"But one principle about constructing characters can be stated unequivocally. Whether your characters attain autonomy or not, whether they come from you or from Greek myths, the more you get to know them, the better you will work with them. To work with a character, you might need to sketch it in several ways.You could start with a questionnaire (or make one up for yourself)..." (pg. 54, Fiction Writer's Workshop, Josip Novakovich).

Using Josip Novakovich's example questions for a character sheet, and a few of my own additons that I feel must be included when creating a character sheet for any Harry Potter character (such as Hogwarts House, Patronus etc), I will attempt to list exactly what we know of Severus Snape, so that we may see what we still don't.

Questions with some answers are in silver.

Unknown information is green, or has a green question mark beside it.

Other comments are in grey.

~~~

Name: Severus Snape (middle name is probably 'Tobias', since that was his father's name, and Harry Potter's middle name is James, after his own father).

Nickname(s): The Half-Blood Prince. (Self-styled.)

The Prince (Harry Potter, Hermione Granger & Ron Weasley in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Very Machiavellian and fitting.)

Snivellus (Courtesy of the Marauders.)

Place of Birth: Somewhere in England.

Date of Birth: 9th of January 1960, which makes him a Capricorn. For more information, see my Professor Snape's Birthday page. [I had this right for years, and the Lexicon had it wrong. /end gloating]

Date and method of Death: 2nd of May 1998. Death by exsanguination.

DEATH be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadfull, for, thou art not so,
For, those, whom thou think'st, thou dost overthrow,
Die not, poore death, nor yet canst thou kill me.
From rest and sleepe, which but thy pictures bee,
Much pleasure, then from thee, much more must flow,
And soonest our best men with thee doe goe,
Rest of their bones, and soules deliverie.
Thou art slave to Fate, Chance, kings, and desperate men,
And dost with poyson, warre, and sicknesse dwell,
And poppie, or charmes can make us sleepe as well,
And better then thy stroake; why swell'st thou then;
One short sleepe past, wee wake eternally,
And death shall be no more; death, thou shalt die.

- Mr J Donne

Education: Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

House: Slytherin.

Founder: Salazar Slytherin.
House Colours: Green and silver.
House Mascot: Silver serpent.
House Ghost: The Bloody Baron.
House Element: Water (as stated by JKR in her post-HBP Mugglenet/Leaky interview [2005], the details of which may be read here).
Common Room: The Hogwarts dungeons under the lake.
Sorting Hat Songs:

Or perhaps in Slytherin
You'll make your real friends,
Those cunning folk use any means
To achieve their ends. (PS)

Shrewd Slytherin, from fen. (GoF)

And power-hungry Slytherin
Loved those of great ambition. (GoF)

Said Slytherin, 'We'll teach just those
Whose ancestry is purest.' (OotP)

Wizarding Ancestry: Half-Blood wizard; witch mother, Muggle father. (HBP)

Wand: ? Assuming it is an Ollivander wand (and it probably is, because everyone who is British and goes to Hogwarts seems to favour Ollivanders, then we know that the wand core is either phoenix feather, dragon heartstring or unicorn hair- because these are the only wand cores Ollivander uses in the construction of his wands (GoF). Snape does not strike me as the unicorn hair type, so it is probably one of the other two (for further information refer to my essay: Snape's Wand).

Left or right handed?: Right handed. (PoA)

Handwriting: '... Harry's moonstone essay was handed back to him with a large, spiky black "D" scrawled in an upper corner.' (OOTP)

'... his hooked nose barely an inch away from the parchment as he scribbled.' (OOTP)

'His hand was flying across the parchment; he had written a foot more than his closest neighbours, and yet his writing was miniscule and cramped.' (OOTP)

'... the previous owner had scribbled all over the pages, so that the margins were as black as the printed portions.' (HBP)

'...something scribbled along the bottom of the back cover in the same small, cramped handwriting...' (HBP)

Can he see Thestrals?: Yes. (JKR Official Site.)

Sport: Referreed a game of Quidditch (PS).

Associations: Death Eater, and member of The Order of the Phoenix.

Residence: 10 months every year - the dungeons of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry (In Scotland).
The other two months (summer holiday) are spent in an old brick row house, the last one at the end of a cobbled street called Spinner's End, in a derelict ex-industrial Muggle town, near a river, and the relic of a disused mill (where he grew up with Lily Evans).

