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"The blood of a unicorn will keep you alive, even if you are an inch from death, but at a terrible price. You have slain something pure and defenceless to save yourself, and you will have but a half-life, a cursed life, from the moment the blood touches your lips."
— Firenze informing Harry Potter about the nature of unicorn blood[src]

Unicorn blood was a thick, silvery magical substance that ran within a unicorn's veins.[1]

Description[]

UnicornSlaying

A Medieval tapestry depicting wizards slaying a unicorn, and collecting its blood

The blood of a unicorn could be drunk in order to keep a person alive. However, the act of slaying a unicorn and drinking its blood would cause the drinker to suffer a cursed life,[1] though the specifics of what this actually entailed were not well known. It was probably non-tradeable, since the sale of this substance was controlled by the British Ministry of Magic, making it strictly forbidden. Mr Mulpepper's Apothecary in Diagon Alley had a sign outside its door asking patrons not to inquire about it.[3] Firenze and Harry Potter both believed that only those who had nothing to lose and everything to gain would dare drink unicorn blood.[1]

Unicorn blood was an ingredient for a potion that created a rudimentary body for a disembodied soul.[2]

History[]

"A potion concocted from unicorn blood, and the snake venom Nagini provided...I was soon returned to an almost human form, and strong enough to travel."
— Voldemort's use of unicorn blood[src]

During the 1890–1891 school year, an individual could be seen in Hogsmeade talking about whether it was worth drinking unicorn blood to continue one's life in a cursed state.[4]

Unicorn blood 1

A pool of unicorn blood in the Forbidden Forest

During the 1991–1992 school year, Lord Voldemort used unicorn blood to sustain his life, until he could steal the Philosopher's Stone in order to regain his true body. As he was possessing Quirinus Quirrell and inhabiting his body at the time, Quirrell drank the blood on Voldemort's behalf. This was because Quirrell's body was dying from sharing it with Voldemort's fragmented soul.[5]

Voldemort drinking unicorn blood

Quirrell drinking unicorn blood on Voldemort's behalf

On 26 May 1992, when Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Neville Longbottom, and Draco Malfoy were caught out of bounds, they were punished with detention in the Forbidden Forest. At the edge of the forest, they joined Rubeus Hagrid, the Hogwarts gamekeeper, who told them that a unicorn had been injured and that they were to search for it. Prior to splitting up the group, Hagrid pointed out the unicorn blood on the ground. Harry and Draco eventually found a hooded figure (Voldemort) drinking blood from a slain unicorn; Draco ran away in terror, while Voldemort confronted Harry, only to be charged at by the centaur Firenze, causing him to flee. Firenze then explained the properties of unicorn blood to Harry, including how drinking it would give someone a cursed life for slaying a creature so pure. He then took back him to safety with Hagrid horseback.[1]

B4C32M1 Voldemort rises in Little Hangleton graveyard

Voldemort's temporary body potion used unicorn blood

In 1994, Peter Pettigrew used unicorn blood along with Nagini's venom to create a potion which would create a temporary body for Voldemort, until he could regain his true body. It is unknown if producing such a potion and proceeding to use it (orally or otherwise) creates a similar curse upon the user's life. In Voldemort's case, his re-usage of unicorn blood (having indirectly consumed some two years prior) may have had a cumulative effect on the curse's potency. Voldemort's questionable degree of humanity, however, may have diluted, or even negated entirely, the efficacy of the curse.[2]

Appearances[]

Notes and references[]

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