Skip to main content

harry potter - Are wands made to the exact same specifications identical?


At the beginning of the first book, when Harry first visits Diagon Alley to buy his school supplies, he tries out a large number of wands in Ollivander's shop. And, while we know that a skilled witch or wizard would be capable of using pretty much any wand, we also know that the wand chooses the wizard. It seems reasonable that when purchasing a (new) wand they would want the wand that is best suited for them, and would always go through a process similar to the one Harry did.


During the events of the last book it's mentioned that Ollivander made new wands for at least two people, Wormtail and Luna Lovegood. Since he didn't have the option of making a number of new wands, and having them test them all to find the one best suited for them, how exactly does he know what to make the wand from? Based on the Pottermore quote in the answer to this question, it seems they could make a reasonable guess about what characteristics the wand should have based on the owner.


However, is there a neater way: Simply making a new wand that exactly matches their old one? Is there any canon evidence to support or disprove the theory that, if a wand maker were to make two identical wands, they would both choose the same witch or wizard and work equally as well for them?



Answer



In the Philosopher's Stone, Ollivander claims that no two wands are exactly alike:



No two Ollivander wands are the same, just as no two unicorns, dragons, or phoenixes are quite the same.




Additionally, Ollivander could be indirectly referencing the bond that a wizard forms with a wand, in DH:



Oh yes, if you are any wizard at all you will be able to channel your magic through almost any instrument. The best results, however, must always come where there is the strongest affinity. 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.



It stands to reason that this mutual quest will shape and mold the wand so that it is unique - witness Harry's difficulty in using the blackthorn wand.


If we think about this logically, a wand comprises of two things, the wood, and the core. Two further properties from the manufacture of wands are length and flexibility. From the movies we can see that wands also have different shapes, but it is never mentioned whether this is a factor.


Let's take Harry's wand as an example. It was 11" long, made of holly, contained a Phoenix feather core, and was described as "nice and supple". So it is possible to create a wand to these specifications, however, every piece of wood is different, every Phoenix is different, and, unless we assume that magic can overcome this*, no two wands will be manufactured exactly the same. Clearly the same ingredients would produce a similar wand, as evidenced by the relationship between harry's wand and Voldemort's wand (which share feathers from the same Phoenix). So it seems possible to create a wand that's very similar, if made to the same specifications, using cores from the exact same animal (not just the same species), and wood from the exact same tree. This would likely create a very well-fitting replacement wand for somebody, if you new the specifications of their previous one. But it still wouldn't be exactly the same.


*I think we can safely reject this assumption, as if this were the case, wandlore wouldn't be such a tricky subject, and there would be no reason for Ollivander to be more respected than other wand-makers. Clearly the skill of the wand-maker has an impacts, which means wands won't be manufactured perfectly.


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

harry potter - Do the Kwikspell courses work?

In Harry Potter we are introduced to Kwikspell course in The Chamber of Secrets (and never hear about it again). We see Filch taking courses, presumably by mail. The descriptions of Kwikspell make me think it is for people who are weak in magic (kind of like how Neville was supposed to be when he was younger), but had magic in them nonetheless. However, Ron's comments later in the chapter make it sound like it is mainly for Squibs to learn magic. However, it is strongly implied through out all the books that Squibs are essentially Muggles, and will never be able to do magic. How then is a Kwikspell course supposed to work? Do we have any information to know if it works at all? Is it a scam? An answer from any level of canon is welcome. Answer Kwikspell courses are (probably) useful to some wizards, but not to squibs. The Kwikspell course literature comes with two testimonials. Madam Z. Nettles of Topsham writes: ‘I had no memory for incantations and my potions were a family joke...

futurama - How much time is lost in 'Time Keeps on Slippin''

In time Keeps on Slippin' , Farnsworth creates a basketball team which he matures by abusing Chronitons. This leads to time skipping forward by random, but ever increasing amounts. How much time was skipped in this way? Answer Unfortunately, I don't think a good estimate can be made for this, for two reasons: Many of the time skips move forward by an indeterminate amount of time. At one point, the Professor mentions localized regions of space skipping forward much more than others. We then see two young boys on the street below complaining about having to pay social security, only to suddenly become senior citizens and start complaining about wanting their money. Thus, each individual could have experienced a different amount of time skippage.

star wars - What "exactly" happens when someone turns to the Dark Side?

When I saw the original Star Wars saga as a kid, the concept of the Dark Side imprinted in me was quite simple. You did a bad thing, so you're a bad person so you go to the Dark Side and keep doing bad things. Now, obviously this doesn't hold true in reality. In my mind it is perfectly reasonable for Luke to kill the Emperor and Vader and then just flee the Death Star and rejoin the Alliance. After all they are at war, those are enemy officers that have captured him and are taunting him by threatening with death of all loved ones and the whole operation was intended to kill the Emperor anyway. The same would hold true for Anakin. He could have killed Mace Windu to save the Chancellor and Padme but that doesn't mean he's going to then go mad and kill all Jedis including children. It doesn't add up from a merely psychological point of view. He had a set of objectives and that made him want to keep the Chancellor alive (quite valid by the way, Mace Windu is quite clums...

star trek - Warning regarding forward saucer section in Nemesis?

In Star Trek: Nemesis , just before the Enterprise rams into the Scimitar, Picard sends a text message from his captain's chair arm pad to Troi — who is manning the helm in lieu of the crewman who was just blown out through what was once the view screen — indicating that she should put full impulse on standby. (Literally, if you watch the scene closely, Troi's console prefaces the order with "TXT MSG" !) My question is: Did Picard also somehow warn crew members in the forward saucer section about what was about to happen? The ramming of the Scimitar was a heat of the moment decision. Considering that he also resorted to calling the auto-destruct sequence shortly after (which ended up being offline), he probably was of the mindset that any losses would be acceptable in order to hault Shinzon's march to Earth. Still, I'm curious. Answer The original script indicates that he called for the crew to " brace for impact ". Whether that call (or the comma...