It appears that the Patronus charm, arguably one of the most iconic spells in theHarry Pottermythos, will not be available to players inHogwarts Legacy.This spell featured prominently in the third installment in the series,Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban,as a means of fending off the Dementors - terrifying wraithlike entities that feed off their victim’s positive emotions which, if included, could be amongthe most horrifying enemiesinHogwarts Legacy.The Patronus is a unique spell in that it takes the form of an animal that the caster has a strong affinity with. Throughout theHarry Potterseries, several characters made use of the spell, which became something of a necessity in the fight against Voldemort thanks to the Dementors (somewhat unsurprisingly) turning against the Ministry of Magic and aligning themselves with the Dark Lord. For context,Hogwarts Legacytakes place in the 1800s, long before the events of theHarry Potterseries, which takes place in the 1990s. Some famous examples of Patronuses are Albus Dumbledore’s phoenix, Hermione Granger’s otter, and Severus Snape’s doe.RELATED:Hogwarts Legacy is Officially Steam Deck VerifiedResponding to a question regarding the inclusion of Patronuses in the upcomingHogwarts Legacy,WB Games Support confirmed that there are no “announced” plans to include the spell at this time. The curious wording of the tweet does not eliminate the possibility of the Patronus arriving later in the form of downloadable content. At this time, theonly known additional content forHogwarts Legacyis a PlayStation-exclusive quest that will eventually make its way to other platforms a year after the game is released.
The Patronus charm has a very specific use case in that it is used exclusively to ward off and banish Dementors, which according to the known history of the Wizarding World did not appear beyond the confines of their native Azkaban until the late 20th century, most prominently after Sirius Black escaped from the remote island prison. Thus far, it appears that the developeris making every effort to be as faithful to the established timeline as possible, which has lead to some speculation that the future headmasterDumbledore could appear in aHogwarts Legacysequelas a youth.
While some fans might be disappointed that they won’t get to use the popular charm and find out what form their Patronus might take, there are still plenty of otherspells to learn and experiment with inHogwarts Legacy, including the infamous Unforgivable Curses. In any event, this news is a good indication that players will not have to worry about Dementors lurking about and sucking the joy out of the long-awaitedHogwarts Legacy.
Hogwarts Legacylaunches February 10 for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S, April 4 for PS4 and Xbox One, and July 25 for Nintendo Switch.
