The following is an Enneagram + Harry Potter nerd-fest. Proceed with caution.

"Albus Severus Potter, you were named after two headmasters of Hogwarts. One of them was a Slytherin and he was the bravest man I ever knew." (DH)

For awhile now I've thought that Severus Snape is a 5w4. Recently, after listening to Book 6 (Half-Blood Prince) for the 18th time and after consulting with other Enneagram experts, I came to the realization that Snape is actually a 4w5, and not a 5w4!

For those of you reading this who have access to the secret and amazing Enneagram blog, you'll see that Snape, on the HP page, is indeed typed as a 5w4. I'm too lazy to change that right now and deal with HTML coding, so you'll just have to read the explanation here and deal with that (and other things) being wrong on the fictional character typing pages.

A quick note about fictional character typing: don't try it if you don't know what you're doing, because I'll probably get annoyed with you. But, this very post goes to show that I'm wrong, too, when it comes to typing people ... so, really, you should just ignore me and Enneagram-type away with joy! Just take it all with a grain of salt and realize there's much room for error and many ways in which to make a case for several Types in many circumstances. But don't even try to tell me that Draco Malfoy is a 6, cuz I'll just laugh in your face. (Why am I so mean??)

That said, I'm pretty sure I'm right about Snape being a 4.

Reasons why:

1. Contrast Snape (4w5) with Voldemort (5w4)

Voldemort (aka Tom Riddle) is a flaming 5. The Secret Riddle. "There is nothing worse than death, Dumbledore!" He himself is a half-blood but despises non-pure-bloods. Utter disdain for his body (splits his soul into 8 pieces) and for human relationships (keeps no confidences). Steals items from other orphaned children and hides them in a chest in his room. Feels more connection with a building (Hogwarts) than any human, ever. Cannot comprehend or conceive of Lily's love for Harry, Snape's love for Lily, Narcissa's love for Draco, etc.

But, all of these things point out a core difference between Tom and Severus.

Book 7 changes everything we know about Snape. Up until then, I do think he appears very 5-ish, keeping things secret and mysterious -- and he's the Potions master and all intellectual about it, after all. He's weird and aloof. And, really, he's mean to Harry and a total outsider.

Even at the end of Book 6, Harry equates Snape and Voldemort:
"Well…yes," said Hermione. "So…I was sort of right. Snape must have been proud of being 'half a Prince,' you see? Tobias Snape was a Muggle from what it said in the Prophet."
"Yeah, that fits," said Harry. "He’d play up the pure-blood side so he could get in with Lucius Malfoy and the rest of them.... He’s just like Voldemort. Pure-blood mother, Muggle father... ashamed of his parentage, trying to make himself feared using the Dark Arts, gave himself a new name—Lord Voldemort—the Half-Blood Prince—how could Dumbledore have missed--?" (HBP30, emphasis added)

However, while Snape and Voldemort may have similar appearances and seem to operate in similar ways, there's a core difference at the heart of these two men, and the reason why they are aloof, mysterious, and cold. The traits of Fours and Fives tend to reinforce each other. Both are withdrawn types: Fours withdraw to protect their feelings, Fives to protect their security.
So, it's emotion that sets Snape apart from Voldemort, and what keeps Voldemort from ever knowing that Snape was loyal to Dumbledore the whole freaking time!

Dumbledore himself said it best: "If there is one thing Voldemort cannot understand, it is love."

2. The Hopeless Romantic

"... after all this time?"
"Always."

Again, Book 7 changes everything about Snape. It reveals this one underlying emotion that feeds into all of Snape's actions (good and bad) in all of the prior books--his hatred of James and subsequently Harry, his willingness to be a double-agent, his numerous efforts to protect and help Harry, his loyalty to Dumbledore. Love. Snape's love for Lily was the foundation for everything else in Snape's life.

What's more, Snape's love for Lily is unrequited, a lost-love that he holds on to his whole life, despite that fact that she marries James and has his child. And, it seems to me that even after her death, Snape's love for Lily is a little romanticized. Meaning, it's all rooted in this past relationship for when they were kids and never grew and moved forward as they grew up. Snape made choices Lily didn't love. If James wasn't in the picture, would Snape and Lily ended up together? I'm not certain, but for Snape I don't think it really matters. It's the existence of the love, and the "lost" nature of it, the fact that it is unfilled, that's actually a rock for him.

Possession brings 4's little joy. Longing is more important than having. In a weird way, I think it's "better" for Snape he never had Lily. The longing and that love he has for her is what drives him in life to be good. I mean, this is just speculation on my part, of course, because we can look back and see the whole story, and how it turns out that Snape was good.

4's can't live in the present. They long for and look at the past (especially emotional connections) The fact that Lily dies adds a huge Romantic sadness to Snape's life. And what's crazy is he's totally self-defined and driven by it. The pitfall of FOURs is their melancholy, a "sweet sadness" that lies over their whole lives like a fog. FOURs have to be depressed and suffer from time to time in order to be happy. Unredeemed FOURs love ritual more than reality. They glorify their memories, which are more beautiful than the actual event was.

Fours, who despite feeling emotions deeply, don't like to express them directly, and instead communicate usually through subtle communication or an art form. Artistic sublimation is the term. Snape's patronus takes the form of a doe, which is a representation of Lily and his love for her. If that doesn't meet the definition of artistic sublimation, I don't know what does.