The first mill was Arkwright's in Cromford, Derbyshire, however, there are quite a few others. Also, there is a place called Snape in Yorkshire (though I really can't see Snape living there, because the dialect does not match up at all), and a village called Snape, near Saxmundham [which is far too south to be an accurate match]. I visited the village recently, and apart from being near the river Alde (which happens to have a Fox's Corner nearby - an interesting 'coincidence', considering the opening of Spinner's End involved a fox near a river), the village is also home of the 'Old Mill'. This suggests to me that JK Rowling may have used all of the different Snape 'map names' (she said that she enjoys reading names on maps) for inspiration, as well as her own secret background information about the character, and his family.

Tap here to visit the Derwent Valley Mills web site (In December 2001, the Derwent Valley Mills in Derbyshire became inscribed as a World Heritage Site.)

Another possibility is Oldham.

And for even more in-depth information, read the essay 'Where Is Spinner's End?' by Claire M Jordan (archived at the Lexicon). I agree with almost everything that the writer has to say. To read the essay, tap here with your wand.

Mill Pond, and Lancashire Scene 1925 by LS Lowry

Occupation: Potions master at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry (PS - OOTP).
Defence Against the Dark Arts master at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry (H-BP).
Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry (DH).
Spy:

Deep cover quadruple agent working for Albus Dumbledore against the Dark Lord (PS - DH)

A quadruple agent working for Albus Dumbledore against the Dark Lord. He began his espionage career working for Lord Voldemort as a Death Eater [the controlling organisation], and was then sent by the Dark Lord to spy on Albus Dumbledore [the target organisation], but became Dumbledore's man and began to spy on the controlling organisation, while pretending to still spy on the target organisation.

Page 519 (GoF): Dumbledore had got to his feet. ‘I have given evidence already on this matter,’ he said calmly. ‘Severus Snape was indeed a Death Eater. However, he rejoined our side before Lord Voldemort’s downfall and turned spy for us, at great personal risk. He is now no more a Death Eater than I am.’

Page 59 (OotP): "He’s [Snape] just arrived, the meetings started." – Mrs Weasley

Appearance: Pg 62 (CoS): 'There, his black robes rippling in a cold breeze, stood Severus Snape. He was a thin man with sallow skin, a hooked nose and greasy, shoulder-length black hair, and at the moment, he was smiling in a way that told Harry he and Ron were in very deep trouble...'

Pg 27 (H-BP): 'A sliver of a man could be seen looking out at them, a man with long black hair parted in curtains around a sallow face and black eyes.'

Young (pre-Hogwarts age) Snape:

(The Prince's Tale, DH) 'His black hair was overlong and his clothes were so mismatched that it looked deliberate: too short jeans, a shabby, overlarge coat that might have belonged to a grown man, an odd smocklike shirt ... Snape looked no more than nine or ten years old, sallow, small, stringy ... thin face ...'

(The Prince's Tale, DH): ' ... even with his poorly cut hair and his odd clothes, he struck an oddly impressive figure sprawled in front of her, brimful of confidence in his destiny.'

Dress: Black robes. Long black cloak. Long black travelling cloak. Long grey nightshirt. Wears green robes [or perhaps only something green - such as a scarf] to support the Slytherin Quidditch team; I am not sure whether this is only for grand finales, or for every game. So it is either once or four times a year.

Young (pre-Hogwarts age) Snape:

Clothes so mismatched it looks 'deliberate'. A 'shabby, overlarge coat that might have belonged to a grown man', which 'flaps' when he walks, and makes him look 'ludicrously batlike' according to Harry Potter, over the top of 'too short jeans', and 'an odd smocklike shirt' (DH).

For pictures and further details, refer to my Snape's Canon Clothes page.

Strengths: Wit.
Cunning.
Sarcasm.
Potions.
Occlumency/Legilimency.
Dark Arts.
Duelling.
Self-control and subtlety.
Logic.
Inventivness.
Dark humour.
His ability to love (at least Lily).
He is not a coward.
He can fly without the assistance of a broomstick (DH). According to Quidditch Through the Ages, this is impossible. Minerva McGonagall remarks that he learnt the new trick from Voldemort (who flies broomless throughout Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows).

And probably many other interesting things...

Weakness: Anyone with the surname 'Potter', it seems.
The late Sirius Black.
Loss of Dumbledore's trust.
Lily Evans.
Having the name 'Voldemort' spoken in his presence (though only by Harry Potter - because of the link between Potter and the Dark Lord).
The subject known as 'Care of Magical Creatures': In PS he almost gets his leg bitten off by Fluffy, in POA he says that the Kappa is found in Mongolia, but the book Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander states that the Kappa is Japanese (however, the Half-Blood Prince did make a few excellent corrections to his Advanced Potions textbook, so there is no reason why he could not have done the same where this subject is concerned). In HBP, he is attacked and runs away from a Hippogriff.
Oh, and we must not forget that Severus hates (slight understatement) being called a 'coward'.

