How we picture characters

[potioncat]

>Carol: 
> Michael Gambon as Dumbledore and his horrible gray robes and
> rubber-banded beard--don't even get me started!

Potioncat:
Me either!! 

I like Maggie Smith, except that Minerva is supposed to have black 
hair. I think black hair on Smith would look horrible.

Carol:
 And Gary Oldman as Sirius Black?
> Too old and no trace of lost handsomeness. 

Potioncat: I read somewhere that casting had to look for actors that 
would be in Rickman's age range..or close to the age Rickman!Snape 
can be made to appear.

>>CAtlady wrote in another post:

Even tho' the *text* of canon keeps saying that Snape is a tall, thin
wizard with long, slender/bony fingers, my mind has always seen him as
not unusually tall or thin. I imagine tall characters, like
Dumbledore, Lucius Malfoy, and 16-year-old Draco Malfoy as distinctly
taller than him, and he stands visually on par with them by sheer
dignity and power.

Potioncat:
Does the text say "tall"?  We once had a thread about Short!Snape--
was quite a while ago. The only thing about height I can find is that 
Sirius is taller than Severus when they get into their little tiff at 
12GP.

I think JKR has Snape as the stero-type: thin, not-so-tall out to 
prove himself male character.