Severus "Snivellus" Snape: The Unsung Hero.

"Always." As we watched the late Alan Rickman utter those famous last words as Snape in the Harry Potter series, we knew that everything had been changed forever. The man we and Harry had hated, suspected to be a Death Eater, blamed for Dumbledore's death and so much more was an enigma. He was not the villain. He was not even the anti-hero. He was the unsung hero of the Potter Saga.

Since his introduction in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, we were primed to dislike Severus Snape. His snooty attitude towards Harry and his friends, his disdain for James Potter and the Marauders and his suspicious behavior made it all too easy for us to hate him and his actions. Expertly written by J.K. Rowling and performed by Rickman, we were never given a hint that there was more to the man than what we saw.

However, despite his hatred for the Golden Trio and Harry, in particular, he never let himself be sidetracked from his true motive - protecting Lily's son. His undying love for her was the reason he placed himself between them and Lupin when the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher transformed into a werewolf, when he made sure no harm befell the students of Hogwarts during Voldemort's reign and why he undertook the gravest mission of them all - becoming a double agent for Dumbledore.

He protected Draco Malfoy when the young man had been assigned to kill Albus Dumbledore and did the task himself, as per Dumbledore's wishes. All to save the soul of a young, frightened teenager. He took the blame for Dumbledore's death and had to live with the mantle of Dumbledore's murderer for far too long. Even in his last moments, he never stopped fighting the good fight, as he gave Harry his memories so that the contents of the Pensieve could show him the path forward.

As Harry goes through the memories, he comes to realize that Snape had been his guardian angel all along. Snape had been the one who gave them the Sword of Gryffindor to destroy the locket Horcrux. He had sent his Patronus, Lily's doe, to guide Harry to the Sword as he knew that Harry would trust the doe. He had deflected Minerva's curse to take the Carrows down and he had done it all for the woman he had loved till his last breath. Lily Evans, who died as Lily Potter and left a void that was never filled.

Every time we revisit the novels or the films, we can catch hints of Snape's true nature and the heroism he never spoke about. As Harry told his youngest son, he was named after one of the bravest men Harry ever knew. It is the same bravery that drives people to do what is right, even when it is hard, and is the bravery legends speak of.