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The Color of Magic
Posted on: Fri, 03/06/2009 - 22:18
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The Color of Magic
I've been looking around on the internet, and I've yet to find a site which consistently lists the visible colors of bolt-type spells from canon. The Lexicon doesn't necessarily list the colors even for common spells (like Expelliarmus). Other sites I've found may list colors, but they don't always.
So I propose making our own list. If you know or run across the color of a spell in canon, post it here. At some point I might make a page for the list, or I might just update a forum post.
I'll start with some easy ones:
Killing Curse (Avada Kedavra): Green
Disarming Charm (Expelliarmus): Red
Stunning Spell (Stupefy): Red
I suppose that if anyone is interested in listing spells from fanfic, that's fine, too. Just make sure to list which fic it's from.
Comments
A "streak of what looked like purple flame" flew out of a Death Eater's wand during the DoM battle, severely injuring Hermione in unspecified ways.
Is it the same color per person? Sometimes I get the color auras mixed up with color spells. LOL..not even sure aura is canon.
This is one of the many dissasifying areas regarding cannon's description of magics. I attempted to crossreference the spell list on wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spells_in_Harry_Potter with the books, all of which I have on pdf. The wiki porvides the chapter and area to search in the cannon works. [An excellent resource if you've not used it.] Sadly, I've had little luck. The best I've come across is are:
Hermione screamed, "Confringo!" and her spell flew around the room, exploding the wardrobe mirror and ricocheting back at them, bouncing from floor to ceiling; Harry felt the heat of it sear the back of his hand. Glass cut his cheek as, pulling Hermione with him, he leapt from bed to broken dressing table and then straight out of the smashed window into nothingness, her scream reverberating through the night as they twisted in midair ... [DH, Ch.17]
Densaugeo and Funnunculus in the GoF Ch.18 battle between Harry/Hermione and Draco/Goyle, describe "Jets of light shot..."
Sorry, my friend, no colors mentioned.
It is my belief that most spells produce some sort of visual effect beyond the changes wrought by the spell itself. It is just a belief, however, and I have little to back it up. Logically though, dodging or sheilding against an invisible spell would be challenging, at best.
As for the colors, only JRK may hold that information, if she ever developed it.
I've not gone through the entire list on the wiki. You may wish to make an attempt, but my cursory explorations revealed little. I never felt the mechanics and results of spellcasting were well developed in cannon. You may be better served by developing a table of effects and rules all your own.
Good Luck!
miasmic
There's an orange one that Ron (or Ginny) throws when he and Harry catching him and Dean kissing in HBP. I don't think we know what it is.
Or is that "colours." Ah, Mr. Sovran. You have picked a tough task.
I really don't think Jo had any color in mind for any particular spell. It would not surprise me to find conflicting descriptions from book to book. As someone who builds static models of aircraft and ships I have seen some nasty flame wars break out over things like were the US battleships at Pearl Harbor dark blue of dark gray? Even those veterans still alive give conflicting descriptions. We might never know for sure.
Jo can honestly state that Harry wasn't paying attention to the colors because he was a bit busy with surviving at that moment. We have no clue about the orange spell Ron cast at Ginny in HBP. After the moment passed it was unimportant. That purple thing Dolohov hit Hermione with in the Dept. of Mysteries? I don't remember if we ever found out what that was, although it appears several more times. Hermione seemed to be on an awful lot of potions for a comparatively long time to get over its affects.
Fanfic spell colors? For obvious reasons I staying with what Moshpit developed as background for Echoes of Power. :-)
A "streak of what looked like purple flame" flew out of a Death Eater's wand during the DoM battle, severely injuring Hermione in unspecified ways.
Wasn't that like an organ expelling (or maybe rupturing) curse?
I always thought the killing curse was "sickly green", but a quick search shows that not to be the case (so it must be from some fanfic story I remember). I like this color for the AK as it seems appropriate.
When I started putting together my universe notes for Lily's Child, I started making a table for all the spells (easy to get from various places). One of the things I did was to add an extra column for color. Like yourself, I couldn't find much, so I've just been making it up as I go. :-) I'm willing to share if you'd like to see it.
Kevin
Harry swung his wand high, but Malfoy had already started on "two":
His spell hit Harry so hard he felt as though he'd been hit over the
head with a saucepan. He stumbled, but everything still seemed to be
working, and wasting no more time, Harry pointed his wand straight at
Malfoy and shouted, "Rictusempra!"
A jet of silver light hit Malfoy in the stomach and he doubled up,
wheezing."
Rictusempra-Tickling charm-Silver
HP&CoS, Chapter 6, Gilderoy Lockhart
A loud bang echoed around the stadium and a jet of green light shot
out of the wrong end of Ron's wand, hitting him in the stomach and
sending him reeling backward onto the grass.
"Ron! Ron! Are you all right?" squealed Hermione.
Ron opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out. Instead he
gave an almighty belch and several slugs dribbled out of his mouth
onto his lap.
The Slytherin team were paralyzed with laughter.
slug-vomiting charm (?) - Green
HP&PoA, Ch 19
"I think so,,, said Lupin, holding Scabbers tightly in one hand and his
wand in the other. "On the count of three. One -- two -- THREE!"
A flash of blue-white light erupted from both wands; for a moment,
Scabbers was frozen in midair, his small gray form twisting madly -- Ron
yelled -- the rat fell and hit the floor. There was another blinding
flash of light and then -- It was like watching a speeded-up film of a growing tree.
A head was shooting upward from the ground; limbs were sprouting; a moment later, a
man was standing where Scabbers had been, cringing and wringing his hands.
Animagus Reversal Charm- Bluish white
It's really frustrating actually.........she uses "jet of red light" to describe stupefy or expelliarmus almost every time but not with other spells.
...is what actually is causing the light that we see?
The spells must be moving very slowly indeed to allow the possibility of dodging. So what is it that we see? Are they like plasma bolts much-beloved of SciFi?
If the wand-wielder moves the wand during casting, to apply the spell to a wider area, does the light smear out? If you say it slower or quicker, softer or louder, can you make the light brighter or dimmer? Can you hold it back like a rubber-band, building up intensity until you release it?
...is what actually is causing the light that we see?
The spells must be moving very slowly indeed to allow the possibility of dodging. So what is it that we see? Are they like plasma bolts much-beloved of SciFi?
If the wand-wielder moves the wand during casting, to apply the spell to a wider area, does the light smear out? If you say it slower or quicker, softer or louder, can you make the light brighter or dimmer? Can you hold it back like a rubber-band, building up intensity until you release it?
Is this a question for canon, or fanfic magic? The two can be quite different you know. :-)
Jo gave almost as much thought to spell magic mechanics as did most Wizards in her stories. The mundane mechanics of Magic were not important to the story of Harry Potter vs. Tom Riddle AKA "The Brawl for it All."
Although... the later part of DH delves into the metaphysical aspects of Magic. The Hallows, Wand lore, blood bonds and mental connections bored most people but I thought them fascinating. Harry matured more in that latter section of that book than he did in all the rest of the stories.