What CURSED Katie Bell in the Half-Blood Prince? - Harry Potter Theory

Hey everyone,

Welcome to another installment of Harry Potter Theory. In this video, we’re going to be discussing a supporting character, and a spine-chilling moment in the Half Blood Prince where she’s the victim of a brutal curse. Katie Bell was a British half-blood witch born in the year 1979. She was a member of Gryffindor house, and represented the house on the quidditch pitch- taking on the role of Chaser. She was a year above Harry, and we see her name mentioned here and there throughout the franchise- however, her character was never really brought to the forefront of our attention until the Half-Blood Prince, when, while on a trip to Hogsmeade, Katie suffered a brutal attack from an unidentified curse- something that the trio witnessed firsthand.

"At once, Katie rose into the air... gracefully, her arms outstretched, as though she was about to fly. Yet there was something wrong, something eerie... Her hair whipped her by the fierce wind, but her eyes were closed and her face was quite empty of expression... Then, six feet above the ground, Katie let out a terrible scream. Her eyes flew open but whatever she could see, or whatever she was feeling, was clearly causing her terrible anguish."

It was truly a bone-chilling, sinister moment that encapsulated the reality of dark magic, and it was a great example of the dark undertone that the books/films began to develop as they progressed. Katie’s body was dragged and thrown around violently by what appeared to be some sort of invisible entity- and the trio could only look on in terror as Katie’s body was viciously thrown to the ground. Hagrid shows up just in the nnick of time to bring Katie’s unconscious body to St. Mungos, and it’s there that people begin to discuss what exactly happened to Katie. Upon closer inspection, it quickly became clear that Katie was holding a cursed object- the Opal necklace. Now, if you’ve read the books, you probably have a slightly better understanding of the Opal necklace, and what it is. The films didn’t really touch on it much, but there’s actually some foreshadowing in the Chamber of Secrets. When Harry mistakenly enters Borgin & Burkes in 1992, he sees the necklace on display with a warning label:

"Do not Touch! Cursed. Has claimed the lives of nineteen Muggle owners to date."

So, what exactly happened to Katie? Why did she have a cursed necklace in the first place? While on her trip to Hogmseade, Katie was actually placed under the Imperius Curse by the Three Broomsticks innkeeper, Madam Rosmerta, who was under the Imperius Curse HERSELF- a curse administered by none other than Draco malfoy. The film doesn’t explain this particularly well, it certainly suggests that Malfoy is responsible, but doesn’t divulge the minutiae of the situation. Katie was instructed to take the cursed ‘Opal Necklace’, which she finds inside the girls’ bathroom, to Dumbledore - it was an assassination attempt. The only reason that Katie fell victim to the curse was because she argued with her friend Leanne about the package, this led to the package ripping and Katie coming in to direct contact with the cursed object. The necklace possesses a very deadly curse, but you can only fall victim to its effects when you touch it directly. It appears that the more contact that is made, the more of an effect that it will have. Katie merely touched it through a small hole in her glove, and it took her 6 months to recover in St.Mungos. It was a truly violent scene, and I can’t even begin to imagine what it would have done to Dumbledore had he himself opened the package and touched it fully.

It’s untelling what curse the opal necklace actually possesses, but what immediately stuck out to me is the way that the cursed necklace resembles a horcrux. Horcruxes are objects in which a dark witch or wizard has imbued part of their soul- the purpose of which is to make it difficult for them to be completely killed. However, one of the most common properties of a horcrux is that it contains some sort of defence mechanism- a counter-charm, curse, or jinx. We see this with Voldemort’s horcruxes, and, given the power of the opal necklace, I think that there’s a case to be made for the opal necklace being a horcrux itself. I do have a theory for who it could belong to IF it is in fact a Horcrux. If you guys want me to make a video exploring that further, let me know down in the comment section below.

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Music by:
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Jacob A. Cadmus
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[HarryPotterTheory]

Who wants me to explore the necklace theory further?

[jenniflower]

Ya know.
Not until now did I notice how terrifying that scene actually is....

[metalchickenproductions]

Let's face facts, if Draco had even an ounce of True Death Eater in him, he would have been successful. Luckily he had enough of his Mother in him to find his way. Moral of HP: Mom's are Awesome

[ygdubln_]

that scene was actually one of the creepiest out of all the movies

[breadstick]

I know Draco didn’t want to kill anyone but damn, he almost murdered Katie and Ron. I don’t think they’ll be forgiving him anytime soon. 💀

[hughw]

I remember this actress from basil brush when she was younger and later went on to appear in Hollywood movies.

[JoshYNWA]

It’s spooky as shit how I start getting back into Harry Potter and then this channel exists

[Eric-kbxt]

Seriously? You didn’t elaborate on the potential horcrux in this video? Of course web want to hear it...

[primo]

This dude never run out of content like Your a legend

[Zeebee]

“I do have a theory on who it could belong to, let me know if you want me to make a video.., ” ...Based on the title, that’s why I clicked THIS video. Nothing In this one is anything that isn’t already pretty clear.

[MrMcMuckles]

Hi! I just wanted to say that I’m a HUGE fan!

[ForJustice-blrs]

I think the necklace cursed by Bellatrix and she gave it to Draco, her nephew, to use it to kill Dumbledore. Bellatrix used the Cruciatus Spell to give the necklace it’s dark purpose but she tweaked the spell so that the necklace when it’s worn by Dumbledore can torture him to death. Not wanting to give him away, Draco waited till Christmas and wrapped the necklace in a present and swapped it for the one Katie Bell was gonna give Dumbledore. When she goes to show it to a friend however, and she wears it the curse activates and gives her a nasty seizure and she was sent to the hospital wing. The necklace wasn’t able to kill her because Bellatrix created it to harm Dumbledore not her.

[permeusnd]

it could be a failed Horcrux? despite us only knowing of two wizards that have successfully made then its my theory that quite a few dark wizards have tried over the years with varying levels of success from outright doing nothing to stuff like this necklace, if it is an attempted horcrux then it failed making it something of a black hole for a person's soul, a horcrux if done right only takes part of the soul for safe keeping but if done wrong then what? well i think it varies from item to item, in this case it tries to rip out the soul and the longer it is in contact with the person the more successful it is (there may also be something about wizards that there magick gives them a lay of protection hence why it only nearly killed Katie bell)

[jacksonaaron]

I just literally reread that and I have been reading the whole book series.

[connormacdonald]

The necklace of course PFF but as for the spell on the necklace I have no idea

[tnntaronewsnetwork]

So are you saying it is the Horcrux of Herpo the Foul?

[LedLax]

I just found your channel a few days ago (huge fan so far you make great stuff) and I just watched half blood prince this morning and was wondering about this. Good timing!

[StarPlatinum]

Any body else remember how hagrid ran to the school so fast he was gone in seconds? Half giant, with a bigger heart

[_ls]

I'd really like a video explaining this further.
Thanks so much for your Harry Potter videos :D

[minhajnizam]

Yeah definitely make that video. It's pretty terrifying that curse and the sort of effect it has even though a small part of you touches it