Harry Potter Wiki
Register
Advertisement
Harry Potter Wiki

"'R-r-riddikulus!' squeaked Neville. There was a noise like a whip-crack."
— Neville casts this spell.[src]

The Boggart-Banishing Spell[1] (Riddikulus) is a charm that is used in defence against a Boggart. It causes the creature to assume a form that is humourous to the caster, thereby counteracting the Boggart's ability to terrorise. Boggarts are defeated by laughter, so forcing them to assume an amusing form is the first step to defeating them.

To cast, the spellcaster must first acknowledge what they fear the most (as it will most likely what the Boggart will take form of) and then visualize it into something amusing. The problem is, because the Boggart would have assume said form at the moment of direct encounter, the one attempting to use this charm would have lost concentration after seeing the Boggart manifest their worst fears, making this spell useless. As such, it is always advisable to first take one step at a time when practicing this enchantent.

Professor Remus Lupin taught this to his third year Defence Against the Dark Arts class. Thanks to Lupin's teaching, Harry Potter was able to use this against a Boggart in the Triwizard Maze in 1995.

Etymology

"Riddikulus" is an adaptation of "ridiculous" as well as of ridiculum (Latin, "joke") and ridere (Latin, "to laugh").

Boggarts

Person Fear Riddikulus
Albus Dumbledore The corpse of his sister Ariana Dumbledore[2] Unknown
Seamus Finnigan A banshee She lost her voice.
Hermione Granger Professor McGonagall telling her that she failed her exams or failure in general. Professor McGonagall giving her an award.[3]
Neville Longbottom Severus Snape Snape was wearing Neville's grandmother's clothes.
Remus Lupin Full moon A balloon
Harry Potter A Dementor (or simply "fear", as stated by Lupin) Smoke/uses Patronus Charm.
Parvati Patil A mummy It tripped over its bandages.
Tom Marvolo Riddle His own dead body Unknown
Dean Thomas Disembodied living hand Caught in a mousetrap
Molly Weasley Dead family/friends Unknown
Ron Weasley Giant spider (or any spider for that matter) No legs
Padma Patil A giant cobra A jack in a box
Lord Voldemort Voldemort gets a dummy.[4]

Behind the scenes

  • In LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4, only Ron and Hermione learn this spell due to Harry being locked out of the class while Lupin is teaching it to his class. Harry instead learns Expecto Patronum from Lupin to defeat his Dementor boggart, and in return Ron and Hermione do not learn Expecto Patronum.

Appearances

Notes and references

Advertisement