Lesson 4: Avada Kedavra (The Killing Curse)
We will finish our class on Unforgivable Curses with the Killing Curse, known by its incantation, "Avada Kedavra". We will begin by explaining how this curse differs from other spells (including the two we dealt with in the past two lessons: Cruciatus and Imperius). Then we will talk about the mechanism through which it takes effect (which tells us why it belongs in the same family as the other two curses) along with how it has been used historically. Finally, we will move onto the art of casting this spell and the one person who actually managed to resist the spell... on multiple occasions!
WHAT MAKES THIS SPELL DIFFERENT FROM ALL OTHER SPELLS?
There are three unique properties that Avada Kedavra has that distinguishes it from other spells. While the first of those properties is shared with a few other spells, the other two are not shared by any other spells known to be cast these days. We will go over these properties from most superficial to most fundamental.
First, the flash of light associated with most spells is red in colour. While some spells do tend to have other colours associated with them (defensive spells often have gold and silver hues associated with them, and at least one dark spell is actually purple in colour), Avada Kedavra is one of a handful of spells which is associated with the colour green. In fact, earlier versions of this course had asserted that Avada Kedavra was the only spell with this specific association! While this is not QUITE the case, green light (as opposed to simply sparks), when associated with magic, tends to fall into a few specific categories:
-Floo flames (which show up as a fire not aimed at any person or thing in particular)
-Backfired spells (consider that memory charms are normally colourless... except for when Gilderoy Lockhart's version hit himself instead of his targets)
-Dark magic, such as the Dark Mark from Morsmordre or the emerald liquid protecting Lord Voldemort's locket Horcrux
-and last but not least, Avada Kedavra itself!
Of these, only Avada Kedavra is likely to manifest itself as a beam of light heading in your direction (assuming you don't make a habit of miscasting spells). So if you see a magical green light headed anywhere near you, you should find a way to flee the area as soon as possible, because the Killing Curse is not a spell to be trifled with!
Another property about Avada Kedavra that makes it stand out is the language used in casting it. Most spells have incantations derived from some sort of a Latin-based language, from the summoning spell ("Accio") to the other two Unforgivables ("Crucio" and "Imperio"). Such spells were either invented from the days of the ancient Romans (who gave us Latin as a language) or inspired by the Roman tradition of spell-casting. Remember that Hogwarts itself was founded by this tradition, which is why its motto, "Draco dormiens nunquam titillandus", was written in Latin! Of course, some of the more modern spells - which consider themselves to be outside of this tradition - have incantations spoken in modern vernacular. As HOL is an English-speaking institution, we recognize these spells by English-language incantations, such as "Point Me" for the Four-Point Spell and "Pack" to pack luggage. However, these spells are not tied to the English language; in countries where the vernacular is not English, the corresponding incantation for this class of spell would
be in that language. For example, at Beauxbatons, the Four-Point Spell is normally taught with the French-language incantation "Pointe-moi." (Yes, Fleur Delacour was taught the English-language incantation for the Triwizard Tournament... but one can tell that it wasn't as effective for her because vernacular-language spells work best for the caster when spoken in their native language.) But Avada Kedavra stands alone because its incantation comes from neither Latin or the vernacular but rather an archaic Semitic language known as "Aramaic", which was spoken in what is now known as the Middle East. There are no other known spells that survive to this day whose primary language of casting is in Aramaic, or even any other Semitic language (such as Hebrew or Arabic), for that matter! The fact that Avada Kedavra belongs to a different language family than any other known spell suggests that the rules for dealing with this spell might be fundamentally different than the rules for dealing with the other spells.
Finally and most importantly, Avada Kedavra is the only spell known to wizardkind whose effect is completely irreversible. For the vast majority of spells, casting "Finite Incantatem" will completely end the effect of the spell, returning the target back to normal. There are other spells that will leave side effects that must be dealt with separately, but can eventually be dealt with. For example, after a subject has been cursed with Cruciatus, normally the effects of the curse can be treated through a rigorous potion-and-therapy regimen. (Yes, it is true that Frank and Alice Longbottom never recovered, but they were subject to a prolonged Cruciatus session that was long enough to completely alter the structure of their brains. It was not an inherent property of Cruciatus that got them in the end... but rather the amount and intensity of magical power that Bellatrix and Rodolphus Lestrange channeled into the spell for an extended period of time.). By contrast, the main effect of the Avada Kedavra spell, ending the life of the target, is completely irreversible. Once a living creature's life has ended, the creature can never be brought back to life!
