Full Body-Bind Curse

Full Body-Bind Curse
Incantation	Petrificus Totalus (pe-TRI-fi-cus to-TAH-lus)
Type	Curse
Hand movement
Light	White, purple, yellow or none
Effect	Temporary paralysis

"Petrificus Totalus, or the Full Body-Bind, stiffens a person's limbs so they cannot move. Only the person's eyes are free while the spell is in effect."

— Description of the Full Body-Bind Curse

The Full Body-Bind Curse (Petrificus Totalus), also known as the Body Freezing Spell, was a curse that temporarily paralysed the opponent. It was often used by inexperienced or young wizards and witches in duelling. This curse could be found in Curses and Counter-Curses by Vindictus Viridian.

History

During the 1986–1987 school year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Professor Filius Flitwick taught his third-years how to cast this particular spell in Charms class.

Effects

"Essential Tip # 1: Whilst the Body Freezing spell will work on inanimate objects, it tends to prove less satisfying than when used on a moving object."

— Tips on casting, Cast-a-Spell handbook

An individual paralysed with this curse

When used on a living subject, the victim's arms and legs snapped together, and they would fall down, stiff as a board. However, the person's abilities to hear, see (albeit just straight forward), feel, and think still worked properly. Technically, the spell also worked on inanimate objects, but its effects were usually imperceptible, because the object was not moving in the first place.

The effects of the Full-Body Bind Curse could be undone by use of the General Counter-Spell, the healing spell Episkey, an Anti-Paralysis Potion or the Reparifors spell. The effects can also be undone by the death of the caster. Despite the incantation, the Full Body-Bind Curse was fundamentally different from Petrification, which was highly advanced Dark Magic and which could not be reversed by a simple counter-curse.

A sufficiently powerful witch or wizard could use a single cast of this charm to freeze multiple opponents, as was demonstrated when Jules Egwu froze Diego Caplan and two other students whilst participating in a three-on-three duel alongside Jacob's sibling and Nymphadora Tonks.

Known uses

"Neville's arms snapped to his sides. His legs sprang together. His whole body rigid, he swayed where he stood and then fell flat on his face, stiff as a board. Neville's jaws were jammed together so he couldn't speak. Only his eyes were moving, looking at them in horror."

