Abendroth Blutjager's Guide to Harry Potter: Life Debts and how to contract them

I love the editorials and the discussion threads for Life Debts. I don't agree with everything, but it has made me rethink how Life Debts are made.

I've heard too many people claim everyone owes a life debt to Harry because he's inadvertently saved so many lives. Thank goodness Jo stated that not all instances of saving a life qualify for creating life debts.

There are two major camps on the Life Debt issue. (The people who think Life Debts are being contracted left and right don't count.)

One camp argues that a Life Debt is contracted when the saved person feels obligated. This would place Snape in the category of owing James a Life Debt, regardless of James's motives. It explains why Crouch Jr., having fallen ill at Azkaban and removed by Crouch Sr., could later kill his own father: he felt no sense of obligation in his demented mind. It doesn't quite explain why Wormtail owes Harry, though, since Wormtail keeps saying "thank you", but he might not mean it - he seems to mean it at the time, but he's being desperate - Wormatil might not be truly grateful or feel indebted, but he owes a Life Debt anyway. True, Wormtail avoided eye contact with Harry in the graveyard, but he avoids eye contact with others, too. People who avoid eye contact cannot be trusted. Wormtail will probably fulfill his Life Debt, but not because he wants to.

The other camp claims a Life Debt is contracted when the threat is immediate, the savior is presented with a clear choice, and the savior chooses to save the other person, regardless of motives, and the person wants saving. This lumps Snape in the "doesn't owe James" category, since James wasn't explicitly asked to choose, and Snape didn't ask James to save him. It clouds the issue for Crouch Jr., since the choice seems to have been his mother's, who died shortly after the switch, not Crouch Sr.'s - this makes the Crouch issue moot, and Crouch Jr. was "free" to kill his own dad. However, it reaffirms that Wormtail owes Harry, since Remus and Sirius left the choice up to Harry whether Wormtail got to live, and Wormtail was pleading for his life, even begging Ron to save him.

I want to emphasize that Dumbledore places so much emphasis on choice. It's how Lily protected Harry (though her self-sacrifice created something quite different from a Life Debt); it's how Harry saved Wormtail. Sure James made a decision to stop Snape from going any further toward the shack, but no one presented James with a clear choice to make. Also, Snape thinks he would have died, but was he really in immediate peril? Could he not have backed out of the tunnel in time and escaped possible death himself? There were four possibilities: get killed, get injured/maimed, get bitten and become a werewolf, escape unscathed.

The more I think about it, the more I think Snape didn't really owe James a Life Debt, he simply felt indebted anyway. This makes me ponder Dumbledore's trust in Snape. Snape thinks people who wear their hearts on their sleeves are weak, but he makes no comment about having feelings. (Snape doesn't say feelings=weakness, he says brooding=weakness.) If Snape never owed James a Life Debt yet feels so indebted that he will protect and save Harry, then I should think all of Snape's feelings run deep. He sure carries a grudge and can feel deep hatred, but then again he can also feel deep pain, perhaps deep regret/remorse, perhaps even deep love....

When asked whether Snape had ever been loved, Jo said "yes" and that it makes him more culpable than Voldemort, in some ways. Voldemort doesn't feel guilty/culpable for his actions, the only things he seems to regret are the opportunities he didn't take full advantage of. Snape is very different - he feels guilt. Someone loves/loved Snape. Snape knows love. Snape is more culpable only because he can feel guilty.

By Dumbledore giving us these very different explainations for Snape's "getting even" and Wormtail's Life Debt, he's not only making a differentiation between debt and no debt, he's giving Harry a clue about a hidden facet of Snape's true personality.

But I'm supposed to be talking about Life Debts, right? Yeah. So, I think this is the run-down:

Snape never owed James a binding Life Debt, yet he feels indebted anyway. He is compelled, not by a magical contract but by the pursuit of "piece of mind", to step in whenever possible to save and protect Harry.

Crouch Jr. probably didn't really owe his father a Life Debt. He might have owed one to his mother (it was ultimately her choice to switch places), but his mother died at Azkaban - she didn't really give her life to save his, she was dying anyway - and Crouch Jr. probably wouldn't have been able to save her life, even if he had tried...or cared.

Wormtail clearly owes Harry a Life Debt. I doubt he will pay it willingly, but pay he shall.

Harry does not owe Snape any Life Debt...yet. However, Dumbledore suggests going to Snape if Harry needs healing from dark magic. This is a perfect set-up to have Snape help Harry in Book 7.

Dumbledore might owe Snape a Life Debt, but we will need to see what happened when Dumbledore came to Snape for help after the ring incident. I think, since Dumbledore is so polite, that Dumbledore would have asked Snape for help. This would give Snape clear options, and we know Snape did help. There might be a real Life Debt here.