I'm not sure if he would have kept on loving her. He was eaten by guilt, a mighty weapon to exert power on one's mind.

Besides, dead people are sometimes more powerful in living people's mind, as they get idealized most of the time.

If she had lived on and led a happily married life, he would have not idealized her as much and would not have been overridden by guilt of course. He would have been able to move on with his life eventually.

I understand the need to romanticize a character that you love with all your heart, especially when you feel he was cheated somehow. But really, only the creator of the character can say what the character truly would have done.


LN: I agree about dead loved ones being idealized, absolutely! He was totally eaten by guilt and his idealization of her is a huge part of what kept him going, I think.

I think he always would have loved her... in some way. (I'm a firm believer that we never really stop loving people.) Would he have hung on in the same fashion that he did in the books? Hm... Personally, I don't think so. I think a lot of his feelings came from her death. But, like BlackHound said: we can never know for sure.

Unless someone writes to JK and asks her and answers. Then we'd know.

@bri-marie: thank you, and you're right; I believe that you will always love your first love.

I think you guys have already covered all the bases brilliantly :) I agree that guilt was probably a huge factor in keeping his feelings so strong for so many years. Not that I'm saying his love for her wasn't real - it obviously was very much so, and I do believe that he would have always loved her in some capacity regardless - but her death (and the guilt he felt as a result of that) made it impossible for him to get whatever closure he needed to move on. I like to think that if Lily had lived and he knew deep down that she was happy, he would have eventually made peace with her marriage to James and would have found a way to be happy himself.

Brilliantly said xElvenPiratex and thanks for replying to my pick :)

Without Lily's death he wouldn't even have a point in the story, and he would most likely not exist. But if one should follow the personality of his, he'd probably just be the same dark, bitter man creeping trough the castle, inflicted with jealousy, and most likely taking that with him to his grave.

^Not necessarily. Severus isn't an evil man -- there easily could have been some other incident that pushed him to the good side. And a spy is always important to have in a war. He might not have impacted Harry's life the way he did, but that doesn't mean he wouldn't have been important.

Depends on weather or not Lily eventually forgave him. If she forgave him and resumed their friendship, then I think he would always love her no matter what. I think he would have been happy to just be part of her life again and would probably continue spying for the order. If not then I think his feelings for her would eventually change and he might even grow to hate her.

I would of like to think that he moved on being obsessed with a dead woman is a bit concerning and im sure he could of found a nice Lady to shack up with