The Three Unforgivable Curses

The Three Unforgivable Curses

Today was Saturday. After finishing his morning training, Bell did not leave the box to head to the Great Hall for a meal as usual.

After having a simple breakfast prepared by Lim, Bell arrived at the Spell Training Room.

After so many years of study and training, Bell believed he was fully prepared. He decided to develop a new curse.

Calling it development was not entirely accurate. Improvement would be a more precise term. And the target of that improvement was the Fiendfyre Curse.

When it came to the Fiendfyre Curse, most Wizards were repulsed by it, believing it to be Dark Magic that should not be touched. Bell, however, dismissed that view with disdain.

The Magical World defined Dark Magic as: "Curses that require negative emotions to be infused when cast."

But one had to understand that Dark Magic was not the only kind of magic capable of killing. White magic such as the Cutting Curse, Breaking Curse, and Flame Spell could also take lives with ease. And when so-called White Wizards used white magic to kill, did they truly feel no negative emotions in their hearts?

Rather, someone who could take another person's life with a smile and without the slightest killing intent was the real devil, wasn't he?

Thus, in Bell's view, magic was simply magic, with no distinction between black and white.

The reason modern Wizards were so repulsed by—one could even say afraid of—Dark Magic was mainly the fear accumulated during Voldemort's era, compounded by the Ministry of Magic and Dumbledore fanning the flames.

When Dark Magic was mentioned, the first thing most Wizards thought of was the Three Unforgivable Curses: the Imperius Curse, the Cruciatus Curse, and the Killing Curse.

However, Bell had no intention of studying those three Curses for the time being. In his eyes, all three were too weak. Further developing their power would require far too much effort and time.

Bell was very busy right now. He still had a "grand plan" to complete, so he did not have that much time to waste.

Yes, while every Wizard feared the Unforgivable Curses, Bell found them too weak.

The official explanation for why the Three Unforgivable Curses stood out among countless Dark Magic spells and became Curses everyone feared to mention was: "These three Curses have no counter-curses and cannot be broken."

Clearly, that explanation was complete nonsense.

Bell had once studied the Three Unforgivable Curses. It was true that they had no counter-curses, but in Bell's view, that did not mean they were powerful. They had no counter-curses merely because they did not need them.

First, the Imperius Curse was a Curse capable of completely controlling a target.

Then why did it not need a counter-curse? Because as long as one's will was strong enough, anyone could resist the Imperius Curse's control without any magic at all.

The Imperius Curse was actually a rather terrible Curse. Its greatest strength was that outsiders could not tell whether someone had been controlled. But that was also precisely its greatest weakness. In order to ensure its concealment, even its caster could not sense whether the target had broken free of the Imperius Curse's control.

So when it came time to reveal their hands, it was hard to say which side would be stabbed in the back.

And to avoid being stabbed in the back, one had to possess master-level Legilimency and remain beside the target at all times to sense their thoughts. Once the other party's thoughts became clear, it meant they had broken free of the Imperius Curse's control.

But if that was the case, what was the point of using the Imperius Curse to control them in the first place?

The second Unforgivable Curse was the Cruciatus Curse.

Many people, including Voldemort's Death Eaters, feared the Cruciatus Curse because its torment was simply too painful.

Then why did it not need a counter-curse either? The answer was simple: the Cruciatus Curse was a very pure Curse meant to torture people. In order to maximize pain, it did not cause any physical harm whatsoever!

Some people, such as the famous Longbottom couple, were driven completely insane by the Cruciatus Curse's torment. That was indeed deeply regrettable, but Bell did not believe the Cruciatus Curse itself should bear the blame.

If the Death Eaters had used magic such as Transfiguration to torture the Longbottom couple, the two likely would not have survived until they were rescued. Even in the best-case scenario, they would have been permanently disabled.

From that perspective, it was difficult to say whether the Cruciatus Curse was cruel or merciful.

At this point, some people might feel puzzled: "Why not use magic to heal the Longbottom couple's mental condition? Wouldn't that completely break the Cruciatus Curse?"

Because the human mind involved many aspects, including "memories," "souls," and "physical condition." It was not that magic could not interfere with the mind. Many Curses, such as the Memory Charm, could do so.

However, the human mind was extremely complex and fragile. If magic was used for treatment, it was entirely possible that the condition after treatment would be worse than before.

For someone in the Longbottom couple's condition, the best method would be to completely wipe all of their memories. But in that case, it would be no different from killing them, and their family could never agree to it.

Finally came the strongest of the Three Unforgivable Curses—the Killing Curse.

Unlike the first two Curses, Bell admitted that the Killing Curse was indeed powerful. Its unblockable nature in particular was difficult for most Wizards to deal with.

At the same time, the Killing Curse's instant-death nature meant that once it touched its target, it either killed them or could be ignored entirely.

Because of these two characteristics, a counter-curse had no meaning for the Killing Curse.

However, the Killing Curse was not as terrifying as Wizards imagined. It had two major weaknesses.

The first weakness was one shared by many modern Curses: it was a single-target directed spell. Against a powerful Wizard, this kind of magic was genuinely difficult to land.

The second weakness was this: "The Killing Curse requires powerful Magic Power as its foundation." In the modern age, where theoretical examinations were increasingly valued, fewer and fewer Wizards could meet that requirement and cast the Killing Curse with ease.

In Bell's view, the Killing Curse was not only unfrightening; it could even be called the conscience of the curse world. Even its color was so healthy and environmentally friendly.

"Being struck by the Killing Curse, dying instantly without any pain, and leaving behind an intact corpse," versus "being struck by the Flame Spell, dying in the agony of flames consuming one's body, and not even leaving a corpse behind"—surely no one would choose the second death, right?

Therefore, the Three Unforgivable Curses were not truly unforgivable. What Wizards truly feared was not these three Curses, but Voldemort, who enjoyed using them, and the Death Eaters under his command.

Bell also could not understand why someone as cruel as Voldemort loved using such "kind" Curses. Was this what they meant by don't try to guess a madman's thoughts?