MECHANISMS OF THE CURSE
The chief similarity of the Killing Curse with Cruciatus and Imperius (and the reason it is grouped together with those two curses under the common term "Unforgivable Curses") is through its mechanism. Like the Cruciatus and Imperius Curses, Avada Kedavra functions by creating a magical connection between the caster's mind and that of the target which is then used to overwrite a key part of the target's mind using the will of the target. In the case of Avada Kedavra, the connection reaches down into the most fundamental part of the target's mind: the part that keeps the target alive. The caster then holds that curse for long enough to completely destroy that part of the target's life, ending the target's existence before the target has any idea of what is going on! Note that if the spell is not held quite long enough to eliminate the target's life force, the target will still be alive for the moment, but functioning in such an erratic state that the target will likely die within the next few minutes - and suffer in pain for those minutes. (Although it might be theoretically possible to repair the target's life force in those few minutes, no Healer or Unspeakable has figured out the secret yet. This is why whenever a patient is brought to St. Mungo's as the result of a poorly cast Killing Curse, the usual remedy is a properly cast Killing Curse to end the target's suffering.)
Historically, this spell was initially developed as a healing spell. If a patient was infected by some sort of parasite or microorganism, a properly aimed Avada Kedavra (designed to establish a mental connection with the parasite or microorganism inside the patient, not the patient itself!) could exterminate the parasite from the victim, allowing the victim to recover. It could also be used to end the suffering of someone in pain with no hope of recovery, such as someone whose mind had been permanently warped by excessive use of another pain-causing curse. But just as the Cruciatus Curse has been shifted from a palliative charm to a pain-causing curse (because the people who would use it only as a palliative would no longer cast a spell with such a strong social taboo against it), the Killing Curse has been completely divorced from its medical history over the three centuries it has been deemed Unforgivable. Instead, it has mainly been used as a battle curse over the past century.
Ironically, the recent Avada Kedavra that most closely resembled the traditional usage of the spell was cast by Lord Voldemort himself. During the Battle of Hogwarts, Voldemort cast Avada Kedavra at Harry Potter in the Forbidden Forest - but the magical connection was off slightly so that the spell connected with one of Voldemort's own Horcruxes instead of Harry himself. Although this was not what was intended, Voldemort ended up freeing Harry from the effects of being the host of a Horcrux (while moving closer towards his own mortality, the thing he wanted to avoid the most). In general, Avada Kedavra is the most effective way to remove a Horcrux from a living host; you can remove a Horcrux just like any other type of parasite via the spell!
CASTING THE KILLING CURSE
If you paid attention to the past two lessons, the procedure for casting this curse should sound extremely familiar. It works as follows:
1) Focus carefully on your target (if casting on a human being, you want to maintain eye contact if at all possible; if casting on a parasite, you want to AVOID eye contact with its human host) to prepare to establish a mental connection.
2) With your wand pointing in the general direction of your target, say the words "Avada Kedavra" while focusing your magic on the idea of establishing a mental connection with your target.
3) Concentrating on your target's mind, think about its fundamental life-force and imagine channeling your magic into destroying that life-force. This is easier for a small parasite than for a human being!
4) You will know the curse has taken effect when the target drops dead (or, if the target is a parasite or Horcrux, when the target's host appears to be free of the parasite or Horcrux).
5) Hold the spell for an additional five seconds to ensure that the effect has completely taken hold (and that the target isn't in limbo between life and death).
6) Once you are confident that the target's life has ended, simply release your magic from the spell!
THE SOLE SURVIVOR
Only one person has managed to ever survive this spell; our world knows him either by his name, "Harry Potter", or by the title "The Boy Who Lived" in honor of his being able to survive Avada Kedavra. He managed to survive the spell on four different occasions: twice despite being directly hit by the curse and twice through deflecting it. No witch or wizard before or since has ever been able to survive this spell (not even Headmaster Albus Dumbledore). Therefore, we will finish this course by recounting exactly how Harry was able to survive this spell (and these circumstances were all unique to him).
