I'm sure there's a topic somewhere that discusses this but I know not of it.

My question is: How do you remove the Imperius Curse from someone? Like, we know someone is under it, we're not the caster, so how do we get them free from the curse?

As far as I can recall, this isn't mentioned in canon. I'm drawing a blank in others fics as well, but that might be because I'm exhausted.

Any ideas?

 

Also pimpslap/cockslap/helicopter kick and the other variations thereof.

Seriously, I figure the victim's own mind has to defeat the caster's will. It's just a matter of willpower. A curse would fade over time unless recast within proper intervals, so it'll become harder to keep it working for a long time. It might be the case that the victim's mind would become sort of immune to the curse's total potency if it's subjugated for a long period of time, which might play a role in the long-term use of the Imperius.

In the short term, though, nothing but the willpowers of the combatants should matter.

Edit: To clarify, I don't think anything actively external would work, since the Imperius is not like sleep (that's what I think anyway). Just keeping the victim safe and making sure the curse isn't reapplied should work nicely though.

 

I suppose the death of the original caster would work.

A Finite could theoretically work, if your magical capability exceeded the OC's.

Failing that...what if you cast your Own Imperius and ordered them to throw both of the Imperio curses off? Would that work?

Willpower or bulding a resistance always works well, since Dark Magic is quite similiar to a disease, except far more virulent.

 

Now the tricky part would be figuring out whether they had really broken it, or they were just ordered to pretend they were...

Aerin has a good point. What happens if you double up on Imperii? Do you break the first one? Do both exist at once? Do you break their fragile brain in half if they get contradictory orders?

 

If anything I would guess that the caster with the stronger will would gain control, or at least have the greater say in the instructions. If the new spell got rid of the old curse entirely it could be a way to free people of the curse, but that would be too easy.

Aekiel

 

I think having a simple Finite Incantatum work at stopping it would be quite good at reversing some of the massive overpowering the Imperius curse underwent in DH.

The way I see it, the power of the Imperius curse is in stealth - it's only powerful so long as people don't know that X person is under its effects.

Taking this into account, I think having it reasonably easy to counter, but hard to spot in the first place, would not be out of line with both how the curse works and canon. After all, if it really were that powerful that it was impossible to reverse from the outside, Voldemort would have taken over the Ministry long before he did (and a hundred other dark wizards besides him would also have succeeded first).

 

But that would completely nerf it. All it takes is one bored Auror at the front gates of the Ministry hitting everyone with a finite as they went past.

 

That's a lot of people to hit with a spell. It would slow down getting into the Ministry significantly. Also, presumably "Finite"s can be blocked.

 

Agreed, especially during war, anyone high up in the ministry would just have finite cast upon them daily. Or more likely, paranoid citizens would just go around casting it.

On the other hand, the goblins conveniently have that magic waterfall thing...

 

Because reducing queues is of course more important than making sure enemy forces don't entirely take over the British magical government. And they might be blockable, but it'd be just a tad suspicious to chuck a counterspell up just as you get hit by the daily finite, don't you think?

 

Well, yeah. It takes place in the real world all the time. Schools would be safer if you checked everyone for guns as they came in. So why don't they do it? Simply because the nuisance isn't worth it. Not to mention violation of civil rights of searching people whenever the enter a school.

Same applies to the wizarding world.

 

Checking everyone for guns in schools would require either civil-right-infringing frisks and bag searches or expensive metal detectors across hundreds of schools. Finite upon entry would require an expansion of already-existing security on a single bottleneck to include one guy casting a spell any Hogwarts graduate knows.

Besides, this isn't a bloody school, it's a combination of the White House, a police precinct, a courtroom, a black ops research facility, and an office building. Comparing the two is ludicrous.

 

People are so concerned with the overpowering of the Imperius that they're prepared to accept a similar overpowering of the Finite Incantatem in its stead. o.o

I mean, really. What're the odds that a spell "that any graduate student knows" can counteract an unforgivable mind-influencing curse? Keep in mind that legillimency/occlumency and other assorted magics that affect the human mind are not in the Hogwarts curriculum. If there is a proper counter-curse to the Imperius, I expect that it'll be related to other branches of mind-magic and not an average spell that a fifth-grader can cast successfully.

Edit: Also if we accept Finite as a spell capable of neutralising every spell or charm you carry with you, I rather pity the blokes who come to the MoM with the wizarding versions of pacemaker/glasses and such. It won't be easy for them, getting hit by a Finite at the entrance. Really it won't.

 

No way would it be that simple. If the imperious could be detected/countered so easily, there is no way it would be one of the three unforgivable curses.

It's just like the cruiciatus and killing curse, they are unforgivable for a reason. They don't have to affect someone, the simple act of casting them is unforgivable.

If there were a means to counter the Imperious externally, it would be in as a high use as possible where it's needed, e.g. high level politics.

What grounds would you have to not agree to a test whether your mind is under control by another person when someone like Voldemort is on the loose?

It's just like witnesses refusing to give their DNA/Finger prints where law requires them to do so. If they have nothing to fear, why shouldn't they give in?

 

That is going to stir up a shit storm among some of the more prominent members, but I'm going to comment on the spirit of the idea before we get dragged into a politics debate (again). Not to mention that there's a big difference between DNA/Finger prints and a finite at the door.

Anyhow, I agree that a simple finite is going a bit far when trying to counter-balance the Imperius curse, but I also agree that the strength of the curse is in its stealth. That's why I would make it difficult to detect, outside of the obvious symptoms we saw in GoF, and the way to counter it be to enhance the victim's strength of will, perhaps through potions, cheering charms or even legilimency. None would be certain to work, because they rely on the the victim fighting through the curse in the first place, but it seems to be a relatively simple counter that couldn't be used as easily as a finite incantatem. A middle ground, so to speak.

Aekiel

 

But cant the finite be used with a set purpose. Like ok this guy is under imperius "finite" the imperius magic but leave all others . Just like all these metal detectors you have at govt buildings only check for metal there is nothing that says you cant bring a plastic knife that you can use to kill one or two people in the building before getting put down yourself.

 

I don't think that it is easily detectable. Bartemous Crouch was under it for over a year and nobody seemed to notice. Percy wouldn't because he didn't question anything but Dumbledore and the rest of the judges would have noticed. Rosemaerta was under Draco's for a full year with customers watching her.

The only thing which would make it noticable would be acting very strange.

Breaking it would require something more than a finite and likely be related to the mind arts. Wizards don't seem to have much logic but even they would use a finite if it worked.

An interesting plotbunny could be fake Moody's usage of the curse. If it is that overpowered and isn't easily detectable, what would have stopped him from having a good portion of the school under his control for the entire year?