Snapedom

There are a lot of unanswered questions about Snape and Voldemort...was Snape really the Dark Lord's right hand man, and if so, was he always, or did this only occur after Voldemort's return post-GoF? And how did Voldemort manage to recruit Snape and the other Death Eaters in the first place? I've seen it pointed out in other posts that what we see of Voldemort doesn't paint him as a particularly cunning or charismatic leader. It seems that aside from Bellatrix, most of the Death Eaters are serving him mainly out of fear.

There was something that amazed everyone, a skill unprecedented that caused even Voldemort's enemies to exclaim in admiration. He was a brilliant wizard - the most advanced in decades. He really had power, and advanced magic. He had won awards at school, feared none but Dumbledore. His accomplishments were extraordinary. None of these elicits comment from his enemies, save one. Voldemort could fly.

There is no mention of anyone else flying unaided in the books. This was something remarkable, something he must have developed on his own. He was not a generous man; not one to instruct, to teach, to give; not one to take on protégés, to mentor or aid his followers or recruits. There is no mention of phalanxes of Deatheaters pursuing anyone freely through the air. Yet Voldemort taught Snape to fly.
( Cut for 900 words of wild justification of my own position, writing Snape and Voldemort )
But that did not happen. Voldemort took Snape under his almost literal wings, branded his arm, taught him, used him, valued him. Snape was, in my world, Voldemort's man as surely as he was Dumbledore's. Janus, I named him - the embodiment of contradictions, he who held good and evil, light and darkness, past and future, all simultaneously within himself. With sincerity.

Who would have thought that the question 'Is Severus sexy?' would generate such a response?

Mind you, there were only a few posts, but there was so much great discussion there that I didn't know where to look and was wondering if I should just make a banner for all participants.

I made one for everyone in the discussion who posted more than a short paragraph. So, if you feel left out and would like a banner, yell here, please.

This banner is different from the others, since it is made with original art. Expel_Hun kindly gave me permission to use her picture Naked Snape for the banner. This picture of hers is one of my favourites, go and check out her other art, it's fabulous. And don't forget to leave a comment.

And so, att: -L, alisonven, caravaggio49, cardigrl, ensnarryed, esmestrella, ether_bunny, geri_chan, heathersparrows, Hwyla, mary_j_59, phantomf, raisin_gal, the_bitter_word, totalreadr, and vern: your banners are here: The snapedomfan mod journal for technical stuff. Go and download, if you like.

I don't need to tell you how much fun I had making this banner. ;)

It looks like this, just with the different names:
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Author mary-j-59
title Severus and Voldemort

Just an informal ramble, off the top of my head. G-rated as always, gen essay, probably no more than 500 words. This is my response to the March challenge.
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This month's challenge was suggested by greedslayer. Details about that suggestion can be seen here.

Apparently Severus was Voldemort's right hand man. Was he really? Why? Was that intentional and pushed by Dumbledore or not? How did Severus' ego react to that position? Did he like it, hate it, not care about it? Did it affect his relationship to other Death Eaters? Was he always a trusted servant or only after the second rising? And, and, and...

So, after several lighter topics, we're having a heavy one this month. I'll make my way through your suggestions and try to alternate between lighter and heavier.

The tag for this challenge is march09

So is Professor Snape sexy? I suppose it depends on whom you ask. (Canon) Harry would say no, as would the Marauders, but judging by the amount of Snape fanfic out there pairing him up with various canon characters and OCs of both genders, a lot of readers would reply with a resounding "yes!"

This month I give you the challenge you've all been waiting for:

Is Severus sexy?

It's a much-used cliché that his skills in the sack make up for his appearance and less than, ah, cordial manners. The big nose and its implications may or may not have part in this. ;)

What do I want from you? Tell me if and why you find him sexy or don't.
While reading janus' essay on Snape's hair, I was wondering how the perception of Severus and his attraction for potential sex partners varies in different ships. What is it that makes him sexy in your pairing?

A reminder: we can talk about our ships here, but there will be no shipping wars. So: no claims that your ships is the only good one. Because it's not. It's mine... (just kidding.) But you know all this anyway. Have fun everyone.

