Ok, here is thing:

The Killing Curse kills, right? How?

By ejecting the soul?

Another thing:

In Canon:

The AK kills, and thats it. You drop dead. This happens to Frank Bryce.

BUT, J.K., in another bout of inconsistency and frantic patching of plot to cover plot holes, makes it so the killing curse propels Dumbledore off the tower.


If this isn't bad enough, the movies show Frank just dropping dead, but shows Cedric flying backwards ten feet doing a somersault before falling dead.

Anyone care to debate/straighten this out? What is the correct interpretation?

EDIT: And no, the power to it doesn't make a difference. Voldemort's AK made Frank drop dead, but Peter's had Cedric flying.

 

mmm JKR being dramatic and inconsistent...?

You will find lots of such things in the books. That why there are plot holes big enough to fly the Shuttle through.

 

It may not be the power of the caster that decides the effect, but the power of the victim:

- Frank Bryce was a muggle and dropped dead, the spiders in Moody's class were non-magical and just dropped dead.

-Cedric Diggory and Dumbledore were both magical and both were flung some distance, though the amount of distance varies on whether you watched the film or read the book.

The fact that it has a different effect on magical people might give some insight into the actual function of the spell.

I would argue that it doesn't remove the soul as that would just have the same effect as the dementor's kiss, I would say that it removes the "life-force" of a person, and magical people have a stronger hold on this life-force than other people, therefore making a stronger reaction with the curse as they have a stronger hold to break.

 

Well, in the book Harry closes his eye's and Cedric isn't a gymnast and doesn't fly back, that's only in the movies. As for Dumbledore flying off, I still believe in my theory.

Dumbledore leaned over before it hit him and when he pushed himself off the tower he used a spell to slow his fall. The pheonix from his grave could be *shiver* his animagus form.

As for the Ak it definetly doesn't suck the soul out as a Dementor leaves a person alive and the AK killes them. Personally I think it, and all the Unforgivables, pure magic and just overloads the system. The reason Muggles can't find a reason when Voldy uses it on Frank, well they are muggles.

 

That wouldn't work because Snape was as close as Malfoy was when he shot the Avada Kedavra curse, and Harry saw that the curse hit Dumbledore squarely in the chest.

 

I like that idea sorta like the curse reacts with the wizards magic and causes the flying all over the place.

but i dont think JKR was thinking that much when she wrote it. For all we know the same scene with dumbledore flying off the tower was stolen from some fanfiction. I mean her ideas ever since book 5 her ideas have been looking pretty similar to some other post-GOF/post-OOTP fanfictions out there.

 

How could it not resemble some part of a fanfic, that's when HP fics started to become popular. No matter what you write, its going to resemble some other fic... there's just too many of them.

As for the Avada Kedavra, I like the whole 'reacting with magic' thing as well. Its plausible enough to explain the discrepancies in the books.

 

I have to agree with BlueMagikMarker, there's so much fanfiction out there that she couldn't possibly NOT have the same ideas as some of the fics out there. She's left some big clues over canon to what might happen, some of the stuff easy to pick up on. I doubt she even reads fanfiction, she has no reason to.

I have to agree with Taure's theory, it makes a lot of sense.

 

It's also possible that the power does matter. The stronger the caster, the less of a reaction. Of course, that would require Pettigrew to be more powerful than Snape... which is possible, but seems unlikely.

Or maybe it's a combination of both?

 

I'd have to say that the reactions are jsut inconsistancies in JK's writing. Theres no reason for a killing curse to have any other reaction other than the person being killed.
Think about this, Snape could of really cast a disarming hex which throws the user backwards, although against to many fanfics description, it throws the victim backwards and makes the wand go to the caster, not just make the wand slip out of their hand and fly towards the caster. The killing curse is designed to kill. It probally does so on a atomic level by making the whole body an ion, ie all the atoms which make up the person become ionic thus changing the body holding the person together thus effecticely killing the person. Then the spell could put back those bonds being the atoms back together. The whole proccess would probablly kill them. The grean light could be it happening, the rush that is described, the green rush of death if I remember from GoF, this could be the chain reaction of your body at an atomic level. the fact that life isnt given by the atoms existing but chemical reactions, it could really just stop our body from living, the proccess in putting the atoms back into non ions or whatever would not bring their life back but make their body appear unharmed, but they are dead. This I think would fit the whoel Muggles cannot tell how they died. But wizards could because they know the signs. It also provokes thought about how to counter the killing curse, someone got hit by the curse, some sort of other spell to make the chemical reactions start again in the body in a certain amount of time might maybe bring them back. That also would mean that that the AK stops these chemical reactions from oocurring, thus being selective in what it makes the right way after it has effectively killed someone. This could explain the major power requirements for the unforgivables, as they all mess around with people on the atomic level. Crucio could easily happen, cells which are the beacons of sense of pain, makes the reaction happen at a atomic level to cause unbeliveable pain, your senses would be bombarded with pain, which isnt real, and would leave after effects. The imperio, controls the chemical reactions occurring in the brain making the victim do what the caster wants. Can be fought through magic having a strong control over ones mind, thus the chemical reactions which take place.

