Before a series is finished, or when a single release does not answer all of the reader’s questions, people start to form theories about the lore of the story and Harry Potter is no exception.
When I was reading the books for the first time, I figured that there had to be a deeper reason for Snape to hate Harry than just him being a Gryffindor and a “celebrity”. I was proven right in the later books where Snape’s motivations were revealed.
Perhaps the most hilarious one and my favorite when it comes to the fun factor is the whole “Ron is Dumbledore”, where someone supposes that Albus Dumbledore is actually a time-travelling Ron Weasley. This theory was actually debunked by J. K. Rowling, since it gained so much traction, but if you read through the whole text of the theory, it kind of starts to make weird sense.
What are some of your favorite HP fan theories? Did any that you make come true in later books or movies? Perhaps there is one that you would like to debunk yourself?
HP Fan Theories
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Prof. Maxim Trevelyan
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HP Fan Theories
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Prof. Polaris Black
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Re: HP Fan Theories
My favorite fan theory involves the Deathly Hallows and the Peverell brothers. In the theory, Voldemort is Antioch, the eldest brother who was killed after seeking the power of the Elder Wand, Snape is Cadmus, the middle brother who died to join a dead girl he once loved, and Harry is Ignotus, the youngest brother who greeted "Death as an old friend". Dumbledore is Death, who met Harry when he was in limbo after the piece of Voldemort's soul that was in him was destroyed. Even J.K. Rowling says the theory fits!
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Prof. Will Lestrange
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Re: HP Fan Theories
My personal theory is that the Pensieve that Professor Snape showed Harry Potter - in which Snape's reasons for his actions are 'revealed' to be undying love for Harry's mother - was altered by Snape (and that Snape's actual motivations were somewhat different than what he showed Harry).
We spend most of the series seeing Snape through Harry's eyes as a representative of Slytherin - as a Head of House who exemplifies Slytherin house traits for his students. Seeing these traits through Gryffindor eyes means we often see things from a worse light than a neutral view would convey... after all, Harry was 'encouraged' by Gryffindor friends and mentors to support his own house, which always viewed Slytherin as rivals!
Looking at Snape's own life, I feel that while he and Lily Evans were never meant to be together, Lily was a horrible friend to Snape: never really supporting him, ashamed to be seen near him in public, and viewing lashing out in anger as a result of being bullied as being less forgivable than doing the very bullying that induced that level of anger! I cannot imagine someone who is depicted as such a representative of Slytherin traits instead choosing to cling to a classmate who married someone else and then died along with her husband long ago.
However, we know that it is possible for masters of Occlumency to alter Pensieves to show memories that are different than actual memories. Professor Slughorn did just that with one of his most important memories. True, Slughorn's memory was altered very crudely... but Snape is a master of Occlumency and therefore could conceivably be able to alter a Pensieve so subtly that the altered memories would convincingly (at least to someone who does not know Occlumency that well) look like they were the original unaltered ones!
I can imagine an endgame that instead looks like the following: Snape knew that he was destined to die - and if everything went right, he knew that Harry Potter would likely be one of the last people to see him alive. If Harry Potter was the one to view Snape's Pensieve, the story of Snape (as far as the Wizarding World was concerned) would be through Harry's eyes. In order for that story to be told in the best possible light, Snape's memories would need to portray him as acting in terms of the strongest form of good and love imaginable... which would be Harry's own revered and loved mother! So of course Snape would show his memories in this light so that Harry would think as fondly of him as possible after the war was won (this plan worked so well that Harry ended up naming one of his kids after Snape!)
We spend most of the series seeing Snape through Harry's eyes as a representative of Slytherin - as a Head of House who exemplifies Slytherin house traits for his students. Seeing these traits through Gryffindor eyes means we often see things from a worse light than a neutral view would convey... after all, Harry was 'encouraged' by Gryffindor friends and mentors to support his own house, which always viewed Slytherin as rivals!
Looking at Snape's own life, I feel that while he and Lily Evans were never meant to be together, Lily was a horrible friend to Snape: never really supporting him, ashamed to be seen near him in public, and viewing lashing out in anger as a result of being bullied as being less forgivable than doing the very bullying that induced that level of anger! I cannot imagine someone who is depicted as such a representative of Slytherin traits instead choosing to cling to a classmate who married someone else and then died along with her husband long ago.
However, we know that it is possible for masters of Occlumency to alter Pensieves to show memories that are different than actual memories. Professor Slughorn did just that with one of his most important memories. True, Slughorn's memory was altered very crudely... but Snape is a master of Occlumency and therefore could conceivably be able to alter a Pensieve so subtly that the altered memories would convincingly (at least to someone who does not know Occlumency that well) look like they were the original unaltered ones!
I can imagine an endgame that instead looks like the following: Snape knew that he was destined to die - and if everything went right, he knew that Harry Potter would likely be one of the last people to see him alive. If Harry Potter was the one to view Snape's Pensieve, the story of Snape (as far as the Wizarding World was concerned) would be through Harry's eyes. In order for that story to be told in the best possible light, Snape's memories would need to portray him as acting in terms of the strongest form of good and love imaginable... which would be Harry's own revered and loved mother! So of course Snape would show his memories in this light so that Harry would think as fondly of him as possible after the war was won (this plan worked so well that Harry ended up naming one of his kids after Snape!)
