Talk:Spells and spell-like magic in the world of Harry Potter

Poison

Ascendio
Ascendio is a charm to ascend into the air.
 * (Who added this? It should include a source.  I recall this from the GoF movie... but not from any book.)  --Obsidian-fox 04:07, 7 April 2006 (UTC)

Immobilus
Immobulus - "This spell is used to freeze an object in place. This spell is from the movie version of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets."

Did Hermione use the spell on the pixies in the movie? I think I do recall it being used in the movie Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Professor Lupin uses it to freeze the Whomping Willow before entering the passageway to the Shrieking Shack). Also, should it be spelled "Immobilus" if it is derived from "Immobile"? neatnate 18:42, 10 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Yes, Hermione does freeze some pixies sometimes --Omegium 15:50, 18 Nov 2004 (UTC)

It was used to blow up or freeze the bludger in mid-air during the Quidditch game so it would stop it from hitting harry, after landing in the sand, jumping for the Golden Snitch, which he caught. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 94.5.3.142 (talk) 23:06, 1 January 2014 (UTC)

locomotor
The article says that "Locomotor" has no Latin roots, but that word is derived from Latin - its parts are "locus" (place) and "movere" (movi, motum: to move) - so the meaning is something like "to move to another place". Compare "Locomotive" etc. --84.135.229.54 28 June 2005 22:02 (UTC) also, isn't locomotor used by flitwick in a previous book before ootp? Peregrine AY17:05, 26 July 2005 (UTC)
 * fixed Peregrine AY 17:05, 26 July 2005 (UTC)

Other spells
I expected this article to be a complete list of spells in Harry Potter - there seem to be a lot of spells missing (Lumos? - wand casts a light, Reparo? - repairs an object, Finite Incantem? - the spell used by Professor Snape in Chamber of Secrets at the duelling club to restore calm, the spell Draco used in Chamber of Secrets at the duelling club to produce a snake, etc). Brianjd

Well then, by all means feel free to add to the list. That is what Wikipedia is all about; constant improvement in content by continuous editing. Sinistro 19:47, 22 Nov 2004 (UTC)

I'm with both. The list should be improved, but it can give the impression that it was supposed to be complete. I added a small and clumsy note.

That said, I thought avada kedavra was an old phrase that "abracadabra" derived from, not the other way round? -- Kizor 16:41, 6 Jan 2005 (UTC)

Protean Charm-warns people of meetings by making objects grow hot? That seems like a very narrow definition... I thought it was to bind all the fake galleons to one "master" galleon, so Hermione could change them all at once. This list needs to be more professional.
 * I understood the Protean Charm to be on several objects, and to make each object that had the charm cast on it imitate the master object which could be changed. While changing, the objects would grow hot. Sneezygirl (talk) 19:44, 3 December 2021 (UTC)

Formatting
Maybe it would be a good idea to decide on some kind of "house style" to stick with when adding or amending spell information? For instance, looking down the list now, there are times when you might find certain names, Snape for instance, unlinked, and other times you could find them as Severus Snape, which is, I assume, the preferred format? Of course, one could not gaurantee that everyone amending the article would stick to such "standards", but if all the previous entries were of a similar style, it might encourage new editors to stick with it? Perhaps not a huge issue, but feel free to comment. Splaty 14:49, 17 July 2005 (UTC)

Legilimancy
Legilimancy is NOT a spell, it is an obscure magical art.Phoenix Song 02:27, 21 July 2005 (UTC)

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ I disagree with Phoenix, Legilimancy is channeled with a wand. Let me teach you the difference a magical art; and a spell.

Spell : i.e. Reducto, used to shatter people or(things) into tiny pieces. Spoiler Alert: Molly Weasley used the Reducto on Bellatrix Lestrange in order to shatter her into pieces (Deathly Hallows Part 2) A magical art is taught within teachers in Hogwarts.(Normally in harry potter)Another Spoiler Alert: The only lessons that happened due to Ministry of Magic interfering with Hogwarts, and Harry Potter taught Defence Against the Dark Arts to the students who signed up for it. They named it Dumbledore's Army. Below you will find some examples of magical arts currently being taught in Hogwarts.

