AK Stealing Souls

[ftah3]

No: HPFGUIDX 35812

I've been reading some of the 'why is the Avada Kedavra 
curse "unforgivable"?' discussion, and in the middle of it all my 
train of thought jumped tracks a bit.

There has been talk of AK stealing souls, or making it's user more 
powerful, stuff like that (which made me think of the Quickenings 
in 'Highlander' actually :P).  Also, there are arguments as to it 
being particularly dangerous, or about the fact that perhaps its 
function is *only* to do harm to others, and in light of the fact 
that the other two Unforgiveable curses function only to do harm 
(manipulate without consent, or cause pain), it would make sense for 
AK to fall in that category....

But I keep thinking about Voldemort.  Specifically Voldemort, who 
canon *seems* (as far as my own reading) to imply used AK a *lot,* 
quite possibly much, much more than any of the other baddies.

Voldemort:

- didn't die when the 'killing curse' bounced back on him, but 
instead became less powerful ~ powerless in terms of use of magic and 
any other dangerous form of force, yet able to go off and hide; 
existing in such a way that the best (only?) way for him to return as 
a force in the world is to join the physical being of another 
wizard.  

- when the body he had parasitized(?) was destroyed, still managed to 
escape in...some form.  

- again was able to continue to try to regain power with the help of 
another wizard, but in the form of a strange, small, physically 
helpless, baby-like, snake-venom-suckling entity.

- regained physical form & strength and ability to use magic through 
a Dark spell, but doesn't look altogether human any more.

I've noticed that canon describes certain of Voldemort's very strange 
forms, while never describing the form in which he existed prior to 
being picked up and helped by other wizards.  But even the forms 
described indicate that he wasn't particularly *normal*.  (I mean, in 
light of the fact that with the exception of ghostly forms, other 
wizards don't appear to turn into very weird, half-alive half-
something-else, non-human forms when hit with a killing curse or 
otherwise killed.

I guess I wonder...could the strange non-death of Voldemort have been 
only the result of being hit with a rebounded AK which for some 
reason has a different effect than a direct AK?

Or could part of the "Unforgiveable" classification of the AK be due 
to the effect it has on the user?  There is a tradition in fiction 
(and in philosophy, religion and, in a way, also science) as far as 
Doing Bad Things Will Have A Negative Effect On the Do-Badder.  And 
also as far as Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely.  Etc.  The AK 
curse is a willful, unequivocable, immediate ending of life.  The 
*only* known shield against it is the mysteriously concocted and well-
timed application of a dying mother's love into the very essence of 
her infant son.  I.e., the most powerful mojo of intense mother-love 
is the only thing that can stand against the powerful mojo of all-
powerful old-blooded murder.

I guess I'm suggesting is that perhaps the evil involved in the use 
of AK isn't a one-way street.  Perhaps it is an active evil, just as 
the mother-love that saved Harry had to become an active thing also ~ 
it had to become a power in and of itself, affecting in this case 
Harry, in order to work.  Soooo...what if part of the reason that 
Voldemort survived the rebounded AK, and survived in such mysterious 
and bizarre form is because his use of this Unforgivable Curse 
actually, physically & magically, twisted his very being in some 
way?  And the Unforgivable classification is due in part to 
foreknowledge of this eventuality?

Mahoney