Dear Alan Rickman,

From the first moment meeting Snape in Harry Potter, I knew JK Rowling had something special planned for him. As the books progressed, my imagination created such a vivid and intricate picture of Snape, that I never thought any one person on this planet could handle such a complicated character on film.

I could not have been more incorrect. I thought I loved to hate and hated to love Snape. I thought I had him figured out.

Last night, I watched your story. Not Harry’s, not Voldemort’s, not even Neville’s or the Weasleys’.

I watched you, Alan Rickman, make Snape the most remarkable man the wizarding or muggle world would ever know.

In truth, you defeated the Dark Lord, and reconstructed my own imagination.

Because of you, every time I open a Harry Potter book and see Snape, he will no longer be a character, but real.

I cannot comprehend what it would take to properly thank you for that. So, I concede to a simple and earnest “Thank you.”