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Killing Curse

Revision as of 01:49, 30 April 2010 by 70.242.113.108 (contribs) (Undo revision 338739 by Wizard44 (talk))
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"Avada Kedavra's a curse that needs a powerful bit of magic behind it - you could all get your wands out and point them at me and say the words, and I doubt I'd get so much as a nosebleed."
— Barty Crouch, Jr. as Alastor Moody[src]

Avada Kedavra is a curse that causes instantaneous death and is one of the three Unforgivable Curses. There is no known counter-curse or cure for it apart from someone else sacrificing themself for you; however, one may dodge the green bolt, use a physical barrier to block it, or intercept the bolt with another spell. An explosion or green fire may result if the spell hits something other than a living target. The only wizard known to survive this deadly curse is Harry Potter. Lord Voldemort was famous for using this curse regularly and indiscriminately. Its incantation is Avada Kedavra.

History

Creation

The Avada Kedavra curse was invented during the early middle ages, by dark witches or wizards . The curse was created primarily as a means of quickly and efficiently slaying one's opponent in a duel.

"Unforgivable"

"The Cruciatus, Imperius and Avada Kedavra Curses were not made "unforgivable" until 1717."
— Albus Dumbledore[src]

After the Wizards' Council was reformed into the Ministry of Magic tighter restrictions were placed on the use of certain kinds of magic. The Avada Kedavra curse was deemed by the Ministry to be dark magic, and, along with the Cruciatus and Imperius curses, were declared "unforgivable" in 1717. The use of any of these three curses on a fellow human being would result in a life sentence in Azkaban.

Appearance and Effect

Voldemort casting Avada Kedavra on Harry Potter

Voldemort casting Avada Kedavra on Harry Potter.

The Killing Curse is described as a jet of blinding green light, which causes the victim instant death. There are no secondary effects; the victim simply "drops dead" for no biological reason. It is possible that the victim's internal organs cease function, or that once the spell hits a person's body, it simply kills every living cell in the victim's body. It could also cause sudden brain death, simply stopping the progress of every electrical synapse in the brain simultaneously by draining all potential energy there. In addition to this, it is possible that it causes a person's soul to "pass on", and leave the body, similar to when the body dies naturally, and the soul passes on into whatever afterlife there may be. It is unknown whether the curse is painful or not- upon waking from his near-death experience, Harry Potter felt the curse's aftereffects and described it in a similar manner to that of an "iron-clad punch" to the chest.[2]

Victims of the Killing Curse that have been examined with Muggle methods are known to show no visible signs of trauma. Though Muggle methods are unable to identify the means of death, Ministry of Magic specialists are familiar with the markings, or lack of them. The killing curse is known to leave no identifiable marks or any signs of the reason for death. Victims appear to "drop dead", or to appear "perfectly healthy apart from the fact they were all dead."[3]

When this curse hits an inanimate target, its effect varies: it can produce small fires,[4] small greenish explosions,[5] or explosions of such intensity that can blow up an entire story of a cottage.[6] However, certain objects, such as the centaur statue of the Fountain of Magical Brethren, managed to block the curse without any visible damage to itself.[7]

Fatality

File:LilyEvansDies.jpg

Lily Evans being murdered by Tom Riddle, one of his biggest mistakes.

Only two people are known to have survived a direct application of the curse: Harry Potter, who was saved when his mother, Lily Evans, lovingly sacrificed herself by blocking the spell with her body[8], and Lord Voldemort, because of his Horcruxes. However, Harry Potter was the only person known to have survived Avada Kedavra with no ill effects; Voldemort, on the other hand, was reduced to no more than a shadowy spirit, less than a ghost. Over a decade later, Harry would survive the curse another three times: once during Priori Incantatem in his battle against Lord Voldemort in the graveyard in his fourth year[9]. Again, in 1998 when the curse killed only the Horcrux inside him, and once more when the wand being used to curse him, the Elder Wand, refused to destroy him because Harry was its true master[2]. This also makes Harry the only person to have survived the Killing Curse multiple times.

Lord Voldemort survived the Killing Curse once when it backfired on him in 1981 (while attempting to kill Harry Potter). This was because he had Horcruxes at that time, and even so his body was still destroyed.

Phoenixes are also immune to the Killing Curse, or at least, the Killing Curse is useless against them. In 1996, Fawkes swallowed one intended for Albus Dumbledore. He burst into flames, and was reborn from his ashes.[7]

The Killing Curse can be survived if it is dodged or physically blocked by an object, such as the statues Dumbledore animated to protect Harry Potter during his duel with Voldemort after the Battle of the Department of Mysteries. Also, some objects may explode or burst into flames if hit.[7] Although considered unblockable by magic, as noted above there are rare circumstance in which it can be blocked.

The Killing Curse is not the only spell that will cause death to a living creature. Other spells may cause injury or bleeding, such as Fiendfyre, Sectumsempra, possibly Antonin Dolohov's curse, if cast at a person, the Blasting Curse or Expulso, or an overuse of the Stunning Spell. References have been made to Aurors using deadly force against opponents, but whether this means they were authorized to use the killing curse (i.e. a "licence to kill") is unclear.[9] Despite the circumstances, it is unknown whether the curse was used by anyone but Voldemort and his Death Eaters during the Battle of Hogwarts.

Voldemort trying to force the Killing Curse on Dumbledore

Voldemort casting the Killing Curse during his duel against Albus Dumbledore.

Known Practitioners

Known victims

Etymology

Avada Kedavra is based on the Aramaic עַבְדָא כְּדַברָא, avda kedavra, meaning "what was said has been done." This phrase is also the origin of abracadabra, which, like hocus pocus, is used by magicians as a magic word when they perform tricks.[10]

During an audience interview at the Edinburgh Book Festival on April 15, 2004, J. K. Rowling had this to say about the spell's etymology: "Does anyone know where avada kedavra came from? It is an ancient spell in Aramaic, and it is the original of abracadabra, which means 'let the thing be destroyed.' Originally, it was used to cure illness and the 'thing' was the illness, but I decided to make it the 'thing' as in the person standing in front of me. I take a lot of liberties with things like that. I twist them round and make them mine."[11]

"Kedavra" also sounds very similar to the English word cadaver, which means "corpse," and derives from the Latin cadere, "to fall."[12]

Behind the scenes

  • In the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Lucius Malfoy says "Avada" at Harry Potter after he unwittingly frees Dobby. Dobby knocks Lucius backwards with magic to protect Harry, and he does not finish the incantation. The part of the incantation shown, for plot reasons, was not represented in the subtitles. However, on the DVD if the audio is set to Spanish, Lucius clearly says "Avada" to where it can be understood, in contrast to the English version, where he says it fast as if he's making a hissing sound.
  • In the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Bellatrix Lestrange is shown using the Killing Curse to murder Sirius Black in a scene fundamentally different from that of the novel, in which Sirius was killed by an unknown curse cast by Bellatrix. The effect of the curse is also not shown to be instantaneous in the film.
  • In Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban , Sirius Black and Remus Lupin intended to kill Peter Pettigrew for his betrayal of James and Lily Potter. It´s unknown how they wanted to do it, possibly by the use of this curse. If it would have been used, Peter would have died the same way as his former friends.

Appearances

Notes and references

  1. ↑ Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (film)
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
  3. ↑ Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
  4. ↑ Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - Ch. 36
  5. ↑ Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (film) and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (film)
  6. ↑ Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Ch. 17
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
  8. ↑ Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
  10. ↑ "Abracadabra" on Wiktionary
  11. ↑ Edinburgh Book Festival interview
  12. ↑ "Cadaver" on The Online Etymology Dictionary"
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