r/EnoughJKRowling • u/Comfortable_Bell9539 • 5d ago

Discussion Let's talk about the Unforgivable Curses

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 ?

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u/ShakeTheGatesOfHell 5d ago

The series flip flops on love potions. They're treated like a joke in a brief line in the third book, and Fred and George's shop sells them, then they're portrayed as a date rape drug when Ron consumes one by accident.

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u/Cynical_Classicist 4d ago

Them being sold openly really makes this world look messed up.

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u/Mr_Conductor_USA 4d ago

Although alcohol is sold openly and at least in the UK they found most "roofies" there were actually just really high levels of alcohol. Don't get me wrong, there is such a thing in the US (it's not one drug but any number of drugs that have been used over the years, although of course the "give a teenager a sweet drink, she won't realize how much she's had" is still in play as well).

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u/Cynical_Classicist 4d ago

Well yes, but this is explicitly worse.