Harry Potter's wand

Harry: "I don’t want it."

Ron: "What? Are you mental?"

Harry: "I know it’s powerful. But I was happier with mine."

— Harry Potter on his desire to give up the Elder Wand in favour of his own wand^[src]

The wand of Harry Potter is 11" holly wood, with a phoenix feather core. The feather was donated by Fawkes, the magical familiar of Albus Dumbledore. Because Tom Riddle’s wand also had a core made from one of Fawkes’ feather, his wand and Harry’s were ‘brothers’. Harry’s wand was described as being “nice and supple”.^[1]

History

Harry Potter wand — Harry Potter using his wand for the first time.

Purchase

"The wand chooses the wizard. That much has always been clear to those of us who have studied wandlore... These connections are complex. An initial attraction, and then a mutual quest for experience, the wand learning from the wizard, the wizard from the wand."

— Mr. Ollivander on wands^[src]

Harry Potter obtained his wand in 1991 from Mr. Ollivander just before his first year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He tried out many other wands first with little success, but felt a warm feeling upon using his holly wand. ^[1]

In 1994, Proxy-Connection: keep-alive Cache-Control: max-age=0

rry attended the Quidditch World Cup with the Weasley family and Hermione Granger. During this time, Barty Crouch Jr. managed to fight off his father's Imperius Curse long enough to take Harry's wand and cast the Dark Mark into the sky with it. This caused some Ministry of Magic officials to be suspicious of Harry.^[2]

Harry's Wand and Voldemort's Wand

Harry: "In the graveyard, my wand and Voldemort's sort of... connected."

Dumbledore: "Priori Incantatem."

— Harry and Albus Dumbledore^[src]

In 1995, when Lord Voldemort returned and forced Harry to duel him in the graveyard of Little Hangleton, the rare magical effect of Priori Incantatem was triggered. Their wands recognized each other as brothers and refused to attack one another. Harry’s wand forced Voldemort’s to regurgitate its spells, resulting in the spirits of James and Lily Potter and the recently-murdered Cedric Diggory to emerge. This gave Harry enough time to escape.^[2]

In 1997, when the Order of the Phoenix evacuated Harry from 4 Privet Drive, they were ambushed by over thirty Death Eaters and Voldemort himself. When Voldemort attacked Harry, his wand recognized Voldemort as an enemy, despite the fact that the Dark Lord was using Lucius Malfoy’s wand instead of his own. Harry’s wand shot “a spurt of golden fire” at Voldemort, damaging Lucius’s wand and allowing Harry and Hagrid time to escape.^[3]

Damage

Hermione: "You’re still really angry at me, aren’t you?"

Harry: "No. No, Hermione, I know it was an accident. You were trying to get us out of there alive, and you were incredible. I’d be dead if you hadn’t been there to help me."

— Harry and Hermione after the latter accidentally broke his wand^[src]

The Marauder's Map with Harry Potter's wand and spectacles — Harry's wand on his desk.

Later in the year, Harry and Hermione Granger ventured to Godric's Hollow while on their search for Voldemort’s Horcruxes to speak to Bathilda Bagshot. Voldemort had predicted that Harry might go there, and planted his snake familiar Nagini in Bathilda’s corpse. As soon as she had Harry alone, Nagini attacked him, biting him and starting to coil around him. Hermione raced to his defence, using a Blasting Curse to repel the snake. The curse ricocheted, damaging Harry’s wand. Harry asked Hermione to repair it afterwards, but it was too badly damaged.

Harry and Hermione took turns using her wand until Ron Weasley returned to them carrying wands he had taken from Snatchers. For the next little while, Harry used a blackthorn wand. However, the trio was caught by Snatchers in the spring of 1998, and all their wands were confiscated. In the ensuing skirmish at Malfoy Manor, Harry disarmed Draco Malfoy and took his wand.^[3]

Repair

"As his wand resealed, red sparks flew out of its end. Harry knew that he had succeeded. He picked up the holly and phoenix wand and felt a sudden warmth in his fingers, as though wand and hand were rejoicing at their reunion."

— Description of the wand's repair^[src]

During the Battle of Hogwarts in 1998, Harry dueled Voldemort for the final time. Because the Elder Wand which Voldemort wielded was loyal to Harry, the Dark Lord’s Killing Curse rebounded and killed him. Harry then used the Elder Wand to repair his own original wand, and planned to return the Elder Wand to the grave of Albus Dumbledore.^[3]

Behind the scenes

J.K. Rowling has explained her choice of holly for Harry's wand wood:

"It was not an arbitrary decision: holly has certain connotations that were perfect for Harry, particularly when contrasted with the traditional associations of yew, from which Voldemort’s wand is made. European tradition has it that the holly tree (the name comes from ‘holy’) repels evil, while yew, which can achieve astonishing longevity (there are British yew trees over two thousand years old), can symbolise both death and resurrection; the sap is also poisonous. Some time after I had given Harry his holly-and-phoenix wand I came across a description of how the Celts had assigned trees to different parts of the year and discovered that, entirely by coincidence, I had assigned Harry the ‘correct’ wood for his day of birth. I therefore decided to give Ron and Hermione Celtic wand woods, too... I liked having a hidden connection between Harry, Ron and Hermione’s wands that only I knew about (until now, anyway)."^[4]

Appearances

File:Hawthorn harry potter wand 205.jpg

Harry Potter's holly wand.

Notes and references

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
↑ ^2.0 ^2.1 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
↑ ^3.0 ^3.1 ^3.2 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
↑ "Extra Stuff: Wands" at J.K. Rowling's Official Site

[PS-1] 1.0 ^1.1 Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

[GOF-2] 2.0 ^2.1 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

[DH-3] 3.0 ^3.1 ^3.2 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

[4] "Extra Stuff: Wands" at J.K. Rowling's Official Site

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