Snape has a special bond with like one person in his life, Lily. And it actually is an emotional connection. Snape feels like he and Lily can bond over this "inner world" of wizardry and he likes that they are special and Petunia (Lily's sister) is lame and can't be a part of it. 4's care little for communicating with those who cannot understand them. They are interested in expressing their inner vision to those who can appreciate them.

Which leads to the next point...



3. The Need to be Special & Subsequent Envy

So, Snape feels inadequate and awkward as a teenager. Who doesn't? And, for him it sort of manifests in a couple ways. For one, he has a subsequent need as an adult to be "better" than a Potter, and better than everyone really.

Social Subtype for Type 4: Shame/counter-shame: In the social domain you easily can feel shame for not measuring up or being a “misfit.” You feel that your protective cover is removed and that your deficiencies or shortcomings will be exposed publicly. You mitigate your envy through shame. You want to hide your defects and deficiencies, keep your fatal flaws from being detected and avoid disgrace. Your shame also helps you feel or keep a connection to others: “They’ll notice me and my deficiencies, and I’ll matter.” This makes you feel special in the eyes of others. Shame also motivates you to do better – create an elegant image, produce pride of elitism, look unique and special, in short to develop counter-shame and a sense of honor for your integrity and what you do for the group. You may become an emotional truth-teller in the group. At your worst, shame can lead to retraction into self-absorption, depression or despair.

Beyond shame, another way Snape responds to the need to be special is through envy. There is nothing a 4 couldn't be envious about. Similar to above, Snape is envious (though would probably hate to call it that) of the "popular" kids James, Sirius, and even Lupin (especially James because he eventually wins over Lily, and here we might call it "jealousy"). Snape pretends he doesn't care by trying to one-up them with hexes and sneers, but really it's because he cares that he feels the need to be better than them. And, of course Snape projects all this envious hatred on to Harry. In Potions class he puts unrealistic expectations on Harry and demeans him for never meeting them. It's interesting to contrast again the 4 and the 5 here -- for the 4 the root sin is envy which is more about longing and not-having, whereas for the 5 the root sin is avarice which is still related to longing but more about grasping and hoarding and having. I don't really see Snape ever claim ownership over Lily in the way a 5 might, dealing with similar emotions. Really, I think Snape just wants Lily to choose him and see that he is better than James.

One-to-One Subtype for Type 4: Competition/hate: In one-to-one relationships, envy and longing drive you to compete for the special position, partner or mentor. Competition is an invigorating energy: “I’ll show you; I’ll get the connection I deserve.” You use competition with others to overcome feelings of inner deficiency. You fight for what is noteworthy, exquisite and elegant. This makes you worthy and deserving. You go for the very best. If necessary, you slam your imagined or actual opponents; a hateful streak can emerge. You compete not so much to win but not to lose. And your own sense of esteem tends to rise and fall in comparison with others through establishing your excellence. Rather than lose and fall into lacking and deficiency, you may reject someone or something before you can be rejected. It’s better to abandon than to be abandoned. In this way you combat the envy, control the situation and keep your feeling of being special. At your worst, you may end up destroying vital relationships, paradoxically trying to win the ultimate connection.

"4's may feel that everyone thinks that they are worse than them so develop a perhaps secret better-than-them worldview or may try to disguise or hide their inner self; may accept this view and desire and long to be like something they see as the ideal identity, experience, or relationship. Most 4's are of the opinion that society's norms don't hold for them. On the strength of their extraordinary suffering they usually feel themselves to be strangers and outsiders by nature. As such they assume the right to lay down their own norms. Many 4's have an elitist consciousness."

Which leads to the next point...

4. Aesthetics

Snape's appearance alone screams 4, I don't know why I didn't consider it before! If only I had consulted my own Enneagram blog on style. Oops.

Descriptions of Snape, from the books:
-At 9-years old: "sallow, small, stringy." "His black hair was overlong and his clothes were so mismatched that it looked deliberate: too short jeans, a shabby, overlarge coat that might have belonged to a grown man, an odd smocklike shirt." (DH33)
-"Snape-the-teenager had a stringy, pallid look about him, like a plant kept in the dark. His hair was lank and greasy and was flopping onto the table, his hooked nose barely half an inch from the surface of the parchment as he scribbled" (OP28).
-"a professor with greasy black hair, a hooked nose, and sallow skin." (PS7)
-"His eyes were black like Hagrid’s, but they had none of Hagrid’s warmth. They were cold and empty and made you think of dark tunnels" (PS8).
-"uneven, yellow-ish teeth" (PA14).

Snape's Potions classroom: Cold and dark, the walls were lined with glass jars with slimy bits of some animal or plant (OP26).
Snape's Dark Arts classroom: His Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom was dark and gloomy with pictures of people "in pain, sporting grisly injuries or strangely contorted body parts." (HBP9).

Snape's home in Spinner's End:
The interior is dreary: "a tiny sitting room, which had the feeling of a dark, padded cell. The walls were completely covered in books, most of them bound in old black or brown leather; a threadbare sofa, an old armchair, and a rickety table stood grouped together in a pool of dim light cast by a candle-filled lamp hung from the ceiling. The place had an air of neglect, as though it was not usually inhabited." (HBP2)

Snape really is his own person; original and idiosyncratic. I mean, he's a teacher at a boarding school and has like no real friends. And, he wears all black and has greasy hair and just does whatever the heck he wants. 4's with a 5 wing care less about what others think of them. and tend to "create" more for themselves than for an audience. 4's resist being helped by anyone, increasing their alienation from others.

Oh, Snape. You have played your part well.




And, that's all I've got.

Hopefully I've convinced you. If not, I guess I don't care since I'm a 5 ;)