The Harry Potter Compendium

"From lighting a warm hearth to igniting a Christmas pudding, the Fire-Making Spell is always useful around the wizarding household. However, the ability to produce fire with the flick of a wand can be dangerous to your fellow students (and worse, your books)."
Miranda Goshawk[src]

The Fire-Making Spell[2], also known as the Fire-Making Charm[3] (Incendio[3][1][2]) is a charm that can be used to conjure a jet of flame, thereby setting things alight[2].

Known uses[]

""Incendio!" said Mr. Weasley, pointing his wand at the hole in the wall behind him. Flames rose at once in the fireplace, crackling merrily as though they had been burning for hours."
—Arthur Weasley uses this spell at the Dursleys' house in 1994.[src]
Caster(s) Dates Notes
Albus Dumbledore (possibly) 1895 or 1896 He may have used this spell in his fourth-year at Hogwarts, "accidentally" setting his bed curtains on fire.
Albus Dumbledore (possibly) 1938 He may have used this spell combined with a Flame-Freezing Charm, to demonstrate his magical ability to eleven-year-old Tom Riddle in a Muggle orphanage. Both were used non-verbally.
Peter Pettigrew (possibly) 24 June, 1995 He may have used this to light a fire under Voldemort's cauldron in the Little Hangleton Graveyard.
Rubeus Hagrid (possibly) 1991 He may have used this spell to light a fire in the grate of the Hut in which the Dursley family and Harry Potter were staying to avoid the barrage of Harry's Hogwarts letters. Vernon Dursley had previously failed in lighting a fire there.
Minerva McGonagall (possibly) 1992 She may have used a nonverbal version of this spell to light a grate in Severus Snape's office before Dumbledore arrived, when Harry and Ron smashed a Flying Ford Anglia into the Whomping Willow.
Tom (possibly) 1993 He may have used this to light a fireplace.
Arthur Weasley 1994 He used this spell to start a fire in the Dursley's fireplace, which terrified them.
Alastor Moody (possibly) 1995 He may have used this to burn a piece of parchment used to reveal the location of 12 Grimmauld Place to Harry.
Thorfinn Rowle 1997 He used this spell to set fire to Rubeus Hagrid's cabin.[4]
File:Incendio Hut.jpg
Hermione Granger 1998

She used this spell to try and destroy the locket of Salazar Slytherin.

File:HP-7-WBZ.avi 003748280.jpg
Harry Potter 1998 He too used this spell to try and destroy the locket, though without any incantation (non-verbally).

Known practitioners[]

Etymology[]

  • In Latin, incendio is the dative or ablative singular of incendium, "fire", and it can mean "to fire" or "for fire" (dative), "by fire" or "with fire" (ablative of instrument or means). Thus, the incantation is a way of calling upon fire to burn a desired object, since the spell caster wills harm to be done to an object "by (means of) fire."
  • "Incendio" is the Catalan and Portuguese word for "fire". Also, in Italian the word "Incendio" refers to a great fire similar to that one made by Bellatrix to Hagrid's house.
  • "Incendio" (pronounced in-cen-DI-u) is also the first person singular of the present of the Spanish verb "incendiar", meaning "to set fire to".

Behind the scenes[]

This may be the spell Remus Lupin used on the Hogwarts Express 1993, combined with a Flame-Freezing Charm when the lights went out as he is described as "holding a handful of flames" though it is more likely that he used the charm for Bluebell flames[14]. This may also be the spell he used to relight candles during the Patronus lesson[12].

  • In the video game adaptations of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Incendio is the Bluebell flames charm Hermione uses in the first book. It is used primarily to wilt dank-loving, threatening plants and burn through spider webs. In the later games it resumes its use as a spell to conjure a small burst of normal fire.
  • When Rowle used the spell offensively against Hagrid's hut, it caused an explosion, rather than simply lighting it on fire.
  • Incendio is the first known spell to be cast in the series, although magical devices (Albus's Put-Outer), abilities (Animagi) and beings (Hagrid) appeared before.
  • In the sixth film, Bellatrix uses this spell to set Hagrid's hut on fire instead of Rowle.

Appearances[]

Notes and references[]


Charms (class)
Professors: Filius Flitwick
Textbooks: The Standard Book of Spells · Achievements in Charming · Quintessence: A Quest
Charmbook writers and charm developers: Miranda Goshawk · Scarpin · Felix Summerbee · Randolph Keitch · Basil Horton · Mnemone Radford · Elliot Smethwyck · Jarleth Hobart
Charms studied at Hogwarts: Levitation Charm · Fire-Making Charm · Softening Charm · Cleaning Charm · Cheering Charm · Glacius · Summoning Charm · Banishing Charm · Silencing Charm · Mending Charm · Reductor Curse · Colour Change Charm · Growth Charm · Water-Making Spell · Aresto Momentum · Locomotion Charm


The Standard Book of Spells
Books: The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 1 · The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 2 · The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 3 · The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 4 · The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 5 · The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 6
Charms included in the series: Fire-Making Spell · Levitation Charm · Locking Spell · Mending Charm · Softening Charm · Severing Charm · Unlocking Charm · Dancing Feet Spell · Disarming Charm · Engorgement Charm · Freezing Charm · General Counter-Spell · Memory Charm · Tickling Charm · Summoning Charm · Banishing Charm · Substantive Charm