Extraordinary Levitation Charm

> The Levitation Charm is one of the first spells learnt by any young witch or wizard. With the charm a witch or wizard can make things fly with the flick of a wand. The charm is an excellent test of your magical skills, wand control and above all, patience.
>
> An excerpt from *Book of Spells*, Wonderbook: Book of Spells

The **Levitation Charm** (*Wingardium Leviosa*) was a charm used to make objects fly, or levitate.

## Levitation Charm

### Incantation

*Wingardium Leviosa*
(wing-GAR-dee-um leh-vee-OH-sa)

### Creator

Jarleth Hobart (1544)

It was taught to first-years at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
There were a number of lesser variations of the Levitation Charm, such as the Levitation Spell, the Hover Charm, the Rocket Charm, and the Floating Charm, but the Levitation Charm remained the original and best.

## History

> The Levitation Charm was invented in 1544 by warlock Jarleth Hobart who mistakenly believed that he had at last succeeded in doing what wizardkind had so far failed to do, and learnt to fly.
>
> Miranda Goshawk, *Book of Spells*, Wonderbook: Book of Spells

The Levitation Charm was first developed in the sixteenth century, and warlock Jarleth Hobart is credited with its creation.

On 16 July, Hobart invited a large crowd of wizards, among which was the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, to witness his "maiden flight" — a public demonstration of his own revolutionary charm on himself. He climbed onto the roof of his local church and, after several speeches and a rousing performance of the national anthem he leapt and, having cast the spell, was left hovering in mid-air. At first, he seemed to have succeeded but, after having spent nearly three minutes watching him hanging in mid-air, the crowd grew impatient to see him move somewhere, and booed him.

In response to the catcalls, Hobart tried to move in midair, and started performing vigorous swimming movements, which produced no effect. Mistakenly believing that his clothes were making him heavier and impeding his movement, Hobart stripped thus making him fall ten feet onto the ground below, as it were the clothes that were holding him up in the air — they had been charmed by the Levitation Charm, not Hobart himself. He fell completely naked on the ground, breaking sixteen bones, and received a fine for "*outrageous silliness*" from the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot in 1544*.*

Hobart returned home, humiliated, where he realised that his spell could make objects levitate for varying lengths of time, depending on the skill of the spell-caster and on the weight of the object. He also concluded that small animals or even children could be levitated, but that they had no control whatsoever of their movement once airborne.

He thus made a second announcement, and an even larger crowd gathered to see his second demonstration of the spell (hoping for another laugh at his expense). Hobart's demonstration was, at first, by far more successful than the first one: he showed the onlookers how he could easily levitate objects ranging from small rocks to fallen trees. Hobart decided that, for a finale, he would levitate the Chief Warlock's hat — what he managed to levitate, however, was the Chief's wig, exposing his bald head to the gathered crowd. The Chief was not amused, and was determined to duel Hobart, but the Warlock levitated the Chief's robes over his head, and ran for it.

This was also the first spell students learnt to cast during their Charms lessons in the first year. They revised it in the second and their third year. The theoretical Charms O.W.L. exam included a question on the Levitation Charm. Hermione Granger was the first student in her class to levitate a feather much to Ronald Weasley's annoyance.

## Effects

> He eventually realised that he had invented a spell that would lift objects into the air and could cause them to hover for varying lengths of time, depending on their weight, and the skill of the spellcaster.
>
> An excerpt from the entry in *Book of Spells*, Wonderbook: Book of Spells

 File:Wingardium Leviosa shown on blackboard.png
The Levitation Charm appeared to be an improvement on both the Levitation Spell and Locomotion Charm and/or the Hover Charm, being able to lift objects high in to the air but also allowing one to magically move them through it as well. It also conveniently defied gravity by lifting objects heavier than a normal person, which would otherwise be able to carry, as seen when Ron used this on a troll's club, something a first-year Hogwarts student would otherwise never be able to do without magic.

> This charm ought not to be seen as a joke spell. It can be most useful in duels and can lift physical obstacles and can even Levitate small creatures (though this is likely to confuse any poor animal and is certainly not to be encouraged).
>
> An excerpt from *Book of Spells*, Wonderbook: Book of Spells

Despite its strengths, however, the Levitation Charm had one fatal flaw: it did not work on human beings. Though a human could be levitated using this charm, it was actually their clothing that was being affected. The charm was apparently not strong enough to allow a human to do anything more that float a few feet off the air using this method, and therefore did not allow the true flight afforded to most other objects.

Almost anything could be lifted with this spell, although the object levitated depended on the skill of the caster and the weight of the object.

The effects of this charm could be reversed with the General Counter-Spell.

## Known uses

Template:Dialogue a-b-a

* The fictional character Babbitty Rabbity may have used this spell to levitate a horse, in the tale of *Babbitty Rabbitty and her Cackling Stump*, found in Template:TBB.