Examples : -Defence Against The Dark Arts -Herbology -Potions -Flying(Only seen in Philosopher's Stone or Sorcerer's Stone because only for first years) -Transfiguration

Spoiler Alert: In Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix; Severus Snape used the S P E L L Legilimancy to read through Harry's Mind in order to prepare him for Lord Voldemort's liking of torturing his victims into Madness as so said by Severus Snape before the lesson began.

I think thats enough to prove the difference.

I rest my case — Preceding unsigned comment added by 94.5.3.142 (talk) 23:28, 1 January 2014 (UTC)

Diffindo
I totally agree that Diffindo "severs the target", but that's what other spells do, isn't it? The question is just what it does, I don't have the Goblet of Fire at hand to check. But i'd say it rips things apart? --AmiUhle 14:13, 21 July 2005 (UTC) Note: If anyone tries to follow anything Harry Potter from the video games...then don't.  In the CoS video game, you learn Diffindo from Professor Sprout, which of course Diffindo would be considered a Herbology spell..in the game, it destroys thick vines in your path...of course, in The Half Blood Prince, Arthor Weasley used it to bust the boards loose on the Dursley's fireplace...I say it causes a small explosion of whatever you aim the spell at
 * Actually, Arthur does not use a verbal spell to bust out of the Dursley's fireplace. I would say that it is a severing charm, specifically one that makes slashes or cuts, which we see when Hermione accidentally cuts Ron's knee in the Deathly Hallows when trying to free him from rope bindings. Also, the only other spell that is similar to this would be 'Relashio', which forces an object to open or release something, also seen in the Deathly Hallows. Sneezygirl (talk) 19:50, 3 December 2021 (UTC)

There is an error here...
"Sectumsempra

[...] Also used in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by Harry on Malfoy, which he is punished for with detention by Severus Snape (who, in fact, created the spell)."

"by Harry on Malfoy, which he is punished..."

Which he? "which is punished", maybe...

Anyway, as I did not reach the chapter, I'm not sure which is which, but I think this should be corrected...

Vlad 13:49, 23 July 2005 (UTC)

Original Research
I removed "There is also speculation that the spell could have been first seen in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, when Lucius Malfoy gets angry at Harry Potter over the loss of his house elf that was supposed to serve his family. Malfoy could have spoken the first part "Avada", after which Dobby knocked him back. However, the subtitles for the movie say that Lucius said "Vera", so it is also possible that this incantation was never used until Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire"

Malfoy isn't stupid enough to try to kill Harry in front of Dumbledore, in public, in broad daylight. Plus, regardless, that's original research, which Wikipedia prohibits the publication of. Superm401 | Talk 21:57, July 25, 2005 (UTC)

Added: Lucius Malfoy indeed says "Avada" before being hit by Dobby's power in the movie.

Finite Incantate/um
Appears twice, once as canon and once as non-canon!
 * Not anymore. :P
 * Merged into Cannon. The Computer Mutt 09:13, July 27, 2005 (UTC)

Bat-Bogey Hex
I propose the "booger" comparison be removed. Granted, bogey is a British-slang term, but the same can easily be said for booger. If you have a British-slang with an American-slang equivelant on the page, that only helps British people or Americans. There should just be a NON-slang comparison for it. - Gerbon689 08:38, 2 August 2005 (UTC)

Lumos and Lupin

 * Also, Lupin would likely have used some more powerful light spell to illuminate the compartment on the train when the Dementors had extinguished all the lights. Instead, the best he could manage was a handful of dim blue flames (PA5). The spell is included here in the interest of completeness, however.

