Talk:Half-Blood Prince (character)

message: "This title gives Snape similarity to Lord Voldemort in that they are both dark wizards (with a muggle father and a witch mother) who gave themselves new names later on in their lives."
I don't see the support for this assumption. Remus Lupin (Moony), Sirius Black (Padfoot), James Potter (Prongs) and Peter (Wormtail) called themselves the Maruaders and all gave themselves nicknames. You can't say that they did the same thing as Voldemort. Severus Snape did the same thing, he called himself the Half Blood Prince but did not change his name in the common wizard world. He was and still is Severus Snape. Tome Riddle did something different. He changed his name from Tom (because it was normal) and made it Voldemort. Since that point Tom Riddle ceased to exist (in the common wizard's view) and Voldemort was born. This was not (as mentioned) anywhere close to what Snape did.
:Well, I understand what you mean, but there is also another point that needs to be brought up; both Snape and Voldemort gave themselves names of high status; "Lord" and "Prince."  "Marauders" isn't exactly boastful, now, is it?
:I don't see the support for this assumption.What assumption? No one ever claimed that Snape and Voldemort were the only dark sizards who gave themselves new names. No one ever claimed that anyone who gives themselves a new name is bad. Brian Jason Drake 08:11, 10 July 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Please sign your posts! Brian Jason Drake 08:11, 10 July 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Snape doesn't give himself the title prince, it is his mother's surname. It is an amusing pun, but we don't really know why he got the nickname, and in fact it is rather an insult amongst the sort of people in Slytherin house. So it is very different to Voldemort's choice. And while Voldemort chose a garand and important sounding name, Marauders means people who go out and steal, rape, destroy etc etc. Sandpiper 09:46, 22 September 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Voldemort & Snape vs. Marauders 

message: Shouldn't this article be merged with Severus Snape? I see no reason really to leave this on its own - seperate from whom this person really is. K1Bond007 19:33, August 3, 2005 (UTC)
:Well it could be, and arguably it should be. The problem would be that snapes article seems to get chopped down a lot, and this might then be considered excessively long compared to the rest of the article. But what that really means is  the snape article has information missing. Also perhaps, a discussion of the half blood prince should include the process the kids go through to find it out. Arguably this is mostly researching snapes biography, but others might disagree and start chopping... I would include it all pretty much as a much more detailed replacement of the existing section in snape, but only if there is consensus to keep it allSandpiper 19:59, 4 August 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: No, this article draws together the important points of the story which are otherwise spread throughout the book. This subject has been the source of considerable debate in the outside world. The article would be much more interesting if it had a second section added discussing the main theories about the book, its owner, and the possible relationships between the characters. This could even be referenced from recognised HP websites. But I think it is sufficient to leave the details without further comment. It should be recognised that this article exists because of the interest in this subject. Sandpiper 12:33, 7 February 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Wikipedia isn't the place for fan theories and speculation. It's an encyclopedia. Guermantes 06:50, 8 February 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Indeed, but encyclopedias exist because they contain information people want to read. If thay fail to do this, then they fail completely. Sandpiper 11:07, 12 February 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Merge

message: While I generally like having an image to go with an article, I question how appropriate this one is.  It would make more sense in the HBP article about the book itself, not about the character.  Including a picture of the character would, of course, render the spoiler warning pointless unless the picture was put low enough in the article to not be revealed unless a reader intentionally scrolled down.  Thoughts? --Icarus 08:59, 10 October 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: This image is already on the HBP book page, along with those of other cover pictures. It is however, the most relevant image which anyone has come up with: the story of the HBP is all about the potions book, presumably why they chose it as cover picture. I put it in because  (apart from being relevant) a block of text looks better if there is a picture to break it up.Sandpiper 09:58, 10 October 2005 (UTC)

text: Yep, caption helpsSandpiper 20:51, 10 October 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: I cropped it so it only showed the textbook, to try and help make the fact that this is the article about the character and not Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince clearer. GracieLizzie 11:08, 17 January 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Image 

message: Further to mention in article of possibility of Lily and Snape being rivals at potions, and what Slughorn actually says about them.
Slughorm mentions Lily's ability at potions many times, but only mentions Snape's once.He is talking about Harry:
But I don't think I've ever known such a natural at potions!'said Slughorn... 'Instinctive, you know - like his mother! I've only ever taught a few with this kind of ability, I can tell you that, Sybill -why, even Severus-'...(Slughorn notices Snape and pulls him into the conversation)'...come join us Severus...I was just talking about Harry's exceptional potion-making... you should have seen what he gave me first lesson...never had a student produce finer on a first attempt, I don't think even you, Severus-   HBP p299uk ch15, slug club party. 
Slughorn does not finish what he was going to say about Severus, because he notices him listening. He then resumes by commenting that Harry made a better Living Death, first go, than any other student. Then he is interrupted again before he finishes saying what Snape did. But Slughorn does comment that Harry has shown the same instinctive ability, by cheating from the book, as his mother showed.
Anyway, this section does not actually say whether Slughorn remembers Snape either being good or bad at potions. Sandpiper 18:54, 31 October 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: No, the problem with the quote is exactly that he does not finish speaking and it is not clear why he mentions severus at all. He might have been going to say 'why even Severus wasn't a natural like that'. Most obviously he might have said 'why even Severus made a total mess of it first time'. Next time he might have been going to say 'I don't think even you, Severus, could have found fault with what he did'. The tantalising thing is that the quote exactly does not say, so we are left guessing. Also, Severus is someone who Slughorn might naturally compare anyone to, on the basis of his current reputation (which is undeniably good), rather than how well he did at school in the subject. Again, we don't know...except that there is no other reference anywhere to how good or bad snape was at school in potions.Sandpiper 18:26, 5 November 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Slughorn comparing Snape and Harry 

message: Should this be in Category:Alter egos? APclark 12:14, 4 December 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Despite occupying quite a bit of book space and telling us something about the characters, it is not clear if the nickname was ever really used Sandpiper 01:08, 24 December 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Categorization 

message: I just put a merge template on the page (merge into Severus Snape) because these two characters are essentially the same person. Please discuss this below, especially if you do not want the pages to be merged. CattleGirl  talk | e@ |  review me! 10:08, 3 December 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: It will spoil the sixth book for readers. Also, that merger notice at the top of the Snape page was an outrageous spoiler. Michaelsanders 11:55, 3 December 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: It's far to spoilerish and I don't think it is unreasonable to have an article discussing the Half-Blood Prince as a plot point rather than just the character themself... i.e. Snape, which should remain in Snape's article. --GracieLizzie 13:08, 3 December 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: This was discussed a year ago (see above) and someone even posted a thanks essentially for not merging it. My own view is that this was a sufficiently important topic in its own right to merit its own article. I was always of the view that the story deserved a detailed explanation, but others were also of the view that such a long explanation should not be inserted into the Severus Snape page, which has a shortened version of the story. So the logical result of that was to retain the long version here.  I also suspect that this story is not finished with, we will hear more about it in book 7. Sandpiper 14:36, 4 December 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Merge 

message: This article is a disgrace. This is basically just the plot of the sixth book, 
:Can we delete this article and just redirect it to the book's plot section?→041744 01:03, 27 June 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: We should delete this page and move anything useful to the book page. Titanium Dragon 23:45, 25 July 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: I have just proposed it for deletion. Marc Shepherd 22:18, 26 July 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Redirect to Book