About

#ExpectoPatronum is a hashtag related to a quiz fans of Harry Potter can take on the fan website Pottermore to discover what would be their "Patronus," a magical guardian which generally takes the shape of an animal.

Origin

The concept of a Patronus was introduced in the third installment of the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Using the incantation "Expecto Patronum," wizards can ward off "dementors," soul sucking creatures that can only be stopped with powerful, happy memories. On September 22nd, 2016, Pottermore introduced a quiz allowing fans to discover what would be their Patronus.^[1] After taking the quiz, which can only be taken once, users are invited to post their results to social media using the hashtag #ExpectoPatronum.

Spread

According to Hypable,^[2] there are 142 animals available in Pottermore's Patronus quiz. The release was covered by USA Today,^[3] Vox,^[4] and more, as fans quickly flocked to the site to discover their Patronus.

Parodies

The spread of #ExpectoPatronum quickly inspired parody posts where people edited Pottermore's results page to include facetious Patronus animals, including Harambe, ^[7] John Cena, ^[5] Donald Trump, ^[6] etc. The popularity of Harambe parodies led J.K. Rowling to clarify that Harambe was not a potential Patronus in the quiz,^[8] which in itself became a Twitter moment.^[9] That day, Uproxx^[10] rounded up some of the more popular parodies.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References