Wand

"The wand chooses the wizard... it's not always clear why."

A wand is a tool used by wizards and witches to channel magical powers. Most spells are done with the aid of wands. It is possible to do magic without a wand, but is very difficult and requires much concentration and skill. Only advanced wizards can perform spells without the use of wands.^[1] Wands are "quasi-sentient," and as close to animate as an object can get because they are imbued with a great deal of magic.^[2]

Although the wand cores may come from the same creature, or the wood may come from the same tree, no two existing wands are exactly alike.

Wands and Wandlore

Wandlore is a specific class of magic that refers to the history and magical properties of wands. Mr. Ollivander claims that it is a "complex and mysterious branch of magic."^[3] As mentioned below, the idea that a wand chooses its wizard is part of wandlore, as is the idea that wands can switch owners.

Materials

Hermione Granger's wand (vine wood, 10¾ inches, dragon heartstring).

Generally, wands are long, thin rods of wood with a magical substance embedded into their core. Some of the woods used include holly, hawthorn, oak, vine, rosewood, blackthorn, willow, ash, mahogany, yew, and elder. The cores that have been documented are Phoenix feather, Dragon heartstring, Veela hair, Unicorn hair, and Thestral hair. The wandmaker Ollivander mentioned that he did not use Veela hair, as it made for "temperamental" wands. It is possible that other magical substances may be used for cores, but none have yet been specified.

Other important characteristics of a wand are its length and its rigidity, ranging from "unyielding" to "springy." These factors have some effect on the overall use of the wand, but it is currently unknown what they actually do. The characteristics of a wand also seem to have some influence over which kinds of magic the wand is particularly suited for. For example, James Potter's wand was quite good at Transfiguration, and Lily Evans' wand was described as being excellent for Charms work.

The exact process of making a wand is not known. Likely, it is as difficult and complex as wandlore itself.

General wand properties

In almost all documented cases, the wand chooses its wizard. This is due to the unique character of each wand, which must match that of the wizard, as the wizard may not be able to perform magic if his and his wand's characters conflict, or the magic may be sub-par to magic performed with the wizard's own wand.^[3] When trying out different wands, an aspiring wizard may cause some damage when he encounters wands that don't get along with him.^[4] Unfortunately, such trial and error is the only way to find a wand that matches the witch or wizard, and so Mr. Ollivander has become used to his store becoming damaged on a constant basis.

It is theorised that the wand's length is directly proportional to the wizard's height: the longer the wand, the taller the wizard, and the shorter the wand, the shorter the wizard. However, this theory has not been confirmed. Examples of this have been found, as in Dolores Umbridge's short wand, and Ron Weasley's and Rubeus Hagrid's long ones. If this is the case it may only be proportionate to the user's height at the time the wand is purchased, as Draco Malfoy's wand was shorter than Harry's but Draco ended up taller then Harry.

Examples of damage caused by "mismatched" wands were seen in 1991, where wand boxes flew off of shelves and banged into walls and when a glass jar on a shelf was shattered as a result of Harry Potter waving the wrong sort of wands. He tried out many wands before he found the one that chose him. Apparently, a warm feeling is felt when the wizard or witch chooses the right wand, and the wand sometimes emits a few sparks or does some similar small sign of magic.^[4]

RonBrokenWand — Ron Weasley with a broken wand.

Wands are capable of changing masters. When a wand's master is disarmed, stunned, or killed, but not had their wand snatched from their hand, the wand will accept the old master's attacker as its new master. This will occur even if the wand in question is not in the possession of either of the two people involved.^[3] However, most wands share an affinity with their masters and will not easily discontinue its allegiance with the previous master; furthermore, wands forcibly taken in circumstances of purely competitive or friendly nature, or are stolen without attacking the previous master will not change allegiance.^[5]

Wands can be broken by spells or by physical damage. Wands in this condition will have greatly reduced magic abilities. Even when repaired, the wand's magic will not improve and the wand may break again when performing magic. The Elder Wand is able to completely repair broken wands, although this ability may be lost if the current master (Harry Potter) dies undefeated, as most of the wand's power would disappear with him.^[3]

Wands are quasi-sentient, meaning that while they cannot think or communicate like a human, they can perform certain actions through their own will. This could be how they choose their wizard, and also explains how Harry's wand was able to act on its own against Voldemort.^[3]

Rights of usage

Non-human beings, such as goblins and house-elves, are prohibited from owning or using wands. For goblins in particular, this has been a point of contention with the wizarding community, and has been the cause of some outbreaks of violence. It is unknown if any formal prohibiton exists against muggles possessing a wand, as they would be unable to use them anyway, although it could be considered a breach of the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy.