When Harry was one year old, the dark Lord Voldemort tried to kill him with Avada Kedavra. However, his mother, Lily Evans, managed to sacrifice her life in his stead through a form of Old Magic which is not well-understood (the closest we have come to an understanding is "a mother's love can defeat death in certain circumstances", but this does not explain how THIS mother's love was able to channel her magic to allow her one-year-old son to survive the Killing Curse).
Thirteen years later, as Lord Voldemort was reborn, he tried the spell again on Harry (at the end of the Triwizard Tournament). However, this time it was the magical effect of Priori Incantaem that allowed Harry (who had cast a Disarming Spell at the same time) to survive: the magical connection between Harry's and Voldemort's wand (both having feathers from the same phoenix, Fawkes, as their magical cores) caused Voldemort's wand to release a shadow of Wormtail's hand, followed by shades of Cedric Diggory, Frank Bryce, Bertha Jorkins, James Potter, and Lily Potter (all of whom had been killed using Voldemort's wand) instead of killing Harry.
Finally, shortly after midnight on May 2, 1998, Lord Voldemort tried to kill Harry a final time with Avada Kedavra - but with a different wand, the fabled "Elder Wand" of lore. He actually attempted this spell twice; both times it backfired on him. The first time, as you saw earlier in this lesson, saw him misaiming slightly and destroying one of his Horcruxes instead of killing Harry Potter. The second time, though, he had better aim. But just like what happened three years earlier, Harry cast Expelliarmus. This time, as the two spells met, it turned out that Harry Potter was actually the master of the Elder Wand. Therefore, the blast of magic from the two spells meeting caused the Killing Curse to rebound onto Voldemort - which meant that it would be Voldemort, not Harry, who was finally killed by the green light of the Avada Kedavra!
Needless to say, none of the three mechanisms for surviving the Killing Curse demonstrated by Harry Potter (long-forgotten, poorly understood Old Magic tied to love, poor aim causing the curse to actually connect to a Horcrux lodged inside the target, or subtle mechanisms of wandlore tied to relationships between the specific wands wielded by the caster and recipient) have been replicated since. Therefore, if you can successfully cast Avada Kedavra on a target, you can safely expect the target to die from the spell!
Click on the link at the end of this page to proceed to the fourth assignment: Assignment 4
WHAT MAKES THIS SPELL DIFFERENT FROM ALL OTHER SPELLS?
There are three unique properties that Avada Kedavra has that distinguishes it from other spells. While the first of those properties is shared with a few other spells, the other two are not shared by any other spells known to be cast these days. We will go over these properties from most superficial to most fundamental.
First, the flash of light associated with most spells is red in colour. While some spells do tend to have other colours associated with them (defensive spells often have gold and silver hues associated with them, and at least one dark spell is actually purple in colour), Avada Kedavra is one of a handful of spells which is associated with the colour green. In fact, earlier versions of this course had asserted that Avada Kedavra was the only spell with this specific association! While this is not QUITE the case, green light (as opposed to simply sparks), when associated with magic, tends to fall into a few specific categories:
-Floo flames (which show up as a fire not aimed at any person or thing in particular)
-Backfired spells (consider that memory charms are normally colourless... except for when Gilderoy Lockhart's version hit himself instead of his targets)
-Dark magic, such as the Dark Mark from Morsmordre or the emerald liquid protecting Lord Voldemort's locket Horcrux
-and last but not least, Avada Kedavra itself!
Of these, only Avada Kedavra is likely to manifest itself as a beam of light heading in your direction (assuming you don't make a habit of miscasting spells). So if you see a magical green light headed anywhere near you, you should find a way to flee the area as soon as possible, because the Killing Curse is not a spell to be trifled with!
