Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is one of the most poignant additions to the Harry Potter franchise. During the course of this film, Dumbledore meets his tragic end, officially ending Harry’s happy years at Hogwarts. The film’s narrative also contains a significant mystery – who exactly is the Half-Blood Prince?
After seeing the name written down in an old potions textbook, Harry is perplexed by the mysterious Half-Blood Prince. The character plays a significant role throughout the entire Harry Potter franchise, but who actually is the titular Half-Blood Prince, and where does the name originate from?
What does Half-Blood mean in the Harry Potter universe?
Blood status plays a crucial role within the Harry Potter universe, forming the basis for the Dark Lord’s villainous ideology. There are three main blood statuses which appear across the series: Pure-Bloods, Half-Bloods, and Muggle-borns.
Pure-Blood is the term used for families whose ancestry consists of ‘pure’ witches and wizards. This means that their family trees do not trace back to Muggles. Some Pure-Blooded families in the Harry Potter universe include the Malfoys, the Blacks, and the Lestranges.
It’s important to recognize that Pure-Blooded families look down on wizards and witches who are Half-Blooded or Muggle-Born, believing them to have ‘inferior’ blood status. Those who do not conform to this ideology are considered to be ‘Blood Traitors’. For example, Sirius Black was known as a Blood Traitor to his family because he refused to follow their prejudiced beliefs. Voldemort strove to enforce this ideology among his followers; hence many Pure-Blooded families are Death Eaters.
Muggle-Borns are witches or wizards who have two Muggle parents. The term Muggle is used to reference a non-magical person, meaning that Muggle-Borns are born into families without any magical abilities. Many significant Harry Potter characters are Muggle-Borns, including Hermione Granger and Lily Potter – Harry’s mother.
The term Half-Blood is used for a witch or wizard who has Muggle or Muggle-born parents or grandparents. For example, Harry Potter is a Half-Blood because his father was a Pure-Blood and his mother was a Muggle-Born. Ironically, Voldemort himself was also a Half-Blood. Whilst his mother was a Pure-Blood, his father was a Muggle – a fact which Voldemort resented. The Death Eaters actively chose to ignore this information and reacted badly when others addressed Voldemort’s Muggle heritage.
Alongside Muggle-borns, Half-Bloods were also resented by Pure-Blooded families, as seen when Bellatrix Lestrange referred to Harry as a “filthy Half-Blood”. Although the majority of the Wizarding population are Half-Bloods, many Harry Potter characters often dismissed their Muggle heritage in favor of their Pure-Blooded ancestry – including the Half-Blood Prince himself.
Who actually is the Half-Blood Prince?
During Professor Slughorn’s class, Harry stumbled across an unexpected discovery – an old potions textbook. The book was crammed with dozens of handwritten tips and tricks, which allowed Harry to promptly reach the top of his potions class – much to Hermione’s annoyance. However, the book’s original owner was a mystery to Harry. The only traces of identification were the words scrawled across the book’s opening cover: “This book is the property of The Half-Blood Prince”.
During the film’s climax, the Half-Blood Prince’s identity is finally revealed. After the tragic killing of Dumbledore, we see Harry frantically chasing after Snape to seek revenge. However, the wizard refuses to fight Harry. Harry then attempts to use the dark curse Sectumsempra against Snape – a dangerous spell which he discovered in the Half-Blood Prince’s potions book. Snape promptly rebounds the spell, before coldly inquiring: “You dare use my own spells against me, Potter?”. Following Harry’s stunned silence, Snape confirms the Half-Blood Prince’s identity, declaring: “Yes, I am the Half-Blood Prince”.
Why is Snape called the Half-Blood Prince?
It’s revealed that the Half-Blood Prince was a nickname which Snape coined for himself whilst at Hogwarts. The title pays tribute to the wizard’s blood status. Like Harry, Snape was a Half-Blood. His father, Tobias Snape, was a Muggle, whilst his mother, Eileen Prince, was a witch. Following Snape’s alliance with the prejudiced Death Eaters, it’s unsurprising that the wizard kept the nickname to himself.
As well as honoring his blood status, Snape’s nickname also paid tribute to his mother – Eileen Prince. Whilst little is revealed about Snape’s past in the films, the Deathly Hallows book explores the wizard’s unhappy childhood. Snape had an incredibly strained relationship with his father, who was revealed to be an abusive alcoholic. Because of this, Snape goes by his mother’s maiden name, Prince. By separating himself from his cruel father, Snape also distanced himself from his Muggle heritage – a significant factor in Snape’s initial attraction towards the Dark Arts.
Additionally, the title ‘Prince’ provides Snape with an air of superiority. Throughout his time at Hogwarts, Snape’s classmates treated him as an inferior. They bullied, mocked, and taunted him. Most of this cruelty was inflicted upon Snape by James Potter, and by the rest of his gang, the Marauders. By giving himself a nickname which resembled royalty, it’s likely that Snape was trying to compensate for his continuous feeling of inferiority – something which was inflicted upon him by both James and his father. Dubbing himself as the Half-Blood Prince was Snape’s attempt to gain a sense of power over his bullies.
Whilst the phrase ‘Half-Blood’ clearly links to Snape’s heritage, it also summarizes the wizard’s character arc throughout the franchise. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows reveals that Snape was acting as a double agent. Snape sought revenge for Voldemort’s brutal killing of Lily Potter. As a result of this motive, he posed as a Death Eater in an attempt to destroy the Dark Lord. The term “Half” applies to the fact that Snape was working on both sides, giving his famous nickname a powerful symbolic meaning.