Regular Killing Curse

The Killing Curse (Avada Kedavra) was a tool of the Dark Arts and was one of the three Unforgivable Curses. When cast successfully on a living person or creature, the curse caused instantaneous and painless death, without causing any injury to the body, and without any trace of violence. The Killing Curse was accompanied by a blinding flash or jet of green light and a distinctive rushing sound when being cast.The only known counter-spell to this curse was sacrificial protection, which used the power of love. The Killing Curse was a conventionally unblockable curse; therefore shield charms would not be able to defend against it. However, one could dodge the green bolt, block it with a physical barrier, by the use of Priori Incantatem, or Disapparate. An explosion or fire could result if the spell hit something other than a living target.
==History==
===Middle Ages===
The Killing Curse was invented during the early Middle Ages.After the Wizards' Council was reformed into the Ministry of Magic tighter restrictions were placed on the use of certain kinds of magic. The Killing Curse was deemed by the Ministry to be Dark magic and along with the Cruciatus and Imperius Curses, were declared "unforgivable" throughout the UK in 1717, with the Killing Curse considered to be the most deadly of the three.The use of any Unforgivable curse on a human would carry the punishment of a life sentence without parole in Azkaban.
=== Global wizarding war===
The Killing Curse was also used in 1927 by the Magical Congress of the United States of America on magical beasts considered dangerous.This curse was used during the global wizarding war, both by Aurors and supporters of the Dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald. At one point during the height of the global wizarding war, the Auror Cassius Bell used this curse to kill a red-haired young witch.
===First Wizarding War===
During the First Wizarding War, when Barty Crouch Snr was in charge of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, he fought violence with violence, legalising the three Unforgivable Curses for Aurors against the Death Eaters in order to win the war. This was repealed once the war was over, as it was no longer necessary.One of the most infamous events involving this curse happened on Hallowe'en (31 October) in 1981. Voldemort arrived at the Potter cottage in Godric's Hollow, after being told of its location by Peter Pettigrew, the Secret-Keeper of its Fidelius Charm, and murdered James and Lily Potter while they attempted to protect their infant son Harry. He cast the Killing Curse on Harry as well, but it backfired, therefore destroying Voldemort's body. This event led to Voldemort's first downfall, the end of the First Wizarding War, and Harry's fate being sealed as "The Boy Who Lived".It should be noted that despite the curse being illegal, Aurors were allowed to use deadly force and the Unforgivable Curses against opponents during the First Wizarding War.
==Nature==
250px|thumb|The famous flash of green light that indicated the curseThe Killing Curse was recognisable by the flash of green light and the rushing noise emitted from the caster's wand. When the curse hit a living, organic target it invariably killed them with pain, however without injury. However, when the curse struck Voldemort and succeeded in causing his biological death, he described the curse as having ripped his soul from his body.Also, while most victims would simply drop dead when struck by the curse, at other times it may carry a force of impact, such as when Snape's casting was able to blast Dumbledore off the Astronomy Tower ramparts. During the Battle of Hogwarts, in the Forbidden Forest Harry described the impact of the curse as an "iron-clad punch", as stated earlier.
When the curse hit an inanimate target the effect varied: it could produce fires, large greenish explosions, or explosions of such intensity that could blow up an entire cottage. It was known by most wizards as Lord Voldemort's signature spell. It was possible to intercept the curse with other spells, but this was extremely difficult as it required the energy jets of the two spells to collide. As the energy jets of virtually all spells were very small and fast, this had only ever been recorded as occurring by accident.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. It should be noted that the curse itself did not terminate the animation of (i.e. "kill") the statue, however, as the statue was only animated by magic and so presumably had no real life in him for the curse to take away.
===Performance===
The curse required great skill, power, and possibly intent in order to be performed correctly. In 1994, Barty Crouch Jnr, disguised as Alastor Moody, claimed that if all of the students before him were to get out their wands and perform it on him at one time, he would likely be completely unaffected as he believed they all lacked the necessary power needed to cast the spell. In 1997, during the Battle of the Astronomy Tower, Severus Snape also stated that to cast Unforgivable Curses, one needed both nerve and ability. It was possible to cast the curse nonverbally, as Bellatrix killed a fox without an incantation. During his duel with Dumbledore during the Battle of the Department of Mysteries, Voldemort also used this curse several times without an incantation.It is possible that the Killing Curse, in addition to requiring the caster to be a very skilled witch or wizard, also required a genuine willingness and at many times desire to commit murder. Bellatrix Lestrange seemingly implied this was true of the Unforgivables, and it was true of the Cruciatus Curse, but not so much with the Imperius Curse.One of the main reasons why Lord Voldemort demonstrated such an affinity for the curse was due to how exceptionally powerful and skilled he was magic wise, along with his complete and utter lack of remorse or value for the lives of fellow humans. For example, Draco Malfoy, despite possessing many undesirable personality traits, found himself unable to murder Albus Dumbledore because he did not want to actually kill him. Voldemort, on the other hand, had no such restraint and murdered countless people without remorse in his pursuit of power and immortality; in fact, he was fully prepared to murder one-year old Harry Potter upon deducing him to be a potential threat. He was intending to use this most heinous act to create his final Horcrux. He succeeded, during the act, a piece of Voldemort's soul entered Harry. This effectively turned him into a Horcrux. However, it would lead to his downfall and death.