In the, it is written as:


 * There was a soft, crackling noise, and a shivering light filled the compartment. Professor Lupin appeared to be holding a handful of flames

It doesn't mention the color of it anywhere, nor does it sound like the kind of light that lumos creates. --MacAddct1984 13:38, August 7, 2005 (UTC)

Copyright Violation
Several of the spell descriptions seem to be taken word for word from The Harry Potter Lexicon despite their usage policy

Slug Vomiting Charm
There seems to be no indication that vomiting slugs was the desired effect that Ron wanted to produce, judging that it's his second year in school and that Ron isn't the most adept of wizards, it's very possible he had his mind set on another spell entirely.
 * ...Ron plunged his hand into his robes, pulled out his wand, yelling, "You'll pay for that one, Malfoy!" and pointed it furiously under Flint's arm at Malfoy's face. A loud bang echoed around the stadium and a jet of green light shot out of the wrong end of Ron's wand, hitting him in the stomach and sending him reeling backward onto the grass.

--MacAddct1984 23:39, August 16, 2005 (UTC)
 * Actually, it was. We see that when Hermione says this when they are at Hagrid's cabin later that day: "That's a difficult curse to work at the best of times, but with a broken wand--". So, with this, we can see that this is an actual curse, that simply fired the wrong way. I'd also say this is further supported by Lockhart's attempt to obliviate the boys, and the spell still working, but shooting out the wrong end and exploding most of the tunnel. Sneezygirl (talk) 23:39, August 16, 2005 (UTC)

Fidelius Charm
What happens when the Secret-Keeper dies before revealing his secret? Is the secret revealed or forever concealed?
 * Simply put, we don't know. Since now this has happened, however, we will probably find out in the next book. You may also consider asking J.K.Rowling in a chat interview or some other way. Sinistro 09:28, 18 August 2005 (UTC)

Avada Kedavra / Abracadabra / Hebrew
It looks to me like the Hebrew versions of both spells are exactly the same. I'm removing one until someone figures out what the other should be.

According to the caption in the CoS movie, Lucius Malfoy begins a spell "Vera," not Adavra.

'''Jason Isaac's voice says "AVADA" very clearly. The caption is incorrect.'''

Snape's spell on Dumbledore
HBP clearly mentions a flash of green light going out of Snape's wand after he said "Avada Kedavra". The last paragraph is therefore mistaken.
 * Yeah, which is why I removed it. It also said that the spell threw Dumbledore back and out the window. While the book is a little unclear about how the scene plays out, it just says he was lifted up in the air and then limp body ended up falling backwards and out the window -- MacAddct1984 15:20, August 26, 2005 (UTC)

Yes, but there is controversy about whether or not snape actually used Avada Kedavra on Dumbledore or whether he actually used Levicorpus.

Note to anyone intending on splitting off a section
This page has been processed by N-Bot, which, for browsing convenience, changes links to redirects to lists to links to the relevant list sections: e.g. Unforgivable Curses is changed to Unforgivable Curses.

As a result, anyone who intends to split a section out of this page should be aware that, as of 4 September 2005, the following sections were linked to from the following pages:


 * The Unforgivable Curses: Azkaban
 * Imperius Curse (Imperio): Death Eater, Barty Crouch, Barty Crouch Jr., House-elf, Azkaban, Madam Rosmerta, Minor Dark wizards in Harry Potter, Minor Ministry officials in the Harry Potter books, Minor members of the Order of the Phoenix, Minor characters associated with Quidditch
 * The Killing Curse (Avada Kedavra): Albus Dumbledore, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Death Eater, Azkaban, Harry Potter (character), Sybill Trelawney, Dates in Harry Potter, Frank Bryce, The Riddles (Harry Potter), Dark Art
 * Memory Charm: Barty Crouch
 * Sectumsempra: Legilimency, Half-Blood Prince (character)
 * Levicorpus: Legilimency, Half-Blood Prince (character)
 * Cruciatus Curse (Crucio): Death Eater, Neville Longbottom, Dolores Umbridge, Azkaban, Minor Dark wizards in Harry Potter

N-Bot (t/c) 05:49, 4 September 2005 (UTC)

