10 Deadliest Spells In The Harry Potter Universe

4. Engorgio Skullus

Harry Potter Engorgio Skullus
Warner Bros.

What does it do? Swells the skull (and any surrounding tissue) of its victim. Ouch.

Given how potentially deadly this particular hex could be, it's surprising we don't see it used more often throughout the Harry Potter series.

Engorgio Skullus is a variation of the Engorgement Charm, a spell that (you guessed it!) causes the target to increase in size - seen on-screen in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, when Alastor Moody uses it on a rather unfortunate spider.

But, where the Engorgement Charm will enlarge the target as a whole, Engorgio Skullus will specifically target the skull and any surrounding tissue - giving the victim a head that will be vastly out of proportion with the rest of their frame.

And obviously, the consequences here would be dire. The head would likely collapse, its weight unable to be supported by the normal-sized neck, causing blood to stop flowing to the brain, depriving it of oxygen and leading to a rather unpleasant death.

Engorgio Skullus may not be as common as some of the other spells in the Potter-verse, but it's as effective as any.

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Danny has been with WhatCulture for over ten years, and is currently Doctor Who Editor and WhoCulture Channel Manager, overseeing all of WhatCulture's Whoniverse coverage. In 2022, he took charge of WhoCulture and has grown it into the biggest Doctor Who channel on YouTube, and one of the biggest Doctor Who communities on the web full-stop. He has been writing and video editing since his early teens, and first got a taste for content creation after making his own Doctor Who trailers, off the back of a burning obsession with the Matt Smith era of the show. Like many his age, he first got into Doctor Who with the 2005 revival, but has since gone back and fallen in love with the classic years too. If you need someone to recite every Doctor Who episode in order, or to give you a random factoid about the making of Gridlock, Danny is the person to ask!