Rarely Disarming Charm

The Disarming Charm (Expelliarmus) was a charm that forced whatever an opponent was holding to fly out of their hand. It was common to see this spell used in duels to make an opponent lose their wand.
==History==
It is not known precisely who created the Disarming Charm. Some wizarding historians claimed that it may have been invented by Merlin himself, while others claimed 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. (See this video) (00:20 - 15:20)The Disarming Charm 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 because the Elder Wand recognised Harry as its master through the spell connection, and thus strengthened the Disarming Charm to the point that Voldemort's Killing Curse backfired on himself.
==Effects==
The Disarming Charm caused whatever an opponent was holding at the time, usually a wand, to fly high out of their hand.A single Disarming Charm could disarm multiple opponents if they were all in close proximity to one another. Multiple or exceptionally powerful Disarming Charms were even able to send a target flying, sometimes to the extent of knocking them unconscious.
==Known uses==
===Successful===
Caster(s) 	Date 	Notes
Filius Flitwick 	Pre-teaching career	Professor Flitwick informs one of his students in the 1984–1985 school year that the Disarming Charm was of great help to him on his path to become a Duelling Champion while preparing the young pupil for learning it themselves, emphasising its importance.
James Potter 	June, 1976 	
Used it to disarm Severus Snape while bullying him after an O.W.L. exam.
Albus Dumbledore	1981 	
Used it to disarm Severus Snape and make him fall to his knees.
Draco Malfoy 	30 June, 1997 	
Used it to disarm Albus Dumbledore during the Battle of the Astronomy Tower before fleeing with Snape and the other Death Eaters.
Fred Weasley 	June, 1993 	At the end of his fourth year practised 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 practised this spell along with Fred, Harry, Hermione, and Ron before the start of summer holiday.
Ginny Weasley 	June, 1993 	Used it at the end of her first year in 1993.
Sirius Black 	6 June, 1994 	Used it to disarm Harry Potter and Hermione Granger in the Shrieking Shack.
Severus Snape 	17 December, 1992 	Used to disarm Gilderoy Lockhart during teaching students at the Duelling Club in the Great Hall.
Severus Snape 	30 June, 1997 	Used it to disarm Harry Potter when Harry tried to attack him after he killed Albus Dumbledore at command of Albus himself.
Harry Potter 	14 February, 1993 	Used it to get Tom Riddle's Diary back from Draco Malfoy who mistook it for Harry's own diary.
Harry Potter 	29 May, 1993 	Used it to disarm Gilderoy Lockhart in his office.
Harry Potter 	June, 1993 	Used it again at the end of the year before summer holiday.
Harry Potter 	6 June, 1994 	Used it to disarm Severus Snape in the Shrieking Shack.
Harry Potter 	6 June, 1994 	Used to disarm Peter Pettigrew near the Whomping Willow.
Harry Potter 	24 June, 1995 	Used it on an Acromantula which was holding him in the maze, during Third Task of Triwizard Tournament.
Harry Potter 	24 June, 1995 	Used it to duel Lord Voldemort in Little Hangleton, as he used the Killing Curse, which resulted in Priori Incantatem.
Harry Potter 	October, 1995 	Used it to teach Dumbledore's Army members.
Harry Potter 	18 June, 1996 	Used it to disarm Lucius Malfoy in their duel in the Death Chamber during the Battle of the Department of Mysteries.
Harry Potter 	2 May, 1998 	Used it to kill Lord Voldemort by rebounding his Killing Curse.
Hermione Granger	June, 1993 	Used this spell at the end of her second year along with; Fred, George, Harry, and Ron before summer holiday.
Hermione Granger	6 June, 1994 	Used it to disarm Severus Snape in the Shrieking Shack.
Hermione Granger	August, 1997 	Used it to disarm Mundungus Fletcher in the 12 Grimmauld Place during the hunt for Horcruxes.
Ron Weasley 	June, 1993 	Used this spell at the end of his second year along with; Fred, George, Harry, and Hermione before summer holiday.
