The magic of Harry Potter transformed the fantasy genre for a generation, both in books and movies. For millions of people, words like accio and lumos have become a part of a common vocabulary. JK Rowling built a world that’s so immersive that many of us are still secretly waiting for our invitations to Hogwarts.
But of all the powers displayed in the Harry Potter universe, which ones are the best?
Updated July 31st, 2021 by George Chrysostomou With so many wizards and witches achieving incredible discoveries, there are a number of spells and abilities that have been invented or utilized in unique ways. The Wizarding World is home to so many incredible powers, many of which are equal parts breathtaking and dangerous. Each one has a distinct purpose but cannot always be controlled by the user.
Levitation
Levitation was an incredible ability that very few wizards and witches have actually mastered. Traditionally the magical community uses a broomstick to travel around, as it’s an efficient method that’s both safe and controllable. It does not require much magical skill.
However, some sorcerers can actually levitate, using a variety of spells. While it’s often easier to levitate an opponent in a duel, the likes of Voldemort mastered self-levitation, often floating effortlessly across the ground. It still didn’t allow the user to travel very far though.
House Elf Magic
House Elves have their very own kind of magic, different from anything wizards and witches are used to. While the Wizarding World use wands to channel their magic, for the most part, a House Elf can use a charm at just the click of their fingers.
What’s more, House Elves often don’t need to actually cast spells, simply achieving what they want with their minds. They have a great power to apparate and have also been shown to be able to levitate objects. Their skills are usually used in a slave capacity, unfortunately as shown with Dobby the House Elf.
Lycanthropy
Very simply, this power is the ability to turn into a werewolf - but it’s involuntary. As fans learned from Lupin, this is a condition that comes from being bitten by another werewolf. This one is definitely at the bottom of the barrel.
While it’s cool to turn into another creature, being a werewolf doesn’t sound like any fun. Instead of getting to explore the world through the eyes of an animal, you just turn into a feral, bloodthirsty beast. It’s no wonder that there’s a stigma against these poor people in the wizarding world.
Maledictus
A maledictus is someone who has been cursed. Often transported through blood meaning that heirs can also inherit it, it starts with the victim being able to transform into an animal. However, as time goes on they continue to exhibit more and more animalistic features.
Eventually, they will be stuck as that animal and there doesn’t appear to be a cure. This can give the user great power though. The most famous maledictus is Nagini, who started off as a woman before finally being transformed into a deadly snake.
Veela Charm
Veelas have a magical knack for enchanting those around them, particularly men - who go completely bonkers around them, willing to do anything to impress the Veela in front of them.
It’s a skill that can be passed down even to mostly-human descendants as fans saw in Harry Potter And The Goblet of Fire with Fleur Delacour when she accidentally wooed Ron, and again in Deathly Hallows when her veela power made her more beautiful at her wedding. It’s definitely a power that would be useful from time to time.
Magical Resistance
Certain witches and wizards have the ability to resist magic used against them, sometimes through genetics and sometimes through innate talent. For example, Hagrid, as a half-giant, has a giant’s ability to resist numerous stunning spells - something that definitely came in handy.
On the other hand, Harry seemed to just naturally have the skill needed to resist the imperius curse in The Goblet of Fire. It was yet another time when being the chosen one paid off - although it was suggested that any wizard with enough willpower could do the same.
Parseltongue
This is definitely the most bizarre of the Harry Potter powers. Parseltongues are able to speak to snakes, an ability with limited uses that’s still cool as hell. This is also helpful when Slytherins may use Parseltongue words as passwords and magical commands, say, to open the Chamber of Secrets.
It’s a skill that can be genetically inherited, learned, or (as a random example) fused into your being with a piece of the soul of the Dark Lord as he tries to kill you. Any of those will do.
Legilimency And Occlumency
Legilimency is the power to read minds, while occlumency is the corresponding ability to block mind-readers. Frankly, it’s surprising that these skills aren’t more widely studied in the wizarding world, as who wouldn’t want to read people’s minds occasionally?
And then, if having your mind read was a possibility, you’d think occlumency would be very popular among the paranoid if no one else. Perhaps it’s because these are not easy skills to master that makes them relatively rare for witches and wizards to possess.
Seeing
Throughout the Harry Potter series, Professor Trelawney is considered a bit of a joke, but the fact is that despite her oft-incorrect (and dire) predictions, she is a real seer. Seers can have visions of the future and it’s a very powerful ability when handled correctly.
The idea of seeing into the future is so popular that there are even numerous people in the real world who make their living convincing themselves and others that they have the gift. Rowling tapped into some intense wish-fulfillment there.
Wandless Magic
If you’re a witch or wizard already then it can be hard to see your way up from there. After all, you have magic! That alone should be a dream come true. But when spells by themselves start to lose their novelty you might start to get frustrated at needing your wand for everything.
Not a problem for advanced magic users! Wands help channel magic and make spells more precise, but truly powerful witches and wizards don’t need all that. They can get by on will alone. This is truly an advanced skill, but an incredibly useful one.
Apparition
This is where Harry Potter magic starts to encroach on the territory of sci-fi. Who doesn’t want to just appear where they need to go? Star Trek figured that out years ago.
Still, apparition is extremely cool. It’s just too bad it has so many restrictions on it. Otherwise, Harry could have saved himself a lot of trouble by disappearing every time he was being hunted by the forces of evil.
Animagus
This power is another dream come true for people. If you’re an animagus you can transform into the animal of your choice. Throughout the books and movies, this was a very useful skill for a number of witches and wizards.
James Potter became a stag to help Lupin through his werewolf transformations, Rita Skeeter became a beetle to spy on people, and Professor McGonagall became a cat to further prove that she’s a complete badass.
Metamorphmagi
While changing into an animal is awesome, being able to change your appearance at will is even better. In the series Tonks and her son Teddy are the only metamorphmagi that fans see, suggesting that it is both a rare and genetic trait.
Tonks mostly uses her abilities to illustrate her mood with her hair color and as a party trick. However, it’s a power that can be used to change one’s race, age, and attractiveness. If it were real, this is the power everyone would be clamoring to get!
Immortality
Immortality is the kind of gift that many wizards have tried and failed to seek out. Very few have achieved this but there are a variety of methods to actually become immortal. The Philosopher’s Stone is one such way to do so, with Nicolas Flamel demonstrating its incredible powers.
Another way is through the creation of Horcruxes, where someone can split their soul into several pieces. In doing so there’s always a piece of their essence that is still protected. Tom Riddle managed to achieve this seven different times, meaning Voldermort was essentially immortal.
Obscurial
An Obscurial is created when someone represses their magical abilities. Without being able to let out that sheer power, it’s kept inside and begins to become corrupted. An Obscurial will often be found in children, with the power destroying them eventually.
It’s one of the most powerful entities in the whole of the Wizarding World but it’s also an ability that can be controlled. Credence was so strong that he was able to use his Obscurial powers at will, morphing his body into the beast and destroying huge areas of New York.
