Hey guys,
Welcome to another installment of Harry Potter Theory. First things first, I just want to
say a big thank-you to everyone for helping us hit 100,000 subscribers. This is a massive
milestone and we really appreciate all of your support. In this video, we’re going
to be discussing Harry Potter, Lord Voldemort, the final battle of the franchise, and avada
kedavra.
Now, Harry and Voldemort meet on numerous occasions, and each time that they meet they
engage in a clash of magic. And, seemingly every tim,e the pair end up choosing their
signature spells to use against the other. For Voldemort, this is avada kedavra, and
for Harry, it’s expelliarmus.
We see this in their graveyard duel:
“A jet of green light issued from Voldemorts wand just as a jet of red light blasted from
Harry's — they met in midair — and suddenly Harry's wand was vibrating as though an electric
charge were surging through it”
And we also see this in their final duel at the battle of Hogwarts, depicted in Chapter
36 of the deathly hallows:
“‘Avada Kedavra!’”
‘Expelliarmus!’”
“The bang was like a cannon-blast and the golden flames that erupted between them, at
the dead centre of the circle they had been treading, marked the point where the spells
collided Harry saw Voldemort’s green jet meet his own spell’
Yes, I know what you’re thinking, expelliarmus worked, and Harry ended up winning due to
some extraneous circumstances- but you have to wonder why Harry would continually opt
for the disarming charm, of all spells, to use against arguably the most powerful dark
wizard of all time.
There are a few reasons that I think that he kept using it.
For of all, Harry has a lot of experience with Expelliarmus. He uses it all of the time,
it’s his go-to, and he is completely comfortable casting it. We never actually see Harry use
avada kedavra, and he was ‘relatively’ unsuccessful, having mixed results when casting
other unforgivable curses. He used the Imperius curse successfully while breaking into Gringotts,
but when he tried to use the Cruciatus curse on Bellatrix he had a less than favourable
result.
Next, because of his experience with the spell, he knew that it was reliable. It had worked
for him thus far, so-why would he switch? Why even consider using another spell? He
defeated Voldemort in the graveyard doing the exact same thing.
The next reason for Harry using expelliarmus on Voldemort, was the fact that Harry wanted
to, in spite of all of the horrible things that he had done, show Voldemort some mercy.
In the books, we learn that an act of great remorse may repair a soul which has been split
using horcruxes, and Harry offers Voldemort this chance for redemption:
“Yeah, it did,” said Harry. “You’re right. But before you try to kill me, I’d
advise you to think about what you’ve done… Think, and try for some remorse, Riddle…”
“What is this?”
Of all the things that Harry had said to him, beyond any revelation or taunt, nothing had
shocked Voldemort like this. Harry saw his pupils contract to thin slits, saw the skin
around his eyes whiten.
“It’s your one last chance,” said Harry, “it’s all you’ve got left… I’ve
seen what you’ll be otherwise… Be a man… try… Try for some remorse…”
By using a spell like expelliarmus on Voldemort, rather than a killing curse, Harry was giving
Voldemort one final chance. Harry never actually kills Voldemort- it was Voldemort’s own
curse rebounding back at him. By casting expelliarmus, Harry was giving Voldemort this one final
opportunity.
Next, Harry Potter was just not a killer. In the Prisoner of Azkaban, Harry even saved
Peter Pettigrew:
“NO!” Harry yelled. He ran forward, placing himself in front of Pettigrew, facing the
wands. “You can’t kill him,” he said breathlessly. “You can’t.” Black and
Lupin both looked staggered.
“We’ll take him up to the castle. We’ll hand him over to the dementors.... He can
go to Azkaban... but don’t kill him.” “Harry!” gasped Pettigrew, and he flung
his arms around Harry’s knees. “You — thank you — it’s more than I deserve — thank
you —”
After this, Harry’s not exactly gracious about Pettigrew’s praise, but at the end
of the day he still didn’t want Pettigrew dead.
And lastly, Harry just didn’t want to stoop to Voldemort’s level. The killing curse
was an ‘unforgivable curse’, and there’s no doubt in my mind that Harry associated
it with the death of his own parents. Harry didn’t feel that killing was necessary,
and Mad-Eye Moody, an auror that he admired, was known to always avoid killing if possible.
This is explained in the following excerpt:
“I’ll say this for Moody, though, he never killed if he could help it. Always brought
people in alive where possible. He was tough, but he never descended to the level of the
Death Eaters.”
Harry wanted to become an auror himself, and he was a very morally righteous person. If
he didn’t need to kill, he would always avoid it. He didn’t need to stoop to the
level of the other side.
And that’s it for this video! I hope you enjoyed it. As always, leave your video suggestions
down below. Until next time, YER A WIZARD ARRY.