Snape, a vampire?

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 163872

Anne Squires wrote:
> 
> I looked this up on JKR's website and couldn't find where she
> addresses this particular issue.  But, I think it must be there
> somewhere and I just can't find it because in the MuggleNet/Leaky
> Cauldron interview on 7-16-05 JKR told Emerson and Melissa,
> "Generally speaking, I shut down those lines of speculation that
> are plain unprofitable.... It's when people get really off the
> wall - it's when people devote hours of their time to proving
> that Snape is a vampire that I feel it's time to step in, because
> there's really nothing in the canon that supports that."
> 
> I personally think that there are plenty of subtle and not so
> subtle clues in canon that Snape might be a vampire.  I conclude
> from the above quote from JKR that she had planted a red herring
> that people, in her opinion, were just getting too carried away
> with. JKR, for whatever reason, wanted people to stop wasting
> their time investigating something which is clearly there,
> despite what she says.   So, she shut down that particular red
> herring.  This, of course, is just my humble interpretation of
> her words.  I just can't believe that she is completely serious
> when she says, "there's really nothing in the canon that supports
> that."  "That" refers to Vampire!Snape.  I mean come on.  She
> knows she planted that red herring.  Not sure why she is denying
> it.

Carol adds:
There was also an interview or rather an Internet chat in which she
was asked whether Snape was a Vampire and she replied, "I don't think
so." Sarcasm being hard to detect in writing, some advocates of the
theory hopefully interpreted those words as JKR, the author of the
books, being somehow unsure whether her "gift of a character" was a
Vampire or not. I think the response in the interview you cited was
intended to shut down such unproductive rumors once and for all.

As for bat imagery associated with Snape, I think it's merely intended
to emphasize his sweeping, swooping movements and somewhat sinister
appearance, especially Harry's view of him as dangerous. But note that
bats in general, unless they're rabid, aren't actually dangerous, nor
do bats turn into vampires or vice versa in the WW. (I think that JKR
shows us a "real" vampire, Sanguini, in HBP to contrast his behavior
with Snape's and squelch the rumors once and for all, as she also
squelched the Harry/Hermione SHIPping rumors.)

It's possible, I suppose, that Snape's Patronus could be a bat (though
I expect it to be changed to something more Dumbledorish in DH). At
any rate, I think any sinister imagery associated with Snape (bat,
spider, or anything else) is a red herring, and any suggestion that he
might be a vampire is accidental. (Incidentally, it's Sirius Black
whom Harry associates with vampires when he sees his photograph, pale,
waxy skin and all that.)

Carol, who thinks that Snape as the second most wanted man in the WW
has enough to be getting on with without adding vampirism to his plate