Summary

• Severus Snape's nickname, the Half-Blood Prince, was a clever description of his half-blood lineage.
• Snape chose the name as a tribute to his mother and to distance himself from his muggle father, drawing an interesting parallel between this character and Lord Voldemort.
• The Half-Blood Prince persona portrayed Snape as powerful and mysterious, empowering him during a time when he felt mistreated and abused by his peers, especially by the Marauders.

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Severus Snape is one of the most important characters in the Harry Potter franchise. As the series began to delve into his past and how it shaped him, fans came to understand there was a lot more to Hogwarts' Potions Professor than met the eye. In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Harry found himself in possession of an incredibly accurate potions textbook that brought him to the top of Professor Slughorn's class. Even Hermione was baffled by Harry's sudden success with potions, a class he'd never particularly excelled at before. Much to Hermione's relief, it wasn't Harry who seemed to have mastered potions. The book once belonged to a student who only referred to himself as the Half-Blood Prince.

As the story crawled closer to climax, Harry discovered Professor Severus Snape had given himself the nickname "Half-Blood Prince" when he was a student at Hogwarts at the same time as Harry's mother and father, Lily and James. Of course, the books go more in-depth into his backstory, but the films understandably trimmed a lot out and skimmed through his history. However, while the reason for this self-given title was never shown in the films, the books delve deeper into Snape's tragic figure.

Updated on April 11, 2024, by Andrea Sandoval: Severus Snape is such a relevant character in the Harry Potter series that there's a whole installment named after him. Snape goes from Lily Evan's best friend to a villain, to one of the most crucial heroes of the story. However, despite this character's importance, the movies don't delve too much into his past, mostly focusing on Lord Voldemort's youth and Harry's romantic life. We updated this feature to explain why Severus Snape ended up as the Half-Blood Prince and the meaning behind the name.

Who Is The Half-Blood Prince in Harry Potter?

Harry first learns about the Half-Blood Prince during the sixth installment of the Harry Potter franchise, when he pulls a used book from the Potions' classroom stacks that once belonged to someone who called himself the "Half-Blood Prince." Even though Harry developed a deep admiration for the Half-Blood Prince due to his accurate and clever advice for potion-making, he later discovered there was a darker side to the Prince. When Harry used Sectumsempra, one of the spells written into the book's sidelines against Draco Malfoy, he gravely injured his rival in a way uncharacteristic of Harry. Seeing the damage done, his friends convinced him to get rid of the book before something even more horrible happened, and though he gave in, that particular spell stuck with him.

At the end of the sixth installment of the series, appropriately named after the infamous owner of the book, Harry discovers the Half-Blood Prince to be the most unexpected person. After Snape kills Albus Dumbledore in the Astronomy Tower, Harry chases him, trying to either catch him or kill him, and he tries to curse Snape with Sectumsempra. In response, Snape turns to face him and confesses that he created that spell. To Harry's astonishment, Severus Snape is the Half-Blood Prince.

What Does The Half-Blood Prince Moniker Mean?

• Severus Snape was born in a small muggle village as the only son of Eileen and Tobias Snape.
• Snape grew up close to Lily and Petunia Evans, befriending the two girls when he was 9 years old.
• Snape and Lily were childhood friends, and Snape spent most of his life in love with Lily. The two distanced from each other at Hogwarts when Snape was selected for Slytherin and Lily for Gryffindor.

The alias Snape gave to himself was not just some randomly generated name but was one that was steeped in truth. Half-blood referred to a witch or wizard born from a magic lineage and muggle pairing, so Snape was clearly referencing his own family tree. The name was accurate, as he was indeed from half-blood lineage. Much like Lord Voldemort, Snape was the son of a witch mother and a muggle father.

Snape's mother was a witch named Eileen Prince, while his father was Tobias Snape, a muggle. In terms of story-writing purposes, it draws a parallel to Harry, who was also a half-blood because his mother, Lily, was muggle-born. The Half-Blood Prince moniker is also ironic because Snape later becomes a high-ranking Death Eater, Voldemort's group of pure-blood wizards who discriminate against all other types of wizards. Funny enough, both Snape and Lord Voldemort are half-blood wizards with a tendency to the dark arts who ended up creating a pseudonym for themselves. In fact, the two characters had a muggle father and a wizard mother. This issue with identity and family relations is probably one of the most important themes in the Harry Potter series, which is clearly explored in Snape's iconic moniker.

Why Is Snape The Half-Blood Prince?

• Severus Snape was nicknamed "Snivellus" -- and sometimes "Snivelly" -- by the Marauders (James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter).
• Snape was bullied by Harry's father and his friends during his years at Hogwarts.
• Harry sees one of Snape's memories where James and Sirius make fun of Snape because they're bored, but Lily Evans defends him.

However, one might still wonder why, despite not being from royalty, Snape gave himself the "Prince" moniker. As previously mentioned, the birth name of Snape's mother was Prince, so it was a tribute to her and a chance to distance himself from his father, while emphasizing his magic lineage. As a child, Snape was neglected by his father and was much closer to his mother. By the time he was an angst-filled teenager, he wrote that name in his textbook as a way of embracing his wizard heritage and rising above his muggle father. The books also implied that Snape grew up poor and that he was possibly attempting to hide as much of his past as possible by appearing to be a "prince."

The way Snape perceived himself also fits with how powerful Severus Snape was, as his textbooks and spells imply that he was above most other wizards, including pure-bloods. While the Harry Potter movies never explained how Snape came up with the name, the books, which delve deeper into his backstory, make his decision much clearer. The simple explanation is that Snape was a teenager full of angst who gave himself an alias based on his own hidden lineage while also portraying himself as someone much more powerful than he actually was. For Snape, who had a difficult childhood and was bullied by his own peers, this name was probably a way to distance himself from his true identity and create a more comforting one for himself.

The Half-Blood Prince is the Sixth Installment in the Harry Potter Series

The sixth installment of the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, brings Severus Snape to the forefront of the story. Throughout the book and movie, Harry gets to know Snape through the Half-Blood Prince's old potion book. In the previous film, Harry had already discovered that Snape had been bullied by the Marauders. Now, Harry gets closer to Snape's high school persona by obtaining one of his school books.

The Half-Blood Prince improved the potions book to include better ways to create potions, which helped Harry all throughout his sixth year at Hogwarts. On top of that, Snape used to write in this book some original spells that he created in his free time, such as Levicorpus and the Sectumsempra Curse. Harry tried both of these spells. The first one turned out to be harmless, but the second one was incredibly lethal, and Harry attacked Draco Malfoy with it. While Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix portrayed Snape as a victim, the Half-Blood Prince shows his darker side. Teenage Snape tried to associate more with his wizard mother's name and distanced himself from his father's muggle last name. What's more, Snape was tampering with the Dark Arts. This information about Snape explains why Harry distrusted him so much and expected him to be a Death Eater.

Ultimately, Severus Snape's alias, the Half-Blood Prince, was clearly a persona he invented for himself as a Hogwarts student to cope with his difficult family and school life. This pseudonym could have even stemmed from creating an identity of his own since the Marauders had already come up with the nickname "Snivellus" to mock him. However, unlike Voldemort, it didn't become his sole personality. Eventually, Snape grew out of his Dark Arts and muggle-hating phase and dedicated his entire life to redeeming his mistakes and stopping Lord Voldemort from destroying the wizarding world.