Just a theroy, but a plausible one.

Oh yer, these are my ideas for my upcoming fanfic, so don't steal them, ask first, I still am yet to incorporate them as yet.

 

I agree with Taure. Your explanation makes sense. The Theory of BlueMagikMarker, that it's an combination of the power of the victim and the power of the caster looks good, too. Pettigrew isn't that powerful, but neither is Cedric. Snape is stronger than Pettigrew but Dumbledore much more powerful than Cedric. So it makes sense.
Your theory OneEyedMan is good too. I personally don't believe that the inventor of the killing curse would make it put the atoms back together but it's an good explanation.

 

yer, too much effort, but its more likely to be the curse stops the chemical reactions from happening, the muscles from working etc, like making everything just not work instantainiously(sp) like the chemicals which create life stop working and the muscles which make the body work stop working.

Also another theory could be that the killing curse gets rid of the immune system and the green glow could be a form of posion or virus which acts so quickly because of the destruction of the immune system it kills them. Although this might leave some evidence so it's held back through that.

 

Wasn't it put in GOF that the muggles had seemed to die of shock? Could be that the A.K just speeds the heart/brain up so fast it has to shut down immediatly, killing the person.

 

OK, at first glance, the curse appears to have the power to separate the victim's soul (whatever the crap that is) from their body. We generally think this because Voldemort's soul survived whilst his body got... blown the hell up! Then we learned about the Horcruxes. Voldemort used these to somehow keep his soul from going wherever souls go to, most likely hell. Because of this, we can't automatically assume that the Avada Kedavra separates the soul from the body (though it would still be a feasible theory).

Now, the main things that we have to go on are...

• The curse kills the victim instantly
• Muggles can't detect the cause of death
• Sometimes it flings old men off of towers

While it doesn't look like much, those three things really narrow down the possibilities. ​

OK, instant death means that, sorry OneEyedMan, the curse does not simply get rid of the immune system. Some other things that it most likely doesn't do could be...

• Suffocation
• Degeneration of internal organs
• Rupture various arteries
• You get the general idea...

Now, some of the things listed above could also be disproved by the next characteristic of the curse, Muggles can't determine the cause of death. This means that things like breaking ribs and causing the lungs to collapse in on themselves can be counted out, damn, that was always my favorite too! Some other things that the curse does not do...

• Simulate any sort of blunt impact
• Turn your brain to mush
• I'm pretty sure that doctors can determine if somebody died of heart attack but don't quote me on it.
• Remove any vital organs (or blood)
• Put a bullet through somebody's head

Our final characteristic is solely for wizards (I'm going by the fact that Muggles didn't get thrown anywhere while magic folk did). There fore we should be able to determine that the whole 'getting thrown off a tower thing' was due to the curse somehow interacting with the victim's magic. If you're confused at this point, just think: Muggle=Just falls over while Wizard=Blown away depending on the amount of magic they have.

That leaves very few possible answers and a few questions. If the curse separates the soul from the body, does a wizard's soul manifest differently than a Muggle's? Or, it the curse isn't as magical in nature as we thought and it just severs the spinal cord, why does the wizard get blown away violently?

Sorry that I didn't give any clear answer, but hopefully this long post got you thinking.
Edit: But really, who cares about killing someone with a silly curse, use your bare hands!

 

I think it just ejects the soul, and more powerful wizards put up a "fight" with their magic. This "fight" results in their being blasted off.

Dementors suck your soul, true, but they are contained in the land of the living, in the dementor, so you still have a link with your body. Bodies that have their soul out, but still int he land of the living go comatose. When they "pass on" the body dies, as the link is severed.

 

Maybe the curse reacts with the victims magic, turning it on the victim, maybe by overloading the magic to body ratio. It's possible the curse connects with the victims inherant magic, creating the blown back effect on wizards compared to the falling down dead of muggles. In this instance, dumbledore was powerful magically, so the overall power of the curse was such to propel him a large distance, whereas a muggle, having no magic for the curse to combine with, would just fall down.

Obviously hate is a large part, the power of the hate is something to consider. Snape may loathe and despise dumbledore, and the power of his hate was such to create a large effect, whereas voldemort may have just felt a hateful contempt for the muggle frank bryce, so the curse was not powerful enough to thro him anywhere. The hate may simply cause the heart to stop,as the heart has always been connected to love, which is the antithesis of hate and therefore, in a hate powered curse, the subject of attack. literal to physical is a lot of the magic in the books, after all.

Also, wouldnt pettigrew have a reasonable amount of power to be able to kill 14 muggles at once?

 

I just say its a plot hole that JK made.

Hmm I wonder what curse he would've used? and sirius survived the curse and didn't get hurt in the process.

 

Well, I persoanlly think that its magic and it just works. Oh wait, it is... j/k
My theory is that it somehow ends brain activity, maybe from overload by the green light, which the human eye is most sensitive to.

 

Yeah. I must agree with LINKed up. It's the easiest explanation and these are often the best. As for Sirius: Did Pettigrew not shoot the spell behind him thus away from Sirius? I also think he he shot his spell on a gas line, which exploded.