Another property about Avada Kedavra that makes it stand out is the language used in casting it. Most spells have incantations derived from some sort of a Latin-based language, from the summoning spell ("Accio") to the other two Unforgivables ("Crucio" and "Imperio"). Such spells were either invented from the days of the ancient Romans (who gave us Latin as a language) or inspired by the Roman tradition of spell-casting. Remember that Hogwarts itself was founded by this tradition, which is why its motto, "Draco dormiens nunquam titillandus", was written in Latin! Of course, some of the more modern spells - which consider themselves to be outside of this tradition - have incantations spoken in modern vernacular. As HOL is an English-speaking institution, we recognize these spells by English-language incantations, such as "Point Me" for the Four-Point Spell and "Pack" to pack luggage. However, these spells are not tied to the English language; in countries where the vernacular is not English, the corresponding incantation for this class of spell would
be in that language. For example, at Beauxbatons, the Four-Point Spell is normally taught with the French-language incantation "Pointe-moi." (Yes, Fleur Delacour was taught the English-language incantation for the Triwizard Tournament... but one can tell that it wasn't as effective for her because vernacular-language spells work best for the caster when spoken in their native language.) But Avada Kedavra stands alone because its incantation comes from neither Latin or the vernacular but rather an archaic Semitic language known as "Aramaic", which was spoken in what is now known as the Middle East. There are no other known spells that survive to this day whose primary language of casting is in Aramaic, or even any other Semitic language (such as Hebrew or Arabic), for that matter! The fact that Avada Kedavra belongs to a different language family than any other known spell suggests that the rules for dealing with this spell might be fundamentally different than the rules for dealing with the other spells.
Finally and most importantly, Avada Kedavra is the only spell known to wizardkind whose effect is completely irreversible. For the vast majority of spells, casting "Finite Incantatem" will completely end the effect of the spell, returning the target back to normal. There are other spells that will leave side effects that must be dealt with separately, but can eventually be dealt with. For example, after a subject has been cursed with Cruciatus, normally the effects of the curse can be treated through a rigorous potion-and-therapy regimen. (Yes, it is true that Frank and Alice Longbottom never recovered, but they were subject to a prolonged Cruciatus session that was long enough to completely alter the structure of their brains. It was not an inherent property of Cruciatus that got them in the end... but rather the amount and intensity of magical power that Bellatrix and Rodolphus Lestrange channeled into the spell for an extended period of time.). By contrast, the main effect of the Avada Kedavra spell, ending the life of the target, is completely irreversible. Once a living creature's life has ended, the creature can never be brought back to life!
MECHANISMS OF THE CURSE
The chief similarity of the Killing Curse with Cruciatus and Imperius (and the reason it is grouped together with those two curses under the common term "Unforgivable Curses") is through its mechanism. Like the Cruciatus and Imperius Curses, Avada Kedavra functions by creating a magical connection between the caster's mind and that of the target which is then used to overwrite a key part of the target's mind using the will of the target. In the case of Avada Kedavra, the connection reaches down into the most fundamental part of the target's mind: the part that keeps the target alive. The caster then holds that curse for long enough to completely destroy that part of the target's life, ending the target's existence before the target has any idea of what is going on! Note that if the spell is not held quite long enough to eliminate the target's life force, the target will still be alive for the moment, but functioning in such an erratic state that the target will likely die within the next few minutes - and suffer in pain for those minutes. (Although it might be theoretically possible to repair the target's life force in those few minutes, no Healer or Unspeakable has figured out the secret yet. This is why whenever a patient is brought to St. Mungo's as the result of a poorly cast Killing Curse, the usual remedy is a properly cast Killing Curse to end the target's suffering.)
Historically, this spell was initially developed as a healing spell. If a patient was infected by some sort of parasite or microorganism, a properly aimed Avada Kedavra (designed to establish a mental connection with the parasite or microorganism inside the patient, not the patient itself!) could exterminate the parasite from the victim, allowing the victim to recover. It could also be used to end the suffering of someone in pain with no hope of recovery, such as someone whose mind had been permanently warped by excessive use of another pain-causing curse. But just as the Cruciatus Curse has been shifted from a palliative charm to a pain-causing curse (because the people who would use it only as a palliative would no longer cast a spell with such a strong social taboo against it), the Killing Curse has been completely divorced from its medical history over the three centuries it has been deemed Unforgivable. Instead, it has mainly been used as a battle curse over the past century.
