Harry Potter: How Voldemort Cursed The Defense Against The Dark Arts Position

Lord Voldemort cursed the Defense Against the Dark Arts teaching job at Hogwarts in Harry Potter, but neither the books nor the movies never fully explained how. The jinx was never referenced directly in the movies, but it was hinted at in the book series by J.K. Rowling. Here’s an explanation for the curse and how Voldemort managed to implement it while he was alive.

Defense Against the Dark Arts, which was also known as D.A.D.A., was a subject taught at Hogwarts to train students on how to defend themselves against the Dark Arts. These lessons focused on curses, hexes, jinxes, and facing dark creatures like Dementors. When Harry first entered Hogwarts, Quirinus Quirrell served as the D.A.D.A. professor. He was followed by Gilderoy Lockhart, Remus Lupin, Barty Crouch Jr. under the disguise of Alastar Moody, Dolores Umbridge, and Severus Snape. After Snape was made Headmaster, he appointed Amycus Carrow as the professor but the subject was changed to “Dark Arts.”

Not one of the professors in the D.A.D.A. position lasted more than a year. This was later confirmed to be the result of a curse that Lord Voldemort put on the position when he was rejected for the teaching position a second time. After graduating, an 18-year-old Tom Riddle applied to be the D.A.D.A. professor but was deemed too young by Headmaster Armando Dippet. Two decades later, Riddle, now as Lord Voldemort, returned to Hogwarts and reapplied for the position but was denied by Albus Dumbledore. The Headmaster brought up the curse in the Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince novel when he referenced the outcome of his meeting with Voldemort and the fact that the school had “have never been able to keep a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher for longer than a year.” The question remained, how exactly did Voldemort manage to curse an intangible object?

Lord Voldemort Used Difficult Dark Magic To Curse The D.A.D.A. Job

When Voldemort returned to Hogwarts the second time, he had ulterior motives to hide one of his Horcruxes, the diadem, in the castle. It was assumed that the Dark Lord jinxed the D.A.D.A. position shortly after, sometimes between Dumbledore becoming headteacher in 1965 and before Lupin’s 11th birthday in 1971. The motive behind the curse was not only because of Voldemort’s rejection but also to bring about a constant change in leadership with the hope of lessening the quality of training when it came to students learning to defend against the Dark Arts. By reducing the quality of the class, Voldemort and his followers had an easier path in their uprising.

As for how exactly Voldemort cursed the D.A.D.A. position, there’s a belief among readers that the wizard experimented with dangerous Dark magic during his years of travel in the two-decade gap between applying for the teaching job. He was said to have dove deeper into the world of the Dark Arts and it was possible that Voldemort came across an incantation or ritual that allowed him to jinx the position. Curses on people or objects were common, but not something like a teaching job with various targets. It’s possible that Voldemort expected for Dumbledore to reject his second request and he placed the curse while in Hogwarts in the mid ’60s.

Voldemort’s D.A.D.A. curse turned out to be effective because the position must have gone through close to thirty changes before the Dark Lord was defeated in 1998. The curse was believed to be lifted after Voldemort’s death which also marked the end of the Second Wizarding War. Rowling later confirmed that the jinx was gone and revealed that the longevity of the Defense Against the Dark Arts position would have a better outlook in the Harry Potter universe.

About The Author

Kara Hedash
(1746 Articles Published)

Kara Hedash is a features editor and writer for Screen Rant. From time to time, she dives into the world’s most popular franchises but Kara primarily focuses on evergreen topics. The fact that she gets to write about The Office regularly is like a dream come true. Before joining Screen Rant, Kara served as a contributor for Movie Pilot and had work published on The Mary Sue and Reel Honey. After graduating college, writing began as a part-time hobby for Kara but it quickly turned into a career. She loves binging a new series and watching movies ranging from Hollywood blockbusters to hidden indie gems. She also has a soft spot for horror ever since she started watching it at too young of an age. Her favorite Avenger is Thor and her favorite Disney princess is Leia Organa. When Kara’s not busy writing, you can find her doing yoga or hanging out with Gritty.

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