Malum in prohibendum vs. Malum in se, was Re: Harry using Crucio.

[horridporrid03]

No: HPFGUIDX 174367

> >>Bruce Alan Wilson:
> <snip>
> You will note that JKR shows her 'good' characters doing Crucio and 
> Imperio, but never explicitly Avada Kevadra. Hence, SHE apparently 
> thinks that the first two are MIP, while the last is MIS. (Now,     
> some people don't see a difference, but this is JKR's sandbox. She 
> gets to make the rules.)
> <snip>

Betsy Hp:
JKR definitely makes the rules.  And she's changed them here.  
Because what made the Unforgivables wrong in her other books is that 
you had to *mean* them.  IOWs, you couldn't throw a Crucio at someone 
you just wanted to punch in the face.  You had to want to pull their 
fingernails out.  You had to want to see them writhe in pain.  And it 
had to be for the pain's sake, not just your own "righteous" anger.  
You had to get in touch with your inner sadist.  We had an explicit 
example of that in GOF.

It was reasonable to infer then, that to successfully cast an 
Imperius you had to *want* to fully subjugate someone to your will, 
make them your complete slave.  And that to successfully cast an AK 
you had to *want* someone's death.

So being able to successfully cast an Unforgivable meant that you 
were in a dark and cruel headspace.  You weren't torturing for a 
purpose other than enjoying seeing someone in pain.  You controlled 
with the joy of controlling, you killed with the joy of killing.

Of course in DH, things have changed.  Just as polyjuice now lasts 
for as long as needed, Crucio has become the equivalent of punching 
someone in the face.  Imperio has been watered down to a nicely 
effective Confoundis.

Mainly because JKR doesn't want us to judge her characters by what 
they *do*.  She needs us to judge them by what they *are*.  Anything 
Harry does is, by definition, good.

Betsy Hp (who notes this is the exact opposite of Batman's philosophy 
as per "Batman Begins" and, as per usual, agrees with Batman)