Legilimens

"*The mind is not a book, to be opened at will and examined at leisure. Thoughts are not etched on the inside of skulls, to be perused by any invader. The mind is a complex and many-layered thing, Potter. Or at least most minds are... It is true, however, that those who have mastered Legilimency are able, under certain conditions, to delve into the minds of their victims and to interpret their findings correctly.*"
— Severus Snape describing the art of Legilimency[src]

**Legilimency** was the act of magically navigating through the many layers of a person's mind and correctly interpreting one's findings. A person who practised this art was known as a **Legilimens**. Muggles may have called this "mind-reading", but practitioners disdained the term as naive. The opposite of Legilimency was Occlumency, which was used to shield one's mind from the invasion and influence of a Legilimens.

Some magical creatures, such as Wampus cats, could also perform Legilimency.

## Contents

* 1History
* 2Methods
* 3Instances of Legilimency
* 4Known Legilimens
* 5Texts on Legilimency
* 6Etymology
* 7Behind the scenes
* 8Appearances
* 9Notes and references
* 10See also

## History

**Severus Snape**: "*Get up! Get up! You are not trying, you are making no effort, you are allowing me access to memories you fear, handing me weapons!*"
**Harry Potter**: "*I — am — making — an — effort.*"
— Snape using Legilimency to teach Harry Potter Occlumency[src]
It is unknown who invented the art of Legilimency and just when it was invented. It is safe to assume that the art had been around for a fairly long time, as Salazar Slytherin, a very skilled Legillimens, lived in the 11th century, and, along with the other Hogwarts founders, enchanted the Sorting Hat to have the skill. Other witches and wizards had used Legilimency on several different occasions as well.

Queenie Goldstein was a talented Legilimens who would frequently read those around her and verbally respond to those thoughts. She did so without malicious intent but was often scolded for looking into others' minds without their permission. Whereas most had to learn Legilimency, Queenie was born with a great aptitude for the skill.

Jacob and his younger sibling also had natural abilities in Legilimency. Throughout their school years, Jacob's sibling would occasionally receive visions revealing information about the Cursed Vaults and the next step towards finding them. While Jacob's sibling initially believed that these may be visions of the future, the visions were later revealed to be deliberate messages from their brother. The student was also sometimes able to receive insights into their opponent's next move while duelling, even without casting the spell. Jacob's ability to mentally communicate with his sibling was also due to having such abilities.

After learning the skill from Professor Snape, Jacob's sibling later practised it (with both wand and incantation) on Argus Filch, Rosmerta, Pitts, and Barnaby Lee; they remarked that Barnaby, considered simple-minded, was particularly easy to read. They also tried to use Legilimency on Patricia Rakepick, who prevented them from learning anything with Occlumency.

Professor Snape used Legilimency on Harry Potter while attempting to train him in Occlumency in the 1995-1996 school year to resist potential attempts by Voldemort to read his thoughts. He also used it nonverbally and wandlessly in 1997 by making direct eye contact with Harry in order to find out where he learned the *Sectumsempra* spell and to find out the location of his old advanced potion-making textbook that contained said spell. Snape was able to use it during a duel with Harry later that year, anticipating all of Harry's attempted spells and countering and negating them before they could be performed.

Voldemort used Legilimency extensively, both wandlessly and nonverbally, to enter the minds of those he wished to interrogate. It was even said that it was "*the dark lord's pleasure to invade the mind*". In the past, Voldemort entered the minds of his victims and create visions that would drive them to madness. Due to the link between himself and Harry, both could access each other's thoughts, if Voldemort did not block it off with Occlumency. Voldemort had been considered, mainly by his Death Eaters, to be the most accomplished Legilimens ever.

Albus Dumbledore also used Legilimency to find out Kreacher's plot to lure Harry to the Department of Mysteries; whether he used his wand and incantation or not is unknown.

## Methods

**Severus Snape**: "*I told you to empty yourself of emotion!*"
**Harry Potter**: "*Yeah? Well, I’m finding that hard at the moment,*"
**Severus Snape**: "*Then you will find yourself easy prey for the Dark Lord! Fools who wear their hearts proudly on their sleeves, who cannot control their emotions, who wallow in sad memories and allow themselves to be provoked this easily — weak people, in other words — they stand no chance against his powers! He will penetrate your mind with absurd ease, Potter!*"
— Snape explaining Voldemort's abilities as a Legilimens to Harry[src]
The most advanced Legilimens could perform Legilimency nonverbally and wandlessly, but less talented practitioners must use the incantation *Legilimens* to enter their victim's mind. If a target was not skilled in Occlumency, a Legilimens would be able to detect if the person was lying, as well as delve into their thoughts, emotions, and memories. It was noted that it was easier to perform Legilimency when the target and practitioners' eyes met.

