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-spells to this curse were sacrificial protection and the Ancilian Charm, which used the power of love. The Killing Curse was a conventionally unblockable curse; therefore shield charms, with the exception of the Ancilian charm, 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 if they wanted to quickly get away before the curse hit them. 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 Great Britain in 1717.

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, Auror Cassius Bell used this curse to kill a red-haired young witch in the Lestrange Mausoleum.

### 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 This was repealed once the war was over, as it was no longer necessary.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. Voldemortarrived 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 in order to win.

Shortly before their imprisonment in Azkaban for being Death Eaters, Merula Snyde's mother and father taught her the Killing Curse, in order to teach her the necessary self-defence she would need without them around to protect her.

### Between the wars

When disguised as Alastor Moody using Polyjuice Potion during the 1994–1995 school year, Bartemius Crouch Junior performed each Unforgivable Curse on a spider in front of his fourth-year Defence Against the Dark Arts class in September 1994. He told his class the penalty for using an Unforgivable Curse on another human being was life imprisonment in Azkaban. The Ministry did not approve of this because "Professor Moody" was showing these curses to those who did not truly need to see it (i.e., a class of 14-15-year-olds), but it did not appear to have been illegal. Harry Potter had always wondered how his parents have died, and witnessing the curse that killed them was very clearly unpleasant.

Lord Voldemort also used the curse in 1994 to murder Frank Bryce, the Muggle caretaker who looked after Riddle House, after secretly eavesdropping on his plan to kill Harry Potter with Pettigrew.

### Second Wizarding War

The Killing Curse was known throughout most of the wizarding world to be Voldemort's signature spell. Lord Voldemort was a prolific user of the Killing Curse throughout his life. He used the curse excessively throughout the First and Second Wizarding Wars. He also used the curse outside of warfare, having killed Charity Burbage, an outspoken Muggle supporter, simply to satisfy the pure-blood supremacy of both himself and his supporters. His first known usage of the curse was at age 16, murdering his father, paternal grandfather and paternal grandmother. He used it to murder the famous wandmaker Mykew Gregorovitch and notorious Dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald, while searching abroad for the Elder Wand.

When he learned of Harry Potter's successful Gringotts break-in and retrieval of Hufflepuff's Cup, he murdered several goblins and other Gringotts employees in a fit of rage. Ironically, the Killing Curse, Voldemort's signature spell, was ultimately the very spell that led to his own defeat. On 2 May, during the Battle of Hogwarts, Harry willingly let Voldemort hit him with the Killing Curse, in order to be rid of the piece of Voldemort's soul he harboured at the time. In his final duel against Harry Potter, Voldemort would not realise that the curse would backfire (because the Elder Wand would not kill its true master), thereby finally putting an end to the Dark Lord. Harry thought surviving the Killing Curse for a second time felt like an "iron-clad punch".

When Voldemort took over the Ministry, the three curses were once again legalised; this time every wizard and witch had the right to use them as they pleased. In fact, they were practised in Hogwarts as part of the curriculum of the Dark Arts class under the cruel tutelage of Professor Amycus Carrow, a Death Eater. After Voldemort's final death and the reform of the Ministry under the newly appointed Minister Kingsley Shacklebolt, the three curses were made forbidden once again and their original penalties were restored.

## Nature

The 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 without causing any injury or pain. The method the curse kills the victim is unknown; however, Voldemort described the curse as having ripped his soul from his body when he was originally struck with it, resulting in his biological death.

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 witches and 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 it for the curse to take away.

### Performance

The curse required great skill, power, and intent in order to be performed correctly. On 4 September 1994, Bartemius Crouch Junior, 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. On 30 June 1997, during the Battle of the Astronomy Tower, Severus Snape also stated that to cast the Unforgivable Curses, one needed both nerve and ability. It was possible to cast the curse nonverbally, as Bellatrix Lestrange 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. However, as Vincent Crabbe was capable of casting it (whose magical skills were often lacking), the power and skill needed to perform it may have been somewhat overstated.

The Killing Curse, in addition to requiring the caster to be a very powerful and skilled witch or wizard, also required a genuine willingness and at many times deep desire to commit murder. Bellatrix 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, on the other hand, could tell at once the cause of one's 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 apparently 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 impossible 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.

### Ancilian Charm

*Main article: Ancilian Charm*
**No one had ever demonstrated the ability to kill a Dementor, by *Avada Kedavra* or otherwise, implying that they couldn't be killed through physical means, but could only be driven away or temporarily kept at bay. One of the few ways to shield oneself from Dementors was by the very difficult Patronus Charm. The charm summoned a Patronus, a magical manifestation of good will and happiness, providing varied levels of protection against the Dementors' influence, based on the caster's strength as a wizard.**

**With sufficient ability, a single wizard could hold off dozens, if not hundreds, of Dementors with a single corporeal Patronus. Harry Potter demonstrated during his third year at Hogwarts when he drove off a horde of Dementors seeking to consume Hermione Granger, Sirius Black, and Harry's past selves...**

### 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 on, while the target's physical 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 using 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

"*Harry responded with further Stunning Spells: Red and green collided in midair in a shower of multicoloured sparks...*"
— Harry Potter's Stunners blocking the Killing Curse[src]

The *Priori Incantatem* effect was when two wands that shared the same cores were put into battleagainst each other. One wand would then force the other wand to repeat its previously-cast spells. Because of this, a Killing Curse could be blocked if a wand that shared the killer's wand's core fired a spell at it: both spells would connect and thus the wizard had been spared by the Killing Curse.

*Priori Incantatem* occurred in the duel between Harry Potter and Voldemort in the graveyard during Harry's fourth year. Voldemort cast the Killing Curse and Harry cast the Disarming Charm, and because their wands had twin cores, *Priori Incantatem* occurred; Harry was not killed and was able to hold Voldemort off to give him time to escape.

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

"*He saw the mouth move and a flash of green light, and everything was gone.*"
— Harry Potter being hit with the curse[src]

### Unsuccessful

"*Crabbe wheeled around and screamed,* AVADA KEDAVRA! *again. Ron leaped out of sight to avoid the jet of green light.*"
— Vincent Crabbe attempting to murder Ron Weasley[src]

## 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 Edinburgh Book Festival 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."

This phrase is also the origin of *abracadabra*, 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".