(no subject)

[arcanetrivia]

Highly recommended bit of meta: The Fully Knowable Severus Snape by drinkingcocoa. I missed this at Azkatraz because it was in a 9 AM timeslot that I just couldn't drag myself out of bed for.

Comments

[mimimanderly.livejournal.com]

I think the fact that he was so fixated on Lily might also stem from the fact that, as a double-agent, he could NOT have an intimate relationship ever again. It could prove fatal not only to HIM but to his beloved. If you only have had one love relationship in your life, it's understandable that you would blow it out of proportion.

[arcanetrivia]

There was an interesting take on that in a drabble challenge in mctabby's journal the other day, on the prompt "Where are all the Hogwarts' teachers spouses?" In the story, they'd been hidden somehow in the Mirror of Erised, like the Stone, as a means of protecting them because of just this particular problem (being used as hostages, etc). Deep personal connections are quite a luxury when you have to play both sides against each other and against the middle too AND keep the whole thing under wraps.

I just don't see where he could have fit in a "normal", deep and fulfilling relationship during the time in the books, at least post-GoF. That said, there is a considerable period of time I rarely see anyone writing in, which is the ten years he was teaching before Harry showed up, and I think there's definitely room there for sex and relationships. Young!Professor!Snape is a favourite of mine and there's so little of him.

[bohemianspirit.livejournal.com]

I see people bring up this point, sometimes. Besides Elethian's response that there were about ten years in which he was not active as a spy--at least as a double agent--I just point out that spies in real life do not take vows of celibacy. It must be a difficult dance, and certainly risky to the loved ones as well as to the spy, but the same is true with any risky profession, e.g., law enforcement. As I understand it, the main limit on the intimacy side is that the spy can't vent about work the way most people would; life is compartmentalized. But relationships are still possible.