Welcome to Harry Potter Theory. Today we’re going to be discussing Veritaserum- an incredibly powerful (and I feel, underutilized) potion that forces individuals to reveal the truth.

"It is Veritaserum — a Truth Potion so powerful that three drops would have you spilling your innermost secrets for this entire class to hear. Now, the use of this potion is controlled by very strict Ministry guidelines. But unless you watch your step, you might just find that my hand slips — right over your evening pumpkin juice. And then, Potter... then we'll find out whether you've been in my office or not."

Besides maybe Felix Felicis, Polyjuice Potion and Amortentia- I feel as though Veritaserum AKA ‘Truth’ Serum is one of the most powerful potions in the entire Wizarding World. And given this fact, I can’t help but notice that it’s ludicrously underutilized (at least in the series).

In fact, the list of times that it’s actually used in the story is exceedingly short. These moments include..


Giving it to Barty Crouch Jr after discovering that he was disguised as DADA Professor Mad Eye Moody

Rita Skeeter using it on Bathilda Bagshot while interviewing her for Albus Dumbledore's biography


There were of course other times that it was mentioned, like when Dolores Umbridge used a ‘fake potion’ made by Snape on Harry Potter that he only pretended to drink.

But on the whole, it’s not even talked about that much, and I feel like it could bring about a whole lot of clarity. ESPECIALLY in the context of convicting criminals. In the Death Eater trials, for example, Igor Karkaroff was pardoned by the Wizengamot after giving up the names of some of his co-conspirators. Why not just feed him Truth Serum?

In today’s video we’ll be discussing WHY Veritaserum isn’t more actively used by the Ministry of Magic. We’ll also be discussing use-cases from the story in which Veritaserum could have proven to be extremely useful, potentially saving lives in the process.

Let’s dive in.
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