During the last year of the Second Wizarding War, the British Ministry of Magic was overthrown by the Death Eaters, and new laws were put into effect. Muggle-born witches and wizards were regarded as having "stolen" their magic from "real" witches and wizards, and their wands were confiscated. Those who were not imprisoned were usually left destitute.

Makers

There are many makers of wands, but the best known, and most experienced in Britain is Ollivander's. The wandmaking establishment has been making wands since 382 BC and is located in Diagon Alley, London. Regretfully, Mr. Ollivander was missing from the summer of 1996^[1], until he was discovered by Harry, Ron and Hermione and rescued by the house-elf Dobby in 1998. His disappearance was a Death Eater kidnapping. Ollivander provided Harry with information about the Elder Wand and about the passing of wand ownership.

Another notable wand maker is Gregorovitch, who made the wand of Viktor Krum, and once wielded the Elder Wand. He was later tracked down and murdered by Voldemort in his quest to find the Elder Wand.^[3]

According to legend, Death created the Elder Wand, the most powerful wand in existence, from the branch of an elder tree. Albus Dumbledore, however, believed it was more likely that the wand had been created by Antioch Peverell himself.

Known wands

Owner	Wood	Length	Core	Notes
Mary Cattermole	cherry	8¾"	Unicorn hair	This wand was confiscated by the Muggle-Born Registration Commission in 1997.
Fleur Delacour	rosewood	9½"	Veela hair	This wand is described as "inflexible"; the core is a hair from Fleur's grandmother, who was a Veela.
Albus Dumbledore (wand #1)	unknown	unknown	unknown	As Dumbledore won the Elder Wand after a duel, it can be assumed that he started with a different wand.
Albus Dumbledore (wand #2)	elder	15"	Thestral hair	The Elder Wand, one of the Deathly Hallows. Also known as the Deathstick and the Wand of Destiny.
Cedric Diggory	ash	12¼"	Unicorn hair	This wand was "pleasantly springy"; hair from particularly fine male unicorn (seventeen hands high), which nearly gored Mr. Ollivander with its horn after he plucked its tail hair.
Lily Evans	willow	10¼"	unknown	This wand was "swishy" and "nice for Charm work".
Hermione Granger	vine	10 3/4"	Dragon heartstring	This wand was confiscated when the trio was captured by Snatchers in 1998.
Gellert Grindelwald	elder	15"	Thestral hair	The Elder Wand. Taken from him by Albus Dumbledore after a legendary duel in 1945.
Rubeus Hagrid	oak	16"	unknown	This wand is "rather bendy"; snapped in half when Hagrid was expelled from Hogwarts during his third year - the pieces are certainly hidden in Hagrid's pink umbrella.
Viktor Krum	hornbeam	10¼"	Dragon heartstring	This wand is thicker than usual, "quite rigid", and made by Gregorovitch.
Bellatrix Lestrange	chesnut	12¾"	Dragon heartstring	This wand is described as "unyielding"; passed into the possession of Hermione Granger after the Battle of Malfoy Manor in 1998.
Neville Longbottom (wand #1)	unknown	unknown	unknown	Belonged to Neville's father Frank; broken by Antonin Dolohov in June 1996 during the Battle of the Department of Mysteries.
Neville Longbottom (wand #2)	cherry	13"	Unicorn hair	May have been one of the last wands Mr. Ollivander sold before he disappeared in 1996.
Luna Lovegood (wand #1)	unknown	unknown	unknown	This wand was taken from Luna when she was captured by Death Eaters and imprisoned in Malfoy Manor in 1997.
Luna Lovegood (wand #2)	unknown	unknown	unknown	This wand was made for Luna by Ollivander in 1998.
Draco Malfoy	hawthorn	10"	Unicorn hair	"Reasonably springy"; this wand passed into the possession of Harry Potter after the Battle of Malfoy Manor in 1998 until Harry came into possession of the Elder Wand and mended his first wand.
Lucius Malfoy	elm	unknown	Dragon heartstring	This wand was kept in a snake-headed walking stick that Lucius carried; "borrowed" by Lord Voldemort and destroyed by Harry Potter's wand during the Battle over Little Whinging in 1997.
Narcissa Malfoy	unknown	unknown	unknown	Narcissa lent her wand to her son Draco following the Battle of Malfoy Manor, when his wand was taken by Harry Potter. Draco subsequently lost it in the Room of Requirement.
Harry Potter (wand #1)	holly	11"	Phoenix feather	Nice and supple; "Brother" to Voldemort's wand - the core tail feathers are both from Fawkes; broken in December 1997 while fleeing from Godric's Hollow; repaired with the Elder Wand in May 1998.
Harry Potter (wand #2)	blackthorn	unknown	unknown	This wand was taken from a Snatcher by Ron Weasley in 1997, and used by Harry until 1998, when he took Draco Malfoy's wand.
Harry Potter (wand #3)	elder	15"	Thestral hair	After disarming Draco Malfoy of his wand in 1998, Harry also gained control of the Elder Wand. He used the wand only once, in May of 1998 in order to repair his phoenix wand, after which he returned it to Albus Dumbledore's grave.
James Potter	mahogany	11"	unknown	This wand was "pliable" and "excellent for transfiguration".
Peter Pettigrew	chestnut	9¼"	Dragon heartstring	This wand was "brittle"; owned by Pettigrew only since Ollivander had been kidnapped of 1996; passed into the possession of Ron Weasley after the skirmish in Malfoy Manor in 1998.
Tom Marvolo Riddle a.k.a. Voldemort	yew	13½"	Phoenix feather	This wand is "brother" to Harry Potter's wand - the core tail feathers are both from Fawkes.
Selwyn	unknown	unknown	unknown	This wand was taken by Lord Voldemort during the Battle over Little Whinging after the wand he was using was destroyed.
Dolores Umbridge	unknown	unknown	unknown	This wand is described as "unusually short"; broken by a Centaur's hoof in June 1996 in the Forbidden Forest.
Ron Weasley (wand #1)	ash	12"	Unicorn hair	Ron's brother Charlie's old wand; severely damaged in September 1992 after a run-in with the Whomping Willow.
Ron Weasley (wand #2)	willow	14"	Unicorn hair	Purchased with his father's winnings from a Daily Prophet draw.
Seamus Finnigan (Seamus Finnigan's wand)	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Used this wand to set fire to feather in 1st year.

