Critical Magic Theory: An Analytical Harry Potter Podcast

Host: Prof. Julian Womble
Episode: The Horizontal Arc of Severus Snape: Unpacking His Final Lessons
Date: October 22, 2025

Episode Overview

In this final “Prof. Response” episode devoted to Severus Snape, Professor Julian Womble threads together listener commentary and critical analysis to deliver a layered, deeply reflective exploration of Snape’s most contentious attributes—his abuse of power, ambiguous motives, possibility of redemption, and the idea that his story arc is less about transformation and more about revelation. Womble encourages listeners to balance critique and affection, demonstrating that engaging critically with the Harry Potter series (and its characters) is both an act of love and a path toward deeper personal and cultural understanding.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Abuse of Power and Teaching Ethics

[02:00–17:47]

• The bulk of listener commentary fixates on Snape’s cruelty as a teacher, interrogating the argument that his behavior was necessary for his work as a double agent.
• Sarah Marie (listener): As an educator, the “foundation of learning is psychological safety.” Snape undermined this, making students fearful instead of fostering growth.
• Rachel P.: Points out that children are a “vulnerable population,” and Snape weaponized his authority.
• Bear: Critiques Snape for modeling prejudice and toxic behavior, stating, “He hid his prejudice behind academic authority, and that's one of the most nefarious forms of radicalization influencing youth by modeling it, especially with positional power over children.”
• Prof. Womble highlights that even when Snape had no reason to keep up a cruel facade (e.g., before Voldemort’s return), he chose to perpetuate abuse and bitterness, institutionalizing the bullying he suffered.
• Juxtaposes Snape’s approach to teaching against others with traumatic pasts (McGonagall, Hagrid, Firenze), all of whom managed to teach with care and dignity.
• Womble: “He's not pretending to be mean. He is mean.” ([11:35])
• Occlumency lessons are key evidence: Snape turns training intended to protect Harry into psychological warfare, exacerbating trauma rather than equipping Harry for survival.

“His cruelty isn’t about protecting a cover. It’s about indulging a pattern.” – Prof. Julian Womble ([11:53])

2. Motive Versus Action

[19:25–26:31]

• Discussion shifts to the old debate: Are intentions or actions more important in moral scrutiny?
• Charlie (listener): Asserts Snape can never be redeemed because his motives—rooted in love for Lily, not in concern for others—were fundamentally self-centered.
• Lorian (listener): Notes how our evaluation of morality flips depending on context; we look for motive in negative actions, but care more about outcome in positive ones.
• Jazz (listener): Points out Snape’s apparent sacrifice was not a plan but a twist of fate, complicating the portrayal of his heroism.
• Womble weaves these responses into a nuanced view: “If you start in a classroom, you see cruelty. If you start with a war, you see courage. If you start with Lily, you see obsession.”

“Looking at him holistically doesn’t lead us to clarity, it leads us to gray.” – Prof. Julian Womble ([22:57])

• The episode asserts that understanding motivations is not the same as absolution.

3. Redemption: Boundaries and Relationality

[27:01–38:42]

• Carmen (listener): States she can’t see Snape as redeemable, no matter his suffering—“I see a lot of people in my life who bring chaos…just because they've been traumatized…”
• Kylie (listener): Draws contrast with Umbridge: “Indifference…can be disguised as not participating. But not acting is the same thing as allowing. He let the real heroes fight his fight while he stood by and waited for Harry and Voldy to battle it out.”
• Dylan (listener): Questions the intention—even the “redemptive” act of sharing the Prince’s Tale may have been accidental.
• Prof. Womble distinguishes between repair (quietly fixing harm) and redemption (publicly owning harm and inviting those affected to witness and participate in healing).
• Uses Avatar: The Last Airbender’s Zuko as a contrast—Zuko repeatedly builds relationships and accountability; Snape’s “good works” are secret, transactional, even penitential, never engaging those he harmed.

“Redemption isn’t a universal currency. It’s a relational one. It only exists between people.” – Prof. Julian Womble ([33:22])

• Womble posits that Snape’s actions stem not from hope for forgiveness but an endless cycle of self-punishment.

