Occlumency (2024)

Warning! At least some content in this article is derived from information featured in: Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery& Harry Potter: Puzzles & Spells& Harry Potter: Magic Awakened. As such, spoilers will be present within the article.

Occlumency was the magic of closing one's mind against Legilimency.^[1] It was ancient, and had existed since medieval times.^[2] It could prevent a Legilimens from accessing one's thoughts and feelings, or influencing them. A wizard or witch who practised this art was known as an Occlumens.^[1]

Methods[]

The most basic form of Occlumency, judging from Severus Snape's early lessons on the subject to Harry Potter, involved clearing one's mind — making it "blank and empty" — in order to prevent a Legilimens from perceiving one's emotions and thoughts. More advanced Occlumency involved suppressing only the thoughts, emotions, and memories that would contradict whatever it was an Occlumens wished a Legilimens to believe.^[1]

This produced a "faux" layer of mentality that could totally throw off the perspective of one who used Legilimency into thinking that the said layer being the legitimate one whilst its bona fide counterpart lay deeper within. Hence, it was not obvious that Occlumency was being used even if the person was lying. It required a great deal of willpower, similar to resisting the Imperius Curse.^[1] It was also one method of resisting the influence of Veritaserum.^[3]

Considered to be an obscure branch of magic despite its usefulness, Occlumency was not part of the normal curriculum taught at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and appeared to be a rare and difficult skill.^[1]

History[]

Gellert Grindelwald was a very accomplished Occlumens, as he was able to conceal his true mind from even natural-born Legilimens Queenie Goldstein, which worked in tandem with his acting skills and at the time disguising as Percival Graves.^[4] Even in advanced age and long-time imprisonment, Grindelwald remained a powerful practitioner as Voldemort failed to penetrate his mind.^[5]

The Wizengamot believed that Sirius Black might have been an Occlumens, as they believed that even if they give him a fair trial under the influence of Veritaserum, he would still be able to resist it with Occlumency or other tricks.^[6]

Bartemius Crouch Junior was an accomplished Occlumens, as he managed to hide his true mind from Albus Dumbledore and Severus Snape, both accomplished Legilimens, while disguised as Alastor Moody. Had Barty not been groggy when stunned later that year, he would have had the prowess in Occlumency to resist the Veritaserum.^[7][3]

In the 1995–1996 school year, Albus Dumbledore had Severus Snape teach Harry Potter Occlumency in an effort to prevent his mind from being penetrated and influenced by Lord Voldemort. Snape was a highly skilled Occlumens, being able to successfully deceive extremely accomplished Legilimens Voldemort, but his lessons with Harry were ultimately unsuccessful. Harry was not able to repel most attacks, though it is likely that the personal enmity between him and Snape as well as the stressful events in his life that year hindered his ability; while Snape was not teaching in an encouraging way, Harry's climbing interests in Voldemort's repeated attempts at the Hall of Prophecy made him further neglect his practice of the skill.^[1][8][9] He eventually gave up attempting to learn.^[10] Harry later managed to block his connection to Voldemort, on occasion, by focusing on feelings of love and grief, rather than by using Occlumency.^[11]

Snape himself also employed Occlumency to hide his loyalty to the Order of the Phoenix from Voldemort, and due to his well-known mastery, both sides had difficulty trusting him.^{[citation needed]}

Albus Dumbledore was also an exceptional Occlumens, having been one of the few to be capable of repelling Voldemort's Legilimency and he also expressed confidence in his ability to teach Harry the art but chose not to due to fearing Voldemort's reaction to how close they were.^[1]

After the Battle of the Department of Mysteries, Voldemort realised the dangers of his connection with Harry, and employed Occlumency to seal off the link, thus freeing Harry from feeling any pain from his lightning-bolt scar and also dreams of what Voldemort was doing.^[11] However, by 1997 to 1998, Voldemort started losing control,^[12] due to repeated failures of his Death Eaters infuriating him more and more, and the reported losses of his Horcruxes became a tipping point where he forgot to close his mind, allowing the thoughts to be seen by Harry as he mentally organised his Horcrux hiding locations.^[13]

In 1996, Bellatrix Lestrange trained her nephew, Draco Malfoy in Occlumency so that he could keep his mission to kill Albus Dumbledore a secret. Draco became skilled enough to repel Snape's attempts at Legilimency.^[14] Draco's success was due to him shutting out his compassion to become the bully he was, making it easy for him to close his mind.^[6] Despite this, Dumbledore did not confront Draco earlier regarding the assassination attempts due to fearing Voldemort would use Legilimency on Draco to discover it,^[15] suggesting that Voldemort's Legilimency was able to overpower Draco's Occlumency.

