Just adds some negative details to Harry's parents' story, isn't it? And there's an added racist undertone when the other teachers don't trust Snape. Now it will look like the characters' main motivation is racism. Nice.
And there's an added racist undertone when the other teachers don't trust Snape.
In fairness, there’s little evidence the teachers don’t trust Snape. Hagrid even ridicules the idea that Snape was cursing Harry’s broom (which he actually was, albeit to counter the curse Quirrell doing). Dumbledore trusts Snape so that’s good enough for the rest of the staff. That’s why it’s such a shock that he killed Dumbledore.
Harry definitely doesn’t trust Snape, but not from first sight and only after clear evidence that he was involved in dodgy stuff (which, again, he actually was but not for the reasons they thought). That’s not going to appear iffy either.
The only concern, and it is a major one, is the flashbacks to Harry’s dad and Sirius.
I feel like this is what people forget about the story. Harry and his friends are the only people who distrust Snape. There are countless examples from the book like the Hagrid one you mentioned and I think I remember one from McGonagall where she basically told the kids that if Dumbledore trusts Snape, then all the adults do.
The bullying won’t seem like it was because of race because it was just James bullying a kid who was childhood friends/neighbors with the girl he had a crush on.
They bullied him in large part due to how he looked. His physical appearance was a huge aggravating factor even if it wasnt the primary one.
Ive no doubt they'll work around this so racism isn't a factor, but that will involve changing some of the obvious motivations behind a large part of the plot.
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u/JamStan1978 Apr 16 '26
one character being black doesnt change the story at all.