Obsessions: Dark Arts.
Getting the DADA job (pre H-BP).
Vengeance.
Bibliophilia.
Lily Evans Potter.
Looking after Harry Potter (for Lily).

Ambition: To get the DADA job (pre H-BP).
To obtain an Order of Merlin, first class.
To keep Harry Potter safe and alive for Lily (DH).

Work habits: Assigning very difficult Potions to students on the first day back.
Surprise exams.
Teaches through intimidation and humiliation.
Favours students from his own House - Slytherin.
He is a perfectionist, and appreciates details.

Hobbies: Sarcasm.
Prowling, skulking and stalking.
Reading, reading and reading (and book collecting).
Potions.
Inventing new spells of a Dark nature, or with a Dark twist that illustrates his dark sense of humour.
Riddles/Crosswords/Poetry(?)

Illness: Love-sick/broken-hearted (DH).

Family: ?

Parents: Pure-blood witch mother (Eileen Prince), and Muggle father (Tobias Snape).

Children: JKR has stated that he does not have a daughter. (JKR Official Site)

Siblings: From his memories, it seems that he is an only child, and that he was very lonely and neglected.

Friends: In school: Rosier and Wilkes, the Lestranges, Avery. (GoF)
Present day: Lucius Malfoy/the Malfoys (HBP). Avery. The Lestranges (not counting Bellatrix, whose maiden name is Black).

Rosier and Wilkes were killed by Aurors during the first war.

Enemies: In school: 'The Marauders.'

Present day: Quite a few ...

Pets: ?

Politics:

Young Severus Snape: Slytherin politics (DH).

Teenage Severus Snape: Slytherin and Death Eater politics (OotP, DH).

Adult Snape: Does not use the word 'Mudblood', though his views on Muggles in general are still shady (DH).

Tics/quirks: A vain pulsates on the side of his forehead when he is extremely upset about something (understatement). A nerve also twitches on the side of his mouth. He traces his finger across his lips when he is in deep contemplation. He sometimes unconsciously rubs his Dark Mark when the Dark Lord is mentioned. He sometimes spits. He loses control when called a 'coward'.

He likes to be surrounded by things that he enjoys (for lack of a better word). For instance, every wall in his office is covered with jars full of floating things, and in his home, every wall of the sitting room is covered with black and brown books.

Diet: He is described as thin/scrawny/skinny/gaunt.

Drugs: Two words: Potions master. Mwhahahahahahahahaha!

Favourite kinds of coffee, tea, cigarettes, alcohol, food: He drank elf-made wine in H-BP, saying that it would do. Fish and Chips (hinted at in H-BP when Narcissa walks past the old lemon quarter).

Favourite books, music: He favours many books, most of which seem to have dark black and brown leather covers.

Desires: The DADA job (pre H-BP).
Lily Evans and Lily Evans Potter (DH).

Fears: The Dark Lord.
Loss of Dumbledore's trust.
Everything else is unknown, though his greatest fear (the shape a Boggart would assume in his presence) is so important to the septology that J.K. Rowling was unable to disclose it in an interview. (See my Rowling on Snape section, and scroll down to 2004 World Book Day). Judging by his domineering personality, his greatest fear may have something to do with loss of power (personally, I think it is something like being imprisoned in Azkaban).

Most traumatic event: Probably 'Snape's Worst Memory' (OOTP). I do not think that JKR would bother titling the chapter that if it were not his worst memory.

This was confirmed in DH. It was Snape's worst memory because Lily Evans ended her friendship with him after he called her a 'Mudblood'.

Most wonderful experience: This would probably be his 'happiest memory', and would have a great deal to do with his Patronus. Snape's Patronus [and boggart] gives away too many septology clues, so JKR was unable to disclose the form it would take in an interivew. (See my Rowling on Snape section, and scroll down to 2004 World Book Day).

Patronus: A doe, which was Lily's Patronus. Snape assimilated the form when she died.

"Snape's Patronus was a doe," said Harry, "the same as my mother's, because he loved her for nearly all of his life, from the time when they were children. You should have realised," he said as he saw Voldemort's nostrils flare, "he asked you to spare her life, didn't he?" (DH)

Boggart: ? Snape's Patronus [and boggart] gives away too many septology clues, so JKR was unable to disclose the form it would take in an interivew. (See my Rowling on Snape section, and scroll down to 2004 World Book Day).

The major struggle, past and present: After he found out that the Dark Lord was targeting the Potters, and so Lily, his major struggle became to save her, and then failing that, save her son for her (DH).

If you feel I have missed something important, or that I should add something factual/canon that is not already here, owl me.

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