What turned Snape (Was: JKR site update SPOILERS)

[Neri]

No: HPFGUIDX 158912

> Hickengruendler:
> <snip> Could Snape's reason be James and the 
> life debt? Yes, but then I don't know, why Dumbledore didn't tell 
> Harry and by extension why JKR didn't tell us. The life debt as a 
> possible motive for Snape is known to Harry and to us since book 1. 
> What would be a point of making a secret out of it know, or, to look 
> at it from the other side, if this were Snape's big motivation, than 
> why would JKR drop this back in book 1.

Neri:
Are you saying you don't think Snape owed a life debt to James at all?
Or that he did, but that this wasn't the reason he "turned"?


> Hickengruendler:
> And yes, I haven't 
> forgotten, that he called her a mudblood. I believe this to be the 
> moment when Lily stopped being on friendly terms with him, and the 
> real reasons, why this was "Snape worst memory". After all, the 
> bullying alone was nothing special for Snape. There were probably 
> several such incidents, so what made this one so special for it to be 
> his worst memory?
 

Neri:
I wonder if it was Snape's worst memory because he had shed James's
blood that day. Blood is quite important in the series. My instinct
tells me that spilling someone's blood has serious implications if you
later owe that someone a life debt. For example, I won't be surprised
at all if you'd find yourself owing the debt to that someone's *blood*.

Neri