rowling interview transcript |work=The Connection |publisher=WBUR Radio |url=http://www.accio-quote.org/articles/1999/1099-connectiontransc2.htm#p13 |date=12 October 1999 |access-date=14 March 2008 |quote=I'm slightly stunned that you've said that...and you'll find out why I'm so stunned if you read book 7. |archive-date=22 April 2011 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20110422235410/http://www.accio-quote.org/articles/1999/1099-connectiontransc2.htm#p13 |url-status=live }}</ref> Rowling also disclosed that after the publication of ''Prisoner of Azkaban'', there was one female fan who guessed Snape loved Lily Potter, making Rowling wonder how she had given herself away.<ref name="Snape and Dumbledore">{{cite web |title=JKR: Snape and Dumbledore Two of the Most Important Characters in 'Deathly Hallows' |url=http://www.the-leaky-cauldron.org/2008/4/3/jkr-snape-and-dumbledore-two-of-the-most-important-characters-in-deathly-hallows |publisher=The Leaky Cauldron |date=3 April 2008 |access-date=7 April 2008 |archive-date=7 April 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080407013944/http://www.the-leaky-cauldron.org/2008/4/3/jkr-snape-and-dumbledore-two-of-the-most-important-characters-in-deathly-hallows |url-status=live }}</ref>

After the completion of the series, Rowling began to speak openly about Snape, discussing the contrast between his [[character arc]] and that of [[Albus Dumbledore]].<ref>{{cite web |title='Harry Potter' Author J.K. Rowling Meets With L.A. Students, Plots Her Next Move |first=Shawn |last=Adler |url=http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1571977/harry-potter-author-jk-rowling-plots-her-next-move.jhtml |publisher=MTV News |date=15 October 2007 |access-date=14 November 2012 |archive-date=26 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121026034042/http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1571977/harry-potter-author-jk-rowling-plots-her-next-move.jhtml |url-status=dead }}</ref> Rowling said "the series is built around [the Dumbledore and Snape storylines]", and maintained that she always knew what Snape would turn out to be at the end and that she carefully plotted his storyline throughout the series. "I had to drop clues all the way through because as you know in the seventh book when you have the revelation scene where everything shifts and you realise...what Snape's motivation was. I had to plot that through the books because at the point where you see what was really going on, it would have been an absolute cheat on the reader at that point just to show a bunch of stuff you've never seen before."<ref name="Snape and Dumbledore"/> Rowling further said in an interview that she wanted Snape to find redemption and forgiveness: "Snape is a complicated man...he was a flawed human being, like all of us. Harry forgives him...Harry really sees the good in Snape ultimately... I wanted there to be redemption."<ref name="Final Chapter">{{cite web |title=Harry Potter: The Final Chapter |url=http://www.accio-quote.org/articles/2007/0729-dateline-vieira.html |last=Vieira |first=Meredith |work=Dateline |publisher=NBC |date=29 July 2007 |access-date=14 March 2008 |archive-date=12 March 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080312202932/http://www.accio-quote.org/articles/2007/0729-dateline-vieira.html |url-status=live }}</ref>