Lily, Voldemort, AK and the atomic bomb analogy

[Ceridwen]

No: HPFGUIDX 144651

Geoff:
> 'Moody raised his wand and Harry felt a sudden thrill of foreboding.
> "Avada Kedavra!" Moody roared.
> There was a flash of blinding green light and a rushing sound as 
> though a vast, invisible something was soaring through the air - 
> instantaneously the spider rolled over onto its back, unmarked, but 
> unmistakeably dead.'
> (GOF "The Unforgiveable Curses" pp.190-191 UK edition)
> 
> but....
> 
> '(Tom Riddle speaking)
> "How do you split your soul?"
> "Well," said Slughorn uncomfortably, "you must understand that the 
> soul is supposed to remain intact and whole. Splitting it is an act 
> of violation, it is against nature."
> "But how do you do it?"
> "By an act of evil - the supreme act of evil. By committing 
> murder..."'
> (HBP "Horcruxes" p.465 UK edition)
> 
> I hope I am not offending any arachnophiles, but I do not think 
that 
> killing a spider is considered to be a "supreme act of evil".....

Ceridwen:
Sure it is!..  If you're another spider.  ;)

I wasn't going for it being the sound of the *soul splitting*, but I 
do think it's the sound of a great amount of power being put behind 
the spell.  And I do think Saraquel made a good point about the 
magnitude of the AK.  The reason I don't think it is the sound of the 
soul splitting is because the victim isn't dead yet.  If only murder 
can split the soul, per Slughorn, and Dumbledore doesn't dispute 
this, then intending to murder isn't the same thing.

The originaly idea by Saraquel was:
> It starts with the idea that the Avada Kadavra curse is created by
> splitting the soul, rather like the splitting of the atom, where a
> huge amount of energy is released, along with radiation. The
> rushing sound which is heard when the spell is cast is the blast
> wave rolling out from the splitting of the soul.

At the MoM in OotP, Bellatrix tells Harry he has to mean it in order 
to cast Cruciatus.  His attempts were ineffective.  The AK is the 
only one of the three meant for killing.  IMO, that would require a 
great amount of power being concentrated in a small area (tip of the 
wand) in a split second of time.  The rushing sound, if the Fake!
Moody AK is typical, follows the green light, and is the sound of the 
gathered power following the spell.  This would act like the A-Bomb 
in a way, the drawing in and then the spreading out or release of the 
power.

And, I think that would make sense.  Harry gains some of LV's 
particular powers, at least one we know of so far, Parseltongue.  
That would be a byproduct of the power hitting him just after the 
curse is deflected.  I'm assuming that the curse is what made the 
scar, and the scar would then be the point of entry for the power(s) 
which followed the green light.

So, IMO, the A-Bomb scenario is valid.  Not the part about the soul 
being split before the victim has become the victim, but in relation 
to the amount of power needed to cast the spell, its concentration, 
and the idea that it would leave a vacuum (I think that would be the 
right word?) in its wake as it is released.

Ceridwen.