Occlumency

Occlumency is, in the fictional realm of J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series, a branch of magic involving the practice of closing one's mind against external penetration, with the intent of preventing others from reading one's thoughts. To perform it, one needs to "rid his mind of emotion, empty it...make it blank and calm." (HP5, page 610) One who is practiced in occlumency is known as an Occlumens. The companion art to Occlumency is that of Legilimency, the ability to read another person?s mind. Severus Snape and Albus Dumbledore are experts in the field.

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The term "Occlumens" was created by J. K. Rowling through the combination of the word "occlude" (to close or block off) and the suffix "-mens," (which means mind).

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In the context of the book series Occlumency plays a significant role in the plot development surrounding Severus Snape. Snape is known to be a highly accomplished Occlumens and during the course of the 5th and 6th books, it becomes apparent that both sides of the war believe that Snape is acting as a spy for their behalf. Because of his uncommonly good ability in this art it is unknown as of the end of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince where his true loyalties lie, though the main characters conclude that he has betrayed them.

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In Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Snape attempts to teach student Harry Potter occlumency by orders of Albus Dumbledore in order to defend himself from being manipulated by the evil Lord Voldemort. Dumbledore is an expert Occlumens as well. Harry is taught to clear his thoughts and close his mind before going to bed. This is advice he neglects, so that he can continue having his dreams about The Department of Mysteries. Eventually, Snape stops teaching Occlumency due to the fact that Harry looked at a pensieve of Snape's worst memory. Afterward Snape repeatitly taunts Harry with his inability to learn Occlumency.

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In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, it is revealed that Draco Malfoy has been taught Occlumency by his aunt, Death Eater Bellatrix Lestrange. He defends himself using Occlumency when Snape attempts to discover his mission using Legilimency.

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Later, Dumbledore would regret not teaching Harry Occlumency himself. This is because Snape and Harry were unable to make much progress due to their mutual loathing for each other.

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J. K. Rowling: Joanne Rowling (Joanne Kathleen Rowling is not her legal name; see below for the explanation) OBE (born 31 July 1965), commonly known as J. K. Rowling (pronunciation: role-ing, as in rolling stone) is a British fiction writer. Rowling is most famous as author of the Harry Potter fantasy series, whic...

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