===Signs===
The Killing Curse was described as a jet or flash of blinding green light that "illuminates every corner of the room" followed by a rushing sound, which caused the victim instant death. Victims of the Killing Curse were identified by the fact that they simply appeared to have dropped dead for no biological reason. Indeed, victims seemed "perfectly healthy" apart from the fact that they were dead.This lack of visible injuries was one that had confused Muggles throughout the years of its use, requiring many Ministry of Magic officials to modify memories. For example, Muggle authorities were stumped over the death of the Riddles. The only thing about the bodies the doctors noted (determined to find something wrong) was the look of horror on their faces, as though they had been frightened to death. Wizarding authorities, however, could tell at once the cause of death, due to the curse's somewhat unique nature.
===Sensation===
Presumably, the Killing Curse did not inflict any pain on its target, since it caused instantaneous death. However, Harry Potter, who awoke after a Killing Curse cast by Lord Voldemort hit him, described the sensation as an "iron-clad punch", though this may have been caused by the destruction of the fragment of Lord Voldemort's soul contained within his body. However, when he was initially struck by the curse, it caused him no sensation at all.When Voldemort was struck by his own rebounding Killing Curse after he attempted to kill Harry Potter the first time, he described the sensation of his soul being ripped from his body as being "pain beyond pain". However, given the uniquely mutilated state of his soul at the time and that his soul had not gone to the afterlife, it seems likely that his reaction was atypical.
==Survivability ==
The Killing Curse could be 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. The Killing Curse was known to be unblockable, as once it struck the living victim, it almost always resulted in immediate death. There was "no counter-curse", since it was not possible to revive the dead. However there were some exceptions:
===Sacrificial protection===
The most effective method of surviving the Killing Curse was through sacrificial protection; the willing sacrifice of one's life for another, a manifestation of love, which was the most potent defence against the "unblockable" Killing Curse. Love was a powerful and mysterious branch of magic; it gave those who experienced it the ability to do very great things.Harry Potter was saved by his mother Lily Potter, when she lovingly sacrificed herself for him after she refused to stop shielding him from Lord Voldemort, despite having been given the choice to live. Harry became the only known survivor of the Killing Curse with no ill effects, aside from attaining a lightning-shaped scar on his forehead.
===Horcruxes===
Another defence employed against the Killing Curse was the creation of at least one Horcrux. The creation of Horcruxes was a preventive measure, created by a wizard long before he faced an actual Killing Curse attack. However, this was less effective than sacrificial protection, since it only allowed a little more than the soul of the target to live, while the target's body still died. If one had Horcruxes, they would not be dead, but they would barely be alive and would be reduced, as Voldemort was when the Killing Curse backfired with his attempt to murder Harry in 1981 to living as a mutilated spirit.Some of the methods Voldemort used, or planned to use, to survive in this state included; living off another, drinking unicorn blood, using the Philosopher's Stone (reduced to a wraith-like state and the stone destroyed soon after before he could), and creating a rudimentary body from unicorn blood and Nagini's venom.Voldemort's Horcruxes tethered his soul to the world. The Curse drove his mangled soul from his body, leaving him to roam only as a shadowy spirit, unable to move on to the afterlife but is a less-than-alive life form. If possible, one can make a Regeneration potion to return to human form, but it required the bone of the father, the flesh of the servant, and the blood of an enemy. Because Voldemort required a servant to perform the rites of his rebirth, he was forced to spend thirteen years in hiding as he had no one who would come to his aid for such time.Upon the destruction of all his Horcruxes, Voldemort had no more defences against death, and was finally killed by his own deflected Killing Curse.
==Curse interception==
Phoenixes were semi-protected from the Killing Curse, due to them being immortal. In 1996, Fawkes swallowed one intended for Albus Dumbledore, causing him to burst into flame and die instantly. However, he then was reborn from his ashes.The spell could be directly countered using a Stunning Spell, in which case red and green jets of light would meet and create multi-coloured sparks. Since neither spell was able to reach its intended target, neither would have any effect, as the jets of light basically exploded on each other. However, this was particularly tricky, as it required both jets of light to collide with one another. It is unknown whether this was limited to the Stunning Spell or if it was possible to reflect the Curse with other spells, although during Harry and Voldemort's final duel a similar thing happened when Harry's Disarming Charm collided with Voldemort's Killing Curse, although the Elder Wand's allegiance to Harry had to be taken into consideration in this particular situation.If another target was placed between the caster and the targeted individual, then the new target would take the hit of the Killing Curse, which could simply result in an object being destroyed or damaged in an explosion of flames. One could also avoid the effects simply by dodging or if the caster had poor aim, as with many similar offensive curses, the spell had to be directly targeted at the intended victim.Should the caster have used the Elder Wand—or actually any wand—without winning its allegiance, to cast the Killing Curse onto its true master, the wand would refuse to kill its master and therefore the curse would backfire onto the caster, thus killing them instead, as when Voldemort’s Killing Curse rebounded on him during his final duel with Harry Potter. 
