Memory Charm

Memory Charm
Incantation	Obliviate (oh-BLI-vee-ate)
Type	Charm
Hand movement	Point wand at target
Light	Green
Effect	Erases part or all of a person's memory

"If there's one thing I pride myself on, it's my Memory Charms."

— Gilderoy Lockhart

A Memory Charm (also known as Lockhart Memory Charm or Forgetfulness Charm) is a spell that can be used to erase memories from an individual's mind. The incantation for this charm is Obliviate. It is different from the charm that creates false memories.

Effects

Gilderoy Lockhart's book Who Am I?, written after he lost his memory.

Memory Charms are generally intended to erase a specific memory. They are regularly used if a Muggle witnesses something related to the wizarding world; the Ministry of Magic has Obliviators remove their memories of the event, such as if a Muggle sees a dragon. Occasionally, a mass use of Memory Charms is necessary to cover up major incidents that violate the Statute of Secrecy, such as the Ilfracombe Incident. Some Muggles often slip through the cracks in these situations, according to Blenheim Stalk in Muggles Who Notice. When particularly intense memories need to be erased, it often leaves the victim disoriented for a short period of time as happened with the Roberts family after the Quidditch World Cup in 1994.

Hermione erasing Dolohov's memories

However, if performed improperly, a Memory Charm can erase significant portions of an individual's memory and cause brain damage, with difficulty in recovery. For instance, Gilderoy Lockhart attempted to wipe the memories of Harry Potter and Ron Weasley during the events surrounding the re-opening of the Chamber of Secrets. However, Ron's damaged wand backfired, and caused Lockhart to suffer extreme amnesia. He is currently a permanent resident in the Janus Thickey Ward of St Mungo's. Despite his memories recovered enough to do joined-up writings and his love of signing fan letters, he never fully recovered.

Also, Barty Crouch Sr. placed a Memory Charm on Bertha Jorkins to try to make her forget her discovery that he was keeping his son in captivity. But the charm he put was too strong so the charm damaged her memory permenantly, making her chronically forgetful about other things as well.

Breaking the Charm

Memory Charms can be broken through torture. In 1994, Lord Voldemort and Peter Pettigrew broke a Memory Charm placed by Barty Crouch Sr on Bertha Jorkins, and extracted information from her regarding the whereabouts of Crouch's son. However, the breaking of the charm has caused a great toll on Bertha, and her body and mind has been damaged beyond repair.

File:Ob.gif

Hermione using the Memory Charm on her Parents

In 1997, Voldemort had Antonin Dolohov and Thorfinn Rowle tortured with the Cruciatus Curse after they failed to capture Harry Potter. Hermione Granger had cast Memory Charms on them so as to cover the trio's tracks, and it appears that the charms were not broken by torture, since the Death Eaters remained unaware that Ron Weasley was with Harry and Hermione, rather than sick at home with spattergroit as had been claimed, for months afterwards. This may mean that a certain level of torture is necessary to break the charm, or that the torturer needs to be specific on wanting to break it, rather than just inflicting the pain.

Known Uses

Gilderoy Lockhart.

Kingsley Shacklebolt.

Hermione Granger.

Caster(s)	Victim(s)	Notes
Toke family	Many Muggles	Known as the Ilfracombe Incident, it was the largest casting of the Memory Charm in the twentieth century, after a Common Welsh Green attacked a group of sunbathers in Devon, England in 1932.
Gilderoy Lockhart	Several Witches and Wizards	Gilderoy Lockhart rose to fame by tracking down less-than reputable characters who had accomplished mighty feats, questioned them in detail about it, placed Memory Charms on them to remove all recollection of the feat, claimed credit for it, and published a book on it. This was revealed to Harry and Ron in the Chamber of Secrets venture.
Gilderoy Lockhart	Himself (Unintentionally)	In 1993, Lockhart was attempting to cast the charms on Harry Potter and Ron Weasley in order to take credit for braving the Chamber of Secrets, but he used Ron's damaged wand, and the spell backfired and wiped all of his memory.
Barty Crouch Sr.	Bertha Jorkins	Bertha discovered that Crouch was keeping his son trapped in their home under the Imperius Curse. Lord Voldemort later broke the charm protecting this memory.
Ministry Obliviators	Mr. Roberts, Mrs. Roberts, and their children	To keep the family unaware of the 1994 Quidditch World Cup occurring near their campground, and after the family was attacked by Death Eaters.
Kingsley Shacklebolt	Marietta Edgecombe	Marietta was prevented from talking about secret Dumbledore's Army meetings in 1996.
Ministry Obliviators	President of unknown country	This Muggle official was made to forget to telephone the Prime Minister in order to clear time in the latter's schedule to meet with Cornelius Fudge and Rufus Scrimgeour.
Hermione Granger	Antonin Dolohov, Thorfinn Rowle, and a Muggle waitress	After the Death Eaters attacked her, Harry Potter, and Ron Weasley on Tottenham Court Road in 1997, Hermione wiped their memories of the event in order to throw them off the scent of the trio's whereabouts, and to preserve Ron's cover story of being sick at home with spattergroit. The waitress was a witness to the skirmish.
Hermione Granger	Xenophilius Lovegood	Used after an attempted ambush of her, Harry and Ron at the Lovegood House in 1998 to wipe his memory of the conversation he had with the trio about the Deathly Hallows to ensure that Xenophilius was unable to tell the Death Eaters that Ron was with Harry and Hermione.

Etymology

The incantation "obliviate" may be derived from the Latin oblivisci, meaning "to forget", or the English word oblivion, defined as "the fact or condition of forgetting or having forgotten".

It may be derived from the Latin term oblivio, which also means "to forget"

Behind the scenes

• In Chapter 9 of Deathly Hallows, just prior to erasing Antonin Dolohov and Thorfinn Rowle's memories, Hermione says that she has never performed a Memory Charm before, despite having already altered her parents' memories. However, J. K. Rowling has said this was a different charm, which alters memories rather than removes them.
  • Despite Rowling's statement that the charm Hermione used on her parents was not the same, in the film Hermione does use Obliviate.
    • However, it all still fits in as in the film Hermione doesn't say she hasn't used it before.
• In the W.O.M.B.A.T.'s on J. K. Rowling's Official Website, it is referred to as the Forgetfulness Charm.
• As Bertha managed to remember about Barty Crouch Jr. after Voldemort tortured her and broke the charm, it is possible that the charm simply suppresses memories, as opposed to erasing them. However, when Lockhart suffers a backfiring Memory Charm, it seemed that his memories were irreversibly erased.
• In the German translation, the incantation is sometimes translated as Amnesia, and in other cases, remains Obliviate.
• In the Part 1 film adaption of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Hermione uses the Memory Charm to eradicate her mother and father's memories of her, as opposed to implanting false memories.
• In Pottermore, the hand movement is shown as thus:
  

Appearances

• Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
• Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (film)
• Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (video game)
• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1
• LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4
• J. K. Rowling Official Site (Named Forgetfulness Charm)
• Harry Potter Trading Card Game
• Pottermore
• 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)