Summary

• Harry Potter used Unforgivable Curses, such as the Cruciatus Curse, in extreme situations of emotion and distress.
• Harry used the Imperius Curse multiple times during the Gringotts heist to accomplish their mission.
• Harry never used the Killing Curse, Avada Kedavra, due to his moral stance against murder and his personal connection to its victims.

The Unforgivable Curses are three of the most deadly spells within the Harry Potter universe, and while he's no dark wizard himself, Harry Potter uses these forbidden spells more than once. The darkest of the Dark Arts, the Harry Potter unforgivable curses are the Cruciatus Curse, the Imperius Curse, and the Killing Curse. Although the curses are illegal, Harry uses Unforgivable Curses, but only once he is thrust into the Second Wizarding War. While many of Lord Voldemort's Death Eaters continued to use them illegally, Aurors had permission to cast the spells during both Wizarding Wars — and while never given permission, Hogwarts student Harry Potter uses some Unforgivable Curses too.

The Cruciatus Curse inflicts excruciating pain and is often used as a method of torture and interrogation. The Imperius Curse, cast through "Imperio," places a victim in a suggestive dreamlike state, giving the caster control over the victim. The Killing Curse is straightforward in that it instantly inflicts painless death on the victim. Harry used two unforgivable curses, and each occasion weighed heavily on him. Harry didn't cast every Unforgivable Curses, but he made use of some of them more than once. With the Harry Potter reboot TV series on the way from Max, there is sure to be more about the wizards who used unforgivable curses and their implications.

The Harry Potter movies are available to stream on Max.

Harry Failed With His First Two Crucio Attempts

Harry's Early Attempts At The Torture Curse Didn't Work

While the idea of Harry using Unforgivable Curses seems unfathomable, he casts several in both the books and movies. Harry uses two Unforgivable Curses (outside Sectumsempra, which should be considered an Unforgivable Curse), though not always successfully. Out of the Unforgivable Curses Harry Potter details, the Cruciatus curse is used frequently. Also referred to as the Torture Curse, Crucio caused unbearable writhing pain throughout the victim's body. The pain resulted in permanent mental damage if the victim was exposed to the curse for too long.

While multiple figures try to cast Unforgivable Curses on Harry, Voldemort gets him with Crucio in the Little Hangleton graveyard during Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. According to Harry, it made him feel like his head was being split open. Not long after, Harry Potter found himself attempting the Cruciatus Curse on his own enemies — twice (though he failed during the attempts).

The first time Harry cast Cruciatus was in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix on Bellatrix Lestrange after she killed Sirius Black in the Department of Mysteries. The next time Harry uses Crucio comes during Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince when Harry aims the spell at Severus Snape after the death of Albus Dumbledore, but the professor blocks it.

Harry's Successful Use of The Cruciatus Curse

Sadly for his conscience, Harry Potter used Unforgivable Curses before the end of the story, casting the Cruciatus curse successfully in the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows book. While Harry and his friends were on the Horcrux hunt, Voldemort sent Death Eaters to check the Ravenclaw Tower. Dark Wizard Amycus Carrow was among the followers who demanded entry into the Tower from Professor McGonagall.

After McGonagall calls Amycus a coward, the dark wizard spits in her face, which Harry witnesses. To punish Amycus's disrespectful act, Harry used the Cruciatus Curse and slammed him against the wall. McGonagall followed up Harry's action by using the Imperius Curse on Amycus before tying him up with a net, rendering him useless during the Battle of Hogwarts. Harry Potter's use of the Cruciatus Unforgivable Curse usually comes from a place of extreme emotion and distress, so while he does use the dark spells it's not with the same callousness as Voldemort or his followers.