## Known practitioners

Filius Flitwick profile.jpgFilius FlitwickMcgonagall.jpgMinerva McGonagallHermione Granger OOTP profile.jpgHermione GrangerOOTP promo front Ron cropped.jpgRonald WeasleyOOTP promo front Harry cropped.jpgHarry PotterColin Creevey OOTPG.jpgColin CreeveyArthur Weasley profile.jpgArthur WeasleyCharlie PM.jpgCharlie WeasleyFred HS TDH promo.jpgFred WeasleyDH promo front closeup George Weasley.jpgGeorge WeasleyLeejordan OoTP.PNGLee JordanOOTP promo front closeup Sirius Black.jpgSirius BlackDraco Malfoy hp6.jpgDraco MalfoyQuirinus Quirrel.jpgQuirinus QuirrellLord Voldemort Tom Marvolo Riddle Original Appearance.jpgTom RiddleWormtail DH1.jpgPeter Pettigrew
## Etymology

*Wingardium* is a composite word, based on: English *to wing* meaning "to fly" (e.g. the plane winged skywards); *arduus* (meaning "high, tall, lofty, steep, proudly elevated") or *arduum* (meaning "steep place, the steep"); and the common Latin ending *-ium*. *Leviosa* probably derives from Latin *levo*, meaning to "raise, lift up", or *levis*, meaning light (of weight). Altogether, therefore, the incantation could best be read as "lift up high".

## Behind the scenes

 File:WingardiumLeviosaPAS.png
* Whilst it was originally assumed that this spell and the Hover Charm were the same, they are not; the Hover Charm makes the target **hover**, whereas this one is always described as making it **fly**.
* In Template:POA, the trio does not use this spell to stop the Whomping Willow from moving, although they do know it. It is only in Template:DH that they use the spell to stop the tree. However, the Marauders also used the Animagus form of Peter Pettigrew to stop the tree rather than a spell.

 File:Levitation Charm.gif
* In Template:COS, Harry Potter uses this charm to levitate two cupcakes for Gregory Goyle and Vincent Crabbe to eat, containing Sleeping Draught, where as in Template:COS, they simply leave the cakes on the banisters of the Grand Staircase.

 File:WingardiumLeviosaGesturePAS.png
* As a homage to the scene in the film, the PC version of the first video game had feathers flying out of the wand when the spell was used.

 File:Hermione with feather pop vinyl.jpg
* In the GBC video game adaptation of Template:PS, this spell is used to lift small enemies (havling no effect on large ones), and will deal damage depending on the target (e.g. if it is very light, flying, or, has a shell, it deals very little damage).
* In Template:LEGO, the Mending Charm is not present, *Wingardium Leviosa* is used instead as repairing charm. It levitates broken LEGO pieces to form a new or previous object.
* Although this spell canonically produces no visible effects (apart from its actual spell effect of levitation) - a possible sign of its simplicity - it sometimes does in other HP media. For example, in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire the spell connects objects and wand via a yellow stream of light continually released from the wand tip whereas in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (GBA version) a blue orb of magical energy is shot at the target. In Template:LEGO a pink glow appears around the object and levitates it.
* In Template:LEGO the Levitation Charm is also a double up of the Cruciatus Curse for Death Eaters. It works the same way as the Levitation Charm by lifting it's victim off the ground, but instead it causes them to writhe and scream in pain, causing them damage.
* This spell's incantation is Warwick Davis's favourite line, and his favourite spell in the series.
* In *The LEGO Batman Movie*, Lord Voldemort uses the incantation of this spell for effects normally completely unrelated to it, emitting a green light similar to the Killing Curse and transfiguring people into fish.

## Appearances

Template:Imagecat

* Template:PS Template:1st
* Template:COS
* Template:GOF
* Template:OOTP Template:Possible
* Template:HBP Template:Possible
* Template:DH
* Template:DH
* Template:TBB Template:Possible
* Template:PM
* Template:WW
* Template:TCG
* Template:HPV Template:Mention
* *Harry Potter: The Wand Collection* Template:Mention
* Template:WWHP
* Template:LEGO
* Template:LEGO
* Template:LEGO
* Template:HPS
* Template:HPK
* Template:WBS
* Template:HM
* Template:WU
* Template:PAS
* Template:MA
* Template:HL

## Notes and references

Template:Reflist
Template:Charms

1. ↑ See this image from J. K. Rowling's Template:PM.
2. ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 2.14 Template:PS Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; name "PS10" defined multiple times with different content Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; name "PS10" defined multiple times with different content
3. ↑ Template:PM - The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 1 menu
4. ↑ Template:WBS - see this video
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Template:HM
6. ↑ Template:COS
7. ↑ Template:POA
8. ↑ Template:OOTP
9. ↑ Template:HM
10. ↑ Template:TBB
11. ↑ Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; no text was provided for refs named `PSF10`
12. ↑ Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; no text was provided for refs named `DH30`
13. ↑ Template:COS - Chapter 20 (*Polyjuice Potion*)
14. ↑ Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; no text was provided for refs named `GOF5`
15. ↑ Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; no text was provided for refs named `OOTPvg`
16. ↑ Template:PSF
17. ↑ Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; no text was provided for refs named `PSG`
18. ↑ Template:GOF - Chapter 27 (*Kill the Spare*)
19. ↑ Wing, definition of
20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 20.2 Latin word list
21. ↑ Arduus, meaning of
22. ↑ Arduum, meaning of
23. ↑ Levis, meaning of
24. ↑ See this YouTube video
25. ↑ [1]Template:PM - What are the Harry Potter cast members favourite Hogwarts classes?