Extraordinary Disarming Charm

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> A handy (even life-saving) spell for removing an object from an enemy's grasp.
>
> Description of the charm, Pottermore

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

Template:Dialogue a-b

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.

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

> Snape cried: 'Expelliarmus!' There was a dazzling flash of scarlet light and Lockhart was blasted off his feet: He flew backward off the stage, smashed into the wall, and slid down it to sprawl on the floor.
>
> The effects of a powerful Disarming Charm, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

 File:Harry Potter duelling with Expelliarmus.gif
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

> 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, and the trio's last few hours before they return home for the holidays, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Used it to disarm Severus Snape while bullying him after an ***O.W.L.*** exam.

 Severus Snape | ***17 December***, 1992 | Used to disarm Gilderoy Lockhart during teaching students at the Duelling Club in the Great Hall.

## Known practitioners

Severus Snape.jpgSeverus SnapeHarry Potter.jpgHarry PotterHermione Granger.jpgHermione GrangerRon Weasley.jpgRonald WeasleyFred HS TDH promo.jpgFred WeasleyDH promo front closeup George Weasley.jpgGeorge WeasleyGinny Weasley hbp promo.jpgGinevra Weasley
## 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

 File:ExpelliarmusPAS.png
* 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 Template:DH, 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 Template:COS and Template:POA, 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 Template:OOTP, Template:HBP, Template:DH, Template:DH, 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 Template:GOF, commented "good old J.K." with a smile. Earlier in the same episode, the Doctor had commented that he'd loved Template:DH, which had not yet come out when the episode first aired.
* As seen in Template:DH, 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 Template:DH, 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

Template:Imagecat

* Template:COS Template:1st
* Template:POA
* Template:GOF
* Template:OOTP
* Template:HBP
* Template:DH
* Template:DH
* Template:DH
* Template:COG
* Template:COG
* Template:PM
* Template:WW
* *Harry Potter: The Wand Collection* Template:Mention
* Template:WBS
* Template:HPK
* Template:HPV Template:Mention
* Template:HM
* Template:PAS
* Template:MA
* Template:HL

## Notes and references

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1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Template:COS
2. ↑ Template:WBS (See this video) (00:20 - 15:20)
3. ↑ Template:DH
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; no text was provided for refs named `DH36`
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Template:POA
6. ↑ Template:OOTP
7. ↑ Template:DH
8. ↑ Template:HBP
9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Template:COS
10. ↑ Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; no text was provided for refs named `COS16`
11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 11.4 11.5 Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; no text was provided for refs named `CoS18`

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