Was Snyder evil?

[tkts]

For most of his time on the series, Principal Snyder fills the dramatic role of antagonist, but isn't a villain per se. Much like Snape in the Harry Potter series, he delights in tormenting the heroes -- but never in ways that really matter (since, in the Buffyverse, anything that doesn't involve the risk of dying horribly isn't all that significant). He might be a "nasty little horrid bigoted rodent-man," but he generally seems to come down on the side of people not getting massacred by vampires and demons.

But there are a handful of moments that suggest there's more to Snyder than meets the eye, and I'm not sure how to interpret them:

-- In "School Hard," it's pretty clear that both he and the police chief know there are supernatural forces at work and are using the "gang on PCP" line to cover it up. That doesn't mean either of them is evil, of course.

-- In "Becoming," after telling Buffy she's expelled, he makes a phone call and says "Tell the mayor I have good news," suggesting they're in league.

-- In "Dead Man's Party," when Joyce threatens to go to the mayor, he says "Wouldn't that be interesting." (Sidebar: in California, does the chain of command in a school really go up to the mayor of the city? In the last few states I've lived, school districts are run by autonomous school boards and district boundaries aren't contiguous with municipal ones.)

But the fact that Snyder seems as surprised as anybody by the Mayor's ascension -- not to mention the fact that he gets eaten -- suggests that maybe he really is just a guy who likes order and discipline, that he's not evil and doesn't want anyone to die, and that maybe the Mayor was misleading him in some way. (Maybe by making him think Buffy was responsible for the weird things that happened?)

[hitnrun017]

I really wish they went into this more in Season 3. Synder is a good character that could've been great.

I agree that he wasn't evil. We know he knows that the Hellmouth exists, and that the Mayor put him in the position, but yeah, I always assumed he was just being misled too. It would've been nice to get an actual answer. A Snyder revelation? Potentially awesome.

[Skytteflickan88]

I think he and the Mayor talked about supernatural things, but I doubt the Mayor told Snyder more than he needed to know.

I think the Mayor might have told Snyder that Buffy was trouble, but not that she's a slayer.

About the evil thing: I cheered when he died. He might not be "evil" like Angelys or Lindsey are evil, but in case he found out that he caused a student to kill himself, I think that would have made him feel either indifferent or happy. So he's more dark gray than light gray on the black vs white scale, but since I don't know if he's a good man deep deep inside that never learned how to be nice, or if he's a jerk by nature, I can't tell for sure.

[buffyfan21]

I think Snyder was just someone who really liked order and discipline. The events of Band Candy imply that Snyder's own high school experience was less than great. He was most likely the kid that always got picked on, and never had any friends. I think Buffy was probably spot on in her assumption that Snyder never got a date in high school. As a result, Snyder used his position of power as principal, to make the students of Sunnydale High absolutely miserable. Think of it as cosmic retribution for the torment he no doubt suffered in school. And really, I think the reason he was so mean to Buffy and Co is because he was jealous of their tight knit group. He always wanted to belong, to be accepted, but instead, he was a weird loner who never got that opportunity.

[Paul]

Like Faith and Warren, Snyder wasn't evil, he was a flawed human being. I don't believe in evil, I think it's a simplistic human concept invented to explain complicated psychological issues. Snyder's behavior was realistic and human, not magical and demonic, so no, he's not evil.

Snyder was a control freak and a bully, but we see in "Band Candy" why that is; he was a victim first. The other kids ignored and belittled him. That's not really his fault, he was shaped by his environment. I've met people in real life who abuse what little power they have (teachers, managers) and you tell they're only doing it because they were losers at school. I might hate them on a personal level, but objectively I don't really blame them for being like that. I have a lot of insecurities myself and sometimes it comes out in negative ways. It's not "evil", just complex human behavior. Look at Willow, one of the most sympathetic characters in the Buffyverse; by adulthood, she suffers from extremely destructive control issues. I believe Snape from Harry Potter has a similar backstory.

One of those non-canon novels, One Thing or Your Mother explores Snyder's childhood. I've only skimmed it in the shop, so I don't know the exact plot, but basically Buffy goes back in time and sees a young Snyder (who's first name is given as "Cecil", fact fans!) being emotionally abused by his mother. Buffy returns to the present with newfound sympathy for the man she hates. I wasn't interested enough to buy it, but it seemed like an accurate character study and might have made for a touching episode.

[joxerlives]

Frankly I don't think he ever had a ruddy clue what was going on?

[tkts]

Mar 1, 2010 18:29:33 GMT -5 joxerlives said:

Frankly I don't think he ever had a ruddy clue what was going on?

He seems a lot more clueful than the average Sunnydale resident. It's pretty clear that he doesn't really believe the "gangs on PCP" line that he uses to explain strange attacks.

The evidence seems to point to him being aware of the dark forces at work in Sunnydale, but not necessarily knowing who's on what side. I agree with what hitnrun07 said -- that it would be very interesting to find out exactly if and how the mayor was stringing him along.

[PJ]

well, he seemed really evil in season 2 (well i guess 3 too) but i wouldn't say he was 'big bad' evil, just annoyingly evil.

[Eric]

Mar 1, 2010 16:26:41 GMT -5 Skytteflickan88 said:

I think he and the Mayor talked about supernatural things, but I doubt the Mayor told Snyder more than he needed to know.

I think the Mayor might have told Snyder that Buffy was trouble, but not that she's a slayer.

About the evil thing: I cheered when he died. He might not be "evil" like Angelys or Lindsey are evil, but in case he found out that he caused a student to kill himself, I think that would have made him feel either indifferent or happy. So he's more dark gray than light gray on the black vs white scale, but since I don't know if he's a good man deep deep inside that never learned how to be nice, or if he's a jerk by nature, I can't tell for sure.

I agree with you the most, Flickan. Especially about the cheering when he died.

[CourtneyDax]

Yeah, I agree with the people who said Snyder was flawed and not evil. I'm gonna take a quote from Harry Potter and say, "The world isn't split into good people and Death Eaters." And I think Snyder falls into somewhere in the middle of that.

[lightandmagic]

I wouldn't call him evil in any way. I would call him obsessed with power. He went into the position as principle not to help guide students or anything of that nature but seems mostly to be there cause he thrives on being more powerful than them.

[Tea - Total]

Like every grown up had a high school experience , thats why i don't understand why school teacher and principle are awful, their so grumpy but their know whats high school is about so you wonder their be funny and nicer and friendly.

But i dont think snyder was evil i thought he was nasty at times but not that evil.

[gumgnome]

While the position that Snyder has in the echelons of power in Sunnydale in S2 and S3 is never made totally clear, I think it's clear that he's not an evil man. My own take would be that the Mayor uses him ruthlessly because he knows what kind of man Snyder is. At heart, he sucks up to authority and likes positions of power within the limited range of his abilities (the words "You can be my deputy" spring to mind, and I'm sure as a young child Snyder would've have been as eager as Cordy to get these positions). The Mayor, by letting him in on certain pieces of information about Sunnydale, gains a hard-nosed administrator to do a difficult and thankless job in a key area for the Mayor's plans. It's clear in "Graduation Day" that Snyder hasn't been let in on the grand plan, which marks him out as a tool for the Mayor's agenda. The Mayor knows just how to get the loyal service he needs from this pitiful man and does so expertly.

[slayerthorn]

I think there could have been an interesting untold story about him. It seemed there was more to him than they showed.

[willowsummers]

Snyder seems like no more than a unhappy man. He is petty, cruel and deceptive. Is he evil? He is a very human version of evil. There are many many people like him. He just happens to be working in the hellmouth. That is my opinion anyway.