In the world of Harry Potter, that are many pieces of complicated magic, sometimes made even further convoluted by Rowling’s constant tinkering with the canon. Some of these spells seem to only appear once or twice, in service to the story, but are never fully fleshed out, leaving avid fans with many questions about the intricacies of the spellwork. One of the most curious examples of this is the Unforgivable Vow.
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The vow only appears in one scene throughout the books, and is mentioned again only a handful of times in the series and greater franchise. Ultimately, little is known about the vow, and some of what is, just doesn’t add up. To demonstrate, here are ten things about Unbreakable Vows that don’t make any sense.
The Vow Is Not An Unforgivable Curse
The Unbreakable Vow is a piece of magic that impacts the life of the vower permanently, culminating in a death if it is not fulfilled, and likely very little good if it is. But, despite its power, it is not classified by the Ministry of Magic as an Unforgivable Curse.
While it doesn’t kill the vower on impact, like Avada Kedavra, it both invokes and promises death and removes the ability of the vower to make certain choices, both of which are things Unforgivable do. Despite these qualities, it is not seen as an Unforgivable, which seems a confusing choice.
The Vow Is Not Dark Magic
By a similar token, the vow is never overtly classified as a curse or dark magic, it is simply referred to as “a vow.” While other curses that do much less are termed “curses,” this spell appears to be more of a ritual than any other kind of magic.
Though it is true that the Unbreakable Vow requires spoken consent by the user, it seems likely that this consent tends to be given in times of high duress, danger, or emotion, making it very dubious consent at best. Perhaps the magic won’t work if there is no true consent, but whether that’s required by the vow isn’t made clear in the series.
A Child Could Cast It
One of the only instances where the Unbreakable Vow is discussed occurs when Ron recollects a memory from his youth to Harry. In it, he says that when he was five, he and his slightly older brothers tried to cast the spell. The spell, of course, was never cast, but it appears that both Ron, and his father, who stopped the magic with much ire, believed that it possibly could have been.
Such an intense spell does not seem like it should be able to be cast by children so young, especially since throughout the series, readers see Ron and Harry struggling to cast advanced magic.
Voiding The Vow Is Possible But Unclear
The Unbreakable Vow also appears in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, where an instance of the spell becoming void actually occurs. This brings up many questions around the circumstances required for the spell to lose its power, but answers are never given. In Fantastic Beasts, the vow revolves around the killing of a certain individual, but becomes void because the individual is already dead.
But this fails to clarify if the spell became null at the point at which its object was fulfilled, or whether it was at the point where the vower became aware the object had already been fulfilled. If the vower never found out the vow had already been fulfilled would the spell still be in power? It is never made plain.
The Vow Leaves Marks, But Only Sometimes
In Fantastic Beasts, Newt and Tina ascertain an Unbreakable Vow has been cast because of scars left over by the magic, but in other Harry Potter canon, there is no mention of the vow leaving any marks. In fact, it seems like if Snape and Narcissa, the only active casters ever witnessed by fans, both suddenly had new vow-related scars on their wrists, this would have almost certainly piqued the suspicion of Lord Voldemort.
Of course, it is possibly magic could be used to hide these marks, but then why wouldn’t all wizards hide them? There seems to be an inconsistency in the story when it comes to the effects of the vow.
Lord Voldemort Doesn’t Use It
This vow seems like exactly the kind of magic Lord Voldemort would thrive on, and yet the Dark Lord never seems to make use of it. Fans have considered that Voldemort could have made his followers vow to never betray him, causing them to drop dead if they ever did.
While this might not stop all betrayals fully, it would definitely mitigate follow-through by wayward Death Eaters, and would create a built in punishment, one way or another. There seems to be no canonical reason for Voldemort not to make use of the vow, and yet he never does, a confusing choice.
It Is Unclear If The Vow Ever Expires
Some vows are very finite, for instance, vowing to kill another person, but others, even in the couple of canon examples show, are much more diffuse. In The Half-Blood Prince, Severus Snape swears to protect Draco Malfoy from harm to the best of his abilities, in a specific, separate, part of the vow from his other promises.
A promise like this seems very open ended, and whether or not Snape was supposed to protect Draco from harm for the rest of his natural life is unclear to readers. If such diffuse vows never expire, as they seemingly don’t, it seems very unreasonable for anyone to ever agree to them, and yet Snape does.
There Are No Consequences To Requesting A Vow
While the vower of an Unforgivable Vow takes on a massive consequence should they fail to fulfil their word, the person asking for such a steep promise seemingly suffers no consequences. While this could be entirely possible, it doesn’t seem to make much sense.
Other powerful spells require much from the caster, and it is the person doing the asking, who is really the beneficiary of the magic, after all. With no consequences for asking, and no reward for fulfillment, it doesn’t seem to make sense for anyone to engage in an Unbreakable Vow.
A Third Party Is Required To Cast The Vow
The vow is the only piece of magic which seems to require a third party. All other magic revealed in the Harry Potter universe, including the vow’s closest relative, the blood pact, only requires people internal to the magic to function. However, when it comes to the vow, neither participant seems to be able to cast the spell themselves.
There is no explanation given as to why, of all magic, the vow works so differently, and why neither individual involved in the spell can be the caster, but it does seem to be a strange outlier in the canon.
People Use The Vow To Propose
While this lack of sense comes from the fans versus the series, it makes absolutely no sense that couples are using the Unbreakable Vow as a part of their marriage proposals.
The vow is not a romantic piece of magic, and is instead very grizzly, speaking of death, not life. Asking one’s partner to commit to a lifetime together or else is probably not what most people have in mind. Using the Unbreakable Vow to propose definitely is not a sensible option by any stretch of the imagination!
