Snapers vs. Sirists; Canon Snape

[cindysphynx]

No: HPFGUIDX 34671

Judy wrote:

>Snape has tons of positive qualities, which I 
> enumerated in a post a while ago. (In a nutshell -- brave, 
articulate, 
> brilliant, talented wizard, etc.) 

On what canon basis can we really say that Snape is all of these 
things?  Let's take them one at a time:

Brave -- I suppose the canon basis for this is his spying at great 
personal risk.  I don't see how this makes him more brave than 
Sirius, who risks having his soul sucked out every time he tries to 
protect Harry.  To be rather harsh about it, Snape turned DE and did 
Heaven-Knows-What to aid the most evil wizard ever.  If he now has to 
suffer personal risk to undo what he helped do in the first place, 
why am I supposed to be impressed with this?

Articulate -- OK, he's definitely articulate, although his articulate 
moments usually come in his attempts to embarrass, scare or humiliate 
powerless students.  He's not any more articulate than Sirius and 
Lupin, really, but OK, I'll give you that one.

Brilliant and Talented -- I see no basis in canon for this at all.  
Snape out-duels Lockhart-the-Fraud.  You have to admit he is out-
smarted by Moody (twice in GoF) and Hermione and the trio (once in 
the Shrieking Shack).  He gets his leg mangled in PS/SS.  He doesn't 
ward off the dementor in GoF.  How do we know that Snape isn't just a 
middling potion-brewer?  We do know that he is far from a brilliant 
teacher, however.  I'd substitute "Nosy and Mean" for "Brilliant and 
Talented." :-)  What in canon am I missing?

Seriously, though, the level of affection for Snape among fans is 
still a mystery to me.  I can understand thinking Snape plays an 
important role in the books, and I can understand thinking that he is 
interesting and mysterious.  But that's as far as I can go.  

Lupin and Sirius, though, have displayed many positive qualities in 
canon that naturally cause people to adore them.  Yes, they have 
flaws, but there are many positive things that they have said and 
done in canon.  That's why I have a hard time seeing how Snape 
generates the same warm fuzzies that Lupin and Sirius do.  I think it 
is quite possible that Snape will turn out to be a two-dimensional 
cartoon nemesis for Harry, just like Draco.

Cindy (who thinks that Snape will ultimately turn out to be evil or 
incompetent or unlikable because JKR doesn't seem to think much of 
canon Snape)