Overview

Expelliarmus, also known as the Disarming Charm, was a charm that made an opponent's object fly out of their grasp. This spell was frequently used to cause an opponent to lose their wand during duels.

Effects

Whatever an opponent was holding at the moment - typically a wand - would fly high out of their hand when they used the Disarming Charm.
Additionally, if several opponents were nearby, a single Disarming Charm may disarm them all. A target could even be sent flying by multiple or extremely strong disarming charms, sometimes even knocking them out.

History

The Disarming Charm's exact creator is unknown. It was first widely used in Madagascar in the eleventh century, according to certain wizarding historians, while others suggested that Merlin himself may have devised it. Even if any of this is accurate, it was not widely used until 1379, when Elizabeth Smudgling, who Miranda Goshawk believes was its most likely inventor, employed it in a Dartmoor dueling match.
Because the Elder Wand identified Harry as its master through the spell connection, it strengthened the Disarming Charm to the point where Voldemort's Killing Curse backfired on him, which is why it became Harry Potter's signature spell and was a major factor in Lord Voldemort's final defeat during the Battle of Hogwarts.

Credits/References

Written by Desmond Gray
Base code by Andrew Sutherland, edited by Iselin Merilä and Desmond Gray.