Moral Courage - Tumblr Posts

Snape and Lupin are kind of anti parallels, in that while Snape takes a long time in developing his conscience, if he feels that something is the right thing to do he’ll do it, no matter the cost to himself, his reputation, or even his soul. This is something that Snape had even when he was young. Lupin is different in that he has one of the most developed conscience in the series, even as a teen. But his main flaw is that he often fails to act on it, especially if he feels that his reputation will be harmed.

Both of their character arcs are about coming to find what the other already has. Severus always listened to his conscience, he just had to develop it more. Remus always had a good conscience, he had to learn to listen to it. Snape never quite gets a conscience as developed as Remus, and Remus never reaches the level of commitment that Snape does in doing the right thing. But both do develop heavily along these lines, to the point that at the end of the series both are much better people than they were as teenagers.