— Description of Neville Longbottom under the curse

Successful

Caster(s)	Victim(s)	Date	Notes
Newt Scamander	Gilbert Bingley	6 December 1926	Newt used it to immobilise Mr Bingley, in Steen National Bank branch in New York, after the latter wrongly deduced that he and Jacob Kowalski wanted to rob the vault.
Eulalie Hicks	Frank Doyle	1932	Used this curse nonverbally to paralyse Frank, one of her cousin Stanley's friends outside Kowalski Quality Baked Goods, as part of their scene to lure Jacob Kowalski to Lally's cause.
Patricia Rakepick	Olivia Green	1974–1980	Used it to paralyse Green after she confronted her about her sinister intentions which she knew about, allowing her to extract Olivia's memories.
Sirius Black	Severus Snape	June 1976	Used it to bully him after an O.W.L. exam.
Penny Haywood	Chester Davies	Start of 1986–1987 school year	Used it to paralyse the prefect outside the Potions Classroom in the Dungeons, so she and Jacob's sibling could enter the classroom to continue their late night conversation.
Jacob's sibling	Ben Copper	1986–1987 school year	Was asked to demonstrate the spell during a Charms lesson on the spell.
	Penny Haywood		Used it for practise on Penny in Bathilda Bagshot's home under Alastor Moody's instruction.
	Scarlett Sparks		Used it to paralyse Scarlett in werewolf form in St Jerome's graveyard, Godric's Hollow.
	Irma Pince (Accidentally)		Used it to try to capture a Swooping Evil that was loose in the library, but missed and hit Madam Pince instead.
	Todd Cribb	1990–1991 school year	Used it on Todd to apprehend him in the Forbidden Forest
Ben Copper	Jacob's sibling	1987–1988 school year	Used to make Jacob's sibling unable to react while the Messenger delivered their message.
	Charlie Weasley and Rowan Khanna		Used this curse to paralyse both Rowan and Charlie in the Clock Tower Courtyard at night before duelling Jacob's sibling, while disguised as one of R's messengers.
R's second messenger	Ben Copper and Jacob's sibling	Start of 1988–1989 school year	This unidentified wizard or witch paralysed both students with this curse in the Clock Tower Courtyard, warning Jacob's sibling that "death" was coming to Hogwarts and that one of their friends would die before the end of the school year.
Jules Egwu	Diego Caplan and two other unknown students	Some time during the 1980s	During a three-on-three duel between Diego Caplan and two other students, and herself, Jacob's sibling, and Nymphadora Tonks, Jules used this spell to freeze all three of her opponents at the same time.
Peregrine	Unknown (either Barnaby Lee, Penny Haywood or Talbott Winger)	1990–1991 school year	Used it to paralyse a friend of their younger child in the Shrieking Shack before they could take the Crown of Mneme, allowing him to use them for his demonstration.
Hermione Granger	Neville Longbottom	4 June 1992	Hermione used it to immobilise Neville, when he tried to prevent her, Harry Potter and Ron Weasley from sneaking out of their dormitories, which they did in order to prevent the theft of the Philosopher's Stone.
	Antonin Dolohov	1 August 1997	During a skirmish at the Luchino Caffe.
Neville Longbottom	Death Eater	18 June 1996	Used to paralyse a Death Eater during the Battle of the Department of Mysteries.
Draco Malfoy	Harry Potter	1 September 1996	Draco used it to immobilise Harry under the Invisibility Cloak on the Hogwarts Express.
Harry Potter	Jugson	18 June 1996	Battle of the Department of Mysteries
	Antonin Dolohov		Harry used it to immobilise Dolohov, after he hit Hermione Granger with his curse, during Battle of the Department of Mysteries. He later used it again on him in the Death Chamber.
	Inferi	30 June 1997	Harry used it to immobilise one of the Inferi, while looking for Horcrux in the Crystal Cave with Albus Dumbledore.
	Corban Yaxley		Harry used it to immobilise Yaxley when escaping from the top of the Astronomy Tower during the Battle of the Astronomy Tower.
	Fenrir Greyback		Harry used it to immobilise Fenrir when escaping from the top of the Astronomy Tower during the Battle of the Astronomy Tower.
Albus Dumbledore	Harry Potter		Albus used it non-verbally to immobilise Harry under Invisibility Cloak at the Astronomy Tower.
Parvati Patil	Antonin Dolohov	2 May 1998	Used to protect Dean Thomas during the Battle of Hogwarts.
Tom Riddle	Neville Longbottom		Used it nonverbally to immobilise Neville in order to put the Sorting Hat on his head and then lit on fire during the Battle of Hogwarts.

Unsuccessful

Caster(s)	Victim(s)	Date	Notes
Ismelda Murk and her friends	Chiara Lobosca	1988–1989 school year	Used it to immobilise Chiara in order to capture her for being a werewolf, but Jacob's sibling used the Knockback Jinx on her first, knocking her out of the curse's way.
Ron Weasley	Vincent Crabbe	2 May 1998	Used it nonverbally to immobilise Vincent Crabbe during the skirmish in the Room of Requirement during the Battle of Hogwarts, but was unsuccessful, because he missed.