Harry Used The Imperius Curse Multiple Times During The Gringotts Heist

Imperio Is The Unforgivable Curse Harry Potter Uses Most

Despite Harry Potter using Unforgivable Curses seeming unlikely because of his hero status, he casts Imperio quite frequently during Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Death Eaters had a history of using Imperio to make innocent victims do their bidding, but Harry Potter casts the Imperius Curse on them and turns the tables. Harry Potter casts Imperio three times on two separate figures. This occurs when, in their search for Horcruxes, Harry, Ron, and Hermione travel to Gringotts Bank to find and recover Hogwarts founder Helga Hufflepuff's cup.

Since the trio hiding from the wizarding authorities they were forced to use a variety of spells to break in undetected. To get into Gringotts, Harry and the group disguised themselves. Hermione used a Polyjuice potion to transform into Bellatrix Lestrange, so they could gain access to the Lestrange Vault. While getting to the vault, the trio ran into Bogrod, a Goblin bank teller, and Travers, a Death Eater. To get them to participate in the heist as accomplices Harry resorts to an Unforgivable Curse — Imperio.

Bogrod briefly regains consciousness when they pass through one of the many security enchantments in the underground section of the bank. To keep the mission going as planned, Harry Potter cast a second Imperius Curse on the Goblin before Bogrod could raise the alarm to stop them from robbing Gringotts. Even with various charms placed within the vault, the trio managed to escape with the Horcrux relatively unharmed. Harry Potter using Unforgivable Curses was wholly necessary for this particular situation, as they wouldn't have been able to retrieve the Horcrux without them.

Why Harry Didn't Cast Avada Kedavra

Harry Potter Never Used The Killing Curse

Despite Harry Potter using Unforgivable Curses, he never cast the worst of them all — the Killing Curse, Avada Kedavra. Avada Kedavra was Lord Voldemort's signature spell. In fact, the Dark Lord directly killed multiple notable figures, including Harry's parents, Lily and James Potter, with the Killing Curse. There was no known counter-spell except for sacrificial protection, which was how Lily saved baby Harry before part of the spell backfired, leaving the young boy with the lightning bolt scar.

Though he encountered many opportunities that could have been solved with Avada Kedavra, it remains as one of the Unforgivable Curses Harry Potter never cast. For one, he viewed the spell as an immoral practice commonly used by users of the Dark Arts. Despite Harry Potter using Unforgivable Curses, he refused to sink to that level of violence. To Harry, Voldemort was the epitome of evil, as was the Killing Curse by extension, so he would not use the Unforgivable Curse that killed his parents.

It's also believed that Avada Kedavra requires the caster to be willing to commit murder for the spell to work. While it was difficult to master the Unforgivable Curses, Harry might not have had the ability or desire to use the Killing Curse since he's not a murderer. Voldemort didn't show any remorse for those he killed, so regret was never an issue when another opportunity to murder arose. When Voldemort faced Harry in their final duel, both wizards could have used the Killing Curse. Instead, Harry entered the fight with a clear mind, while Voldemort was motivated by rage and desperation.

When the Dark Lord used Avada Kedavra for the final time in the Harry Potter series, the spell deflected due to Harry's ownership of the Elder wand, killing Voldemort with his own signature spell. Following Voldemort's demise, the Unforgivable Curses were strictly deemed illegal by the Ministry of Magic. Harry Potter using Unforgivable Curses, and their effects on his psyche, are expounded upon much more thoroughly in the books since Harry is capable of great remorse. This is something not really touched upon in the movies, but it could be investigated in the Harry Potter reboot show.

How Harry Survived Avada Kedavra Twice

While the Unforgivable Curses Harry Potter used never included Avada Kedavra, the Killing Curse was used many times against Harry. Harry has been on the receiving end of the Killing Curse twice — and he somehow managed to live. The first time was as an infant just before the opening of The Sorcerer's Stone. Convinced that Harry was the baby the Harry Potter prophecy spoke of, Voldemort stole into the Potters' house in the middle of the night to kill him. James died at Voldemort's hand, followed by Lily, who sacrificed herself for Harry.

