J.K. Rowling Reveals What She Told Alan Rickman About Snape

By Maryann Yin 

Severus Snape (GalleyCat)Many years ago, Alan Rickman chatted with J.K. Rowling to learn more about Severus Snape, a character he would play for a decade in the Harry Potter film franchise. In a goodbye letter that Rickman wrote to honor the conclusion of the movie series (published in Empire magazine back in 2011), his conversation with Rowling contained “one small clue, persuaded me that there was more to Snape than an unchanging costume.”

In his lifetime, Rickman never divulged the details about that clue. Recently, in light of the actor’s passing, one Twitter user asked Rowling what exactly she told him that convinced him to become the Hogwarts Potions Master. According to Vanity Fair, the Harry Potter series author shared that she told him “what lies behind the word ‘always.'”

People Magazine reports that like so many within the Harry Potter community, Rowling has been mourning Rickman. She posted a message on Twitter to express her devastation and sadness that “we have all lost a great talent.” Below, we’ve collected several relevant tweets in a Storify post embedded below—what do you think? (via International Business Times)