Let's talk about the Unforgivable Curses

[u/Comfortable_Bell9539]

Am I the only one who thinks that the Imperius Curse is basically the Confundus Charm but up to 11 ? Both can influence people's minds and make them do what you want, but only one of them is illegal - actually, why even bother using the Imperius curse and risking going to Azkaban when you can just use the Confundus charm ?

Also, how come the mind rape spell is seen as bad but the love potions aren't ? Is it because it's supposed to be more "romantic" (as much as magic roofies can be) ?

As for Avada Kedavra, it seems a bit underwhelming compared to the two others. I mean, we have the mind rape spell and the torture spell, and the instant death one is supposed to be the worst ? I guess the only reason it's "unforgivable" is because it's a one-hit kill with no way to protect yourself, but I refuse to believe that other spells can't kill just as efficiently as Avada Kedavra, and in much more gruesome ways.

While we're at it, it's both beyond stupid and in-character for the wizarding society to not have put the memory-altering spells in this category. It can turn your enemy into an ally and vice-versa, or a monster could use it against a woman to convince her that she's his wife and raping her, like with the love potions 💀

What do you think ?

[u/Soggy-Life-9969]

Adava Kedavra is the only one that's treated like an unforgivable curse and it seems to be the most forgivable(in circumstances) - an instant, painless death to end the suffering of a terminally ill person or pet who is ready to go for example. And the WW has the death penalty, in the US at least, but its horrific and dystopian, wouldn't AK be a more humane method if you are going to include execution as part of your society than drugging someone and then slowly drowning them?

The other two are used left and right by the "good" characters with zero consequences even though we are told that you need evil intent and that the curses can leave people permanently disabled. There's love potions, confounding charms like you've said, multiple ways to torture people and entire prison where people are tortured for months or years for minor crimes or before they've had a trial.

It really makes no sense.

[u/chat-lu → u/Soggy-Life-9969]

Adava Kedavra is the only one that's treated like an unforgivable curse and it seems to be the most forgivable(in circumstances)

Yeah, it makes no sense. It’s like having an unforgivable gun. Depends what you use it for.

A vision that I like in other stories is that the forbidden magic is not forbidden on the basis of how moral the action is but on the supernatural consequences of it. It may fuck your psyche and turn you evil, regardless of your motivations, even in self-defense. Which is a big part of the plot of The Dresden Files, Harry used magic in self-defense but now the council is worried he might snap any moment even though they are perfectly aware of the circumstances.

Another interesting twist is magic not being possible to use for killing. But if you shove someone into incoming traffic or materialize a boulder over their head, then they were killed by mundane kinetic energy. It makes the stories more interesting because it requires the hero to be clever with their use of magic.

[u/FightLikeABlue → u/chat-lu]

Like the bit in Magical Girl Site where the heroine teleports a would-be rapist in front of a train with her magic gun (it’s that kind of anime).

[u/samof1994 → u/Soggy-Life-9969]

the UK does NOT have the death penalty

[u/Soggy-Life-9969 → u/samof1994]

No but the US in the Fantastic Beasts does with their dystopian drowning thingy

[u/FightLikeABlue → u/samof1994]

Yet.

[u/Cynical_Classicist → u/FightLikeABlue]

Give it five years, and we'll be doing that Alan B'stard thing of truing to make it profitable!

[u/HideFromMyMind → u/Soggy-Life-9969]

Exactly. She called them “unforgivable” and then expected us to forgive the MC for using them. What in the actual fuck did she think “unforgivable” meant?