Var Severus Snape baserat på en riktig person?

Tydligen är svaret enkelt och ganska otroligt:

JK Rowlings kemi lärare.

Från den här artikeln om John Nettleship , som dog av cancer år 2011 år 71:

"The first I knew was when a reporter from a national newspaper knocked on the door seven years ago and said: 'You're Professor Snape aren't you'," said the former head of science.

"I suppose I was quite strict as a teacher, but I said to my wife, 'she thinks I'm Professor Snape'. She said 'of course you are, but I didn't want to tell you'.

"Fortunately for me, quite a lot of people like Alan Rickman, who plays Snape in the films."

Och han ser lite ut som Alan Rickman, minus gardin av mörkt hår:

AnslutningenharmerellermindrebekräftatsavJKR,som sa (betoning mina):

OK. Snape is the - er - very sadistic teacher loosely based on a teacher I myself had, I have to say. Erm .. I think it ... Children are very aware - and we ... we're kidding ourselves if we don't think that they are - that teachers do sometimes abuse their power and this particular teacher does abuse his power. He is not a - he is not a particularly pleasant person at all. However, everyone should keep their eye on Snape, I'll just say that, because there's more to him than meets the eye, and you will find out part of what I'm talking about if you read book four.

Denna citat säger att Snape var definitivt baserat på en av JKRs lärare. En kemi lärare skulle vara meningsfullt (kemi ~ Potions), och i kombination med ovanstående citat om John Nettleship och hans vaga likhet med Alan Rickman (titta på dessa kinder och den där munen!), Tror jag att vi har tillräckligt med bevis för att definitivt säga JN -> SS . QED.

Nej, han var inte baserad på en riktig person.

Rowling säger detta kategoriskt i en intervju 2004

Are any of your characters based on real people?

The only character who is deliberately based on a real person is Gilderoy Lockhart. [...] Other people have contributed the odd characteristic, such as a nose, to a character, but the only character who I sat down and thought that I would base on someone is Gilderoy Lockhart. It made up for having to endure him for two solid years.

Han hävdar samma in den gamla JK Rowling hemsidan (förmodligen skrivet 2005 eller 2006):

I have only once set out to depict somebody I have met and, unlikely though it might seem, the result was Gilderoy Lockhart.

Se även Vem är Gilderoy Lockhart baserat på?