Why was Gilderoy Lockhart unable to be cured?

Question

In Illness and Disability, by J.K. Rowling, she clearly states:

"This is the reason that Gilderoy Lockhart, victim of his own mangled Memory Charm, has permanent amnesia..."

Yet there were situations where the Memory Charm was reversed. For example, in The Deathly Hallows, Hermione reversed the Obliviate Charm on the Death Eaters and the waiter:

"Then, on Harry’s count of three, they reversed the spells upon their three victims, and before the waitress or either of the Death Eaters could do more than stir sleepily..."

Does a spell backfiring not have a cure? Besides Ron and his slugs, the only time a spell backfired that I can recall is Voldemort's, which he was able to cure in the end, and that was a Killing Curse, which is supposed to be incurable and unblockable. Any thoughts?

Answer 1

Gilderoy Lockhart was a very accomplished Obliviate user.

“So you’ve just been taking credit for what a load of other people have done?” said Harry incredulously.

“Harry, Harry,” said Lockhart, shaking his head impatiently, “it’s not nearly as simple as that. There was work involved. I had to track these people down. Ask them exactly how they managed to do what they did. Then I had to put a Memory Charm on them so they wouldn’t remember doing it. If there’s one thing I pride myself on, it’s my Memory Charms. No, it’s been a lot of work, Harry. It’s not all book signings and publicity photos, you know. You want fame, you have to be prepared for a long hard slog.”

Considering the amount of practice that he had, it would be pretty good by now. It took Voldemort quite a while before he could break through Bertha Jorkins' mind.

He had tortured her. She told him a great deal. She told him about the Triwizard Tournament. She told him the old Auror, Moody, was going to teach at Hogwarts. He tortured her until he broke through the Memory Charm my father had placed upon her.

And Voldemort was the best Dark Arts user at that time, and it took him a while to reverse it.

Also, backfires tend to be different spells than what the user is actually trying to cast.

“I don’t think there’s anything to do except wait for it to stop,” said Hermione anxiously, watching Ron bend over the basin. “That’s a difficult curse to work at the best of times, but with a broken wand —”

Ron, a second year, could not have done that. So it was changed into a different curse, with basically the same intention.

Same with Lockhart. It managed to backfire on him, and transformed into a different curse, and now the staff of St. Mungos don't even know what to do.

More proof from @Voldemort

According to the nurse, he was slowly improving, but he still doesn't remember a thing. He instinctively writes autographs to everybody. The healer responsible also mentions that nobody visits him, and is happy to see that he has visitors (Mistaking Harry, Ron & Hermione for people visiting him).

A motherly looking Healer wearing a tinsel wreath in her hair came bustling up the corridor, smiling warmly at Harry and the others. “Oh Gilderoy, you’ve got visitors! How lovely, and on Christmas Day too! Do you know, he never[ ]gets visitors, poor lamb, and I can’t think why, he’s such a sweetie, aren’t you?”

I don't believe that a normal memory charm works that way, but if someone can disprove me than I'll take this bit off.

Answer 2

The spell that Lockhart was hit with was from Ron's backfiring wand. The spell that Lockhart intended to cast was one that would totally destroy Harry's and Ron's memories. This is what he meant to do:

'The adventure ends here, boys!' he said. 'I shall take a bit of this skin back up to the school, tell them I was too late to save the girl, and that you two tragically lost your minds at the sight of her mangled body. Say goodbye to your memories!'

He raised Ron's Spellotaped wand high over his head and yelled, 'Obliviate!'

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets - p.224 - Bloomsbury - Chapter 17, The Chamber of Secrets

"'Say goodbye to your memories!'" There's no talk of wiping out the last 24 hours or anything like that. "[Y]ou two tragically lost your minds", he's not just gonna do enough to get away with it.

I assumed that this was the way with Obliviate, it was a mind-wiper. But actually it doesn't seem to be.

I don't believe the trio reversed the Memory Charms they performed on the Death Eaters and the waitress - what conceivable reason would they have to put the Charm on them, and then undo it? They reversed the spells they'd used to subdue them so that they could plan their course of action and then perform the charms. However, it does seem to be the case that Rowle and Dolohov's minds weren't as destroyed by Obliviate as Lockhart's was:

'More, Rowle, or shall we end it and feed you to Nagini? Lord Voldemort is not sure that he will forgive this time ... You called me back for this, to tell me that Harry Potter has escaped again? Draco, give Rowle another taste of our displeasure ... do it, or feel my wrath yourself!'

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - p.145 - Bloomsbury - Chapter 10, A Place to Hide

So Rowle certainly seems to be in possession of his faculties and know who he is, and who Voldemort is, and that he was supposed to be on the trail of Harry Potter.

Hermione definitely casts Obliviate, so it's really a matter of speculation as to how the spell works. It may be, as bleh suggests, Lockhart's innate ability with memory charms, and Hermione's inexperience and lack of confidence. Or it may be that it's possible to deliberately control the extent of the spell.

But the point of this answer is Lockhart was on the receiving end of a spell that was intended to destroy his mind and obliterate his memories completely. And that's exactly what it did, cast, as it was, by someone who was very capable.

Rowle and Dolohov don't seem to have been hit by a spell that did destroy their minds and obliterate their memories, whether by Hermione's design, or due to her lack of skill, or due to their strong minds, as compared to Lockhart's rather mediocre one, or some other factor.

Answer 3

There's something wild and unpredictable in the nature of magic (otherwise we'd call it "science", right?) that we see played to humorous effect when the students miscast spells they are learning. So I think in this case, "backfire" doesn't really mean that it had the same effect as just casting the charm on himself. To give a real world analog, consider a table saw cutting a workpiece. The intended effect of pushing the piece is obviously to make cuts. However, improper use can cause a kickback, flinging said workpiece at an astonishing velocity at/through/into things and people. So what we have is intended consequence: a cut in this board, actual consequence: the same forces manifesting as unpredictable violent destruction.

So when Lockhart casts the spell, the intended result to wipe someone's memory. The actual result is the same energies firing wildly back in the wrong direction as some amped-up, chaotic, freak version of Obliviate that even the best wizarding medics have no idea how to fix, because (A) what hits him it isn't even technically a spell, and (B) might have punched a hole they can't mend.

Answer 4

Obliviate is a spell to wipe away the memory of something as shown when Hermione wiped away the memory of the fight or when special wizards called Obliviators come and make muggles forget seeing magic. Lockhart was going to use it to wipe away all of Harry and Ron's memories but with Ron's wand the spell rebounded into him and wiped all of his memories.