Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Magic/Avada Kedavra
From Wikibooks, the open-content textbooks collection
| Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter - Magic | |
| Avada Kedavra | |
|---|---|
| Type | Spell (Curse) |
| Features | Kills instantly |
| First Appearance | Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (though not identified until Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire) |
Contents |
[edit] Overview
Avada Kedavra, also known as the Killing Curse, kills a person instantaneously and without injury. There is no countercurse for it, and only two people, Harry Potter and Lord Voldemort, have ever survived it.
[edit] Extended Description
The Avada Kedavra curse is recognizable by the flash of green light emitted from the caster's wand. Along with the Cruciatus Curse and the Imperius Curse, Avada Kedavra is considered to be one of the most terrible curses in the magical world, called the Unforgivable Curses; the use of any of the three on another witch or wizard is punishable by a life sentence in Azkaban. Avada Kedavra is an Aramaic phrase that means "I will destroy as I speak." Whether the words were chosen to be similar to the Muggle mock incantation "abra cadabra" is uncertain, but seems likely.
[edit] Analysis
[edit] Questions
- How did Harry Potter alone survive the Avada Kedavra?
- Did Lord Voldemort survive the curse when it backfired on him, and what state of life did he come into if he did?
[edit] Greater Picture
The Killing Curse is used numerous times by "evil" wizards, and very occasionally by "good" wizards:
- In Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, it is used by Lord Voldemort against Frank Bryce, we are introduced to it in Defence Against the Dark Arts class by the false Alastor Moody, it is used by Wormtail, at Voldemort's instruction, to kill Cedric Diggory, and it is later used against Harry by the returned Voldemort, though in this instance it is blocked by the Priori Incantatem effect.
- In Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, it is used by Lord Voldemort in the climactic battle in the Ministry of Magic.
- In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, it is used once by Bellatrix Lestrange to kill a fox and once by Severus Snape against Albus Dumbledore.
- In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, it is apparently used once by Mrs. Weasley to kill Bellatrix Lestrange in a duel during the Battle of Hogwarts, as well as numerous other wizards on both sides of that battle, late in Harry's seventh year. It is also used numerous times by Voldemort as he pursues the Elder Wand, and in a fit of rage against his own followers when he hears of the theft of the Cup Horcrux from Bellatrix's vault. It is also used by Death Eaters during Harry's escape from Privet Drive.
While it is not actually stated, the "green light" that Harry remembers in his earliest memories, and which is mentioned in the first three books, is almost certainly from Voldemort's failed attempt to use the Avada Kedavra curse against Harry. In the seventh book, we see in Voldemort's memory that he used it against Harry's father, mother, and finally against Harry himself.
In Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, we are told that when Barty Crouch was the head of the Auror department, Aurors were authorized to use deadly force against Death Eaters. One must assume that this occasionally took the form of the Avada Kedavra curse.
