In the SpellBook, we touched briefly on the topic of wands, in the aspect of their participation in the creation of magic. And now let's take a closer look at how magic wands are made, what components are needed, and what these components are. So, as always, let's talk about everything in order.
We are most familiar with the wands of Mr. Garrick Ollivander, who is the best, but not the only wandmaker, not only in the whole world, but even in Britain. Therefore, it is his magic wands that most of the wizards and sorceresses presented in the Harry Potter books have.
Magic wand?
It is a wood shell with a magical core encased in it, which previously could have been anything. For example, wool plucked from some of Kneazle's hardest-to-reach places. The only condition was that the substance had to be from a magical animal, that is, that it had some magical component of its own. But not all magical cores are equal, both in power and in ease of handling during the wand-making process and in the subsequent operation of the wand.
Therefore, Garrick Ollivander, the same gray-haired wizard with surprisingly piercing gray eyes that appears before us in the books, unified his production by limiting himself to three, as he calls, supreme cores:
- Dragon heartstring;
- Unicorn hair;
- Phoenix feather.
They proved to be the most stable and at the same time the strongest magical substances.
Brief description of wand cores and their differences
Dragon heartstring allows you to get wands that have the ability to cast the most powerful spells. They allow for faster learning than wands with other cores, but at the cost of a slightly more unstable wand's loyalty. Though wizards with such a core bond strongly, the wand will bond just as strongly with its new master if it is repelled in combat. They tend to choose strong wizards with great magical potential, also these wands lean toward the Dark Arts, which largely corresponds to the fact that a large number of dark mages are wielders of such. But it's not just the wand that's to blame. From the books and Pottermore, we know of several wizards who possessed such wands - Hermione Granger herself, but also Lucius Malfoy, Bellatrix Lestrange, Garrick Ollivander himself, and, perhaps surprisingly, Gilderoy Lockhart. Although, in fact, it's clear here, despite the fact that Gilderoy was an incompetent, but if he was swinging a wand, then the six-meter letters of his name were seen by the whole of Hogwarts 😊
The second magical core is with unicorn hair. If the previous heart vein was let's say "dark", then unicorn hair is the opposite "light" substance, since wands with such a heart vein are extremely difficult to master and use Dark magic.
It is also the most loyal of all wands, they are extremely hard to part with their master and remain loyal to him until the last, but again, you have to pay for everything, and in this case the price is that these wands are the most averaged. There are practically no really powerful wands among them, and an unpleasant moment may also be that wands with only this core can "wither” or "die" If the wand will not feel the care of its owner, and then you will have to buy a new wand or replace the dead unicorn hair in the old wand. The owners of such cores are Ronald Weasley, Neville Longbottom, also Draco Malfoy and Cedric Diggory, who is now not only a vampire, but also Batman 😊, and of course Remus Lupin.
The third is the phoenix feather core, which is the rarest of the three. These wands are capable of great powerful magic, although it will take a lot of time to reveal this, much more than the previous two. Wands with a phoenix feather are perhaps the most "alive" of all wands, they are often able to act on their own free will, against their master's expectations (which is a quality many wizards and wizards dislike), and because of this free will their loyalty is very hard to win, it is not given simply by the fact of wand ownership.
Probably the owners of these wands are the most famous of all — first of all, Harry Potter himself, the Boy Who Lived, and his main antagonist Tom Marvolo Riddle, better known as Lord Voldemort. It is also known that the wand of Silvanus Kettleburn, Hagrid's predecessor as a teacher of care of magical creatures, was made of chestnut with a phoenix feather core.
Interesting fact: In 1991, when Harry Potter was buying his first wand, Mr. Ollivander offered the boy a maple and phoenix feather wand. It is unknown who got this wand. Perhaps it is still gathering dust on the shelves of the magic shop.
Wooden shells for magic wands
I could, of course, start listing the properties of the actual tree species used by Ollivander to make his sticks, and thereby completely bore you, so I have limited myself to the general requirements for all tree species and their properties (let me know if you are interested in more details).
