Fans Are Sharing Obscure Lore About Spells And Potions In 'Harry Potter'

Voting Rules
Vote up the most interesting lore details about the magic and potions of the Harry Potter universe.

There is just as much history about the spells and potions used by the witches and wizards in Harry Potter as there is about the people and places. These Redditors are diving deep into the lore and pointing out the most interesting details about the magic of the universe.

Photo: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets/Warner Bros.

  • 1
    724 VOTES

    Expecto Patronum Has A Literal Meaning

    From a former Redditor:

    'Expecto Patronum' means 'I expect protection' in Latin.

    724 votes
  • 2
    502 VOTES

    Emotion Doesn't Affect A Metamorphagi's Changes Like It Does In The Movies

    From Redditor u/derive-dat-ass:

    Metamorphagi can change their appearance at will. Anger, embarrassment, etc. doesn't cause their hair to turn weird colours. That was just for cinematography purposes in the 5th movie. Tonks' depression in the 6th book didn't cause her look different, it made her look they way she was born, and she just wasn't able to revert her looks to the way she preferred.

    502 votes
  • 3
    495 VOTES

    J.K. Accidentally Wrote The Priori Incantatum Spell Happening Wrong In 'Goblet Of Fire'

    From Redditor u/asocialbookworm:

    In the first printed editions of GoF, J.K. accidentally wrote James reappearing from Voldemort's wand before Lily, falsely signaling that James died after Lily did. The fans bombarded JK with questions. She admitted it was a mistake and the editions from that point on were fixed.

    I recently had to repurchase that book and can't even begin to describe how much it threw me off to read it the "correct" way. Definitely made me miss my original copy.

    495 votes
  • 4
    486 VOTES

    Love And Polyjuice Potions Are Incredibly Sketchy

    From Redditor u/CapLFSternn:

    Love potions are essentially assault.

    The amount of damange you could do with Polyjuice Potions is staggering.

    486 votes
  • 5
    380 VOTES

    Tarantellegra Is Named After An Italian Dance

    From Redditor u/ekm:

    Not really obscure bits of trivia but I loved learning the spell names and figuring out their language roots and translations.

    I know there are websites that define them but I wouldn't use those. I'm sure everyone knows them but things like "Nox" (to turn off Lumos) means "Night" in Latin. And "Tarantellegra" is taken from the Italian "Tarantella" dance which is a very fast dance. I learned to play an easy Tarantella dance on the piano years before HP and when I saw the spell I got super excited that I knew its roots.

    380 votes
  • 6
    489 VOTES

    The Trace Is Very Anti-Muggleborn

    From a former Redditor:

    How bout the trace on underage wizards ...allow me to explain. The Wizarding World says the hate Voldemort with his pure blood mania and yet the trace is really only effective on muggleborns. And on that note why can you get in trouble for doing magic in front of muggle family that knows you are a witch or wizard. Sound very anti-muggle to me.

    489 votes