Horace Slughorn was noted for his skills in Occlumency, more accomplished than Morfin Gaunt, and he would be able to resist the likes of Dumbledore, hence a reason Dumbledore refused to use force or coercion to wrest a memory out of Slughorn. His mastery would have also allowed him to resist the effects of Veritaserum, though he would nevertheless carry an antidote, which for all accounts, made it redundant.^[16]

In the early 2020s, Hermione Granger decided to start studying Occlumency from a book, as she suspected that the head of The Unforgivable was a Legilimens, in order to protect her mind from them.^[17] It is unknown if she mastered the skill.

Known texts[]

Known Occlumens[]

• Maxwell Barnett^[20]

Etymology[]

The word "occlumency" comes from the Latin occludere, meaning "to shut up" and mens, for "mind".

In Czech, Occlumency is named "Nitroobrana". It comes from Czech "nitro" meaning heart and soul inside human and "obrana" which means defence.^{[citation needed]}

Behind the scenes[]

• On the subject of Occlumency, J. K. Rowling has discussed why Draco Malfoy would be skilled at it while Harry Potter was not:
  • "...I think Draco would be very gifted in Occlumency, unlike Harry. Harry’s problem with it was always that his emotions were too near the surface and that he is in some ways too damaged. But he's also very in touch with his feelings about what's happened to him. He's not repressed, he's quite honest about facing them, and he couldn't suppress them, he couldn't suppress these memories. But I thought of Draco as someone who is very capable of compartmentalising his life and his emotions, and always has done. So he's shut down his pity, enabling him to bully effectively. He's shut down compassion — how else would you become a Death Eater? So he suppresses virtually all of the good side of himself."^[21]
• Occlumency, being a "magical defence of the mind against external penetration" most likely will make the use of the Imperius Curse against an Occlumens either ineffective or at the very least reduce its effectiveness, although this is unconfirmed. Snape did regard the power required to utilise Occlumency effectively as similar to that of resisting the Imperius Curse.
• Occlumency does not appear to be a generally offered subject of study at Hogwarts and is probably only taught in private courses to students who show potential for it. Snape described it as an "obscure branch of magic", further suggesting that it is lesser known to the community as a whole.
• Quirinus Quirrell may have been using Occlumency against Severus Snape and Albus Dumbledore. Dumbledore suspected that Quirrell wanted to steal the Philosopher's Stone for Voldemort and ordered Snape to keep an eye on Quirrell. If Albus or Severus had discovered the truth sooner, Quirrell would probably have been caught by them. It is, however, possible that Voldemort was the one protecting Quirrell's mind from their Legilimency.
• Narcissa Malfoy may have been an Occlumens, as she lied to Voldemort about Harry's demise without consequences.^[22] However, Voldemort may not have been using Legilimency on her at the time, as he might not have believed she would lie to him with her family's lives at stake, a sign of Voldemort's greatest weakness: arrogance.
• Lucius Malfoy may have been attempting to use Occlumency against Albus Dumbledore. When questioned about his role in the second opening of the Chamber of Secrets, Lucius was described as having a blank look on his face while maintaining eye contact with Dumbledore. It's unknown if he was successful, though Dumbledore probably knew the truth regardless.
• According to W.O.M.B.A.T., it is possible that Occlumency can guard against possession.
• Harry Potter briefly used Occlumency against Voldemort, although he has never been able to master it. Also of note, while Harry's use of Occlumency in the books was negligible, he was nigh-effortlessly able to throw-off the Imperius Curse (both by Bartemius Crouch Junior-as-Alastor Moody, and by Tom Riddle), by willpower-alone.
• Remus Lupin was able to conceal the fact that Sirius Black was an unregistered Animagus from Albus Dumbledore and Severus Snape, both highly skilled Legilimens, throughout his entire tenure at Hogwarts in spite of the latter's intense dislike for him and stated suspicion that he was aiding Sirius Black. Dumbledore only found out because Lupin told him voluntarily, and because Black revealed himself in front of Ron Weasley. It is unknown if he was using Occlumency to conceal this knowledge or if Snape and Dumbledore just never used Legilimency against him.
• As Dumbledore was not suspicious when Barty Crouch Jnr used Occlumency when disguised as Alastor Moody, it's possible that the real Moody was skilled in this field as well. Given Moody's skill as an Auror and paranoia, he was possibly a skilled Occlumens.

Appearances[]

• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (First appearance)
• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (film)
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (First identified as Occlumency)
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (film)
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (video game)
• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
• Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: The Original Screenplay
• Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (film)
• Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald - The Original Screenplay (Possible appearance)
• Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald (Possible appearance)
• J. K. Rowling's official site (Mentioned only)
• Pottermore
• Wizarding World
• LEGO Harry Potter: Years 5-7
• LEGO Dimensions
• Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery
• Harry Potter: Wizards Unite (Mentioned only)
• Harry Potter: Puzzles & Spells (Mentioned only)
• Harry Potter: Magic Awakened (Mentioned only)

Notes and references[]

See also[]

• Legilimency