Memory Charm

The **Memory Charm** (*Obliviate*), also known as the **Forgetfulness Charm**, was a charm that could be used to erase specific memories from an individual's mind. Its counter-charm was the Remembrance Charm.

## History

Mnemone Radford was the witch who first developed Memory Modifying Charms. She became the first Ministry of Magic Obliviator, due to her skill with the charm.

According to San Bakar, the Keepers used the charm on Bragbor the Boastful to make him forget about his association with Isidora Morganach and the repositories he had helped her create. However, unbeknownst to the Keepers, Bragbor had written about those repositories in journals that were found by his descendant, Ranrok.

These spells were used routinely by the British Ministry of Magic as they worked to keep the wizarding world a secret from Muggles.

Minister for Magic Ottaline Gambol was responsible for the creation of the Hogwarts Express to transport young witches and wizards to Hogwarts. However, the secrecy surrounding the project entailed a mass operation involving one hundred and sixty-seven Memory Charms and the largest ever mass Concealment Charm performed in Great Britain.

They were used if a Muggle saw a dragon and after an enchanted item fell into Muggle hands.

As so many Muggles had witnessed the sight of the Loch Ness Monster, the Ministry of Magic was unable to perform Memory Charms on all of them. Instead the Office of Misinformation has focused on discrediting any photographic evidence of the kelpie.

Gilderoy Lockhart focused his considerable talents solely on the Memory Charm until he perfected it, making it the only spell he can perform without fail. In his pursuit for fame, he utilised the Charm extensively on people who performed heroic feats after interviewing them on every detail of their works, so they would not go "*babbling*" while he takes their credits in the form of his books.

When Lockhart used it on a selected group of students after they discovered his attempt to take credit for their encounter in the Cursed Vaults for his own stories, he cast a rather hasty Memory Charm to make them forget their meeting in Madam Puddifoot's Tea Shop, though due to the hastiness, the victims only forgot parts of what he wanted them to forget. In a karmic way, the Memory Charm became Lockhart's downfall when he attempted to perform it with a broken wand, causing it to backfire and destroy his own memories instead.

The charm was covered in *The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 2* by Miranda Goshawk.

## Effects

Memory Charms were generally intended to erase a specific memory. They were regularly used if a Muggle witnessed something related to the wizarding world or magic in general; the British Ministry of Magic had Obliviators to remove their memories of the event, such as if a Muggle saw a dragon. Occasionally, the mass use of Memory Charms was necessary to cover up major incidents that violated the Statute of Secrecy, such as the Ilfracombe Incident.

Some Muggles did slip through the cracks in these situations, according to Blenheim Stalk in *Muggles Who Notice*. When particularly intense memories needed to be erased, it often left the victim disoriented for a short period of time, as happened with the Roberts family after the Quidditch World Cup in 1994.

The venom of the Swooping Evil had powerful memory erasing properties, being able to remove the memories of dangerous and tragic magical events from pretty much the entire No-Maj population of New York when carried into the atmosphere and released in the form of rain via a thunderbird, in 1927.

### Dangers

If performed improperly, a Memory Charm could erase significant portions of an individual's memory and cause brain damage, with severe 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, by using Ron's damaged wand to attempt the charm, it backfired onto Lockhart himself, thus causing Lockhart to suffer extreme amnesia. He thereafter became a permanent resident in the Janus Thickey Ward of St Mungo's. Although Lockhart did retain some of his memories (mainly his vain liking for signing autographs despite not knowing why, and knowing how to write in cursive), he never fully recovered.

Barty Crouch Snr placed a Memory Charm on Bertha Jorkins to try to make her forget her discovery that he was keeping his son in captivity. However, the charm he put on her was was too strong, and thus it damaged her memory permanently, making her chronically forgetful about other things as well.

## Breaking the charm

### Torture

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

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. 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. This might mean that a certain level of torture was necessary to break the charm, or that the torturer needed to be specific on wanting to break it, rather than just inflicting the pain.

Since Lockhart's backfired Memory Charm had never been broken through, it is possible that torture was the only method of complete recovery (with possibly irreparable mental and physical damage being clear side-effects), as it is extremely doubtful that St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries would resort to torture on Lockhart just to recover his memory. It is also possible, however, that since it was cast improperly, Lockhart's memory was actually erased permanently with no chance of recovery whatsoever. Although spending time in the hospital did help him regain the basics of his memory — mainly to write in cursive and his enjoyment of signing autographs, the latter of which he does not remember why — he never fully recovered.

### Counter-charm

The specific counter-charm for the Memory Charm, is known as the Remembrance Charm, and only works so long as the charm was correctly applied, thereby restoring one's thoughts and/or memory, similar to the Memory Potion.

## Known uses

### Attempted uses

 Ministry official
 Gilderoy Lockhart
 Ron Weasley

## 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 noun *oblivio*, which means "forgetfulness, weak memory".