Calamity

A calamity, in general wizarding parlance, refers to a great and often sudden disaster or misfortune. The term gains a more specific and dire meaning in the context of the International Statute of Secrecy, where a “calamity” represents a significant breach that threatens to expose the magical world to Muggles. The concept was formalized as The Great Calamity in supplementary material, defining a specific, worldwide magical catastrophe.

Throughout the original novels, the word “calamity” is used in its standard English sense to describe disastrous events, reflecting the wizarding community's constant anxiety about maintaining secrecy and order.

• In 1994, upon seeing the Dark Mark appear over the woods at the Quidditch World Cup campsite, Arthur Weasley fears that Muggles have stumbled upon a major magical disturbance and exclaims, “what a calamity,” before rushing to investigate.
• In 1995, Minister for Magic Cornelius Fudge uses the term when refusing to believe Harry Potter and Albus Dumbledore about the return of Lord Voldemort. He dismisses the idea, stating he could not be “forced into a course of action that will destabilise everything we have worked for… A calamity of that magnitude…”
• These instances underscore that the potential for a large-scale “calamity”—a disastrous revelation of magic—is a foundational fear within the Ministry of Magic and the wizarding world at large.

The term was established as a specific, named event that served as the primary conflict in the Harry Potter: Wizards Unite video game.

• Source: (video game: Harry Potter: Wizards Unite)
• Description: The Great Calamity was an unexplained global magical event that caused countless magical artifacts, creatures, people, and even memories—collectively known as Foundables—to be violently and erratically displaced into the Muggle world.
• Threat Level: The event was considered the single greatest threat to the International Statute of Secrecy in modern history. The sheer volume and random nature of the magical appearances risked the complete and irreversible exposure of the wizarding world.
• Magical Phenomena: Foundables that appeared in the non-magical world were often trapped or guarded by magical phenomena known as Confoundables. These required specific spells to be neutralized before the Foundable could be secured and returned to its proper place.
• Official Response: In response to the crisis, the Ministry of Magic, in cooperation with international wizarding governments, established the Statute of Secrecy Task Force. This new branch recruited witches and wizards from the general populace to help find and contain Foundables, defeat Confoundables, and modify the memories of any Muggles who witnessed the events.

While the concept of a major breach of secrecy is a core theme in the *Harry Potter* series, the formal name The Great Calamity was created specifically for the augmented reality mobile game Harry Potter: Wizards Unite. The game, developed by Niantic and Portkey Games, was released in 2019 and its narrative centered on players acting as members of the Statute of Secrecy Task Force to contain this ongoing disaster. The game was officially shut down on 31 January 2022.