Not every tree can be used to create magic wands, more often than not, magical creatures of Bowtruckles live on suitable trees. Each tree species is responsible for some qualities of the future owner. Be it courage, loyalty, adventurousness, tenacity, inconsistency, inconstancy and others.
From the interesting:
- Birch twigs have long been used as a tool for corporal punishment. Apparently, that's why the wand of Dolores Umbridge, who loved to punish schoolchildren, was made of birch.
- It is said that Merlin's wand was made of English oak (but since his tomb has not been found, this is unprovable).
- Wizard Gregorovitch wrote that "hawthorn wands are strange, contradictory, and full of paradoxes, because they were produced by a tree whose leaves and flowers heal and whose cut branches smell of death". The owner of one of these wands was Draco Malfoy.
- Elder. Carries powerful magic, but despises any wielder who does not rule over it; to use an elder wand for any length of time, the wizard must be outstanding.
- According to the Pottermore website, holly is a traditional symbol of good luck, prosperity, and protection against evil forces. It has been used in festive rituals since ancient times. The owner of one of these wands was Harry Potter.
- Walnut sticks can often be found in the hands of magical innovators and inventors.
Wands of other masters
And of course, in view of the fact that Ollivander is not the only wizard, let's talk about those substances that other wand masters. Shikoba Wolfe, by the way, it is not quite clear whether he is a wizard or a sorceress. This wizard uses Thunderbird feathers for his wands, the wands are powerful and difficult to control.
There is also the master Johannes Jonker, who has used many types of magical cores, but his favorite are the Wampus cat and their wool.
Thiago Quintana amazed the magic world with his elegant and often long magic wands, each based on the transparent backbone of the White River Monster from Arkansas. They combined strength and elegance. Worries about the large number of monsters being fished soon subsided after it was proven that Quintana was the only one who knew how to bait them. He kept the secret until his death, after which the production of magic wands made from the White River Monster's spine came to a complete halt.
And then there is Violetta Beauvais, who used the wool of Rougarou, a dog-headed monster from the swamps of America. Her wands are said to be drawn to Dark Magic, which does not hinder their popularity among MACUSA workers, in particular, the President's wand is just like that.
Choice of wand
It is impossible not to say the most important thing that Ollivander said about his creations. The wand chooses its own wizard... and that's where it gets interesting. Not that I'm questioning Ollivander's words, no of course, the wand does choose the wizard... but in my opinion, it chooses the wizard it was made for.
According to Pottermore, Ollivander created wands from 8 inches to 15 inches, and then in the first book we learn that Hagrid's wand is an oak 16-inch wand, which is a bit out of the marked dimensions. That is, for some reason, the master decided to create an oversized wand. What if some half-giant comes along and this particular wand picks him out? Unconvincing. Most likely, Ollivander made it for Rubeus to order. That is, he made a wand, in the choice of which he was somehow sure.
In the first book there was also Olivander's story about James Potter and Lily Evans' wands. Curiously enough, he said that Lily's wand is good for charms, James's wand is more powerful and great for transformations. That is, Ollivander originally created a wand for witchcraft and a stronger wand for transfiguration, which means that Lily's wand would never have chosen people like James. It's just that, based on Ollivander's initial data, similarly, James' wand had no chance of choosing Lily.
Also in the seventh book, Ollivander sent Luna a new wand by mail, for some reason confident that the wand would choose her? And the wand really chose her.
You might argue, "What's so surprising, because Garrick remembered perfectly well what kind of wand Luna had. It is, but there is one catch. Besides the size, the type of wood, and the type of core, such a thing as wizarding experience, as Ollivander said, which means that the Moon at 11 is not the Moon at 16. Also, as we remember Ollivander's wands are unique, for he never used one animal twice, well except Fawkes, but about that later. So even the core was already different, albeit of the same type, but Garrick was somehow sure of the result again.