Voldemort tried to cast Avada Kedavra on baby Harry, but the curse rebounded, "killing" Voldemort instead. Harry survived this first murder attempt because of Lily's sacrifice. Her love created an extraordinary type of magic that saved Harry and caused the curse to rebound. This protection would prove helpful throughout the series, as it ended up keeping him safe several times after the first incident.

The second time Harry was hit with the worst Unforgivable Curse came in Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows, during part 2. Harry meets with He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named in the Forbidden Forest, fully prepared to die. Voldemort strikes him down, but after a chat with Dumbledore in a nebulous "between" world, he returns to life. His survival this time is down to two factors. By the time the second Avada Kedavra hit him, he was the Master of Death as the owner of all three Deathly Hallows. Before Harry confronted Voldemort, he was already the owner of the Elder Wand and had the Invisibility Cloak, two of the Hallows.

In his final moments, the Golden Snitch Dumbledore gave Harry opens to reveal the Resurrection Stone, the third and final Hallow, meaning that Harry could conquer death. The other reason the second Avada Kedavra doesn't work is once again Lily's protection spell. Since Voldemort took Harry's blood to revive himself in Goblet of Fire, the protection spell still technically lived on in Voldemort's blood, so he unwittingly engineered his own demise. This is the reason that Dumbledore's eyes had a "gleam of triumph" after Harry regaled the story of Voldemort's resurrection in the graveyard, he knew that Voldemort had essentially sealed his fate and Harry was now doubly protected.

The Killing Curse Rule Was Broken In Fantastic Beasts

The Harry Potter Prequel Movies Made Big Changes To Avada Kedavra

Harry Potter using Unforgivable Curses in the series was a big deal, but the moral weight of the forbidden spells was retconned in Fantastic Beasts. Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore broke two rules established about the Killing Curse, Avada Kedavra. At the very beginning of the movie, Grindelwald supporters are chasing Newt and a Qilin mother in the forest. Before stealing one of the Qilin twins, one of Grindelwald's cronies hits the mother Qilin with a Killing Curse.

Usually a Killing Curse kills instantly, but that's not what happens in Fantastic Beast. Instead, the Qilin survives (though not for long) after the curse hits her. The second rule Fantastic Beasts breaks involves deflection. None of the Unforgivable Curses Harry Potter introduced can be deflected by any kind of magic save for familial love and sacrifice, but Albus and Aberforth Dumbledore break that rule. At the end of Fantastic Beasts 3, Grindelwald aims an Avada Kedavra at Credence, but the Dumbledore brothers deflect it using some type of protection spell.

The Unforgivable Curses Were Outlawed In 1717

Wizarding Law Had Banned The Curses For Centuries Before The Rise Of Voldemort

The Unforgivable Curses Harry Potter introduces weren't always considered as dangerous as they are by the time of the books and movies, as the curses only became listed as "unforgivable" in 1717. This information was revealed in Dumbledore's notes in The Tales of Beedle the Bard, a Harry Potter companion book introduced in The Deathly Hallows, in which Dumbledore writes: "The Cruciatus, Imperius, and Killing Curses were first classified as Unforgivable in 1717, with the strictest penalties attached to their use."

There are no records from J.K. Rowling or otherwise chronicling the events that led to their classification as such, nor is there any information regarding who was the Minister for Magic at the time of their being made illegal. Due to the nature of the Unforgivable Curses in Harry Potter it's completely understandable why they would be outlawed. Not only are they terrible for the recipients, but Harry Potter's using Unforgivable Curses in the books causes great psychological distress for him.

Neville's Parents Show Why They're Called Unforgivable Curses

The Tragedy Of The Longbottoms Show's How Bad The Unforgivable Curses Are

Neville Longbottom has a tragic backstory in the books that's only briefly touched upon in the film, and one that perfectly demonstrates why the Unforgivable Curses got their name. It's explained in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire that Neville's parents were tortured to the point of madness by Bellatrix Lestrange's liberal use of the Cruciatus Curse. Neville is raised by his grandmother, and never really knew his parents before they went insane.

