Harry Potter: Why Was Severus Snape Called the Half-Blood Prince?

The Half-Blood Prince persona portrayed Snape as powerful and mysterious, empowering him during a time when he felt mistreated and abused by his peers, especially by the Marauders.

Updated on Aug 30, 2024  |  05:32 AM IST |  200.3K
Exploring Why Was Severus Snape Called the Half-Blood Prince
Severus Snape in Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince (PC: YouTube, Harry Potter)

Severus Snape is one of the most important characters in the Harry Potter series, proving himself to be so much more than just a Potions Professor. During Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Harry finds a very accurate potions textbook, which leads him to go on top in Professor Slughorn's class. Hermione becomes utterly confused by how well Harry was doing; she realizes that Harry didn't master potions; it was actually the book belonging to a student named the Half-Blood Prince. This, in turn, makes Harry's past and his role in the series all the more complex.

Harry discovers that Professor Severus Snape was known as "Half-Blood Prince" while he was at Hogwarts and that his mother Lily and father James were his parents. The books will delve much deeper into Snape's life, but in the films, his background is only glanced over briefly. Without the background of why he acquired his title, the books delve deep into the tragic life Snape led.

Why did Snape have the nickname 'The Half-Blood Prince'?

Harry finds the Half Blood Prince in the sixth Harry Potter movies when he pulled a book out of the Potions' classroom. While Harry looks upon the Half Blood Prince as an intelligent thinker because of the potion advice, he uses Sectumsempra on Draco Malfoy from the book and realizes later that he has much dark side. Even though his friends advise Harry to get rid of the book after that incident, Harry still clutches the spell that was used on Draco Malfoy and really hurt him.

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At the end of the sixth installment to the series, aptly named after the infamous owner of the book, Harry finds the Half-Blood Prince to be the very one that he had least expected. Right after Snape kills Albus Dumbledore in the Astronomy Tower, Harry chases him, attempting to either catch him or kill him, and even trying to cast a spell on Snape using Sectumsempra. Snape wheels around to face him and reveals that he had actually made up that spell himself. To Harry's astonishment, it was Severus Snape who was the Half-Blood Prince.

Snape's Harry Potter alias was indeed a reflection of his family tree since he came from a half-blood lineage, a witch or wizard born to a magic lineage and a muggle pairing. Snape, just like his master Lord Voldemort, was born to a witch mother and a muggle father shows his special family tree.

His mother was a witch named Eileen Prince, while his father was Tobias Snape, a muggle. This parallels Harry, who is half-blood due to his mother being muggle-born. Snape later in life becomes a high-ranking Death Eater, pure-blood wizards who discriminate against all other wizards. Both Snape and Lord Voldemort are half-blood wizards with tendencies of the dark arts created a pseudonym for themselves. This theme of identity and family relations is one of the most important themes in the Harry Potter series.

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He was not royalty, but he called himself "Prince," a play on his mother's birth name and an insult to his father. Snape was neglected as a child by his father and clung more to his mother. An angsty teen, he wrote it in his textbook as a means of embracing his wizard heritage and rising above his muggle father. The books also mentioned that Snape lived a poor childhood and was maybe covering his past by coming off as a "prince."

Severus Snape's self-concept was consistent with his condition of power because his textbooks and spells suggested that he was superior to most wizards, including those with pure blood. In the Harry Potter movies, the way in which Snape chose his name is never apparent; however, his backstory is exhibited in the books. This angsty teenager Snape had given, of course, an alias to his hidden lineage in order to separate him from who he really was and created a more comforting one. It was probably the way in which Snape distanced himself from who he truly was.

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The influence of Half-Blood Prince in Harry's journey

In the sixth Harry Potter film, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Severus Snape is the protagonist. Harry figures out about Snape from the Half-Blood Prince's potion book, and how much he was bullied by the Marauders. He also purchases one of Snape's high school books to find out more details about himself in high school.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is a tale where several characters' paths cross each other. Snarpy happens to be a Death Eater, which is a reflection of Voldemort's half-blood origin, while Draco Malfoy boasts about his dark family lineage. Harry's journey in his sixth year at Hogwarts follows Snape's as the Half-Blood Prince through his mysterious book. The four multidimensional characters of Snape, Voldemort, Harry, and Draco are intertwined with each other as they make their ways to realize the final death of Dumbledore, making them four most multidimensional personas in the series.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince really illustrates Snape's darker side, as he associates more with his wizard mother's name and shies from his father's muggle last name. Snape is also involved in tampering with the Dark Arts, which again explains Harry's distrust of him and suspicion that he is a Death Eater. But the movie also uncovers Harry's darker side-as the success of being the Half-Blood Prince alienates him, events become grim. Viewers will also see a more stern and crafty hero.

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The Half-Blood Prince perfected the potions book, allowing Harry to cheat through his sixth year at Hogwarts. Snape even concocted original spells, like Levicorpus and Sectumsempra Curse, which Harry attempted-although the latter was lethal, too. Also, he used Liquid Luck in trying to manipulate Slughorn and, subsequently, tried the Crucio curse on Snape after Dumbledore died. Among other spells of Snape's, the book also included Levicorpus and Sectumsempra Curse.

ALSO READ: What Happened Between Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts Movie Events? Timeline Explained

Credits: CBR
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