Ironically, the recent Avada Kedavra that most closely resembled the traditional usage of the spell was cast by Lord Voldemort himself. During the Battle of Hogwarts, Voldemort cast Avada Kedavra at Harry Potter in the Forbidden Forest - but the magical connection was off slightly so that the spell connected with one of Voldemort's own Horcruxes instead of Harry himself. Although this was not what was intended, Voldemort ended up freeing Harry from the effects of being the host of a Horcrux (while moving closer towards his own mortality, the thing he wanted to avoid the most). In general, Avada Kedavra is the most effective way to remove a Horcrux from a living host; you can remove a Horcrux just like any other type of parasite via the spell!
CASTING THE KILLING CURSE
If you paid attention to the past two lessons, the procedure for casting this curse should sound extremely familiar. It works as follows:
1) Focus carefully on your target (if casting on a human being, you want to maintain eye contact if at all possible; if casting on a parasite, you want to AVOID eye contact with its human host) to prepare to establish a mental connection.
2) With your wand pointing in the general direction of your target, say the words "Avada Kedavra" while focusing your magic on the idea of establishing a mental connection with your target.
3) Concentrating on your target's mind, think about its fundamental life-force and imagine channeling your magic into destroying that life-force. This is easier for a small parasite than for a human being!
4) You will know the curse has taken effect when the target drops dead (or, if the target is a parasite or Horcrux, when the target's host appears to be free of the parasite or Horcrux).
5) Hold the spell for an additional five seconds to ensure that the effect has completely taken hold (and that the target isn't in limbo between life and death).
6) Once you are confident that the target's life has ended, simply release your magic from the spell!
THE SOLE SURVIVOR
Only one person has managed to ever survive this spell; our world knows him either by his name, "Harry Potter", or by the title "The Boy Who Lived" in honor of his being able to survive Avada Kedavra. He managed to survive the spell on four different occasions: twice despite being directly hit by the curse and twice through deflecting it. No witch or wizard before or since has ever been able to survive this spell (not even Headmaster Albus Dumbledore). Therefore, we will finish this course by recounting exactly how Harry was able to survive this spell (and these circumstances were all unique to him).
When Harry was one year old, the dark Lord Voldemort tried to kill him with Avada Kedavra. However, his mother, Lily Evans, managed to sacrifice her life in his stead through a form of Old Magic which is not well-understood (the closest we have come to an understanding is "a mother's love can defeat death in certain circumstances", but this does not explain how THIS mother's love was able to channel her magic to allow her one-year-old son to survive the Killing Curse).
Thirteen years later, as Lord Voldemort was reborn, he tried the spell again on Harry (at the end of the Triwizard Tournament). However, this time it was the magical effect of Priori Incantaem that allowed Harry (who had cast a Disarming Spell at the same time) to survive: the magical connection between Harry's and Voldemort's wand (both having feathers from the same phoenix, Fawkes, as their magical cores) caused Voldemort's wand to release a shadow of Wormtail's hand, followed by shades of Cedric Diggory, Frank Bryce, Bertha Jorkins, James Potter, and Lily Potter (all of whom had been killed using Voldemort's wand) instead of killing Harry.
Finally, shortly after midnight on May 2, 1998, Lord Voldemort tried to kill Harry a final time with Avada Kedavra - but with a different wand, the fabled "Elder Wand" of lore. He actually attempted this spell twice; both times it backfired on him. The first time, as you saw earlier in this lesson, saw him misaiming slightly and destroying one of his Horcruxes instead of killing Harry Potter. The second time, though, he had better aim. But just like what happened three years earlier, Harry cast Expelliarmus. This time, as the two spells met, it turned out that Harry Potter was actually the master of the Elder Wand. Therefore, the blast of magic from the two spells meeting caused the Killing Curse to rebound onto Voldemort - which meant that it would be Voldemort, not Harry, who was finally killed by the green light of the Avada Kedavra!
Needless to say, none of the three mechanisms for surviving the Killing Curse demonstrated by Harry Potter (long-forgotten, poorly understood Old Magic tied to love, poor aim causing the curse to actually connect to a Horcrux lodged inside the target, or subtle mechanisms of wandlore tied to relationships between the specific wands wielded by the caster and recipient) have been replicated since. Therefore, if you can successfully cast Avada Kedavra on a target, you can safely expect the target to die from the spell!
Click on the link at the end of this page to proceed to the fourth assignment: Assignment 4