Harry Potter Fans With No Life

Welcome to Harry Potter Theory. Today, we’re discussing Ollivander and the wands of the wizarding world. Now, if you’re a fan of the wizarding world then you’ll know that witches/wizards hold one particular instrument very true to their hearts: the wand.

“A wand is the object through which a witch or wizard channels his or her magic. It is made from wood and has a magical substance at its core. Wands made by Ollivander are of varying woods, lengths and flexibilities.”

As shown above- wands come in a variety of shapes, colours, sizes, flexibilities and materials. The main parameters that differentiate each wand are as follows: length, core type, and lastly- wood type, which is the focus of this video.

Length generally pertains to the size and/or character of the witch/wizard, and similar to the length of the wand, the type of wood and core are also generally considered to be extensions of the witch or wizards personality. One thing worth mentioning, however, is that the wand component with the highest variability is the wand ‘wood’- of which there are 38 different types. Ollivander discusses WHICH trees can produce wood for wands here:

"Only a minority of trees can produce wand quality wood (just as a minority of humans can produce magic). It takes years of experience to tell which ones have the gift, although the job is made easier if Bowtruckles are found nesting in the leaves, as they never inhabit mundane trees."

We know that Harry is ultimately given an 11” wand made of Holly, and we know that Tom Riddle had a 13 ½” wand made of yew- we even know the wand wood materials of many other characters. But in today’s video, I want to discuss EVERY wand wood in existence- that is, every wood material that could potentially be used to make a wand. A lot of information pertaining to wands is best described by Ollivander himself, so I’m going to be using his own explanations.

There are a LOT to get through, so let’s get started.