Pronunciation guides
Do we really need the pronunciation guides for some of the spells? Most, if not all, are pronounced exactly like they're spelled. If there are going to be pronunciation guides, can they at least be in the International Phonetic Alphabet so there's some level of continuity? For example, "ah", "uh", "o", and "er" can all be used to spell the same sound, when ə is both more accurate and less confusing than having four different spellings for the same sound. --Icarus 04:44, 9 September 2005 (UTC)

Vera Verto
The spell's previous entry (a direct copy from The Harry Potter Lexicon) stated:


 * Fera Verto (FAIR-uh VAIR-to)
 * "fera" - L. wild beast + "verto" - L. transform
 * The spell transforms an animal into a cup or goblet.
 * Taught in second year Transfiguration in the CoS film
 * The subtitles indicate that this spell is written "Vera Verto," but this seems unlikely, since "vera" is completely unrelated to the spell while "fera" fits perfectly.

The presumption that the spell incantation actually given in the film (Vera Verto) is wrong (and instead must really be Fera Verto) is original research as well as uninformed. "Vera", far from being "completely unrelated", is very similar to verre, the French word for "glass" in both its "drinking vessel" and "material" senses. (Verre, in turn, is akin to Italian vetro and Latin vitro, which also mean "glass".)

"Fera" (from Latin for "wild animal/beast") being a "perfect fit" is arguable on a couple of points. The pertinent film scene clearly stated that the spell was "to turn animals into water goblets" --not just wild animals-- as demonstrated on Scabbers the rat. Also, spell incantations in HP have consistenly followed a pattern: The words of the incantation describe the spell's effect, while the spell's target is simply indicated with a wand gesture and only optionally verbalized. (For instance, "Accio" aimed at the object being summoned works as well as "Accio Firebolt" or "Accio Horcrux"; the same goes for "Reparo" and "Oculus Reparo".) Fera Verto, then, would seem insufficient or incomplete-- suggesting "to turn a (wild) animal" without describing what it is to be transfigured into (a glass? a teapot? a button?). Vera Verto, on the other hand, fits the pattern of an incantation that encapsulates in a word (or two) what its spell does.

Mercury McKinnon 08:00, 22 September 2005 (UTC)

Memory Charm
I doubt this requires its own section, since we do know its incantation... Note: The incantation that Professor Lockhart said in Cos was "Obliviate", the memory charm to make Ron and Harry lose all their memories so he [Lockhart] could take the fame for finding the CoS

Page move
Was there any reason to move the page? Was there any discussion of that? I don't really like the new title, I think it's a bit long and klunky. I'm going to move it back, please don't move it again without discussing it here first. &Euml;vilphoenix Burn! 04:59, 3 December 2005 (UTC)
 * Ok, I'm not going to after all, because it appears the page is getting broken up, and I don't want to take the time to deal with that right now. I still think this page name is a bit klunky. What should happen is that this page goes back to Canonical spells in the world of Harry Potter, and that the new sub-pages are broken out from that article and linked to from that article, rather than moving the entire article to Spells and spell-like magic in the world of Harry Potter and then doing the breakouts.&Euml;vilphoenix Burn! 05:04, 3 December 2005 (UTC)

Capitalization
I started lowercasing all the instances of the word "spell" in section titles, as Wikipedia consistently used downstyle in titles, but then I noticed that even in the page titles the word "spell" seems to be capitalized. Is this a consistent style decision made somewhere? Why? &mdash;Brent Dax 19:12, 6 December 2005 (UTC)

Page merge
Just wanted to say that I'm still on track, and will be merging in a couple of days. Real life got in the way for a bit, and it turned out that the end result needs some more work. --Kizor 21:35, 23 December 2005 (UTC)

Levicorpus
The spell to hang people by their ankles.Allegedly invented by Severus Snape. It is canon. But I believe that’s impossible. James used Levicorpus on Snape in their 5th year. Advanced Potion Making isn’t on The booklist until 6th year. If you think about it, it just falls apart — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2600:1009:B045:90FE:6461:FCEA:FBFC:7C6E (talk) 23:27, 3 November 2020 (UTC)