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In honor of the anniversary of the “Battle of Hogwarts,” a bloody massacre at the end of the seventh Harry Potter book, J.K. Rowling hopped on Twitter to do what she does best — stir the pot.
The Battle took place on May 2nd, 1998 in the world of the books, though Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows was published in the summer of 2007. So it would be the 19th anniversary of the deaths of many beloved witches and wizards if we lived in the world of Harry Potter. But since we don’t, we are just nearing the 10th anniversary of when we all finished the Harry Potter series and got real bummed out.
OK, here it is. Please don't start flame wars over it, but this year I'd like to apologise for killing (whispers)... Snape. *runs for cover*
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) May 2, 2017
Today, to celebrate the former, J.K. Rowling apologized for the death of Severus Snape. These apologies, despite Rowling’s protestations, are clearly designed to open a can of worms in the Harry Potter fandom, and the reply-to-fav ratio on this tweet proves she more than succeeded.
Last year she apologized for Remus Lupin, and in 2015 she apologized for Fred Weasley. Both of those characters were good guys through and through, plus one of them was a parent, so their deaths were pretty hard to take. Severus Snape’s death was intense not because he was a good person but because it came shortly after the revelation that he had spent his whole life in love with a woman who 1) did not love him back, 2) died, and 3) was Harry Potter’s mom. Also, the revelation that he only killed fan favorite Albus Dumbledore because he had to, because of a magical curse-promise.
It was fraught, but — in my opinion — not that fraught because ultimately Snape had been unfathomably cruel to almost everyone he ever met, even 11-year-old children, and definitely committed more than one murder. Thinking about Snape dying does not make me sad, and that’s not because of healthy distance from the work of fiction. I could still work up some tears about Sirius Black if I sat down and tried. It’s because he’s a bad dude and frankly it was super weird Harry named a child after him.
Many of Rowling’s fans agree with me:
@kimcarlton_ @NickEllis @halseysreid @jk_rowling Also physically and verbally abused like more than half his students and traumatized both Neville and Hermione & was a literally Death Eater
— Kai Bishop (@KaiInMotion) May 2, 2017
@KaiInMotion @kimcarlton_ @NickEllis @halseysreid @jk_rowling let's not forget when he subbed for DADA and made the kids write essays on how to kill werewolves. and then remus had to grade them.
— jenna torni (@svperncvas) May 2, 2017
@jk_rowling you really didn't need to apologise for that one it's chill
— emma✰ (@sscorbus) May 2, 2017
@jk_rowling He had no regrets going to the dark side until Lily was involved. Snape is not a good person.
— Ajinkya Goyal (@airborneorange) May 2, 2017
@CalumMcSwiggan @jk_rowling I'm still not over Sirius got killed! Harry would still have a family member
— ∞ (@tita_vg) May 2, 2017
Some do not:
@airborneorange @jk_rowling He CHANGED. His love for Lily changed him. Everyone has a reason to be on the "good side", right? This was Snape's.
— Laya B Giri (@truthslayer_91) May 2, 2017
@jk_rowling It made sense for the story. We love him so much... pic.twitter.com/WrYizZ9M54
— Nick (@NickEllis) May 2, 2017
@jk_rowling He lives on in all who loved him
— Lindsay Lowe (@linzlowe) May 2, 2017
Some people don’t agree with the people who don’t agree with me, which I appreciate:
@NickEllis @KaiInMotion @kimcarlton_ @halseysreid @jk_rowling WHERE
— luna rose (@syltherinpotter) May 2, 2017
And so on. Everyone’s yelling at each other and claiming that they’re crying, in the exact flame wars that Rowling definitely didn’t at all want to see happen. It’s fun, I suppose. Anyway, Snape sucks and even more so now that I’m an adult and have had some level of exposure to men’s rights forums.
Tangential to the flame war, there are also some sweet souls who don’t care about the Snape debate at all and would like Rowling to apologize for killing Harry’s pet owl Hedwig, which I agree was a little much even if there was a “reason” behind it:
@DigDougFrye @dadiva18 @airborneorange @ohmygouldness @jk_rowling Hed wigs death was to symbolize the loss of childhood in Harry it was messed up and I still mourn when I see owls
— Aiesha M. Ogo-Danner (@OgoBbDannerBl) May 2, 2017
Maybe next year! After all, J.K. Rowling will be tweeting about Harry Potter until I am in my grave.
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