Legilimency

• Incantation: Legilimens. It is important to note that this art is often, and perhaps most skillfully, performed non-verbally.
• Pronunciation: le-JIL-i-mens
• Wand Movement: None specified in the novels.
• Light: No specific light is described when the spell is cast.
• Effect: Allows the caster, known as a Legilimens, to magically penetrate a target's mind to access and interpret their feelings, thoughts, and memories.
• Type: A complex branch of Magic. While not explicitly classified as one of the Dark Arts, its profoundly invasive nature makes it a tool often employed by Dark wizards for interrogation and intimidation.

The art of Legilimency is a significant and recurring element in the series, primarily used by powerful wizards for gathering intelligence and asserting dominance.

• Lord Voldemort was the most accomplished Legilimens known. He used it routinely to ensure the loyalty of his Death Eaters, to brutally interrogate his victims, and to communicate with his snake, Nagini. His unique mental connection with Harry Potter, forged when he inadvertently made Harry a Horcrux, allowed him frequent, uncontrolled access to Harry's thoughts and emotions.
• Severus Snape was also a highly skilled Legilimens. He was tasked by Albus Dumbledore with teaching Harry Potter Occlumency precisely because of his proficiency in Legilimency. During these lessons, Snape repeatedly penetrated Harry's mind, forcing Harry to relive memories and emotions. Snape later claimed to Bellatrix Lestrange that his skill as an Occlumens was the only reason he could consistently lie to Lord Voldemort under direct Legilimency assault. He also used it to extract information from Mundungus Fletcher regarding the theft of Salazar Slytherin's Locket.
• Albus Dumbledore was known to be a powerful Legilimens. Snape warned Bellatrix Lestrange that it was “prudent” to avoid eye contact with Dumbledore if one had something to hide.
• Harry Potter inadvertently used a form of Legilimency against Lord Voldemort during their final duel, temporarily accessing Voldemort's mind to see the truth about the Elder Wand's allegiance.

The formal introduction to Legilimency occurs in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix during Harry's disastrous private lessons with Snape. Snape explains that the crude Muggle term is “mind-reading,” but Legilimency is far more subtle and complex. He describes the mind as a complex and many-layered thing, and that a true Legilimens can navigate it to find the truth.

Legilimency is established as an obscure and difficult branch of Magic that is not taught at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and which very few wizards master. Successful application generally requires direct eye contact, which acts as a conduit into the target's mind. The caster must be able to break through the target's natural mental defences to access their conscious and unconscious thoughts. The sole and direct counter to Legilimency is Occlumency, the magical art of closing one's mind against external intrusion. A skilled Occlumens can clear their mind of all thought and emotion to present a blank wall to an attacker, or, in more advanced cases, present false memories and thoughts to deceive the Legilimens.

The word Legilimency is a compound of two Latin words:

• legere, meaning “to read.”
• mens, the genitive form of which is mentis, meaning “mind.”

Therefore, a Legilimens is literally a “mind-reader.” Severus Snape, however, is quick to dismiss this simplistic translation, emphasizing the skill and subtlety required to properly interpret the complex layers of a person's mind, which is not as straightforward as “reading a book.”

• In the film adaptations, particularly Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Legilimency is visually represented as a fast-paced, often disorienting, montage of memories and images flashing before the character's and the audience's eyes (film).
• The Fantastic Beasts film series introduces the character Queenie Goldstein, who is a natural-born Legilimens. She can hear the thoughts of those around her constantly and seemingly without effort, suggesting that while it is a learned skill for most, some individuals can possess a powerful, innate talent for it (Fantastic Beasts).