==Known uses==
===Successful===
Caster(s) 	Victim(s) 	Date 	Note
Lord Voldemort 	James Potter 	31 October 1981	For trying to stop him from killing Lily and Harry Potter.
Lord Voldemort 	Lily Potter 	31 October 1981	For refusing to stop shielding him from killing Harry Potter, despite Voldemort giving her the choice to live.
Lord Voldemort 	Harry Potter 	31 October 1981	For being his enemy.
Lord Voldemort 	Harry Potter 	2 May 1998 	For being his enemy.
Lord Voldemort 	Gellert Grindelwald 	March 1998 	thumb|left
Lord Voldemort 	Lord Voldemort 	31 October 1981	
Lord Voldemort 	Lord Voldemort 	2 May 1998 	
Peter Pettigrew	Cedric Diggory 	24 June 1995 	Used it on Lord Voldemort's orders to murder Cedric.
Severus Snape 	Albus Dumbledore 	30 June 1997 	Planned ahead of time by a slowly dying Dumbledore in order to fool Voldemort.
Death Eater 	Hedwig 	27 July 1997 	Meant for Harry Potter, but missed and hit Hedwig instead.
Numerous 	Victims of the:global wizarding war,First Wizarding War, andSecond Wizarding War	1940s to 1998 	Unknown reasons.
===Unsuccessful===
==Etymology==
Avada Kedavra is based on the Aramaic אַבַדָא כְּדַברָא, avada kedavra, meaning "let the thing be destroyed". J. K. Rowling confirmed this during an audience interview at the on 15 April, 2004, where she 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."Edinburgh Book Festival interviewThis phrase is also the origin of , which, like Hocus Pocus, is used by magicians as a magic word when they perform tricks."Kedavra" also sounds very similar to the English word cadaver, which means "corpse", and derives from the Latin cadere, "to fall"."Cadaver" on The Online Etymology Dictionary"
==Behind the scenes==
* The biological reasons for the victim's death have never been fully explained. In any case, it is something that does not affect the health of the victims, as Muggle autopsies show that there is no change aside from outright death. It may simply be that the Curse just causes every organ in the body to instantaneously shut down, causing the death.
*It is likely that if a caster could successfully prove they only cast the Killing Curse under the influence of the Imperius Curse, they would avoid imprisonment in Azkaban.
*Out of the three Unforgivable Curses, the Killing Curse is the only one that Harry did not use.
*While the curse is noted to be unblockable, there are many exceptions listed: the seventh book shows jets of red and green light colliding and shooting off into multi-coloured sparks, much like fireworks, while the films show it being blocked with a Shield Charm.
* This is the only known spell whose sole and primary application is death. However, it is not the only spell that can prove fatal; Fiendfyre, Sectumsempra, Confringo, Diffindo or even Stupefy in exceptional circumstances. Antonin Dolohov used an unnamed curse that could also prove fatal and Molly Weasley also used an unnamed spell on Bellatrix that caused Bellatrix's death; it is unclear whether any of the other attack spells being used by non-Death Eaters during the battle at Hogwarts were intended to kill the target, or simply disable.
*The curse's incantation were Voldemort's last words in life in the novels.
*Worth noticing is the similarity between the hand movements for the Killing Curse and the shape of Harry's scar; both resemble lightning bolts.
*This is the only one of the three Unforgivable Curses without a Latin incantation.
*During the Encounter at the Shrieking Shack, Sirius Black and Remus Lupin intended to kill Peter Pettigrew for his betrayal of James and Lily Potter. It is unknown how they wanted to do it, but it was possibly by using this curse. If it would have been used, Peter would have died the same way as his former friends.
*In the films the curse has been seen as a jet, a flash, or a burst of green or turquoise light.
===In films=== 
*In , Lucius Malfoy says "Avada-" at Harry Potter after he unwillingly frees Dobby. Dobby knocks Lucius backwards with magic to protect Harry, and he does not finish the incantation. The part of the incantation shown was not represented in the subtitles. This line was improvised by Jason Isaacs.
*In Deathly Hallows: 
**Hedwig is struck with the Killing Curse by a Death Eater while in flight, thus causing her corpse to fall from the sky.
==Appearances==
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==Notes and references==
Category:Regular Defence Against on-the Rare Dark Arts
Category:Real Fire-Based Magic
Category:Horcrux Destruction Methods
Category:Murder
Category:Spells Of-Known Incantation
Category:Spells With-An Light
Category:Entire Unforgivable Curses