To illustrate, we all have tablets, phones, and other gadgets that bear the imprint of our consciousness-the default settings have been changed to suit us, there are folders with our files, named as we wish. So imagine, you come to Mr. Ollivander for a perfectly standard gadget, and he sells you instead a device customized just for you, with your fingerprint of consciousness. After all, the question will arise – how did Mr. Ollivander do it so well? How could Ollivander have realized that, for example, next year he should make 3 sticks from oak, and 5 from elm, and another one from rowan, because a young wizard might come, and Ollivander would have none of the sticks from rowan? Inspiration? After all, the demand must be closed, although perhaps there are not so many combinations of sticks and the master was able to simply keep all possible options in stock.
Elder Wand
The Elder Wand is believed to have been made by Antioch Peverell, and at one point it was in the hands of Wandmaster Gregorovitch. He tried to create a copy of it and, hoping that it would help his business, spread the rumor that he had become the owner of the Elder Wand and was working on creating a copy of it. Once Gregorovitch found a young blond man stealing an Elder Wand in his workshop, the young man fired a deafening spell at the master and then escaped through the window. Gregorovitch never found out that this blond was Gellert Grindelwald... but Gregorovitch was never able to make a single copy of Elder Wand after its theft, or even a semblance of it.
What's the big deal? He probably just didn't know what it was made of.
Here it is worth noting that Gregorovitch was not much inferior to Ollivander in skill, and Garrick only twirled the wand in his fingers perfectly determined not only the type of wood, but also the core, and not only of his wands. Examples of this were in the book Goblet of Fire.
So, if wand masters can do this, why couldn't Gregorovitch do something like that with Elder Wand, maybe because Elder Wand is not made by hand, but by creation? This interesting question is open, perhaps some of the subscribers know? I would be glad to hear your opinions in a reply letter.
Peculiarities of Elder Wand's transition to a new owner
Usually wands "choose" their wizard at the beginning of their "career" and then, if they pass to another owner, only when taken in battle. If an ordinary wand is stolen or taken from its deceased owner, it will obey its new owner rather reluctantly. The Elder Wand passes somewhat differently. The point is that it is invincible in battle. Therefore, the new owners of the Elder Wand preferred rather dirty ways to win. This includes murder in their sleep, simple robbery, and attacking an exhausted or sickly opponent... "The bloody trail of the Elder Wand stretches across the pages of the history of the wizarding world," said Xenophilius Lovegood, and he was quite right.
Twin Wand Cores
I want to finish my wand review, of course, with Voldemort and Harry's wands. Their wands had a phoenix feather and according to Ollivander was very powerful. And immediately a thought arises why Ollivander deliberately created a very powerful wand clearly for a very powerful wizard with the feather of Dumbledore's phoenix, with a wood species that is considered "dark". And afterwards, when Ollivander knew very well what mischief this wand had done, 40 years later he created a wand with the same pen of the same phoenix Dumbledore, although he never made twin wands, this is his credo, after which the wand chose exactly Harry Potter.
After which he, being a prisoner of the Dark Lord, for some reason told about the Elder Wand, although he was not even asked about it. Thus he directed Tom to Gregorovitch, who, as he well knew, no longer had the Elder Wand, for he could not help but see that his friend Albus had it. After which Gregorovitch, directed Tom on to Gellert Grindelwald, who for some reason had been waiting for him for 50 years. And then on to White Tomb and the Elder Wand, which eventually killed Voldemort...
Interesting facts: The holly (Harry's wand) has many of the same properties as the yew, from whose wood Voldemort's wand is made:
- The holly is also poisonous, though not to the same extent as the yew;
- Both plants grow in the undergrowth;
- In many cultures in Europe and Asia, both yew and holly symbolize long life and rebirth.
So, Harry Potter's wands and Voldemort's wands are not only "twins" in core, but also "sisters" in wood.
Wizards, don't you think that all these coincidences are not accidental?...
I hope you were interested and learned something new about the world of Harry Potter. This is where the magic time ends, but not for long. As always, stay in touch and wait for new notifications by our owl mail in the near future🦉
Thanks for your attention, Nox!