Yes, I do think something happened in her past that caused her to go to the dark side, I hope that if JK writes an encyclopedia she says something about this subject.

I think there is definately an intricate back story to Bellatrix, she seems to be a level up from the rest of her family in terms of her devotion to Voldemort, her enthusiasm in regards to the purifying the blood line of the wizarding world and how far she will go to get to that end....hopefully it's something we might find out more about in Pottermore

Yeah Ive always thought there was something more to her that we didn't find out through the books or the movies. We know that she is obsessed with Voldemort to the point where she appears to be in love with him. And we seen how in the Half Blood Prince book she murdered a fox simply because she thought it could be an auror. So she obviously has a streak of insanity. I think it could have been from the way she was brought up and was expected to think of herself as royalty because of her name and blood status. And then the fact she married Lestrange because he was an acceptable pure blood choice, and not for the simple fact of love, wouldn't have helped either. Voldemort was the one who taught her most of the dark stuff she knows so maybe it addled her brains in the process

Wow, I've just landed in HP heaven! I'm so glad that there are other people that think about this sort of stuff

I think it's a combi of Bella's upbringing and her love for voldemort. I think she turned to Voldemort because of the way her parents raised her. He was a hansome young man with the same views of the world she and her family had. I think she went whacky because she love voldemort so much and would do anything to get his attention and affection. She crossed her own boundries and got madder and madder because however far she went, it was never good enough. And I suppose so many years in Askaban where the dementors probably reminded her of how she faild to get Voldemorts love didn't help

I believe she was spoilt as a child. Remember Sirius and the "family tree"? His family were obsessed with Slytherin and the dark side. I say Bellatrix's family were the very same, after all, they are cousins. Bellatrix grew up in an enviroment where she felt the need to prove herself all the time...

I think she is very eager to please and does what is expected of her. She's been brainwashed by her parents' pure-blood beliefs. I don't think she was neglected, I think she was a normal child but her parents put pressure on them all to be proud of their heritage and to look down upon muggle-borns. I reckon Bellatrix awnted to please them so she got really into it and started to become very twisted. I think that Andromeda had the strength to rebel against her family and Narcissa was just quiet and did what she was told even if she didn't agree with it.

Of course, Jk diddnt discribe much about her relationship with rodolphus. The details were kept secret, so theres definatly more to her life then just what the book said.