Show notes
Welcome to Harry Potter Theory. Today we're discussing Severus Snape, Voldemort, and Horcruxes. More specifically- we’re going to be discussing whether or not Snape was aware of the fact that Voldemort had created horcruxes- Voldemort’s key to immortality. Voldemort’s creation of Horcruxes- which are arguably one of the darkest and most twisted forms of magic- started off with just a misguided young boy, unsure of his place in the world. Tom Riddle was an orphan, abandoned by his mother at Wool’s Orphanage before he ever got a chance to know her. His existence was a tragedy- and the only reason that he was ever birthed at all was because his mother had used a love potion on his father. When the effects of the love potion wore off, Tom Riddle Sr immediately left Merope, and this meant that Tom Riddle started off his life with nothing but abandonment.
After years at the orphanage, Dumbledore eventually discovered the young Riddle- and brought him to the world’s finest magical school. While a student at Hogwarts, Riddle was very impressive, and he expressed an unparalleled ability to learn. He constantly asked questions, and he didn’t want to leave any stone unturned when it came to the wizarding world. There is one particular branch of magic, however, that captivated Riddle, and it’s a form of magic that he certainly should have never discovered. That magic involved Horcruxes- objects in which dark witches or wizards have imbued part of their soul. The ultimate purpose of creating a horcrux is to achieve immortality. However, the truly sinister component of creating a horcrux is that in order to produce one, you must MURDER someone. As he grew older, and as he learned more about Horcruxes, he began to create them for himself- and eventually, he had many- being one of only two known wizards to have created them.
At one point in time Severus Snape was a full-fledged death eater and devoted servant of the dark lord. Disgusted with the actions of the quote on quote ‘good guys’, and fuelled by the torment that he had endured for much of his upbringing, Snape turned to the dark side and became one of Voldemort’s right hand men. In fact, it was Snape himself that overheard Sybil Trelawney discussing the fabled prophecy- and Snape too, who relayed the message to Voldemort. The two were close- Snape trusted Voldemort and Voldemort trusted Snape, but that all changed when Lily Evans’ life was in danger. Given that Snape was in Voldemort’s inner-circle for so many years, and that he had formed such a close bond with him- I always wondered, was Snape AWARE of Voldemort’s horcruxes? And if not- why wasn’t he? Snape was a bonafide magical genius- and he knew more about magic than almost every other wizard in the wizarding world- having gone down the rabbit hole of both sides of the wizarding spectrum- good and bad. Not only that, but he was a master legilimens- a master of THE MIND. He knew exactly how to read people, how to analyze their behaviours and patterns- how could he have missed powerful dark magic at play?
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