Half-Blood Prince (character)

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The Half-Blood Prince is an alias of a fictional character in J. K. Rowling's sixth Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Harry's investigation of the true identity of this person is one of the major plotlines of the book, and the truth is revealed at the climax.

The Half-Blood Prince's Potions textbook, as pictured on the UK adult edition of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

Harry returns to Hogwarts for his 6th year believing he will be unable to take NEWT-level Potions, a subject he needs in order to become an auror. However, there is a new potions teacher, Horace Slughorn, replacing Professor Snape who is now teaching Defence against the Dark Arts. Dumbledore persuaded a retired Slughorn to resume his old teaching post at Hogwarts. Twenty years before, he taught Harry’s parents James and Lily Potter, Harry's godfather Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Snape, and in still earlier times taught Tom Riddle (Voldemort). Professor McGonagall informs Harry that Slughorn allows students to take advanced classes with lower OWL exam grades than Snape required, so both Harry and Ron Weasley, now able to take the course, sign up.

Slughorn loans Harry and Ron old Advanced Potion-Making textbooks. Harry's copy contains handwritten margin notes, revising many potions and making them easier to brew. Harry's performance improves greatly when he uses the modifications, so much so that he becomes the best student rather than Hermione. Slughorn repeatedly tells Harry that his work reminds him of his mother Lily's ability at Potions, saying she was 'naturally talented', 'instinctive' and had 'rare ability'.

When Harry brews the best Draught of Living Death in the class, Slughorn awards him a prize, a vial of Felix Felicis. Later, Harry notices the inscription, This Book is the Property of the Half-Blood Prince scrawled on the back cover. Enthused by his unprecedented success in Potions, Harry comes to believe 'the Prince' is a better teacher than either Snape or Slughorn.

The book also contains many handwritten spells, including jinxes and hexes. Harry notices that whilst the potion tips are written without alterations, the spells contain numerous revisions and corrections, leading him to believe the Prince created them. In particular, the spell Levicorpus contains many changes: Harry guesses that it gave the Prince some trouble, although he himself succeeds the first time he uses it on Ron. He also learns other new and sometimes dangerous spells from the notes, including Muffliato and Sectumsempra.

Hermione Granger resents Harry's sudden success in Potions, knowing it to be gained through cheating. She also distrusts the book, regarding it as a collection of Dark Magic. Noting – on the advice of Remus Lupin – that the book was published nearly fifty years before, she researches old copies of The Daily Prophet, and suggests that 'the Half-Blood Prince' may be Eileen Prince, a Hogwarts student mentioned in an old article. Hermione argues that 'the Prince's' handwriting looks female; Harry disputes this, believing the author to be a male student.

When Harry recalls that his father used the Levicorpus spell on Severus Snape, he asks Remus Lupin if he knows of 'The Half-blood Prince' - half hoping that it was his father, James Potter. Lupin, however, tells Harry that although the Levicorpus spell was popular at school during James' and Snape's fifth year, James - a Pureblood - had never called himself The Half-Blood Prince. Nor does Lupin know of anyone else using the name. Lupin does not explain how the spell came to be known by James, instead describing it as a spell that, like many others, came into and went out of fashion.

The 'Half-Blood Prince's true identity is revealed during the battle at Hogwarts. When Harry attempts to use 'the Prince's spells against Snape, he easily blocks both, screaming, "You dare use my own spells against me...It was I who invented them - I, the Half-Blood Prince!". Only then does Harry realise that the 'Half-Blood Prince' is Severus Snape, whom Sirius claimed knew more curses and jinxes when he arrived at Hogwarts than most did when they left.

Following these climactic events, Hermione searches the library's archived marriage and birth announcements and discovers that Eileen Prince married a Muggle named Tobias Snape, and they had a son: Severus. The 'Half-Blood Prince' was thus a literal description of Snape, a combination of his paternal muggle heritage, and his mother's maiden name of Prince.

A comparison can be drawn with Tom Marvolo Riddle, who dubbed himself [I am] Lord Voldemort, an anagram of his original name. However, the title 'Half-Blood Prince' has offensive connotations amongst wizards: in the course of the novel, Remus Lupin comments that there are no wizarding princes (giving the title muggle associations), and the term half-blood is used pejoratively by some in the wizarding world, particularly amongst Death Eaters or in Slytherin house. Therefore, it is unclear why Snape adopted such a name. For Harry, it means "the boy who had been so clever, who had helped him so much", and whom he refused to think badly of, is his bitter enemy. How this revelation will affect Harry's quest to destroy Voldemort and avenge Dumbledore's murder remains to be seen.