Shield Charm(-Harry Potter)

> You wouldn't believe how many people, even people who work at the Ministry, can't do a decent Shield Charm.
>
> George Weasley regarding the charm, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

The **Shield Charm** (*Protego*) was a charm that protected the caster with an invisible shield that reflected spells and blocked physical entities.

## Shield Charm

### Incantation

*Protego*
(pro-TAY-goh)

### Light

Invisible on its own, reflected light of spell

### Effect

Reflected spells and blocked physical forces

It was apart of the Defence Against the Dark Arts curriculum and was taught to sixth years at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. There were also multiple variations of the Shield Charm.

## Casting and effects

When cast, a (usually) invisible shield was conjured in front of the caster's wand, creating a protective barrier between themselves and their attacker. This shield could block and reflect a multitude of spells, such as most jinxes, hexes, and minor curses, as well as block physical forces. Exceptionally powerful Shield Charms were even able to knock people off their feet. However, this shield was not completely impenetrable, as it could not block Unforgivable Curses.

The difficulty of casting a Shield Charm was relatively moderate. Fred and George Weasley realised that most adult wizards, even those employed by the ***Ministry of Magic***, could not produce a functional Shield Charm (something that not only could Harry Potter accomplish at age fourteen, but also imparted to members of the ***D.A.***). They used this to their advantage when marketing their line of ***protective clothing*** (***hats***, ***cloaks***, ***gloves***), upon which permanent Shield Charms were cast.

## History

### 15th century

The Shield Charm's origins were unknown, but was in use by the ***15th century***.

The most famous use of the charm took place in ***1484***, in the town of ***Poppleton***, where the tyrannical ***Earl of Paunchley*** held a jousting match. He insisted that all the nobles for miles around must come to cheer him on at the tournament and "*no excuse would be acceptable*" for missing the event. But young ***Edmund Gaddlegate*** fell out of a tree that day and broke his leg, and his mother put him to bed. The Earl wouldn't hear of anyone staying home, so he dragged Edmund and his mother to the castle, and said the mother had to watch while her child was tied to a horse and forced to compete in the jousting.

The other knights left the tournament "in disgust" at the idea of jousting with a small injured boy, so the Earl vowed that he himself would attack Edmund. But a witch in the crowd named ***Hannah Cockleford*** had other ideas. Fed up with the evil Earl, she cast an extremely strong Shield Charm between Edmund and the Earl, who was "*squashed flat in his armour*" when the Shield Charm knocked him backwards and his horse landed on him. The Earl of Paunchley did not die, but when he came-to he was under the impression that he was a ***donkey*** named Hairy Cyril.

## Known variations

Other varieties of the Shield Charm included as followed:

* ***Protego Duo***
* ***Protego horribilis***
* ***Protego Maxima***
* ***Protego totalum***
* ***Protego Diabolica***Known uses

> His Shield Charm was so strong Snape was knocked off-balance and hit a desk.
>
> Harry Potter's impressive mastery of the charm, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

## Known practitioners

Harry PotterHermione GrangerGinny WeasleyNeville LongbottomFred WeasleyGeorge WeasleySirius BlackDraco MalfoySeverus SnapeLucius MalfoyTom Riddle
## Etymology

Latin *protego*, "I cover" or "I protect".

## Behind the scenes

 File:Minerva-796x4481.jpg
* In the films, Shield Charms are used in nearly every duel shown, almost always used non-verbally and usually accompanied by a parry-like wand movement.
* Also in the films, Shield Charms are shown to be able to deflect material objects such as arrows which were shot using a bow. Also it has shown to be able to withstand ***dragon*** fire from a ***Hungarian Horntail***.
* The book depicts the Shield Charm as only being capable of repelling "minor to moderate curses and hexes", although Harry Potter uses it to block the worst effects of ***Antonin Dolohov***'s ***curse*** in the Department of Mysteries. However, the film implies the Shield Charm to be significantly more powerful in that Harry is able to use it to completely deflect powerful curses cast by Voldemort himself.
* In the early video games, *Expelliarmus* incorrectly functions as a shield charm which also repels and deflects enemy spells, due to a lack of enemies to disarm. In these games, *Protego* is absent.
* In the books, Protego is also able to keep two quarrelling wizards from going at each other when a shield is cast between them.
* *Protego* is shown to be able to block the Killing Curse. Harry blocks multiple Killing Curses from Voldemort during their final duel. According to the books, this is incorrect as the Killing Curse is "unblockable" which is the main reason for its particular infamy, but within the context of the films, the fact is never mentioned. As the Killing Curse would instantly end any duel if it were unblockable, this might just be done for dramatic effect and for longer duels. Although it's very probable that this was respectively because of both Harry's mastery of the Elder Wand and Harry's blood being in Voldemort's veins, and because Bellatrix merely prevented Molly's curses from hitting her with either a Stunning Spell or the Disarming Charm, that they were able to block the Killing Curse. Bellatrix also uses the Shield Charm to block several curses cast at her by Molly Weasley in their duel.
* Harry and Voldemort can use this spell against each other in the final battle during ***Voldemort's Last Stand*** as they engage in a normal duel.
* As Shield Charms can be used as a bewitchment on objects, animals or wizards' clothing to indirectly protect them against many physical and Dark forces, it could be that this way of casting Shield Charms, along with their extended theory, is taught in ***Charms*** class.

## Appearances

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## Notes and references

1. ↑ Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; no text was provided for refs named `GOF31`
2. ↑ , Chapter 11 (*Gilderoy Lockhart*)

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