Wonderful essay. The Black brothers are my very favourite characters in the HP series, I'm intrigued by them.
I think it's entirely possibly that much of the animosity between Snape and Sirius was to do with the Pureblood issue, not just the mutual hatred between James and Snape. It's very likely, as you say, that Snape was envious of Sirius's pureblood ancestry, and the fact that Sirius shunned that and turned away from it would have infuriated him to no end. Snape being the same age as Sirius, it's also a possibility that Regulus turned to him as a sort of elder brother figure when Sirius turned out to be so 'undesirable' and stopped taking any interest in him. Even though he had a poor relationship with Regulus, I can't see Sirius being happy about this - though he'd probably have said he didn't give a toss, underneath I think he'd have been concerned, for a while.
I also thought there must be some connection between Snape's turning away form the DEs and Regulus's death (they happened at about the same time I believe), though I don't know what that could be. There are hundreds of ideas out there, each as likely (or unlikely) as the next.
I realy hope we find out more about the brothers and the Black family in the final book - I imagine we'll learn a fair bit about Regulus. Can't wait. :)
It's an interesting idea, too, that there might be some similarities between Draco and Regulus - temperament, perhaps, or even the situation they were found in (working for/tested by Voldemort at a young age). Snape no doubt remembers what heppened to Regulus, and may even feel responsible for it (or who knows, even *be* responsible for it?) - which might be another reason for his protection of Draco, and their good relationship so far through Draco's years at Hogwarts.
Thanks for such a thought-provoking post; I find all this fascinating.
Here from daily_snitch.
I think it's entirely possibly that much of the animosity between Snape and Sirius was to do with the Pureblood issue, not just the mutual hatred between James and Snape. It's very likely, as you say, that Snape was envious of Sirius's pureblood ancestry, and the fact that Sirius shunned that and turned away from it would have infuriated him to no end. Snape being the same age as Sirius, it's also a possibility that Regulus turned to him as a sort of elder brother figure when Sirius turned out to be so 'undesirable' and stopped taking any interest in him. Even though he had a poor relationship with Regulus, I can't see Sirius being happy about this - though he'd probably have said he didn't give a toss, underneath I think he'd have been concerned, for a while.
I also thought there must be some connection between Snape's turning away form the DEs and Regulus's death (they happened at about the same time I believe), though I don't know what that could be. There are hundreds of ideas out there, each as likely (or unlikely) as the next.
I realy hope we find out more about the brothers and the Black family in the final book - I imagine we'll learn a fair bit about Regulus. Can't wait. :)
It's an interesting idea, too, that there might be some similarities between Draco and Regulus - temperament, perhaps, or even the situation they were found in (working for/tested by Voldemort at a young age). Snape no doubt remembers what heppened to Regulus, and may even feel responsible for it (or who knows, even *be* responsible for it?) - which might be another reason for his protection of Draco, and their good relationship so far through Draco's years at Hogwarts.
Thanks for such a thought-provoking post; I find all this fascinating.