OK, Snape was a complex person. Yes, he was brave, but ultimately he was a nasty, pity and vile person. He was terrible to people like Gryffindors. For me all he has done behind the scenes could not redeem him from being a terrible person and a teacher that bullied generations of children.

What's you opinion on this topic?

I read the series for the first time when I was 13. I remember hating and then pitying him. Then I reread the books. Like 4 times or so. As I grew up, I slowly started to understand the motives and the factors that shaped the character.

I definitely am not claiming to be a Harry Potter expert, let alone skilled enough to be a literary analyst. However, like many here, I read the series too many times. So, I think I have a couple of reasonable theories, per se.

Firstly, there are several Severus Snapes that are introduced in the series.

The first one is the Snape that we meet in the first book. The cold, surly, "dungeon-bat/vampire" as some fanfics refer to him. This one is rather one-dimensional as the misunderstood but still unpleasant antihero. I credit this to the fact that Rowling planned the book as a children's book. Like many other parts of the plot (e.g. Fidelius charm), this required changes and caused inconsistencies afterwards. This one does not need redemption for anything besides some childish spiteful taunts.

The second Snape we meet is the one who is the friend of "pretty and nice" Lily Evans and is tortured by the affectionately called Marauders. This one is admittedly a deeper character, yet still serves a purpose. (One would argue that this is a sign of good planning but I disagree, as I think any tool created by the author should be more than a tool as they should affect the plot and be affected by it.) This Snape creates a pitiable and suffering character maybe even a likeable one. The problem is we also learn that he called one of the worst slurs in the HP universe to his best friend. I agree that the Marauders' behaviours were not right in any way. As I discussed in another thread, the House system is ridiculous due to various reasons. A rather obvious example of this is this Snape. The poor abused Severus Snape becomes the cold and closed-off Half-Blood Prince because of his friends. This one does deserve redemption as he was the victim of the stupid unnecessary grouping of children.

The third and last one is the Snape we meet at the end of the last book. The one who did it all for love to some, and obsession to others. The difference is the key, I think. I believe that what the most developed version of Snape, in my opinion, felt was a mixture of obsession and longing for his long-gone past and future with Lily Evans, and most probably an imaginary version of her. The reason why I don't think this is love is his dislike for Harry. I don't think his attitude towards him can be justified as the after-effect of bullying. He was at least 30 years old by the time of Harry's first year. Moreover, we also have the Prophecy thing. I don't think there is neither any way nor any need to sugarcoat it, Severus Snape was a Death Eater. I will not speculate on how Voldemort picked his followers or what he demanded from them. However, we know how such organizations function so I will assume it was not so different for the Death Eaters. On top of that, even without knowing it would affect Lily, he should not have told Voldemort about it. With Lily being affected by it, this is the second worse thing a friend did to their friend after Pettigrew in the series. Thus, this Snape doesn't deserve redemption.

To sum up, no, Severus Snape does not deserve redemption.

i say yes and no more really no,

He only protected harry becuase he felt that he needed to pay back James for saving his life, however wording you put it, he did end up saving his harrys life a couple times in the dark.

but if we look at the little details he was obsessed with Lily to the point of being a double agent, and that i would not consider love. she loved someone else, and he didnt really respect that as we could see him begging the dark lord to not kill lily, only.

going to the recent times, he was good at teaching but was a terrible person, reflecting his misery on students. just becuase he was bullied in school doesnt mean he could be a bully aswell. theres some sort of redemption in that case. but him taking points away from gryffindor cuase he just didnt like their exsistance is unfair and it is a clear sign of favoritism. So really hes not redeemable there,

in his last days, he didnt deserve to die because there was no point for the dark lord to kill him. when he died, he did follow Dumbledore orders, but one did nearly kill harry-

for in summary, in some points he is redeemable, but it doesnt way the bad so no, he needs no redemption

Younger/teenage me was quite ready to forgive Snape for all he did since he helped in executing Dumbledore's plan to stop Voldemort; he saved Harry from Quirrell. However, rereading the books as a tad more mature adult, I would say Snape certainly does not deserve redemption. He was such a bully to students, especially to Neville and Harry; he belittled Hermione for being brilliant etc. That sort of behaviour disgusts me. No matter what he may have been through at the hands of Sirius and James, he could have made better choices to not follow in their footsteps with another generation of witches and wizards. Snape of all people should have known what that bullying felt like and he failed miserably by being a good human and treating others kindly.

I have always had mixed feelings about Snape!! hes done bad stuff and hes done good stuff but thats a really hard ?!!!!

I am thankful this question is here.
It is in line with a question raised on another forum, now drawing me back into the world of Harry Potter.

Launching on a full study of Snape, to see what we can glean about him overall, and what conclusions we may be able to draw as a result.

(Then comparing that with another character in another series, where the question arose as to why that character seems to receive such rancor from all, while Snape seems to be largely 'forgiven' for his behaviors and actions.)

Of course.. this subject crosses over into many, many other arenas... but it is the one drawing me back into Rowling and realizing she did more and better character development than I had realized on my initial reading, some 2 1/2 decades ago.

Time for a "Rowling Revival" now, in my old age. I'll be posting here later, as I unfold Snape in all his fulness (to the best of my limited ability.)

Snape being a complex person is why. He was a way to humanize the Death Eaters. I don't know if I like the word "redemption" here because that would only apply in the eyes of the readers/people who didn't like him.

Snape just didn't treat the students with kid gloves like everyone else. The students were taking on very serious things and they needed to actually learn. Some of the things they might have already picked up without the need for Dumbledore's Army if they had done that. Hermione is the only one who took the things Snape was saying seriously and was able to apply them to their situations as needed.