This is made sadder in the Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix book. When Harry and the Weasleys go to visit Arthur at St. Mungo's Hospital after he was attacked by Nagini, Neville is also at the hospital, visiting his parents. It's a truly depressing scene, that sees parents who don't recognize their own son, and are incapable of proper speech, movement, and are of no sound mind. While this scene wasn't included in the Harry Potter movies, their inclusion in the books leaves no doubt about why all the Unforgivable Curses are so feared and reviled by the wizarding world.

While Neville is constantly reminded that he should be proud of his parents and their astounding efforts in the First Wizarding War, he's still a teenager who is insecure about his friends are meeting his parents or learning that they were driven to insanity and aren't able to recognize their own son. The Longbottom's arguably faced a fate worse than death, proving why the Harry Potter Unforgivable Curses are considered just that: unforgivable.

Harry Potter Isn't The Only Hero To Use An Unforgivable Curse

Many Good Wizards Cast Dark Spells In The Harry Potter Books And Movies

Harry Potter isn't the only major character to use Unforgivable Curses in the books and movies. Many other characters opposed to the Death Eaters and Voldemort also use the forbidden spells. The most obvious was Mad-Eye Moody, although it later turned out this wasn't the real Mad-Eye and was in fact the villain, Barty Crouch Jr. Despite that, Mad-Eye cast the spells and no one did anything to him about it. One done secretly was when he used the Imperius Curse to maintain his disguise as Moody. However, while teaching he casts the Unforgivable Curses on students in the Defense Against the Dark Arts class.

Mad-Eye was never punished for using the curses on Hogwarts Students, because he said the students could never defend themselves unless they witnessed them firsthand. It seemed strange that Hogwarts would use such dangerous spells on students, but Dumbledore felt it was a worthwhile risk. By the time Barty's deception was discovered, A Dementor killed him before he could be punished. Secondly, Minerva McGonagall used the Imperius Curse, which is surprising considering her propensity to follow the rules. This happened in the books, and not the movies, but she used it on Amycus, so Harry Potter could continue his search for the Horcrux.

Finally, Barty Crouch Sr. used Unforgivable Curses many times. As a matter of fact, Barty Sr. legalized the use of Unforgivable Curses. This was all part of Crouch using immoral tactics against those he deemed enemies of the Wizarding World. He imprisoned many people without trial (such as Sirius Black) and he allowed the use of Unforgivable Curses to attack people they were hunting down — even if there was no evidence to support their claims. Since Barty was a government agent, he got away with it legally and no one could stop him. This also might be where Harry using the spells was allowed since he was battling dark wizards.

The Max Harry Potter Series Should Make Harry Using Unforgivable Curses A Bigger Deal

HBO's Harry Potter TV Show Can Explain Why The Spells Are So Feared

Harry Potter using Unforgivable Curses is something that's glossed over in the film series — especially considering the weight of their impact on the wizarding world and Harry's inner struggle after casting them in the novels. However, Max and Warner Bros. are developing a Harry Potter reboot television show, awarding one book per season. This gives showrunners the opportunity to explore Harry's journey in a much wider format, allowing for cut storylines and characters to be included, such as the impact of the Unforgivable Curses on both Harry and the wider wizarding world.

In the novels, Harry Potter using Unforgivable Curses — and the nature of the spells as a whole — weighs heavily on Harry's mind and forces him to question his own morality at points. This internal struggle wasn't in the film series, but the TV show would do well to include it. The Unforgivable Curses turn Harry Potter from a children's story into a much darker tale, and the books reflect this change in tone as Harry grows up. It's unclear if Max will want to lean further into the darker side of Harry Potter from the get-go, taking a different route than Chris Columbus' first two whimsical interpretations.