Disarming Charm

Disarming Charm
Incantation	Expelliarmus (ex-PELL-ee-ARE-muss)
Type	Charm
Hand movement
Light	Scarlet
Effect	Disarms an opponent
Creator	Elizabeth Smudgling (c.1379)

"The Disarming Charm lies at the heart of a good dueling technique. It allows the duelist to rebound an opponent's spell in the hope that the rebounded spell will strike the opponent and leave him or her vulnerable to further attack."

— Miranda Goshawk

The Disarming Charm, also known as the Expelliarmus Spell or Disarming Spell (Expelliarmus) was a defensive charm which forced the victim to release whatever they were holding at the time. It is common to see this spell used in duels, to make an opponent release their wand.

History

It is not known precisely who created the Disarming Charm. Some wizarding historians claim that it may have been invented by Merlin himself, others claim that its first widespread use was in Madagascar in the 11th century. Even if any of this is true, the fact remains that it was not very popular until 1379, when Elizabeth Smudgling — the most likely inventor, in the opinion of Miranda Goshawk — used it in a duelling contest in Dartmoor.

It became Harry Potter's signature spell, and it notably caused the death of Lord Voldemort during the Battle of Hogwarts by rebounding his Killing Curse.

Effects

""That was a Disarming Charm — as you see, I've lost my wand."

— Gilderoy Lockhart

Harry casting a powerful disarming charm indicated by the scarlet jet of light

The Disarming Charm causes whatever an opponent is holding at the time — usually a wand — to fly high out of their reach.

The Disarming Charm always appears as a jet of red light; indeed, this is one of the things that makes it recognisable before the effects of the charm are seen. However the intensity of the light appears to correspond to the strength of the spell as a weak/moderate one creates a small flash of white light whereas a more powerful version manifests as a bright jet of scarlet light. Another noteable effect of the charm is that if multiple charms are used on the same target, the target will be disarmed, but at the same time will be blasted backwards, as seen when Harry, Ron and Hermione all used the Disarming Spell at once on Severus Snape in the Shrieking Shack.

Priori Incantatem

A powerful Priori Incantatem between Disarming Charm and Killing Curse

If two wands with the same core are forced to do battle with each other, the effect is a magical connection called Priori Incantatem. When Priori Incantatem occurred between Lord Voldemort and Harry Potter, the latter was using the Disarming Charm, a much weaker spell than the former.

Known uses and practitioners

"They made the most of the last few hours in which they were allowed to do magic before the holidays... and practised disarming each other by magic. Harry was getting very good at it."

— Fred, George, Harry, Hermione, and Ron's last few hours before they return home for the holidays

Caster(s)	Date	Notes
Albus Dumbledore	Unknown	used this spell to disarm Severus Snape.
Draco Malfoy	30 June, 1997	Draco used this spell to disarm Albus Dumbledore during the Battle of the Astronomy Tower before fleeing with Snape and the other Death Eaters.
Elizabeth Smudgling	1379	She used it in a duelling contest in Dartmoor.
Fred Weasley	June 1993	At the end of his fourth year, Fred practiced this spell along with; George, Harry, Hermione, and Ron before the start of summer holiday.
George Weasley	June 1993	At the end of his fourth year in 1993 practiced this spell along with; Fred, Harry, Hermione, and Ron before the start of summer holiday.
Ginny Weasley	June 1993	She used this spell at the end of her first year in 1993.
Severus Snape	17 December, 1992	Snape taught this spell to the Duelling Club in the Great Hall.
	6 June, 1994	Snape used it to disarm Sirius Black in the Shrieking Shack during the events of 6 June.
Harry Potter	1993	Harry used it to get Tom Riddle's Diary back from Malfoy who mistook it for Harry's own diary.
		Harry used it again at the end of the year before summer holiday.
	6 June, 1994	In his third year he used it against Snape inside the Shrieking Shack.
	24 June, 1995	Harry used this spell while duelling Voldemort in Little Hangleton, which resulted in Priori Incantatem.
	October 1995	In his fifth year this is one of the spells Harry taught Dumbledore's Army he had them practice it in pairs.
	27 July, 1997	Harry disarmed Stan Shunpike during the Battle of the Seven Potters.
	2 May, 1998	He used it against Goyle during the Skirmish in the room of requirement,
		Harry also used it the same night to kill Voldemort by rebounding his Killing Curse.
Hermione Granger	June 1993	She used this spell at the end of her second year along with; Fred, George, Harry, and Ron before summer holiday.
	6 June, 1994	In her third year she used this spell against Severus Snape in the Shrieking Shack along with Harry and Ron.
	August 1997	Hermione also used this spell to disarm Mundungus Fletcher in 1998 during the hunt for Horcruxs.
Ron Weasley	June 1993	Practiced this spell at the end of his second year.
	6 June, 1994	Ron used it during his third to disarm Severus Snape in the Shrieking Shack.
	March 1998	During the Skirmish at Malfoy Manor, Ron disarmed Bellatrix Lestrange with the spell.
Neville Longbottom	18 June, 1996	He used this spell during the Battle of the Department of Mysteries to disarm a Death Eater, accidentally also disarming Harry.

