Occlumency question...

[skriftlig.livejournal.com]

Hi! I have a question about how MAGIC works in Harry Potter's our world.

Specifically, do you need a wand for Occlumency? I know this sort of thing has probably been discussed a lot, but I haven't seen this specific case mentioned before.

The whole idea of wandless magic suggests a wand isn't always necessary for talented witches or wizards (or goblins, house elves etc..), but it also suggests that this is very rare and hard to do. I'm discounting accidental under-age magic, like when Harry blew up Marge.

I can't remember whether Harry uses a wand in his lessons with Snape and I don't have the books to hand to check. I've made a quick poll below; please vote if you are so inclined so we can see if there is a majority one way or the other.

Thanks for reading. Any comments, opinions and votes would be great! ♥

[Poll #1759338]

Comments

[celestlyn.livejournal.com]

I really don't remember from the book, but in the movie, Snape viciously aims his wand at Harry and yells, "Legilimens!". After which Harry screams at the intrusion into his mind.

I don't get the impression that either one requires a wand. Snape is adept at both and seems to do it wandlessly. It would be hard to occlude your mind secretly if you had to use a wand. It would be obvious to everyone around. I never saw Voldemort using a wand when he tried to pry information from minds with Legilimens. My thought is that when he commands Harry to 'clear your mind' he uses his wand to needlessly torment him with images that rip through his mind and cause him as much discomfort as possible.

So, the answer is a qualified, 'no'.