The ending of the final installment of the ‘Harry Potter‘ series, ‘Deathly Hallows Part 2‘, brought in the biggest plot twist in the entire series as J. K. Rowling masterfully stitched together bits and showed fans Severus Snape’s true colors.
With every installment of the series, fans were slowly resenting Snape, and when he killed Dumbledore, every Potterhead just wanted this man’s end. But little did they know, he has always been fighting the good fight.
Snape’s Betrayal Of The Dark Lord
In his last moments of life, Severus Snape lets Harry Potter take a handful of his tears, and Harry, with the help of the Pensieve, gets to know that Snape was working against the Dark Lord all this time. His love for Harry’s mother, Lily Potter, drove him to work against Voldemort and protect Harry.
The revelation that Snape was working as a double agent all this time while passing important information from the Dark Side to the Order of the Phoenix comes across as a shock to Potter, who saw Snape as his enemy and a stern member of Voldemort’s Army all this while.
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Even though this is a pivotal moment in the novel series that stretches Severus’ character development to its extent and makes him one of the biggest heroes of the Wizarding World, many have often pointed out that it would have been impossible for Snape to deceive Voldemort, seeing as he was a master of Legilimency—the art of reading minds. Here’s how Rowling managed it, and what explains Snape’s shield to Voldemort’s powers.
How Did Snape Manage To Shield Himself From Voldemort’s Mind Reading?
Let’s take a detour to ‘Order Of The Phoenix.’ When Voldemort actively started to affect Harry Potter’s mind, where he often saw flashes of Voldemort’s sight and his scar hurt, Dumbledore sent him to learn Occlumency from Snape- who was a master of it.
To revise, Occlumency is the art of protecting yourself from Legilimency. A person skilled in Occlumency will be less or not affected at all by a skilled Legilimen. It is revealed in ‘Order Of The Phoenix’ that Snape was the most skilled Occlumen of that era which is why he is assigned to help Potter block his mind from Voldemort.
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This theory fits in right with the plot and how it was possible for Snape to block his mind from Voldemort for seventeen years. In the end, it’s Rowling’s brilliant writing that brings together all the plots and pieces together, showing her skills as a masterful author.
