What J. K. Rowling told Alan Rickman about Snape

In a file picture taken on July 9, 2009, British actor Alan Rickman arrives at the premier of “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” in New York. Rickman has died at the age of 69 after suffering from cancer, his family said on Jan. 14. AFP

J. K. Rowling, author of the best-selling Harry Potter series, has revealed a major clue that she told late British actor Alan Rickman about the complex and ambiguous character of Hogwarts professor Severus Snape.

Following Rickman’s death, Rowling answered a fan on Twitter who asked what information she gave the late actor to “get a handle” on how to play the Defense against the Dark Arts teacher in the Potter films.

READ: Alan Rickman, star of stage and ‘Harry Potter,’ dies at 69

“Will you tell us the piece of information that you told Alan Rickman about Severus Snape? Or will that forever be a secret?” @sarahrosefrank tweeted.

“I told Alan what lies behind the word ‘always,’” Rowling replied.

In previous interviews, Rickman was quoted as saying that he spoke with Rowling to seek help on how to play Snape.

READ: ‘Harry Potter’ stars, author pay tribute to Alan Rickman                                             

“She certainly didn’t tell me what the end of the story was going to be in any way at all, so I was having to buy the books along with everybody else,” Rickman reportedly said in an interview with Ireland’s RTE.

“No, she gave me one little piece of information, which I always said I would never share with anybody and never have, and never will. It wasn’t a plot point, or crucial in any tangible way, but it was crucial to me as a piece of information that made me travel down that road rather than that one or that one or that one,” he said.

“Always” was a famous line in the final installment of the Harry Potter series, which referred to Snape’s enduring love to the main protagonist’s mother, Lily. RC