Highly skilled Legilimens could also communicate with other witches and wizards telepathically, even when the target was at a considerable distance. They did this by projecting their own thoughts, emotions, and memories into the mind of an intended recipient without directly accessing it, thereby creating visual impressions in their minds. A former Hogwarts student called Jacob did this as means of warning his younger sibling of the dangers that laid ahead of them whilst trapped in one of the fabled Cursed Vaults.

Similarly, witches and wizards of ill intent could also use this as a way of influencing the mind that they invaded. For example, Lord Voldemort, considered perhaps the most skilled Legilimens of his time, was able to send Harry Potter incredibly realistic visions of the Department of Mysteries and his godfather to lure him into a trap. Severus Snape was able to see one of Voldemort's memories of the Department of Mysteries that Harry Potter himself had not experienced because of the unintentional Horcrux that linked them.

Like Occlumency, Legilimency was not regularly taught at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

## Known Legilimens

Albus Dumbledore

Queenie Goldstein

Salazar Slytherin

Severus Snape

Lord Voldemort

Sorting Hat

Harry Potter (indirectly)

Wampus cats

Jacob's sibling

Constance Pickering

* Jacob (Hogwarts student)

## Texts on Legilimency

*Protection Charm Your Mind: A Practical Guide to Counter Legilimensy* by: Franciscus Fieldwake

*Living With Legilimens: Choose Your Minds Wisely* by: The American Society of Legilimens

## Etymology

The word Legilimency is probably derived from the Latin *legere*, "to read", and *mens*, "mind".

## Behind the scenes

* Considering that it invaded peoples' privacy, Legilimency may or may not have been a legally restricted magical practice, just as the use of Veritaserum was strictly regulated by the Ministry of Magic. Queenie, who would use Legilimency on those around her and respond to their thoughts verbally, was constantly scolded for this invasion of privacy, but was never punished.
* Bellatrix Lestrange may have been a Legilimens as she was known to have trained Draco Malfoy in Occlumency; presumably she had to be able to penetrate his mind with Legilimency in order to teach him how to repel such an attack. However, it is also possible that she simply coached him on repelling mental assault whilst having someone else attempt Legilimency on him during practice.
* Whilst Snape chides Harry for assuming that Legilimency and mind-reading are the same, he does not elaborate on the differences at all (save for saying that Legilimency is much subtler and more complicated than that). In fact, he even states that it would be possible for an advanced Legilimens like Voldemort to read another's mind. Additionally, the most likely etymology of the incantation for Legilimency, the Latin legere-mens, means "to read minds". However, given all the canonical information one can work out a reasonable distinction between the two; mind-reading assumes that one is simply eavesdropping on the thoughts currently running through the head of another. Legilimency, however, appears to actually require the wizard to navigate and move through the various areas of the brain. Whilst it would therefore be theoretically possible then, for one to access the area controlling conscious thought (and hence "read another's mind") other areas of the brain are open to the Legilimens too, such as the area housing memory and the part of the mind-controlling the voluntary muscles. This would fit with Snape's description of the mind being a many-layered thing, as well as Voldemort's ability to possess Harry Potter in this way and how Harry is seen delving through Snape's memories using Legilimency (As opposed to just hearing his current thoughts like a stream of consciousness). It would also support Snape's assertation that equating Legilimency to mind-reading would be a fallacious, reductionist attitude towards such a skill.
* While in other media, practitioners of this magical ability appear to navigate through the thoughts, feelings and memories of their subject, as most notably shown in the film version of Order of the Phoenix, Queenie Goldstein's abilities allow her to passively perceive minds without any difficulty, with it seeming that she was born with it rather than trained in its disciplines. Additionally, she states that people are the easiest to read when they're hurting and that she's had trouble understanding and interpreting the minds of people with different accents, such as Britons like Newt Scamander. Also, due to her abilities, she could listen and feel the presence of others from a great distance, especially of those she was already familiar with, as she sensed her sister's distress and the fact that she was in danger of being executed from the other side of the MACUSA headquarters, as well as when she could hear Jacob's mind as he and Newt unknowingly passed her in Paris. However, when emotionally unstable, her abilities are shown to react, with her hearing the thoughts of multiple people in her mind at once, overwhelming her.
* Ironically, in the first book, Harry suspected Snape was capable of reading minds (though Snape says he does not care for the term "mind-reading", considering it an oversimplification). Prior to learning the details of Legilimency, Harry always stared at Snape eye-to-eye as a means of defiantly lying to him, which ironically allowed Snape to easily penetrate his mind to learn the truth; after learning how Legilimency works at best, Harry would avoid such contact when confronting Snape.
* Harry Potter was able to use his connection to Lord Voldemort to briefly invade the latter's mind to determine his location during the Battle of Hogwarts. However, it is unknown whether Harry was using Legilimency to accomplish this. If he was using Legilimency, he may have been using it in a very indirect approach.
* During a 2007 web chat on Bloomsbury's website, a technical glitch caused it to appear as if J. K. Rowling answered a fan's question before it was asked. Regarding this, Rowling joked that she was "clearly getting better at Legilimency".