Labelled as the worst Unforgivable Curse (the other two being the Cruciatus Curse and Imperius Curse), Avada Kedavra meaning is, in simple words, death. The spell instantly takes the life of the person standing in front of the wand casting this spell.
Avada Kedavra Meaning and Origin
Any sorcerer who would want to kill others can use this spell and chant “Avada Kedavra”. The Avada Kedavra meaning stands for “what was said has been done”, or in Aramaic, meaning to “be destroyed at this word”. In the Potter-verse, it is also known as the Harry Potter killing curse.
This ancient Aramaic spell originates from abracadabra, which means ‘let the thing be destroyed’. It was originally used to cure illnesses. However, J.K. Rowling took the illness as the ‘thing’ standing in front of someone about to perform the spell. Alternatively, the word ‘kedavra’ sounds quite close to the English word cadaver, which means ‘corpse’. It is derived from the Latin word ‘cadere’ meaning, ‘to fall’.
Cause of Death of the Victims of Avada Kedavra
The book has never stated any biological reasons for the victims of the curse to die instantly. It may cause a person’s soul to ‘pass on’ and leave the body. It might be quite similar to what happens when someone dies naturally, and their soul passes on to the afterlife. In any case, it is something that does not affect the health of the victims that could be detected by any Muggle autopsy. There is no change or cause other than outright death.
Avada Kedavra: The Only Spell that is Crafted to Kill
There are other spells in the magic vocabulary that can cause the death of someone. Spells that can cause grievous injury are Fiendfyre, Sectumsempra, Antonin Dolohov’s Curse, the Blasting Curse or even overuse of the Stunning Spell. Other spells like the Imperius curse or Impedimenta can cause death in certain circumstances. The Imperius Curse is used on someone to order the person to commit suicide.
However, Avada Kedavra is the only spell whose sole and primary application is to cause death, instant death.
Unforgivable Killing Curse
The Killing Curse was one of the three curses pronounced by the Ministry of Magic to be “Dark Magic”, along with the Cruciatus and Imperius Curses. They were deemed “unforgivable” throughout the UK from 1717 onwards.
The Killing Curse was declared to be the deadliest of the three. The Ministry commenced this declaration by adding that the use of this curse on any human would be punishable by a life sentence without parole in Azkaban.
The Killing Curse was used in other scenarios like the Magical Congress of the United States of America in 1927. It was legitimately used on magical beasts who were considered dangerous.
This curse was also used during the First Wizarding War, both by Aurors and supporters of the Dark Wizard Gellert Grindelwald.
Nature of Avada Kedavra
The use of the Killing Curse is recognized by a flash of green light and a rushing noise emitted from the wand of the one who cast it. When the curse hits a living being, anything organic, the being gets invariably killed. There will be no detectable injury marks if someone is killed by the Avada Kedavra. The one and only Avada Kedavra meaning is instant death.
When the curse struck Voldemort, it killed his physical body but ripped his soul. Although most victims just drop dead, if the force of the impact is strong enough, it might blast off a person as well. When Snape used the curse on Dumbledore, he fell off the Astronomy Tower, an impact that Harry described as an “iron-clad punch”.
When the curse hits an inanimate object, it could produce greenish sparks or explosions of enormous intensity, large enough to blow up a place. It is known by most in the wizarding world as the signature spell of Lord Voldemort.
Chances of Survival
Though it could be physically dodged, the Killing Curse is unblockable, and its effect, i.e. death, is irreversible once it strikes a living victim. Also, there is no counter curse to revive the dead. However, there are a few exceptions.
In the magical world, there have been only two people who were able to survive the curse. Harry Potter, “The Boy Who Lived”, was protected by his mother’s loving sacrifice and Voldemort himself due to the Horcruxes he made. Each of them had a part of his soul in it.
Harry avoided being killed by the spell a second time when he used the Disarming Charm and was saved by the effects of Priori Incantatem when his and Voldemort’s wands interlocked in the Little Hangleton graveyard.
In 1996, Fawkes sacrificed himself by swallowing a Killing Curse cast by Voldemort, aimed at Dumbledore. However, since phoenixes are immortal, he just burst into flames and was immediately reborn from his own ashes.
The Victims of the Harry Potter Killing Curse
Lord Voldemort murdered many people with his signature spell. His victims included his own father, Tom Riddle Senior, his grandfather and grandmother, James and Lily Potter, Charity Burbage, Frank Bryce, Gellert Grindelwald, Bertha Jorkins, Cedric Diggory and countless more. In fact, he had killed enough people to create his own army of Inferi.
How Harry Survived the Killing Curse
Simply put, it was mother’s love. Something that Voldemort did not understand. So, when he asked Lily to step aside, and she refused, she had already cast her protective spell around the cradle of baby Harry. When the spell rebounded and hit the Dark Lord himself, it fragmented his soul into pieces, and one of them resided in Harry.
It was a kind of magic that Voldemort would have never comprehended.
When Voldemort hit Harry with the Killing Curse in the Battle of Hogwarts, he destroyed his own piece of Horcrux inside him, thus setting Harry free. Once all the Horcruxes were destroyed, Voldemort was at his most vulnerable. His own Killing curse spell bounced back at him for the Elder Wand refused to recognize him as its master, and he died an undignified death.
Harry Potter was a threat to Voldemort as long as he was alive. However, surviving the Avada Kedavra spell made him a legend.
The Bottom Line
The true power that lay behind bringing Harry back to life came from his unwillingness to fight death. His mother’s unconditional love shielded him from the Avada Kedavra (Killing Curse) once again, even after 17 years. It changed the hitherto existing Avada Kedavra meaning- the killing curse could be meticulously eluded by love.