Which characteristics do you like in characters who are paired with Snape?

[valis2]

Some of my favorite discussions in fandom have been about what characteristics you would give a character you intend to pair with Severus Snape. As a reader, too, it's fascinating to hear about which kinds of characters you like to read about with Snape, as well. It's always interesting to hear which Snape-ish character traits people bring up, and how you would balance them or engage them with another character, whether canon or original, or which pairings intrigue you most as a reader.

For example, do you like to pair Snape with an OFC? What character traits do you give her? What sort of background?

Do you like to pair Snape with Lupin? Which interpretation? The clever, sly Lupin, or the angsty Lupin with the world crumbling down around him?

Do you like to pair him or read about him paired with Hermione? Which Hermione? A school-age Hermione, or an adult Hermione? A nervous, brooding Hermione, or a confident, übercompetent Hermione?

I'll give my own example.

For an OFC, I always like pairing him with a woman who is an adult, around the same age, so that she has some of the same experiences, like the first Voldemort war, and Hogwarts. I like a character who is relatively strong-willed, quiet, and someone with a difficult past, which would allow her to understand Snape more fully and be more willing to forgive some of the awful things he's done.

I don't like feisty/spunky/outspoken characters; I don't think he would react very well at all to someone who belittled him publically, or was continually in his face. I think he'd deal better with someone who was more in control of their feelings.

I like an OFC who is stubborn, as well, but not so much that they're going to just shout all day and never give in. I also like an OFC who is intelligent enough to keep up with him.

So tell me...which character(s) do you like to pair Snape with or read about, and what characteristics do you like him/her to have?

Comments

[gmonkey42.livejournal.com]

Ooh, ooh! I like questions like this.

I'll say "not applicable" for Snape/OFC, as I don't read those.

I like Snape/Lupin and Snape/Hagrid. They're sort of different flavors of the same thing. With both pairings, I see each person being able to learn something from the other: Lupin and Hagrid are both very warm and I like it when being around them influences Snape to stop shutting down his emotions so much and to stop being so hard on himself, which I think he is, though that's more fanon than canon. Even though that doesn't change the persona he shows students, it can make him a little more emotionally healthy in private. And I see Lupin and Hagrid as being too nice for their own good, letting people take advantage of them. Snape would have a no-nonsense, "don't be ridiculous" attitude about that and would deliberately encourage them to stand up for themselves more. Whereas their influence on Snape would be more subconscious, not that they're trying to get him to change, just that being around them and learning that he can trust them shows Snape he doesn't have to have so much emotional armor on all the time.

The difference is that with Lupin you have the added angst of having to overcome the problems between them from earlier, both when they were in school and in PoA. With Hagrid, there's hardly any interaction between him and Snape in the books so authors are more free to take it in whatever direction they want.

...reading that over, I've realized I pretty much completely avoided answering the question. OK. Characteristics. I don't like any character to be totally over-the-top angsty to the point where they can barely function. That's too far from canon for me. Hagrid and Lupin may have reasons to be depressed but they're not. They seem to be mostly happy and optimistic. If they're filled with angst deep down inside and nobody knows, then they'd have to be even more emotionally repressed than Snape and I think that would cause some kind of aneurysm. I also don't want the whole "Snape's so touchy, they have to handle him carefully" (no, not handle like that) thing. He's very perceptive, he'd realize they're just trying to manipulate him and get seriously pissed off. It has to be more like they know him and know how to interact with him with mutual respect. Not that Snape doesn't wildly distort things in his head sometimes. I totally agree with the fandom diagnosis that Snape's clinically depressed. But he's also high-functioning. And he's very rational. To get close to him, the other person would understand depression and the communication problems it can cause.

OK, that's enough long-ass paragraphs for now.

[valis2.livejournal.com]

I like Snape/Lupin and Snape/Hagrid. They're sort of different flavors of the same thing. With both pairings, I see each person being able to learn something from the other: Lupin and Hagrid are both very warm and I like it when being around them influences Snape to stop shutting down his emotions so much and to stop being so hard on himself,

Oh, totally. That is one of my favorite things about both pairings, that they bring out the vulnerability in Snape and allow him to begin healing.

And I see Lupin and Hagrid as being too nice for their own good, letting people take advantage of them. Snape would have a no-nonsense, "don't be ridiculous" attitude about that and would deliberately encourage them to stand up for themselves more.

Yes, there is so much potential for growth on both sides of that pairing. I think they're a fairly good fit, realistically. I really love Snack, but honestly, I wonder if it's truly possible for those characters to have a long, committed relationship. With Lupin and Hagrid, they're much more patient, I think, and they would be more open to solving problems together.

I totally agree with the fandom diagnosis that Snape's clinically depressed. But he's also high-functioning. And he's very rational. To get close to him, the other person would understand depression and the communication problems it can cause.

For some reason I've never heard of this diagnosis! I feel all hermit-like now. But it totally makes sense.

After all, it's not like there's a lot of good happening in his life. If ever.

[gmonkey42.livejournal.com]

For some reason I've never heard of this diagnosis!

That's because you didn't buy the CD of that Dementors and Depression talk! I guess I'd diagnosed him myself and I'd heard the idea kicked around a little by others but hearing it from someone trained in psychology really cemented the idea. I don't really know how widespread it is. I guess also people write him as having depression, even if they're not consciously trying to.

Yeah, I like reading Snack but it so often requires huge suspension of disbelief. In the ones that work, they still don't trust each other.

[valis2.livejournal.com]

A-ha! I knew I should have gone to that one. Instead I ended up developing Carpet Civilizations because I was so bored at that awful round table I attended.

[gmonkey42.livejournal.com]

Carpet Civilizations? Is that like when Lisa had a tiny civilization growing on her lost baby tooth and she ended up being their god? Were you god of the carpet people and you didn't even tell us??

[valis2.livejournal.com]

From this Lumos entry (http://valis2.livejournal.com/194953.html):

So the carpeting had two distinct warring cultures. One set of islands had high walls guarding a secret garden city within each island, and elaborately landscaped hedges edging the rest of the island. Family groups stayed in the same homes for centuries, and retractable bridges connected all of the Orderly Society islands with each other. They had Moon Jewels set in the garden walls, and only the ruling families of each island could travel to the secret garden city and live amongst the delicate shimmering pools and night-blooming jasmine therein. The Nouveau Islands, however, were more obsessed with water, and used boats as their primary means of transportation, as the curls of their islands sometimes came very near each other, making it easier to reach by water than land. They had no secret center to their islands, and no retractable bridges. Each family lived where they chose, and each section of the island had a very different, yet vibrant, set of families. Eloping was common.

I was really bored, heh.