Do we like Severus Snape?
A character from Harry Potter series (1997–2007)
Our score: 6 out of 10. He's a petty, cruel teacher we'd never want to be stuck in detention with. But he's braver and more useful than he looks, so he gets a grudging, qualified yes.
Snape is the Potions master at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and the head of Slytherin House. He's sharp-tongued, sneering and cold. He takes an instant dislike to new student Harry Potter, and the feeling seems to be mutual. He's also a gifted wizard, and he's a former follower of the dark side, which is why many people don't trust him.
Across the books, Snape is a tough teacher to like. He docks points, hands out detentions and humiliates students, and he is openly unfair to anyone outside his own house. Yet Harry's headmaster, Dumbledore, trusts him completely, and again and again Snape turns up at the moment Harry needs protecting. He is a hard man to read. That's why he works so well as a character, and why fans argue about him so much.
Our score comes from weighing those two sides. His behaviour toward children is genuinely unkind, and a good motive doesn't excuse bullying. But he takes real risks and does hard, thankless work for the right side. He gets a 6: we'd back him in a crisis, but we wouldn't want him marking our homework.
The later books reveal that Snape's hostility toward Harry is tangled up with his history with Harry's parents. He loved Harry's mother, Lily, from childhood, and he resented Harry's father, James, who bullied him at school. After Lily's death he swore to protect her son. He spends years as a double agent, sacrificing his reputation and eventually his life for that promise. Harry comes to call him the bravest man he ever knew.