What Spells Do the “Good Guys” Use to Kill Death Eaters - Harry Potter Theory

Murder, or killing, splits the soul. This is reinforced time and time again. But despite this fact, we see it happen again and again throughout the Harry Potter series, and not just by the bad guys. It makes sense for Death Eaters to kill. It's clear where their moral compass lies, and I would presume that killing, and the subsequent impact on their soul,

is the price they're willing to pay to achieve their cause. But this topic also raises a much bigger question. Because if there are such serious consequences tied to taking a life, how do the good guys do it? Molly Weasley does it, Dumbledore does it, and even Neville Longbottom does it. Today we'll be diving into all of that and more as we discuss the implications of murder

in the wizarding world, specifically in the context of the good guys. Hey everyone, welcome to another installment of Harry Potter Theory. Now, it's no surprise that the bad guys kill people in Harry Potter, and the spell most commonly associated with this act is Avada Kedavra,

a spell with really only one singular purpose, killing. And because Avada Kedavra has such a strong association with murder, it's often the only spell considered in this context. But if you think about it for a second,

there are many other spells that can achieve exactly the same thing. Avada Kedavra is particularly bad in that there is no nuance to the spell. It's basically all or nothing. And because it's alleged to damage the soul of those on the receiving end of it.

It's for these reasons that it's considered unforgivable. But if your sole purpose, see what I did there, is just to get rid of someone, there's no reason something like Bombarda Maxima wouldn't do the job. and in a seemingly much more brutal fashion, I might add.

And here's the thing. No matter what spell you use to do it, murdering someone is going to inadvertently impact you as well. Whether it's Avada Kedavra or Accio,

killing or more specifically murder inherently renders the soul unstable. There's evidence of this in the books. The soul is supposed to remain intact and whole.

Splitting it is an act of violation. It is against nature. But how do you do it? By an act of evil.

The supreme act of evil. by committing murder. Killing rips the soul apart. Murder is exactly what Voldemort leveraged to destabilize his soul and encase fragments of that soul in Horcruxes, a calculated choice and a necessary evil in his quest for immortality. But I would imagine that for most dark wizards,

the thought of disrupting the delicate balance that sustains their soul would likely be far less appealing. In Voldemort's case, the act of tearing his soul apart was crucial, but for the majority of dark wizards, and especially good wizards, I'd imagine that such a deliberate mutilation of their own essence would be overkill on 99.9% of occasions.

The soul, as described by Dumbledore, is meant to remain intact, whole, and undisturbed, and tearing it apart, even unintentionally, leaves behind an instability that cannot be repaired. And it's precisely this reasoning that explains why the Death Eaters didn't use Avada Kedavra more. But if that's the case, how did the good guys murder so many Death Eaters at the Battle

of Hogwarts? How did Neville get away unscathed after slicing Nagini, a human maledictus in half? And how did Molly Weasley remain unscathed after basically blowing Bellatrix up? This is where we get into some nuance, because while the series often uses the word killing very broadly, what seems to actually matter here is something more specific, murder, and those two things are not

necessarily the same. Murder implies intent, malice, and most importantly, a conscious cold-blooded decision to end someone's life. But killing can happen under very different circumstances, like war, self-defense, protection, or even mercy. Snape kills Dumbledore because he has to, but does that mean his soul was ripped apart? I mean, he hardly had a choice. If all killing

automatically shredded the soul, then a number of characters on the so-called good side should have been spiritually ruined by the end of the series. But that doesn't seem to be what Rowling is suggesting. Instead, the real damage appears to come from murder specifically, the kind of killing rooted in evil intent. And that distinction is incredibly important, because it helps explain

how someone like Voldemort could deliberately weaponize murder to create Horcruxes, while other characters, even when responsible for death, don't appear to suffer from any of the same magical consequences. At least, not that we can see. Molly Weasley's triumph over Bellatrix is hardly murder. What will happen to your children when I've killed you, taunted Bellatrix, as mad

as her master, capering as Molly's curses danced around her. When mummy's gone, same way as Freddy. You will never touch our children again, screamed Mrs. Weasley. Bellatrix laughed, the same exhilarated laugh her cousin Sirius had given as he toppled backward through the veil, and suddenly Harry knew what was going to happen before it did. Molly's curse soared beneath Bellatrix's outstretched

arm and hid her squarely in the chest, directly over her heart. Bellatrix's gloating smile froze, her eyes began to bulge. For the tiniest space of time, she knew what had happened, and then she toppled, and the watching crowd roared, and Voldemort screamed. Molly's actions were entirely justified, and there's no reason that she would have murdered

Bellatrix had she not just tried to murder her daughter and threaten her family. She made a decision to protect her family, and in this context, there's no reason that her soul would become destabilized. And Snape's killing of Dumbledore atop the astronomy tower isn't murder either. Snape gazed for a moment at Dumbledore, and there was revulsion and hatred etched in the

harsh lines of his face. Severus, please. Snape raised his wand and pointed it directly at Dumbledore. Avada Kedavra! A jet of green light shot from the end of Snape's wand and hit Dumbledore