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Warning!
At least some content in this article is derived from information featured in Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery. Spoilers will be present within the article. |
- "— and then, if you'll believe it, I pounced — like this — slammed him to the floor — thus with one hand, I managed to hold him down — with my other, I put my wand to his throat — I then screwed up my remaining strength and performed the immensely complex Homorphus Charm — he let out a piteous moan […] — the fur vanished — the fangs shrank — and he turned back into a man. Simple, yet effective — and another village will remember me forever as the hero who delivered them from the monthly terror of werewolf attacks."
- — Lockhart's supposed use of this spell[src]
The Homorphus Charm (incantation unknown) was a charm that could temporarily change a transformed werewolf back into their human form.[1][2] It was not, however, a cure for lycanthropy, regardless of how it was described by Gilderoy Lockhart in his false account of his defeat of the Wagga Wagga Werewolf.[1]
Nature
- Cecil Lee: "The Homorphus Charm. The only spell known to wizardkind that is capable of curing werewolves."
- Jacob's sibling: "It can cure werewolves? Why not just use that instead of capturing them?"
- Cecil Lee: "Well, not all of us are as gifted as Gilderoy Lockhart… He says he always casts the spell perfectly, but when I cast it, it only temporarily returns a werewolf to human form. In any case, it can be quite valuable for stopping a werewolf in its tracks."
- — Cecil Lee tells Jacob's sibling about the Homorphus Charm[src]
Lockhart described the spell as being "immensely complex" and performed by placing the tip of one's wand to the throat of whomever the caster wanted to return to human form.[1]
Contrary to Lockhart's description of the spell, however — his books were later found out to contain a wealth of invented details aimed at making his stolen feats of bravery look more impressive,[3] — there was no known cure for Lycanthropy. Cecil Lee of the Werewolf Capture Unit remarked that, for him, the spell only temporarily returned a werewolf to human form (as he believed in Lockhart's accounts, Lee assumed this was due to him having failed to fully master the charm).[2]
History
Sometime after 1982, a highly accomplished and courageous Armenian warlock successfully saved the inland city of Wagga Wagga in Australia from a series of attacks by a particularly fearsome and ferocious werewolf that had been terrorising its inhabitants, a feat he accomplished by means of this spell. Sometime afterwards, however, before the tale could reach the public eye, news of this feat of bravery reached a British wizard and author by the name of Gilderoy Lockhart, who proceeded to track him down to hear the full account from the warlock for himself. Once Lockhart had convinced him to tell how he had managed to "deliver the city from the monthly terror of werewolf attacks", however, the traveller placed a Memory Charm on him to make the warlock forget that it was he who had made the achievement in question. This allowed Lockhart, by 1984, to take credit for said event, including it into his collection of fraudulent accounts where he alleged to have saved various villages from werewolf attacks, later known as Wanderings with Werewolves.[3] In the book, however, Lockhart alleged that he could use the spell to cure them.[1][4]
Following the publication of his book. Lockhart organised a symposium dedicated to discussing his alleged encounter with the so-called Wagga Wagga Werewolf. The event attracted several notable attendees, including Cecil Lee of the Werewolf Capture Unit.[5] During the event, Lockhart conducted a public demonstration of the Homorphus Charm, boasting that he could perform it with such proficiency as to cure lycanthropy entirely.[6]
Inspired by what had unbeknownst to him been one of Lockhart's tall tales, Cecil Lee used the Homorphus Charm several times to great effect during the course of his duties, albeit misattributing the spell's effect of temporarily turning werewolves back into their human forms rather than curing them outright to being a less accomplished wizard than Lockhart.[2] On 31 August, 1984, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was attacked by Fenrir Greyback and his pack during a Hallowe'en feast. Cecil Lee was dispatched to investigate. A fan of Lockhart's, and proponent of the Homorphus Charm, he attempted to teach this spell to one of the students. Lee also attempted to use the Homorphus Charm during his subsequent confrontation with Greyback a month later, when he returned to finish what he had started. However, as Greyback had yet to transform, the spell did nothing but emit a rain of sparks from the tip of his wand. Lee later did capture Grayback, however, with the Incarcerous Spell.[2]
Etymology
Homorphus is a combination of the Latin Homo meaning 'man' and the Greek morphe- meaning 'shape' or 'form'.
Behind the scenes
- Although this spell is described as a charm, its described effects seem closer to Transfiguration. Alternatively, since the wounds left by a werewolf bite are said to be "cursed" by werewolf Remus Lupin, by extension the condition of Lycanthropy could be seen as a type of blood-borne curse. As such, the Homorphus Charm could also be classified as a counter-curse to reverse the transformation, if only temporarily.
Appearances
- Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (First mentioned)
- Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery (First appearance)
Notes and references
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Chapter 10 (The Rogue Bludger)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery, Year 1, Side Quest "Hallowe'en Feast"
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Chapter 16 (The Chamber of Secrets)
- ↑ Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery, Year 1, Side Quest "Howling Halloween"
- ↑ Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery, Year 7, Chapter 6 (A Window of Opportunity)
- ↑ Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery, Year 7, Chapter 6 (A Window of Opportunity)
