Alan Rickman.  It doesn’t matter when he went, it was always going to be too soon.

While many think of Die Hard or Robin Hood when they think of Rickman, I always go straight to some of his softer roles.  While he always played a great villan (because really, that voice!) he also had the ability to touch our hearts with his lessons of love and devotion.  In that respect, here are his three greatest roles.

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Love Actually | Harry

Harry, you cheating bastard.

In Love Actually Rickman’s character, Harry, cheats on his wife.  We never directly see the cheating, and it was only confirmed this December that the cheating did in fact occur.  Instead, Harry’s plot line revolves mostly around the flirtation with the idea of having the affair, and the aftermath after it presumably happens.  One of the key scenes of this storyline involves Harry attempting to buy a Christmas gift for the woman who is seducing him.  He quickly chooses a necklace.  Then Rowan Atkinson, the shopman, asks if he wants it gift wrapped.  Twenty million layers of elaborate wrapping later, Harry is growing increasingly nervous about getting caught by his wife and Atkinson assures him that the job is almost done…

“You won’t regret it,” he assures Harry.

“Want to bet?” Harry retorts.

“‘Tis but the work of a moment,” Atkinson philosophizes.

The shopman is referring to how long it will take to wrap the gift, but the double meaning falls hard on both Harry and the audience.

Lesson #1: Marriages take lifetimes to build, and can be destroyed in a just a moment of poor decision making.

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Sense and Sensibility | Colonel Brandon

Colonel Brandon is the epitome of under appreciated men.  He falls in love with Marianne, but she falls in love with Willoughby- the charming, good looking  rat bastard who knocked up Brandon’s ward and abandoned her.  Because, Marianne is a love genius, right?

Excellent taste in men aside, Marianne’s true flaw is her inability to predict the weather.  She is always going out for walks, claiming it is not going to rain.  Her little sister complains, “You always say that, and then it always does!”  On her first walk in the rain she slips and sprains her ankle.  The dashing Willoughby, a stranger at this point, rides up on his horse and carries her back to her house like she weighs no more than a feather.  He’s a hero!

When Marianne realizes that Willoughby has abandoned her and is not coming back, she goes for another walk in the rain.  This time, Colonel Brandon goes out to find her.  She is not as light as a feather for him.  He is older and in poorer shape, but he brings her back because she needs to get out of the frigid English rain before she dies.

While Marianne is bed-ridden, Brandon is still looking for ways to help her.  They have no romantic relationship at this point: they are barely friends.  But Brandon is in love, and his way of loving involves taking care and helping, regardless of any reciprocation.

Lesson #2: Love is selfless care.

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Harry Potter | Severus Snape

Oh, Snape, you are the ultimate shapeshifter.  For 6 3/4 books we were all- Snape!  Who are you?  What are you doing?  Whose side are you on?  And “@%$#&* You for killing Dumbledore!”

Then, in the last chapters of the final book, we learn.  We learn that he sacrificed decades of his life, that he let all of his friends* hate his deepest darkest guts, that he even died for just one reason: to protect Lilly’s son.

His devotion to Lilly saved the boy who saved the wizarding community.

Lesson #3: Love and deep devotion can save lives.

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*did Snape ever really have friends?  Can you picture him and McGonagall enjoying a butterbeer in Hogsmeade together?  I can’t.  Discussing lessons collegially?  Yes.  Buying each other another round? No.