It didn't bother me one bit .

GB

Pardon me if this has been addressed already, but I'm just curious what you other Harry Potterites think of this. I love the series (it ranks on my all-time favorites list!), but there is one part that has always bothered me:

Spoiler

when Harry uses the Cruciatus Curse on Carrow; he is able to do it because he "really means it".

How do you guys feel about this? For me, it always seemed like Rowling just threw it in there as one of those moments of delicious revenge, but that never sat well with me. It somehow lessened Harry's character for me.

Just wondering if anyone else was ever bothered by this.

I'd have to agree with Gandalf's Beard. There are a few reasons why. The first is in the first chapter of the first book, where Prof McGonagall reminds us that Dumbledore knows about Dark Magic but is too noble to use it. How, then, does he know these dark spells? And why would he not use spells he knows about?

The second reason occurs to me in GOF when Harry is taught about the three Unforgiveable curses and is at the wrong end of two of them. Harry is taught to resist the Imperius Curse by 'Mad-eye Moody', but now that the idea has been put into his head about these three curses, can he unlearn them?

The third reason is when Harry tries to Crucio Bellatrix who had been torturing Neville with that curse. What does she say? That Harry has to mean those curses. Righteous anger wouldn't hurt her for long.

And the last reason is in answer to this question. Can Harry do Unforgiveable Curses? Yes, he can, but they won't be very effective if he doesn't mean them. Can Harry unlearn these spells? No he can't, and he might need to know them and their uses for self-protection., And the third reason is that the Cruciatus Curse Harry used in DH, being in Righteous Anger, might not be as effective as a Cruciatus Curse cast by Umbridge or Bellatrix.

What your scenario suggests to me is that yes, Harry can do Unforgiveable Curses when he needs to, and anything less would make of him a poor, defenseless wizard, indeed. The question is, would he be able to destroy Voldemort without using these curses?

wow! I look away from two days and the topic explodes! man how i love Harry Potter.
@WaggaWaggaWereWolf27, i've started to read your essay on leaky,its really good, (starts getting excited) do you work for leaky? do you know any of the Potter Cast crew? i listen to Potter Cast avidly.
@Princess Rosario when harry cruciates Amicus Carrow he means it, but he means it out of love. do you follow? you see he cares for Professor McGonagall and he can't stand to see her disrespected in the way that she is disrespected by Carrow.
i personally see no problem with Harry using unforgivables during the war."All is fair in love and war". i see that Avada kedavra curse just like a gun. A soldier has to use his gun in battle, if he doesn't he'll be killed by the other guy with a gun. the same is true in the war against Voldemort, Harry sees in the chase that using expelliarmus is not going to do what he needs to get done. sometimes you have to kill, sometime you have to use the imperius.
now, that takes care of two of the three unforgivables. the cruciatus curse is different, it is meant to create pain and pain alone. it was morally wrong for Harry to cruciate Amicus Carrow, dispite all his anger. however, if i was in Harry's place i would probablly done the same thing, it is human nature.

on another randomly weird note, did you know that Amicus is the word for friend in latin? i love how J.K.R. uses a word for friend for the name of such a foul person.

@WaggaWaggaWereWolf27, i've started to read your essay on leaky,its really good, (starts getting excited) do you work for leaky? do you know any of the Potter Cast crew? i listen to Potter Cast avidly.

I've been a member of Leaky Lounge since its inception in January 2005, and for the past three or four years I've been a moderator there as well. No I'm not an employee of Leaky, nor do I know much about podcasting. I prefer to read the transcripts later on if possible, due to slight deafness. I know I have been mentioned once or twice in a few earlier Pottercast episodes, due to essays I wrote for Scribbulus about Harry Potter books, like the one you are reading.

Although I agree with you about the Unforgiveable curses, I think I should have pointed out something else about the Cruciatus curse Princess Rosario has been concerned about.

I expect that it is okay to post again, since it has been over a week since I last posted.

For HP fans on this site, you might like to know that some of the last filming of Deathly Hallows part two will be done in June according to this article

Has anyone seen a trailer of part one on film yet?

Waggawerewolf27: No trailer yet except the one which I believe is on the HBP DVD. It does seem that they would have released another one by now, though, yes?
PrincessRosario:

i have seen the trailer that came with the DVD, i must say i was very impressed. However i was a little annoyed that it was Ollivander telling Harry about the Deathly Hallows, in the book Ollivander doesn't know what they are when Harry asks him.
just a little thought, the book hardtail coming out in me.

I was kind of hoping Ollivander would die, actually. Bummer. Oh, well, I guess.
But I agree...I mean, doesn't Ollivander knowing kind of destroy the point of their going to the Lovegoods'?
*refuses to let this thread die*

It may just be that the film-makers thought that having Ollivander know about the Hallows too, would be clearer to a general audience as far as demonstrating his confirmation

It makes little sense that the film-makers would leave revealing the nature of the Hallows that late in the story. I expect that scene with Luna Lovegood's father will still be the key scene explaining what the Hallows are.

GB

yes, Ollivander knows about the wands history, but he only talks about the wand in the book, In the book he distinctly says that he does not know what the Deathly Hallows are when Harry asks him.

yes, Ollivander knows about the wands history, but he only talks about the wand in the book, In the book he distinctly says that he does not know what the Deathly Hallows are when Harry asks him.

It would be dangerous if he did, because then LV will know about the other two, one being Harry's Invisibility Cloak. Remember,

*comes to re-vive this thread*

The Harry Potter land opened today in Flordia! I wish I was there so bad!!!

Georgiefan1 I am so with you... My cousins are all in Florida right now for a family reunion(WE r just 2 busy)and they are all going.

JKR was at the opening. So was Dan Rupert and Tom with some other stars... I am so jealous...

your family is so lucky! I'm sure the lines are huge though!

has anyone seen the new preview for HP7 on the MTV movie awards? it was amazing!

NO, I haven't seen it...