Ron Weasley 	6 June, 1994 	Used it to disarm Severus Snape in the Shrieking Shack.
Ron Weasley 	1995 	Used it to successfully disarm Harry Potter during a Dumbledore's Army's meeting.
 	18 June, 1996 	
Used it to disarm a Death Eater, during the Battle of the Department of Mysteries, accidentally also disarming Harry Potter.
Lord Voldemort 	2 May, 1998 	Used it to disarm Neville Longbottom during Battle of Hogwarts.
==Known practitioners==
Best Main James Potter.jpg|James Potter I
Albus Dumbledore (HBP promo) 3.jpg|Albus Dumbledore
Mcgonagall.jpg|Minerva McGonagall
Pomona Sprout with wand.jpg|Pomona Sprout
Severus Snape.jpg|Severus Snape
Lord Voldemort Tom Marvolo Riddle Original Appearance.jpg|Tom Riddle
Harry Potter.jpg|Harry Potter
Hermione Granger.jpg|Hermione Granger
Ron Weasley.jpg|Ronald Weasley
Fred HS TDH promo.jpg|Fred Weasley
DH promo front closeup George Weasley.jpg|George Weasley
Ginny Weasley hbp promo.jpg|Ginevra Weasley
OOTP promo front closeup Sirius Black.jpg|Sirius Black
Draco Malfoy TDH.png|Draco Malfoy
Lucius Malfoy Profile.jpg|Lucius Malfoy
Harry-potter-and-the-deathly-hallowspart-2.jpg|Neville Longbottom
==Etymology==
Latin expellere (ex = out, pellere = to drive), meaning "to drive out" and "arma" meaning "weapon". Expelliarmus actually means "to drive out the weapon".
==Behind the scenes==
*In the later films, it is only when a witch or wizard is defending themselves from the Killing Curse When the spell appears scarlet. When not locked in combat, it manifests as a bluish- white ball or flash of light, while in the second film, it appears as a golden fiery ring. The spell will either connect with the target's hand and force the wand out of their hand or will blast them off their feet, sometimes unconscious.
*When Dumbledore used this on Snape in , it appeared as white light similar to lightning, and hence was probably a variation of it rather than the spell itself, or else an entirely different disarming spell.
*In and , the Disarming Charm incorrectly has the effects of the Shield Charm, rebounding an opponent's spells upon them. This was mainly due to the lack of being able to disarm in past video games, although this cannot be considered canon as the spell does not work this way in the Harry Potter universe.
**However, the spell is depicted correctly in , , , , 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, in the episode The Shakespeare Code, when William Shakespeare uses it to conclude a formula used to banish the villains from Earth at the suggestion of protagonist Martha Jones. The Doctor, played by David Tennant who also portrayed Bartemius Crouch Junior in , commented "good old J.K." with a smile. Earlier in the same episode, the Doctor had commented that he'd loved , which had not yet come out when the episode first aired.
*As seen in , it is possible to disarm and take ownership of one's wand without using the spell, as demonstrated by Harry, who forcefully disarmed Malfoy with his bare hands to take the latter's wand.
*In the film versions of , Hermione Granger used the spell to make Mundungus Fletcher's wand fly over to her for her to catch it, which also happened when Harry Potter defeated Tom Riddle during Voldemort's Last Stand, in a similar way to the Summoning Charm.
*The Disarming Charm is used, apart from depriving opponents of their wands, to intercept or rebound offensive spells. Usually, this only works with minor to moderate dark charms, similar to the Shield Charm. The Elder Wand recognised Harry as its true master through the spell connection, and thus strengthened Harry's spell to the point that even Voldemort's Killing Curse got rebounded upon himself.
*Outside of cases of Priori Incantatem, the Disarming Charm is able to intercept major Dark spells like the Killing Curse, similar to the golden flame spell.
==Appearances==
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*Harry Potter: The Wand Collection 
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==Notes and references==
Category:Charms
Category:Regular Defence Against on-the Rare Dark Arts
Category:Spells With-An Light
Category:Spells With Incantations of Latin Known Origin