Snapedom

Original poster: brainorgan

For what it's worth, here are my ramblings on SS.  I'm not as eloquent as some of you, but I think about Snape all the time, so I had to make my contribution.
 

I would have liked to have seen more of his motivation for joining the Death Eaters – what did Voldemort say to him to get him to join up.  I was surprised that his love for Lily was the only thing driving his actions.  I wanted to know that over time he had been influenced by Dumbledore, and was on the side of the Light because he believed in it and that his love for Lily was just a stepping stone.  I’d like to think he had principles, but it seems like that was not the case.

I was disappointed that he had such blinders on with regard to Harry Potter, unable to see that he was not an attention-seeking, selfish little prat.  I wanted his actions towards Harry Potter not to be reflective of his true feelings, and for him to be suffering inside to have to act so contrary to how he felt.  It’s how he would have had to behave in front of Voldemort, pretending to be in favor of Voldemort and the Death Eaters, while really being Dumbledore’s man. 

He seems more one-dimensional than I wanted him to be, with Lily being his focus.  And how is it possible to keep someone who is not even alive in the forefront of your brain like that for 16 years?  I can’t remember what happened last week.

I don't know if Rowling believes everything she says about Snape, or is it all persiflage, and secretly it is all unfolding as she planned.  Snape's such a good character, how can she be so off hand about him?  He practically drives the whole story.  Harry is a mere bystander, he just came in in the 9th inning.

Original poster: geri_chan

Just thought I'd share this resource with the rest of the community. The Leaky Cauldron has created a page with links to post-DH interviews with JKR, and has also conveniently organized quotes by character and subject, making it easy to track down, say, a particular quote about Snape that you might want to cite in an essay or discussion:

http://www.the-leaky-cauldron.org/books/postdh
(EDIT: sorry, I don't know why this doesn't automatically turn into a link like it's supposed to, but the link above will take you to the same page.)

Although after seeing this post by Sylvana, I think I should just avoid reading any interviews JKR gives in the future.