Harry himself has a change of heart and goes on about how Snape was always a good guy just trying to protect Harry but he really is a dick. Above and beyond what was necessary to keep his cover. Im on a reread of Goblet of Fire and when Hermione gets hit with Malfoy's spell and her teeth start growing down to her collar and Snape just says "I see no difference" that's an exceptionally dickish thing to say to a student, especially one that is a very good student.

 

No.

/10char

 

I don't think Snape was a good person.

He protected Harry, only because of his guilt regarding Lily, and still went out of his way to attack him because of his resentment regarding James. He took pleasure in bullying children who had no real way of fighting back, and that kind of pettiness is easier to dismiss in children but inexcusable as an adult. His love of Lily, and his protection of Harry, does not redeem a life of miserable behavior.

 

Just because snape is on the 'good side', it doesn't mean he is a good guy or a nice guy.

 

No, Snape isn't a good guy. He's petty, cruel and bitter, as you don't need to be nice or have the purest reasons to be in the "good" side of the conflict and he certainly didn't. Yeah, it is clear in the story Snape fought time after time against Voldemord plans and was firmly in Dumbledore's plan, even if he did it for selfish reasons and guilty instead of the goodness of his heart, however, the guy WAS a bastard all around.

So, no. Snape isn't a good guy in any way, shape or form. He's in the good guys' side, yes, but there's no way that someone can call him a nice, good or even an tolerable human being.

 

Why do you take the ability of a student into consideration when judging whether bullying them is acceptable or not?

 

Snaps being a good person is really dependent on what he does after lily dies. That is his moment where he can realize his mistake and choose to be a better man.

He doesn't. He becomes bitter and a bigger bully than he was before

So no. Not a good person

 

Snape only protected Harry because of Lily. Other than that there are almost no redeemable qualities in his character. I still can't ignore that he bullied Harry all throughout his schooling even though he is the adult in a position of power, and all because he is the son of the man he hated. He wasn't a good guy, but he did do things that could be considered good in the end.

 

Snape is not what I would call a good guy. Yes he does do some things that are good, but throughout the series he shows himself to be petty, cruel, and just a generally unpleasant person. Doing the "right thing" a few times does not change the fact that he is bitter and cruel man who should never have been allowed near children, let alone allowed to teach them.

 

Yes he is, because is capable of feeling love. This capacity is what redeems him. This is canon.

 

Yes, because canon isn't open to interpretation at all.

 

Canonically Voldemort is the only one incapable of feeling love. You think that makes every else, like the Death Eaters, "good", then?

 

Turns out I was wrong. So were you, btw. So says the rowling:

edit: Thank you, @The Pro . Couldn't have put it better myself. I would give you thumbs up, but it doesn't work. Must've been removed, or something.

 

Yeah, this clinches it. He's neither bad nor good per se, but more of an amoral character. Sure he's got flaws, but he's got virtues as well (few though they are). The whole debate of whether or not he's a good guy is really due to fanon butchering the character. People can't really portray him as what he is: a fundamentally flawed being with flaws that outweigh the few virtues he does have.

But to answer the question, not really, no. He's definitely not on the bad side of the spectrum, but that doesn't mean he can be considered a "good guy".

 

Wasn't he eaten by a snake because V thought his death would transfer the elder wand? That would make his death essentially meaningless, wouldn't it. Admittedly I only read DH once.

 

J.K. Rowling has contradicted herself several times before, so it isn't too surprising she's said something like this.

 

I was gonna go with the grey option as well. Snape obviously isn't a good person, however, I don't think he's evil either. He'll bully children but I don't think he enjoys actually harming people.

 

No, he is not. He's a bad guy who happens to have goals that coincide with the good guys, but only for selfish reasons.

 

Ha! This post made me laugh out loud. Thanks for the chuckles, mate.

 

He's not a good guy... he's not a bad guy... he's THE guy.

/s