Overview

The Cruciatus Curse (Crucio) which is also known as the Torture Curse, is one of the three Unforgivable Curses. When casted on a victim the curse inflicts intense physical pain. If the victim has prolonged exposure under the curse it may cause permanent insanity. If a Witch or Wizard was found to use this curse on another the consequence would be a life sentence in Azkaban. The only way this sentence was avoided was if the caster was under the influence of the Imperius Curse at the time of casting. To successfully perform the curse, a witch or wizard has to possess a deep desire to cause the victim pain while taking great pleasure from the victim's suffering. There is no spell that can defend one against the Cruciatus Curse.

Effects

The Cruciatus Curse is described to be so intense that those under the curse and its effects would wish for unconsciousness and even death, as a way to escape the searing pain.

Harry Potter once described the feeling as “one thousand white-hot knives, boring into the skin”. The pain can cause permanent physical and mental injury when exposed for a prolonged period of time. This was the case for Frank and Alice Longbottom who were subjected to the curse until it caused mental insanity, leaving them to spend the rest of their lives in St Mungo’s Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. This outcome is considered to be a worse fate than death for the victim.

For an individual to perform the Cruciatus Curse correctly and to the full effect, the caster must have a deep desire to inflict the victim's pain whilst taking pleasure out of their pain and suffering. This was shown to be true when Harry Potter casted the spell onto Bellatrix Lestrange in 1996 only causing her a brief moment of pain and knocking her off of her feet. This minimal effect was the result of the curse being used out of “righteous anger” instead of resulting in the full effect of the curse. Whereas Bellatrix, a witch known to have profound sadistic intentions was able to cast the curse effectively, the Longbottoms being one of the named victims of her use of the curse.

Once the curse was casted, there was no spell that could defend against it. However there were still evasive options.

The spell could be dodged by hiding behind a solid object as well as the potential to resist the pain until the spell was lifted. Another option was to interrupt the caster before they could finish speaking, something Severus Snape successfully had done against Harry Potter in 1997 using Legilimency to anticipate the spells he would use.

The curse could also be avoided if the caster was to use the Elder Wand, or any wand that allegiance had not been won yet, to cast the curse upon its true master would cause the wand to refuse to inflict pain. Though this would cause a level of impact that could send the body flying.

The main Purpose of the Cuciatus Curse was to torture, thus making it unable to be used to break through the Fidelius Charms defenses, since a secret had to be revealed only willingly and voluntarily by the individual.

Besides its base use to sadistically inflict pain, the Cruciatus Curse was most popularly applied as a method of punishment and interrogation. The usage and availability of truth serums rendered the Curse obsolete as well as an impractical method for the purpose of interrogation. However if truth serums were not available the interrogator might use the curse instead, although the use of the Cruciatus Curse was much less efficient in comparison to the Imperius Curse or the use of a truth serum. The use of the Curse would cause the person being interrogated to falsely confess in order to end their suffering quickly.

History

The Cruciatus Curse is known to be invented during the Middle Ages, though it was not made “unforgivable” and deemed as dark magic until 1717 after the Wizards’ Council was reformed into what is now known as the Ministry of Magic.

• First Wizarding War
  • 1971-1981: Barty Crouch Snr, who at the time was in charge of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement , legalised the usage of the three Unforgivable Curses for Aurors to use against the Death Eaters in order to win the war.
  • 1981: Once the war had ended this was repealed as it was no longer deemed necessary.
• Between Wars:
  • 1994-1995: Barty Crouch Jr, under the disguise of Alastor Moody, performed these three curses to his fourth-year classes on spiders.
  • 1995-1996: Though not used at the time the curse was threatened to be used as a way to extract information from Harry Potter by Dolores Umbridge.
• Second Wizarding War:
  • 1997: Draco Malfoy attempted to use the curse on an eavesdropping Harry.
  • 1997: Harry attempted to use the spell on Severus Snape during the Battle of the Astronomy Tower but was interrupted while uttering the incantation as a result of Snape’s use of Legilimency.
  • 1997-1998: As Lord Voldemort took over the Ministry, the three Unforgivable curses were legalised as well as taught and used in Hogwarts.
  • March, 1998: Hermione Granger had the curse used on her by Bellatrix Lestrange during her interrogation at Malfoy Manor. During which she successfully lied while under the effects of the curse.
  • 1 May 1998: Harry Potter successfully used the Curse on Amycuz Carrow.
  • 1998: After Lord Voldemort’s death and the revolutionising of the Ministry of the then newly appointed Minister for Magic Kingsley Shacklebolt, the three curses were once again forbidden and all original penalties were restored.