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harry potter - Is the basilisk's stare the same type of magic as Avada kedavra?


Is the same type of magic being invoked when a basilisk kills its victim by its stare and a wizard kills his victim with avada kedavra? We know that avada kedavra does not leave any mark and the victims of the curse look perfectly fine other than the fact that they're dead.


The only description of murder-by-basilisk-stare we know of happens in book two when Myrtle describes what happened to her when she saw the two eyes. The description does not convey a great detail of what really happened, but from what I can make of it, it does not seem like this leaves any kind of mark on the body left behind, and possibly a basilisk stare victim also looks perfectly fine other than the fact that he's dead. Further, we know from book two that the petrified victims also did not have any other signs of damage on their bodies, other than the fact that they were petrified. In this regard the basilisk stare seems to be more subtle, as in book 4 the avada kedavra victims (Riddle family) are at least described to have a look of abject terror on their faces, as if they had been scared to death, but this might also be because Voldemort scared them somehow before performing the curse on them.


So the question is, other than the mode of operation of the two (basilisk stare requires two way line of sight visual contact while the avada kedavra victim need just be touched by the curse) is the basilisk stare and Avada Kedavra fundamentally same? Is there any information in canon to support or reject this?




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