Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince (movie) please explain!?

Question

Ok so I haven't read any of the Harry Potter books (right now I'm working on Tom Sawyer) but I have seen the movies. The 6th movie (Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince) left me with some questions. What is a half blood prince? Why is Snape the half blood prince/how did he become a half blood prince? And why does Harry want to get rid of the book that is giving him all the answers in potions class?
Please help me understand!!!

Answer 1

Snape is the Half-Blood Prince. His mother was a witch named Eileen Prince and his father was a muggle named Tobias Snape. So, not only was he a half-blood (half wizard, half muggle), but he was also half "Prince". Hence, Half-Blood Prince. It's got nothing to do with ignorance; the only people who look down on half-bloods are the people who call themselves "Purebloods," the wizards who think they're superior to everyone else because they don't have muggle ancestry. For the majority of the wizarding world, it's not an insult.



Harry wants to get rid of the book because he knows that he will get into a lot of trouble if he's discovered with it, considering the dark spells it contains (such as Sectumsempra - the curse that sliced open Draco). He also knows that Snape is going to be onto him, as Snape recognized the spells he had created. The only thing he could do was to hide the book until tensions started to lessen and people weren't on the lookout for it.



When you can, read the books. They're really good, and they do go much more in depth and explain things better. The movies had to cut a lot of that out for time purposes.

Answer 2

Snape gave himself the nickname the half blood prince and Harry wanted to get rid of the book because it contained dangerous spells that he didn't recognize.

Answer 3

The book does a much better job at explaining it. Severus Snape's mother was a witch named Eileen Prince and his father was a muggle named Tobias Snape. So, since Snape is a half-blood, a blood type that is frowned upon by Slytherin since one of Snape's parents is muggle, a muggle who was in fact abusive (as shown in the fifth book). Snape wanted to embrace his magical family, so he named himself the Half-Blood Prince, his blood status plus his mother's maiden name. The trio discovered this out in the library by looking at old Daily Prophets, which mentioned Eileen Prince throughout her years at Hogwarts. These newspapers also included Eileen's marriage announcement to Tobias Snape and later an announcement of a birth to their son, Severus.



Harry wanted to hide the Half-Blood Prince's potion book because he used one of the spells that was written in it (sectumsempra) against Draco Malfoy, which almost caused him to bleed to death. Snape happened to be the first to come and knew the countercurse (since he was the one who created the spell to begin with) after Myrtle, who was left out, who was comforting Draco, screamed about a murder . In the book, Snape wanted to see Harry's bag to see what he had with him, so he went to hide the book in the Room of Requirement and instead took Ron's new copy of the book instead. However, I don't remember if Snape wanted to see Harry's bag in the movie or not.



I would recommend reading the books instead of just the movies, since the movies left a lot out (especially in the sixth movie).

Answer 4

Snape is half blood and his mother's surname was Prince. 'Half Blood Prince'. Harry ultimately decided to get rid of it because it contained very dangerous spells (sectumsempra, for example), and his friends encouraged him to get rid of it too, Hermione more than anyone.

Answer 5

You really want the spoiler?



Ok.



Snape's mother was a witch whose maiden name was Prince. His father was a muggle.



Harry needs to get rid of the book as it would blow his reputation as a potions genius.

Answer 6

Snape is a mudblood- half wizard, half muggle. "being the half-blood son of Muggle Tobias Snape and pure-blood Eileen Prince" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Severus_Snape



Half Blood is a fancier way of saying mudblood, since it's considered a slur in the wizarding world. Snape labeled himself as the Half Blood Prince because of his acadamic arrogance.