@Sesc, to your strong analysis I would add that, with the exception of Grindelwald, wizarding conflicts take place within the consensus that the Statute of Secrecy must be maintained, and so there will be limits to what both sides can do.

To pre-empt a likely reply: yes, Voldemort attacked Muggles but never in a way that put the Statute of Secrecy at risk. It was always within the ability of the Ministry to contain... which is presumably the strategic point. Keep the Ministry focusing their resources on maintaining secrecy, keep them working overtime and under pressure from the ICW... don't give them the time or energy to focus their efforts on catching Voldemort.

 

Because Harry's a pussy who names his kids after a manipulative headmaster, and the greasy wanker who had spent the entire life jerking off at the memory of his mum and had tormented him all the years at Hogwarts of all people. Refuses power of the hallows. What I liked was Remus telling Harry to cut it out with Expelliarmus and to do something else. Granted the kid doesn't listen but I found it funny that even Remus thought he was a shitty wizard. I think it was the best when Remus blasted Harry across the room.

 

and you Name yourself after a "pussy"?

 

At least put some effort in, mate.

 

It's 2006 all over again...

 

Harry was shooting jinxes
and curses at any Death Eater he could see, and they crumpled, not
knowing what or who had hit them, and their bodies were trampled
by the retreating crowd.

- DH CH 35

 

This discussion has moved on to the Freestyle Poetry Slam phase, apparently.

Why sully the soul with the Dark Arts
when there are things
much, much worse than death?
Harry's supposed to be the
Good Guy,
remember?

 

Except he was using the Dark Arts.?

 

The fact that Harry suddenly had no problem using two of the Unforgivables in DH, and McGonagall as well, out of the blue and with no comment or objection from anyone else, is one of my biggest complaints about that book.

But given that the Killing Curse shreds your soul is still a pretty good argument against it. It's not the darkest of the Dark Arts, but it's getting there.

 

She probably wrote it to spite fanfiction writers who tried to make a distinction between Dark Magic and "Light" Magic.

I can imagine her just sitting there on her couch, drinking hot cocoa, and giggling

 

Given that she spent seven books doing pretty much the same thing, I don't buy it. It was just lazy writing.

 

It's not a killing curse though, but murder itself. Basically, every spell that kills or even killing with a kitchen knife is as dark in this regard.

 

Maybe he refused to use the spell that gave him the scar and fucked his life beyond redemption?

 

Read the thread title.

 

I know what the thread title is.

But here:

You seem to imply that it's the killing curse's property, which is not true.

 

Indeed, you don't have to even kill someone yourself for it to fragment your soul. Tom Riddle didn't kill Myrtle, the basilisk did, but apparently ordering someone killed is still sufficient for the purposes of horcrux creation.

 

Personally, I think that's a plot hole/inconsistency, not proof of the contrary. Dumbledore clearly says that it's necessary for the person to commit murder, not be an accessory.

It is a property of it, regardless of whether it's unique. More importantly, it's my answer to the OP's prompt.

 

No, it's the property of act of murder, to which performing it can be used. The question is, what constitutes murder, and it seems to be a matter of individual perception:

 

There is the popular (or, at least, I remember it as being popular) fan theory that the Avada Kedavra curse was first invented and used for altruistic purposes, like magical farming, killing farm animals, et cetera. So, under those circumstances, I don‘t think simply using the curse would be enough to split the soul. I would agree that it is more up to the interpretation of one‘s deed, and in the case of Snape and Dumbledore, I don‘t think a mercy killing such as Snape performed it, upon request and with almost a year of planning, no less, would be enough to rip a soul apart, either. After all, I don‘t think Snape intended to bash Dumbledore‘s head in with a brick when the time came.