Bang! You're dead.

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 86533

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, Derek Hiemforth <derek at r...> wrote:
> Carol wrote:
> >That brings us back to the question of
> >why the Avada Kedavra is more evil than any other killing spell.
> [snip]
> >I think we have to put together all the components:
> >
> >1) It kills, instantly and painlessly
> >2) There's no known countercurse or defense (unless you're Harry, LV,
> >or possibly Dumbledore)
> >3) It requires both power or skill and the desire "to really want to
> >cause pain, to enjoy it" (Bellatrix in OoP)
> <more reasons snipped>
> 
> Derek:
> I think the key is number three... I suspect all the Unforgiveables
> (not just the CC) require that the caster get actual pleasure from
> the torture/murder/domination.  And not just the satisfaction of
> something like seeing justice done, but actual personal enjoyment.
> I think it would be clear that anyone who would genuinely enjoy
> killing, torture, or forcing his/her will on another is definitely
> Evil.

Carol: Yes. In fact, Bella is referring to the unforgiveables in
general, not just to the Cruciatus Curse:

"Never used an unforgiveable before, have you, boy?" she yelled. . . . 
"You need to *mean* them, Potter! You need to really want to cause
pain--to enjoy it. . . . I'll show you how it is done, shall I? I'll
give you a lesson---" (OoP 810 Am. Ed.)

Bellatrix herself especially enjoys using the CC, but she indicates
that *all* of the unforgiveables, even the Imperius curse, require a
will to harm the other person. If that's true, and I see no reason to
doubt the word of an expert, we can pretty much eliminate any
benevolent or morally neutral uses for it. It would require the will
to dominate the other person, and not for that person's benefit. And
AK would require killing for pleasure, in which case Sirius and Remus
could not have used it against Peter, no matter how great their rage
toward him for his betrayal. Or would Sirius, at least, have derived a
grim pleasure from it, deranged as he was? I think it would have
driven him over the brink to full-fledged insanity.

Carol