This ‘Harry Potter’ fan theory will change the way you think about Avada Kedavra forever
The Internet is brimming with fan theories, especially right now. It feels like they’re really having a moment. There are fan theories about everything from Jurassic World to The Big Bang Theory to Disney movies, and they’re all fascinating in their own way. But if there’s one fandom that takes theory-making to the extreme, it’s Potterheads. Avid fans of the Harry Potter books and movies are constantly coming up with new, interesting theories about the Wizarding World.
Today, our friends over at The Huffington Post have put together one of the darkest HP theories yet though. Seriously, this one is so dark, you might get a rash in the shape of the Dark Mark just reading it. You’ve been warned.
The theory in question is all about Avada Kedavra (the Killing Curse) and how it relates to the Muggle magic phrase “Abracadabra.” Now, the similarity between the worst of the Unforgivable Curses and the word that cheesy old men in tuxedos say before they pull a rabbit out of a hat has been pointed out before. It’s not a coincidence, either; J.K. Rowling has said that the Killing Curse was actually based on Abracadabra. Now, obviously in the Muggle world, Abracadabra is a totally harmless magic word and in the Wizarding World, Avada Kedavra is anything but harmless. HuffPo’s theory (which pulls from several fan theories on Reddit) explains how those things are actually connected.
The theory goes like this: Back in the day (way back, before the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy was enacted in 1692), Wizards didn’t exactly hide their special skills from Muggles and relations between the two groups weren’t the best. What if some Wizard-Muggle disputes got so heated that the Wizards in question did the unthinkable (the Unforgivable — sorry, I couldn’t resist) and used the Killing Curse? Muggles would obviously remember the words that could literally kill a person and word would most certainly spread about the phrase.
So far, it’s all making sense (sad, dark sense, but sense nonetheless). So how does Abracadabra come into play? Well, the theory continues that Muggles might have started fight back in a way that could kill a Wizard even faster than the Killing Curse — with guns, which were being used pretty widely by the 1600s. Then, to make a point, they might have uttered “Abracadabra” as they shot — either mispronouncing the spell on purpose to poke fun at wizards or because the true curse had been lost along the way.
Dark. Stuff.
I love a good fan theory as much as the next person, but this one might just haunt me a little bit forever, every time I see a magic show.
(Image via Warner Bros.)