BTW, if you have suggestions for future challenges, please post them here.</lj>

My primary activity in fandom is drawing. As fanartists for a book fandom, we're really only bound by the descriptions in canon. Though that very freedom can be a little tricky, as we have to make sure that our characters are identifiable. Certain boxes are ticked for certain characters, and Snape is oh, so very one of those.
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The stanadard cliché is that Snape's hair is "greasy," due to the way that Harry describes it in the books. However, this seems at odds with the other cliché of Snape as the "Slytherin Sex God". The latter is usually thought of as a fanon invention, since Snape is ugly in canon...or is he?

I have thought about Snape's hair. It is greasy. It is black. It is shoulder-length. Snape is not handsome and he 'has better things to worry about than whether his hair has bounce.' (the_iscariot - though I may not have remembered the wording perfectly.)

Here is the continuation of my musings abut Severus' hair.
489 words.

EDIT: Sorry for the initial double post. I deleted the duplicate entry. I also edited to include the link rather than the text and tidied it.

Gasp, gasp, just in time. :)
As usual, the banners are under the cut. This time, most contributions were right underneath the introductory post. Oh, and a reminder: there's the hair challenge still on. ;)

And: geri_chan has completed her set. Congrats!

A young half-blood wizard with a miserable home life in a Muggle neighborhood is excited to be going to Hogwarts, a place where he feels like he'll be able to fit in for the first time in his life. He encounters an arrogant bully along the way, and is determined to be Sorted into a different House than the bully.

From the above description, you might assume that the boy is Harry Potter, but you would be wrong--it's Severus Snape. Of course, in Snape's case, I believe that he had already decided to go into Slytherin, but meeting James on the train only reinforced that desire and further prejudiced him against Gryffindor. Even Lily's being Sorted into Gryffindor wasn't enough to tempt Snape into asking the Hat to put him there. In any case, the same general description fits both Harry and Snape remarkably well. In my essay on Snape and the Marauders, I wrote:

I'm always looking for ideas for new challenges. If you want to see something in the monthly challenge, please post your suggestion here.
You can see the old challenges by looking at the side bar, or by using the tag challenge.

Since I won't be around until January 7th, I'm giving you the challenge early.

January 2009: Severus' Hair.

I want to focus on Snape-centric clichés this year, and will post challenges accordingly. However, if you have an idea or wish for a challenge, please tell me. I'll put up a seperate post for that.

As usual, post ideas, creative meta, art surrounding this topic. I'm looking forward to your entries.

A Happy New Year, with lots of Severus-related fun, to you all.

Here are the banners for those who wanted Severus to cook... perhaps.
You made it difficult for me this time. ;) I've made banners for geri_chan of course, and for all the longer, meta-resembling replies. If I forgot someone, give me some wit-sharpening potion and I'll make one for you, too.

While I was surfing the webs for inspiration for the banner, I was chatting to melusin and she gave me the link to le manoir aux quat' saison in Oxford with the chef Raymond Blanc.

After I stopped staring, first at the chef, then at the food, I thought I might either use this:



or this:



picture for the banner. But I don't feel comfortable messing with people's pictures who aren't actors. So I used something else, but thought I show you the pictures and give you the link. Just in case someone looks for a good place to dine in Oxford.


Long story short, here are the banners, under the cut:

The December Challenge brings you a topic that's been long overdue and was suggested by mary_j_59:

Severus and Harry Potter

Mary writes: What does the constant compare and contrast between the two in all 7 books actually convey? Does it convey anything, after all? I had thought it was a subtle type of character development, and that it also pointed to the need for healing between the two, because they are 'soul mates'. Severus, more than anyone else, is Harry's spiritual father, IMO. At least, that's what I thought before DH. Now I don't know what to think - and yet the comparisons are there, in the text. Why?

Of course you can go beyond that and include anything you want.

I didn't have time to do a full-blown essay this month, so here's a bit of meta and a few fic recs...

There's obviously a certain parallel between cooking and Potions; as I have Hermione say in one of my fics ("Phoenix Rising"), "When you think about it...cooking is almost like Potion brewing. You have to add just the right mixture of ingredients--" In reply, Snape snorts derisively. This is because although I think that Snape would probably be good at cooking, I also think that he would regard it as something mundane and trivial in comparison to the subtle art of potion-brewing.