4. The "Horizontal Arc"—Transformation or Revelation?

[38:42–52:05]

• Returns to a provocative claim: Snape’s “arc” isn’t about change—he remains fundamentally the same. Instead, the reader’s perceptions shift as we learn more about his past.
• Lorian (listener): “It’s not an arc for Snape as a character, it's an arc for us as readers as we come to a deeper understanding of his character.”
• Rachel (listener): Argues Snape is stuck in his trauma and incapable of real change; the arc exists so readers can examine their empathy.
• Doria (listener): Suggests Rowling’s romantic framing encourages us to forgive or overlook harm and feeds our hunger for motive.
• Womble stresses that understanding a character’s pain doesn't erase their harmful choices, echoing a key theme:

“We conflate knowing with forgiving. We confuse empathy with amnesty. And we think that if we can trace the pain back to its source, we're somehow obligated to release the person who caused it.” – Prof. Julian Womble ([47:48])

• Compares Snape’s story to Voldemort’s—detail-rich origin stories humanize, but don’t excuse, catastrophic harm. Learning the why doesn’t change the what.

5. Final Reflection (Prof. Womble)

[52:05–end]

• Summarizes the central lesson: Snape’s character functions as a mirror, revealing not just his contradictions but our own values, biases, and hunger for “why.”
• The tension in the books—usefulness ≠ goodness, and “strategy” ≠ morality.
• Discusses the cultural impulse to grant male characters complexity, motive, and forgiveness denied to female characters (Umbridge, Petunia, Merope).
• Womble’s personal stance: Prefers apologies and open dialogue (“I want you to tell me that you ruined [the pink underwear] so I have the opportunity to decide whether or not to forgive you. Because it's a dialogue, not an assumption.” [58:27])
• Emphasizes that accountability is relational; silence and secrecy deny others agency and healing.
• Ends on the note that Snape’s greatest magic might be his ability to push us to grapple with complex, uncomfortable questions about harm, forgiveness, and the nature of goodness.

“Whether we love Snape or hate him, condemn him or defend him, he has made us think more deeply about what it means to be human. And that is its own kind of magic.” – Prof. Julian Womble ([61:58])

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “He's not pretending to be mean. He is mean.” (Prof. Womble, [11:35])
• “He hides his prejudice behind academic authority, and that's one of the most nefarious forms of radicalization influencing youth by modeling it, especially with positional power over children.” (Bear, [08:35])
• “If you start in a classroom, you see cruelty. If you start with a war, you see courage. If you start with Lily, you see obsession.” (Prof. Womble, [22:57])
• “Looking at him holistically doesn’t lead us to clarity, it leads us to gray.” (Prof. Womble, [22:57])
• “Redemption isn’t a universal currency. It’s a relational one. It only exists between people. Someone has to offer it and someone has to receive it. Snape never lets that happen.” (Prof. Womble, [33:22])
• “We conflate knowing with forgiving. We confuse empathy with amnesty.” (Prof. Womble, [47:48])
• “Understanding may illuminate harm, but it doesn't disapparate it.” (Prof. Womble, [60:32])
• “Snape’s character invites us to change a lot...But Snape, the character himself, stays more or less the same. And that's a secret at the heart of his story.” (Prof. Womble, [52:19])

Important Timestamps

• Abuse of Power Discussion: [02:00–17:47]
• Motive Versus Action: [19:25–26:31]
• Redemption and Relationality: [27:01–38:42]
• Horizontal Arc / Reader’s Arc: [38:42–52:05]
• Final Reflection / Takeaways: [52:05–end]
• Most powerful quote: [61:58]

Summary Takeaways

• Snape is a mirror: His complexity pushes readers to interrogate their own values regarding harm, empathy, forgiveness, and gendered standards of morality.
• Redemption is relational, not secret: Acts matter, but so does acknowledgment and dialogue with those harmed.
• The “arc” is ours, not his: Snape’s story is less a tale of transformation and more one of revelation—he remains largely unchanged, but our understanding (and emotional responses) deepen and grow.
• Motive matters—but doesn’t excuse: Knowing “why” harm happens is profoundly human, but does not lessen its impact.
• Goodness, usefulness, and compassion: Snape’s legacy in the series is not consensus, but provocation—an unresolvable invitation to think critically about what it means to be good, to teach, to redeem, and to live with justice.

For Listeners

Whether you see Snape as a hero, a villain, or something much more ambiguous, this episode provides a rigorous, compassionate framework for unpacking difficult questions—not just about Harry Potter, but about empathy and accountability in our own lives.