Full Body-Bind Curse

"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^[src]

The Full Body-Bind Curse, also known as the Body Freezing Spell^[4] (Petrificus Totalus^[1]) is a curse^[3] that paralyses the opponent.^[3] It is often used by inexperienced or young wizards in duelling.^[4] The victim's arms and legs snap together, and he or she will fall down, stiff as a board.^[1]

The Full Body-Bind Curse is fundamentally different from petrification, which is highly Dark Magic and which cannot be reversed by a simple counter-curse.^[5]

Known uses[]

Caster	Victim	Notes
Sirius Black	Severus Snape	Used by Sirius Black, in his childhood, while bullying Severus Snape.^[6]
Hermione Granger	Neville Longbottom	When Neville tried to prevent Hermione, Harry Potter, and Ron Weasley from sneaking out of their dormitories in 1992, which they did in order to prevent the theft of the Sorcerer's Stone.^[1]
Harry Potter	Jugson	Battle of the Department of Mysteries ^[6]
Harry Potter	Antonin Dolohov ^[6]
Neville Longbottom	Death Eater ^[6]
Draco Malfoy	Harry Potter	On the Hogwarts Express in 1996.^[7]
Harry Potter	Inferi	While in the Horcrux cave with Albus Dumbledore in 1997^[7].
Harry Potter	Yaxley	Used when escaping from the top of the Astronomy Tower during the Battle of the Astronomy Tower.^[7]
Hermione Granger	Antonin Dolohov	During a skirmish at the Luchino Caffe in 1997.
Parvati Patil	Antonin Dolohov	Used by Parvati Patil to protect Dean Thomas during the Battle of Hogwarts.
Lord Voldemort	Neville Longbottom	Placed in a Full Body-Bind, with the Sorting Hat put on his head and then lit on fire during the Battle of Hogwarts

Etymology[]

The root of this curse's incantation seems to be the Latin words petra, "rock", 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 wholey. Following this, the spell likely means, entirely petrify.

Behind the scenes[]

In the Cast-a-Spell training room, when the spell is cast it seems to coat the victim (a snake) in ice.
When Dumbledore immobilizes 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.

Appearances[]

Notes and references[]

Curses and Counter-Curses
Spells included in the book: Full Body-Bind Curse · Leg-Locker Curse · Jelly-Legs Curse · Pimple Jinx · Stickfast Hex · Tickling Hex · Tongue-Tying Curse · Hair Loss Curse

[SS-1] 1.0 ^1.1 ^1.2 ^1.3 ^1.4 Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

[SSF-2] Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (film)

[POTTERMORE-3] 3.0 ^3.1 ^3.2 ^3.3 Pottermore

[CASTASPELL-4] 4.0 ^4.1 Cast-a-Spell kit found in the Library section of the Harry Potter Official Site

[CoSF-5] Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (film)

[OTP-6] 6.0 ^6.1 ^6.2 ^6.3 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

[HBP-7] 7.0 ^7.1 ^7.2 Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

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