Memory Charm

"If there's one thing I pride myself on, it's my Memory Charms."

- Gilderoy Lockhart

A Memory Charm (Obliviate), also known as a Forgetfulness Charm, was a spell that could be used to erase memories from an individual's mind. It was different from the charm that creates false memories.

History
Mnemone Radford was the witch who first developed Memory Modifying Charms. She became the first Ministry of Magic Obliviator, due to her skill with the charm.

These spells are used routinely by the Ministry of Magic as they work to keep the wizarding world a secret from the Muggles.

Minister for Magic Ottaline Gambol was responsible for the creation of the Hogwarts Express to transport young witches and wizards to Hogwarts. However, the secrecy surrounding the project entailed a mass operation involving one hundred and sixty-seven Memory Charms and the largest ever mass Concealment Charm performed in Britain.

They are used if a Muggle sees a dragon and after an enchanted item falls into Muggle hands.

So many Muggles have seen the Loch Ness Monster that the Ministry of Magic has been unable to perform Memory Charms on all of them.

Effects
Memory Charms were generally intended to erase a specific memory. They were regularly used if a Muggle witnesses something related to the wizarding world; the Ministry of Magic had Obliviators remove their memories of the event, such as if a Muggle saw a dragon. Occasionally, a mass use of Memory Charms was necessary to cover up major incidents that violated the Statute of Secrecy, such as the Ilfracombe Incident.

Some Muggles slipped through the cracks in these situations, according to Blenheim Stalk in Muggles Who Notice. When particularly intense memories needed to be erased, it often left the victim disoriented for a short period of time, as happened with the Roberts family after the Quidditch World Cup in 1994.

The venom of the Swooping Evil had powerful obliviatory properties, able to remove the memories of dangerous and tragic magical events from pretty much the entire No-maj population of New York when carried into the atmosphere and released in the form of rain via a thunderbird.

Dangers
If performed improperly, a Memory Charm could erase significant portions of an individual's memory and cause brain damage, with difficulty in recovery. For instance, Gilderoy Lockhart attempted to wipe the memories of Harry Potter and Ron Weasley during the events surrounding the re-opening of the Chamber of Secrets.

However, by using Ron's damaged wand to attempt the Charm, it backfired onto Lockhart himself, thus causing Lockhart to suffer extreme obliviation. He thereafter became a permanent resident in the Janus Thickey Ward of St Mungo's. Although Lockhart did retain some of his memories (mainly his vain liking for signing autographs despite not knowing why, and knowing how to write in cursive), he never fully recovered.

Barty Crouch Snr placed a Memory Charm on Bertha Jorkins to try to make her forget her discovery that he was keeping his son in captivity. However, the charm he put on her was was too strong, and thus it damaged her memory permanently, making her chronically forgetful about other things as well.

Breaking the Charm
Memory Charms could be broken through torture. In 1994, Lord Voldemort and Peter Pettigrew broke a Memory Charm placed by Barty Crouch Snr on Bertha Jorkins, and extracted information from her regarding the whereabouts of Crouch's son. However, the breaking of the charm had caused a great toll on Bertha, and her body and mind was damaged beyond repair.

In 1997, Voldemort had Antonin Dolohov and Thorfinn Rowle tortured with the Cruciatus Curse after they failed to capture Harry Potter. Hermione Granger had cast Memory Charms on them so as to cover the trio's tracks. It appears that the charms were not broken by torture, since the Death Eaters remained unaware that Ron Weasley was with Harry and Hermione, rather than sick at home with spattergroit, as had been claimed. This may mean that a certain level of torture was necessary to break the charm, or that the torturer needed to be specific on wanting to break it, rather than just inflicting the pain.

Since Lockhart's backfired Memory Charm was never been broken through, it is possible that torture was the only method of complete recovery (with possibly irreparable mental and physical damage being clear side-effects), as it is doubtful that St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries would commit crimes against humanity just to recover Lockhart's memory. It is also possible, however, that since it was cast improperly, Lockhart's memory was actually erased permanently with no chance of recovery whatsoever. Although spending time in the hospital did help him regain the basics of his memory — mainly to write in cursive and his enjoyment of signing autographs, the latter of which he does not remember why — he never fully recovered.

Known uses
"Miss Dursley has been punctured and her memory has been modified. She has no recollection of the incident at all. So that's that, and no harm done."

- Marge Dursley had to have her memories modified

Etymology
The incantation "obliviate" may be derived from the Latin oblivisci, meaning "to forget", or the English word oblivion, defined as "the fact or condition of forgetting or having forgotten".

It may be derived from the Latin term oblivio, which also means "to forget"

Behind the scenes

 * In Chapter 9 of Deathly Hallows, just prior to erasing Antonin Dolohov and Thorfinn Rowle's memories, Hermione says that she has never performed a Memory Charm before, despite having already altered her parents' memories. However, J. K. Rowling has said this was a different charm, which alters memories rather than removes them.
 * Despite Rowling's statement that the charm Hermione used on her parents was not the same, in the Part 1 film adaption, Hermione uses the actual Memory Charm to eradicate her mother and father's memories of her.
 * However, it all still fits in as in the film Hermione doesn't say she hasn't used it before.
 * Either symbolically or by actual magic, when Hermione performed the charm on her parents, all images of her in their family pictures were erased as well.
 * In the W.O.M.B.A.T.'s on J. K. Rowling's Official Website, it is referred to as the Forgetfulness Charm.
 * As Bertha managed to remember about Barty Crouch Jr after Voldemort tortured her and broke the charm, it is possible that the charm simply suppresses memories, as opposed to erasing them. However, when Lockhart suffers a backfiring Memory Charm, it seemed that his memories were irreversibly erased, suggesting the charm will suppress memories or erase them alltogether depending on the proficiency of the caster.
 * In the German translation, the incantation is sometimes translated as Amnesia, in the Czech translation "Zapomeň/te", in Italian it is used Oblivion and in Hungarian it is translated as Exmemoriam, while in other cases remains Obliviate.
 * As it is possible to reverse the spell, it is possible that it simply renders the recipient unable to recall a memory rather than erasing it from their memory entirely.

Appearances

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Notes and references
pt-br:Feitiço da Memória Amnesia Encantamiento de la Memoria Sortilège d'Amnésie Обливиэйт Obliviate