birdsofshore | Notice-Me-Not is just a fanon thing? Noooo :-O

I was just searching for info on the Notice-Me-Not charm, and there isn't any, because it's a FANON INVENTION. NOOO! Really? The first webpage I found where someone was asking about it, had some smartarse saying "I think you'll find that's just a sad FAN FICTION thing, you poor deluded fool", I was smirking away: "heh, that's what you think, I have seen it in LOADS OF.....er.... loads of fics. Err. Ahem."

Did you all know this? Who made it up? What other fanon things have become so widespread that they can fool us like this? I know about Tempus, but can you tell me any others?

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From:

gamma-x-orionis.livejournal.com

*Confused eyes* I'm not familiar with a Notice-Me-Not charm - I suppose it's never made its way over to my corners of the fandom.

Sex-related spells are very widespread of course, but I don't think anyone thinks stretching/lubeing/orgasm-inducing spells are canon ;P

Erm. And if the incantation is a literal Latin word (like one you can plug through Google translate and get the exact meaning of the spell), that's usually a good indication that it's made-up.

Certain characterization tropes are this way too, I suppose - I've run across plenty of people trying to make arguments that leatherpants!Draco in particular is canon :P

From:

oakstone730.livejournal.com

Tempis isn't canon? That one I didn't know.

Snape being Draco's godfather is fanon, I believe. Or is it one of those post-publication reveals by JKR? Can't remember.

From:

vaysh

Alas, Notice-me-not is not a canon spell. I still like it. It feels like it could be a canon spell as its magic fits right into Rowling's universe. There are stealth sensoring charms, so it doesn't seem a far stretch that there could be charms with the opposite effect. And there is the Disillusionment Spell and the spell to make things unplottable.

From:

torino10154

I think it's just the Disillusionment Charm but yeah, fanon-ified. I think Glamours the way fandom uses them is certainly not canon but then again I don't think anyone thinks they are.

From:

capitu

I can only think of that charm to correct someone's vision.

I think that's completely fanon and I always thought it was canon; that somewhere in the books someone said this was possible to correct Harry's? Or maybe someone else's eyesight with a spell, but discussing it back in a post I made about fun facts, turns out that's just made up.

From:

hollys_tree

There's also the way people use "silencing charms" like Silencio and Muffliato in fic, for example to hide what the characters are doing behind the curtains of their beds. This doesn't work that way.

Silencio is used on someone to make them mute, and Muffliato creates a buzzing sound in someone's ear, so they can't eavesdrop. (personally I would be super suspicious if suddenly there was that sound in my ear... just saying)

I don't think a canon charm to sound-proof yourself against surroundings exist.

From:

isinuyasha.livejournal.com

I think fandom has influenced me so much that I sometimes can't distinguish between the books and fanfiction anymore...but I'm not sad about that, I feel fandom has extended the Harry Potter world for me a lot :D

Isn't the Tracking Charm/Spell invented as well? I'm not sure...I know that there's the Trace but I read on HPwiki that Remus says it cannot be placed on an adult? Maybe I'm imagining that :D

And I've often read about the Stasis Charm (on food, potions, a person etc.) but can't remember reading it in the books...not sure :D

From:

kedavranox.livejournal.com

Wards are fanon.

In the books they talk about protective enchantments, or something, but wards (the word, and the way we use it) is totally fanon :)

From:

melusinahp.livejournal.com

There's a charm to repel Muggles so that if they approach a place they don't want to be approaching, like the Quidditch World Cup or Hogwarts, they suddenly remember an urgent appointment elsewhere and leave. Maybe Notice-me-not generated from that.

Personally, I have no problem with and rather enjoy fan-invented magic as long as it feels as if it could be part of the world JKR invented. Inventing HP spells, thinking about how JKR created her magic and trying to elaborate on that, is one of my favourite parts of writing fanfiction.

I do think some fan-invented ideas are more believable than others, though. Notice-me-not spells feel like they could be canon. They fit right in. Apparation Points make no sense to me at all, though, as they don't exist in the books and you can Disapparate anywhere. You don't need a "point". And magical signatures seem like a cheat to me. Canon has Priori Incantatem, but if magical signatures existed no one would ever be able to cast a spell without everyone knowing they'd done it.

Edited Date: 2013-06-16 03:33 pm (UTC)