Known practitioners

Newton Scamander

Eulalie Hicks

Sirius Black

Albus Dumbledore

Filius Flitwick

Patricia Rakepick

Ben Copper

Penny Haywood

Jacob's sibling

Tulip Karasu

Nymphadora Tonks

R's second messenger

Ismelda Murk

Peregrine

Jules Egwu

Gilderoy Lockhart

Colin Creevey

Harry Potter

Ronald Weasley

Hermione Granger

Katie Bell

Parvati Patil

Neville Longbottom

Draco Malfoy

Tom Riddle

• Ismelda Murk's friends

Etymology

The root of this curse's incantation seems to be the Latin words petra, "rock", ficus, "making or doing something" and totus, "whole" or "entire". Also, pertrificus seems to come from the word "petrify", meaning to turn into stone, or describes a manner in which someone takes on the characteristics of a stone. Totalus likely comes from "Total", meaning complete or wholly. Following this, the spell likely means, entirely petrify.

Behind the scenes

Petrificus Totalus (Trading Card)

• In the Cast-a-Spell training room (found on the Harry Potter official site), the spell literally freezes the victim (a snake), covering it in ice.
• When Dumbledore immobilises Harry, the latter says, in wondering how it could have happened, that it was a Freezing Charm (Dumbledore had done so wandlessly and nonverbally). However, less than a few pages later, after Dumbledore is killed, he notes that the Full Body-Bind had lifted.
• In the films and video games, this spell occasionally appears blue, white or purple.
• When Hermione uses this on Neville a mist-like effect issued from her wand and there was a faint white flash around his body before the curse took effect.
• It appears to be one of the few spells effective on Inferi aside from fire-making spells as Harry was able to stop an Inferi with it in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince when none of his other spells would work.
• The only instances in the films where a victim's arms and legs are snapped together as depicted in the books is when Hermione used it on Neville in Philosopher's Stone, when Draco used it against Harry on the train in Half-Blood Prince, and Newt's use of this spell on Mr Bingley in Fantastic Beasts; any other time it was used, such as when Neville used it on a Death Eater in Order of the Phoenix and when Hermione used it on Antonin Dolohov in Deathly Hallows: Part 1, they were either immobilised in their current position, or they were spread eagled.
• In Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery, the Knockback Jinx and the Full Body Bind Curse are covered in Charms class. This seems unusual, as defensive and offensive spells have not been shown as being part of the Charms curriculum, but in Defence Against the Dark Arts class instead. Although jinxes, hexes and curses can be grouped together in a category called Dark charms, which explains why such spells were taught under Charms class.
  • When used in duelling, it creates a purple electric effect around the target and causing their arms and legs to briefly snap together while remaining upright with a chance to stun. In cutscenes, it causes the target to freeze and fall over, but inconsistent with whether their arms and legs are snapped together.
  • The game also depicts the healing spell Episkey as a counter-curse for this curse, but this is quite unusual, as it is used for healing minor injuries and not to reverse the effects of a curse
• In the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 video game, the curse acts as a long-range, sniper like attack, it appears as a sharp, quick bolt of blue light that can immobilise a foe, stun a foe or shatter their Shield Charm, when used by enemies, the spell is made red and is sometimes believed to be the Cruciatus Curse, it has the ability to shatter the player's shield charm or weaken the player quickly.
• In the Order of the Phoenix video game, the curse appears as a triangular jet of white light, when the player reaches the discovery level of 12, Harry will release two curses at once.
• The Harry Potter Trading Card Game incorrectly depicts this spell as transfiguration.

Appearances

• Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (First appearance)
• Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (film)
• Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (video game) (PS1 version)
• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (video game)
• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Mentioned only)
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
• 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 Half-Blood Prince (film)
• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (video game)
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (video game)
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (video game)
• Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: The Original Screenplay
• Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (film)
• Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore - The Complete Screenplay
• Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore
• Pottermore
• Harry Potter (website)
• LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4 (NDS version only)
• Warner Bros. Harry Potter Official Site
• Harry Potter: Spells
• Harry Potter Trading Card Game
• Harry Potter: The Character Vault (Unnamed)
• Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery
• Hogwarts Legacy
• Harry Potter: Magic Awakened (Mentioned in History of Magic classes)
• Harry Potter: Magic Caster Wand

See also

• Freezing Charm
• Petrification
• Statue curse
• Petrificus Totalus Duo
• Petrificus Totalus Tria