Behind the scenes

Wands used in the Harry Potter films are shown to have clear handles for wizards to hold onto them such as the bone handle of Voldemort's yew wand. The books however do not describe such handles. In fact all the pictures by Mary GrandPré in the American editions depict all wands as thin rods. This is supported by such things as Ron's Slug-Vomiting Charm coming out the "wrong end" of the wand and Harry's feeling that his wand is a "strip of wood" compared to a Dragon. (This is contradicted in the US Hardcover edition of Deathly Hallows on page 343, during Voldemort's flashback of the night he murdered Lily and James. ..."he fingered the handle of his wand.")

File:HarryPotterProps007.jpg

Various Wizard's Wands

Also, in the films, the wands are shown a couple of inches longer than they are shown in the books. The films seem to include more gestures when using a wand, not just waving it and pointing it. The different styles were shown properly in the film version of the Battle of the Department of Mysteries.
J. K. Rowling used a Celtic calendar to assign certain types of woods to Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, and Harry Potter based on their birthdates.^[6]
In the first and second films, wands look quite plain. The appearance of wands drastically change in the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, on which the wands are given distinctive shapes and carvings, reflecting the owner's personality.
Devon Murray, who plays Seamus Finnigan in the Harry Potter films, has the record for breaking the most prop wands. His record as of the film version of Order of the Phoenix is breaking ten of them. ^[7]

Appearances

Notes and references

[HBP-1] 1.0 ^1.1 Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

[PCI-2] 24 December 2007 PotterCast Interviews with J.K. Rowling

[DH-3] 3.0 ^3.1 ^3.2 ^3.3 ^3.4 ^3.5 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

[PS-4] 4.0 ^4.1 Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

[5] Pottercast 131

[6] Extra Stuff at J.K. Rowling's Official Site

[7] Devon Murray on Wikipedia

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