Etymology

English expel, meaning "remove" and Latin arma, meaning "weapon" or "the weapon".

Behind the scenes

"Then a blinding, jagged jet of white light flew through the air: Harry thought of lightning, but Snape had dropped to his knees and his wand had flown out of his hand"

— Dumbledore's use on Snape

• This is the signature spell of Harry Potter.
• In the films only when a witch or wizard is locked in the Priori Incantatem is the spell scarlet. When not locked in combat it's always just a blue or white flash that will either connect with the target's hand and force the wand out of their hand or will blast them off their feet, sometimes unconcious.
• When Dumbledore used this on Snape, it appeared as white lightning, and hence was probably a variation of it rather than the spell itself, or else an entirely different disarming spell.
• The charm is described in The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 2, and has a spellbook purely for itself.
• In the second film, it appears as a golden ring; from the fifth film onward it was a ball of blue light.
• In the video games, mainly he console versions of the first and second games, the Disarming Charm worked rather like a Shield Charm, rebounding an opponent's spells upon them. This is actually also the describing of the spell in the The Standard Book of Spells series. This was mainly due to the lack of being able to disarm in past video games.
  • However, the spell returned to its more offensive use by the Order of the Phoenix game, though the GBC version of the Chamber of Secrets game also follows this scheme.
  • Also in the console version of the second game, it's possible to catch and deflect spells not only cast by prefects in the PS2 version, but it's also possible to do so on one's own backfired spell. This only works on Flipendo and Incendio however, as the other projectile spells will pass through. In the case of the former, it moves rather fast so tight timing to activate the charm is needed.
• The Disarming Charm is referenced on Doctor Who, when Shakespeare uses it to conclude a formula used to banish the villains from earth. The Doctor (played by David Tennant) smiles after the villains are beaten and says: "Good old J.K.", referencing the author of the Harry Potter series.

Appearances

• Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (First appearance)
• Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (film)
• Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (video game)
• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (film)
• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (video game)
• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (film)
• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (video game)
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (film)
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (video game)
• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (film)
• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (video game)
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (video game)
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (video game)
• LEGO Harry Potter: Building the Magical World (Mentioned only)
• LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4
• LEGO Harry Potter: Years 5-7
• Pottermore
• Wonderbook: Book of Spells
• Harry Potter for Kinect

Notes and references

The Standard Book of Spells
Grade 1 · Grade 2 · Grade 3 · Grade 4 · Grade 5 · Grade 6 · Grade 7
Charms included in the series: Dancing Feet Spell (Tarantallegra) · Disarming Charm (Expelliarmus) · Engorgement Charm (Engorgio) · Fire-Making Spell (Incendio) · Freezing Charm (Immobulus) · General Counter-Spell (Finite Incantatem) · Levitation Charm (Wingardium Leviosa) · Locking Spell (Colloportus) · Memory Charm (Obliviate) · Mending Charm (Reparo) · Nonverbal spell · Severing Charm (Diffindo) · Skurge Charm (Skurge) · Softening Charm (Spongify) · Substantive Charm · Summoning Charm (Accio) · Tickling Charm (Rictusempra) · Unlocking Charm (Alohomora) · Wand-Lighting Charm (Lumos)