This year has been an exciting one for Harry Potter fans between the release of Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore and the promise of a holiday 2022 release for the upcoming video game Hogwarts Legacy. Both these additions to Harry’s magical world provided, or promise to provide, a deeper look into the wizarding world and the ways that magic keeps this fictional universe going.
Part of what keeps fans so eager to learn more about the wizarding world is the complex way magic is described in the franchise. Hogwarts classes only brushed on some of the more elaborate branches of magic that witches and wizards can manipulate. One of these branches is Occlumency and Legilimency, which are types of magic associated with telepathy. However, these challenging magical skills are much more than waving a wand and saying a spell. From the concentration necessary to the etymology of their names, there is much about Occlumency and Legilimency that the average wizard doesn’t know and that fans might be eager to learn.
Occlumency Means “To Close Minds”
The word Occlumens comes in part from the Latin word “mens,” meaning “mind,” but with the root “occluder,” meaning “to close up.” Therefore, the word’s literal translation is “to close up the mind.”
To be successful in Occlumency, a wizard must shut down all thoughts and emotions that they do not want the Legilimens to see. This skill is more common than Legilimency, as it benefits those who wish to keep their thoughts private. However, it is still a challenging skill to master.
Legilimency Means “To Read Minds”
The word Legilimens likely comes from the Latin words “legere,” which means “to read,” and “mens,” which means “mind.” So the literal meaning of J.K. Rowling’s coined word is “to read minds.”
Legilimency is the magical act of using eye contact and extreme concentration to dive into a victim’s mind and analyze their thoughts. This is described as being very difficult, with only a few of even the adult characters in Harry Potter able to use the skill.
Ligilimency Is Not Simply Hearing Thoughts
In Order of the Phoenix, Snape tells Harry that Legilimency does not allow a wizard to hear a person’s thoughts as if they were talking directly to them or to read their thoughts like on a page. Instead, a Legilimens must weave through the complexities of the mind and analyze what they find to discover meaning.
This means that to become a Legilimens, a witch or wizard must endure endless study. The mind is complicated and often unclear. To understand what someone is thinking is to sort through glimpses of meaningless images to discover what they want to find.
Occlumency Depends On Emotional Control
Occlumency is so tricky to master because it requires a wizard to gain complete control over their emotions. A calm, logical, and regulated mind is much more difficult to dissect, so by removing the chaos of emotions, an Occlumens ensures that they choose the thoughts that are displayed.
Harry was poor at Occlumency because he was motivated purely by his emotions, unlike Snape and Malfoy, who had learned to shut down their feelings from a young age. Even Voldemort, who used Occlumency to keep Harry from using their connection, often accidentally let Harry in by losing his temper or becoming excited.
The Sorting Hat Was A Legilimens
The Sorting Hat at Hogwarts is one of the most advanced magical objects in the Harry Potter series. It was enchanted by all four Hogwarts founders and contains the intelligence of each. So in a way, it is a piece of each of them left behind even after their deaths.
Salazar Slytherin was known to be a skilled Legilimens, so the Sorting Hat inherited this gift. This is how it dives into the mind of new Hogwarts students and uses their thoughts to determine which house best fits their true personalities.
A Good Occlumens Can Manipulate Their Memories
Legilimency and Occlumency are far from a perfect art. Because of this, a good Occlumens can trick even the most skilled Legilimens.
Snape explains to Harry that skilled Occlumens can manipulate their memories, thoughts, and emotions to reveal false information to a Legeilimens. This was what Voldemort did to Harry when he showed him Sirius being tortured in the department of mysteries. Snape also proved to be an expert at this skill, as he managed to use Occlumency to show Voldemort only thoughts and feelings of loyalty while hiding away his true motivations.
Some People Are Born With Legilimency Skills
For most people to become great Legilimens, they must spend hours upon hours studying and practicing. As with any skill, some people are predisposed to the ability, like Voldemort, who likely inherited his talent from his ancestor, Salazar Slytherin.
However, some wizards are born a Legilimens. From a very young age, people like Queenie from Fantastic Beasts can use Legilimency without using a traditional Harry Potter spell. However, unlike someone who studied to become a Legilimens, wizards born with the skill often lack the ability to control whose thoughts they hear or when.
Occlumency Was Not Typically Taught In School
Hogwarts teaches seven core magical classes and several elective courses that teach advanced or more specific types of magic. However, Occlumency is not a skill students can expect to learn in class.
This is partly due to its advanced nature. Exceptionally few wizards will ever be able to become skilled Occlumens. However, this is also likely because learning to close one’s mind effectively requires another wizard to try to penetrate it. Since even most Hogwarts professors are not capable of Legilimency, it would be impossible to test every student enough to help them learn.
Legilimency Can Be Done Verbally Or Nonverbally
When wizards first learn Legilimency, they will likely use their wand and the incantation Legilimens. Snape demonstrated this during their Occlumency lessons. However, this makes blocking the spell or preparing to close the mind much easier.
As wizards become more skilled, they can begin to use the spell nonverbally and without their wand in hand. However, similar to Apparition, a Legilimens that was not born with the skill would likely still have to have their wand to be successful.
Voldemort Was The Most Accomplished Legilimens
Dumbledore and Snape both described Voldemort as the most accomplished Legilimens that there had ever been. He could effortlessly slip into the minds of his enemies and allies alike, ensuring that he knew the weakness of anyone around him.
Voldemort’s skill went even further than this, however. His favorite cruel method was to enter a person’s mind and torture them to the point of insanity. He would plant horrible images, create devastating emotions, and exacerbate feelings of doubt or fear.
