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harry potter - Can the Unforgivable Curses be Done Non-Verbally?


Are there any examples of the three Unforgivable curses -- Cruciatus, Imperius, and Avada Kedavra -- being done non-verbally?


I checked Half-Blood Prince, chapter 9, The Half-Blood Prince, where Snape holds the sixth years' first Defence class and they begin non-verbal spells, but the Unforgivables are not mentioned.


Are they just too intense to do non-verbally, or would they possibly be able to be cast silently with enough concentration?



Canon examples would be great! Please no HP Wikia answers.



Answer



Voldemort very likely did it, when he started dueling Dumbledore in the Ministry Atrium in OotP:



"I have nothing more to say to you, Potter," he said quietly. "You have irked me too often, for too long. AVADA KEDAVRA!" [ Note that he verbalized it here - DVK]
Harry had not even opened his mouth to resist; his mind was blank, his wand lay uselessly on the floor.
...


... (and then, Dumbledore appears and blocks the AK with the statue)...


And then he breathed, “Dumbledore!”
Harry looked behind him, his heart pounding. Dumbledore was standing in front of the golden gates.

Voldemort raised his wand and another jet of green light streaked at Dumbledore, who turned and was gone in a whirling of his cloak.



The "another jet of green light" - and the nature of the situation - pretty unambiguously point to the spell aimed at Dumbledore being Avada Kedavra as well.


However, it is pretty explicit that the Avada Kedavra aimed at Harry was said outloud, and very explicitly NOT stated to have been said aloud when aimed at Dumbledore.


This leads me to conclude that - given JKR's usual written precision - that the second AK was non-verbal.


This makes perfect sense given the details in NominSim's answer -




  • If anyone could, Voldemort was it





  • Usually (such as aiming at Harry who was explicitly stated to have been unable to resist) there was no need or point to non-verbalize it.




  • BUT, when dueling Dumbledore who was an obvious challenge, every last advantage counts, so Voldemort opens with the strongest thing he can - non-verbal Avada Kedavra, to not allow Dumbledore a chance to know what was coming.




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