Snape, the "Deeply Horrible Person"

[Jen Reese]

No: HPFGUIDX 94286

I'm re-reading JKR interviews and ran across this one at Quick 
Quotes:

Q: Who's your favorite character besides Harry Potter?

A: It's very hard to choose. It's fun to write about Snape because 
he's a deeply horrible person. Hagrid is someone I'd love to meet. 

http://www.the-leaky-cauldron.org/quickquotes/articles/1999/0999-
familyeducation-abel.htm

I'm not a huge Snape fan and this quote has probably been analyzed 
to death. But the comment caught my eye and I wanted to hear other 
opinions.

This seems like a *very* strong negative characterization to me. It 
also doesn't seem particulary consistent with the canon we have so 
far. Snape is presented as complex, bitter, angry, etc. But I've 
never seen his behavior as "deeply horrible" in the way of, say, 
LV's behavior.

Since we only know what JKR has given us so far, but she carries 
with her the full knowledge of each character's past and future 
actions, I tend to think of these interview comments as either 
subtle slip-ups or JKR subtly manipulating the way we see a 
character (for the future *Bang* value!).

So after she makes that comment in 1999, we're presented with a 
little backstory on Snape in OOTP that makes him more sympathetic, 
IMO. Are we being lulled into a false sense of security with that 
backstory?!? With all the references to Dumbledore's trust? OTOH, 
maybe in 1999 JKR realized her audience didn't read Snape the same 
way as she intended, so that comment was made to reinforce 
his 'horrible' behavior and thus make his redemption more surprising 
in the end.

Jen, who always assumed Snape would be redeemed until now...