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Here they are, under the cut. I'm getting later and later, sorry about that. I have a lot of work and can't help myself playing in fandom... er. I think it should be better by next year.

I'll have a few announcements for you next week.

To make a long story short, the banners are under the cut. I looked through the comments and found smallpotato to add... if I overlooked something and you think you should have a banner, too, please tell me.

Looks like next month I won't have to make any banners. :( Does no one want to talk about Severus and how/if/what he cooks? Creative meta? Meta art? Fannish cooking?

In continuation and in response to the excellent analysis of the position of Slytherin House in the Potterverse by the_bitter_word I wish to make the point that regardless of ideological differences or how Sorting is done, its mere existence already dooms the school to internal warfare. This is best illustrated by Muzafer's Sherif work Intergroup Conflict and Cooperation: The Robbers Cave Experiment also summarized here. Briefly, this was an experiment in which 2 groups of 11-12 year old boys were brought to a camp site in which they first spent 5 or 6 days without knowing of the other group's presence. During this stage each group started developing a sense of group identity and internal hierarchy. Upon learning of the existence of the other group the boys asked to compete against the other group, team identity became stronger and team effort more efficient. During the second stage formal competitions between the teams were arranged as well as other friction-inducing situations (such as sharing the dining room at the same time). The two teams became aggressive and abusive towards each other to the point of food-throwing, raids on the dorm of the rival team and property damage. After a few days of that the researchers attempted to bring reconciliation between the teams. Merely sharing non-competitve fun activities did not help. It took the faking of sabotaging the water supply by outsiders (which required the joint effort of all boys to fix) and moving both teams to a new location (with more problems requiring large group effort on the way) to overcome rivalry that was instilled in just a few days.

Moreover, the boys who participated in the Robbers Cave Experiment were specifically selected to be as similar to one another as possible. All were well-adjusted, of the same age and educational level, normal physical development, no health or other impairments, all from middleclass Protestant families that were established in the area, all were living with both parents. Also, neither of the boys knew any of the others prior to the experiment.

The situation of children attending Hogwarts has to be worse in the term of House rivalry because the Sorting by the Sorting Hat is supposed to be based on differences in personality and values that the Hat detects in the children's minds. In the Robbers Cave Experiment small differences between the two teams became deliberately amplified as one team sought to assert its identity and difference from the other. Thus one team adopted a more 'masculine' identity while the other got into the habit of huddling in prayer before games. At Hogwarts the Sorting itself already capitalizes on existing differences. Once the students enter the culture of their House I expect they become even less balanced in personality, exaggerating the traits preferred by their House and attenuating those preferred by other Houses. We see as Gryffindors become bolder and more showy they also become less studious, less intellectually-inclined, less industrious. I imagine similar processes take place in the other Houses.

Most Hogwarts student had at least one parent who had attended the school in the past. Many have multiple Hogwarts alumni in their families. As a result most students arrive with preconceived notions about the Houses and House rivalries take the form of expanded clan wars.

The House identity does not stop once students graduate because alliances formed at school are carried over into adult life. Most adult wizards and witches either work in small business and have few colleagues or work at the Ministry, where various departments have a preferential attraction to members of one House. It isn't hard to imagine that the Aurors are predominantly Gryffindors, the Unspeakables predominantly Ravenclaws, the body of desk riders a mix of Hufflepuff and Slytherin with the latter seeking the pathways leading to those places they see as power tipping points (not necessarily the obvious powerful positions). Few adult wizards and witches interact with a balanced mix of alumni of all 4 Houses and very few are in position where they are required to cooperate on a daily basis with such - leading to the persistence of prejudices acquired in middle childhood throughout life.

This topic was suggested by bohemianspirit

Severus in the Kitchen


Severus in the Kitchen - Did Severus cook? What did he cook? How did he cook? When did he cook? For whom did he cook? Be as serious or as cracky as it pleases you. Creative meta is welcome and encouraged for this topic!

That might be a fun one for one of the summer months. ;-)

Summer is over, but I think this could be a nice topic for those grey, dark, cold November days, too.

As usual: everyone is welcome to post.
Contributors get forcefed with banners of my making, as usual. ;)</lj>