[HPforGrownups] Hagrid and Wand size (was Wands/Ron's Role/HHR's powers)

[Michelle ~~]

No: HPFGUIDX 32229

Just a few comments on the wand debate that's been going on for the last 
couple days...


Rhiannon wrote:
"Wand size could be inversely proportional to the user's innate talents, 
again, going on the fact that Harry has one of the shorter wands and Hagrid 
(not that I dislike him, but he's probably the least competent wizard we've 
seen) has the largest."


But is Hagrid really that incompetent as a wizard?  The only spell that he 
performs that doesn't work (as far as I could find) is when he tries to turn 
Dudley into a pig and only gives him a tail.  Personally, I'm kind of 
partial to his explanation that Dudley was too much like a pig already not 
to make much change, and I don't hold that against his abilities as a 
wizard.  Hagrid was expelled during his third year (going from memory, 
correct me if I'm wrong) and yet he seems to be more adept as a wizard than 
Harry and Ron were at that time (I'm thinking of their many problems in 
Transfiguration which I don't have time to look up).  Obviously Hagrid is in 
many ways still a child in mentality, but does that necessarily mean that he 
isn't powerful as a wizard?  Is there anywhere that says straight out that 
he was never very good in his classes?


and Avonlea wrote:
"Maybe the shorter the wand the more powerful the wizard.  Length of wand 
may be an aid for a less adept wizard, hence Hagrid's being 16 inches.  We 
know Ron isn't as powerfully magical as Harry. <snip> Maybe wand length is 
an indicator for a wizard's potential; lenght and power being inversely 
proportional."


But using this idea, (and the Harry Potter Lexicon) the order of who is most 
powerful would go like this:
Fleur Delacour (9 1/2 ")
Lily Potter (10 1/4")
Victor Krum (10 1/4")
Harry Potter (11")
James Potter (11")
Cedric Diggory (12 1/4")
Lord Voldemort (13 1/2")
Ron Weasley (new wand) (14")
Rubeus Hagrid (16")
I can't believe that Fleur and Krum are more powerful as witch/wizards than 
Harry and Voldemort (who is pretty far down on the list).

As for growing out of a wand, I think it's more a case of a changing 
personality than growing height.  The list above makes it unlikely that wand 
height is proportional to physical height (though not completely 
impossible).  In the real world, as a person grows older, their interests, 
and sometimes even their strenghts and weaknesses change.  Growing out of a 
wand could simply be an illustration of this.

-Michelle


~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Ever close your eyes
Ever stop to listen
Ever feel alive,
And you've nothing missing.
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-Enya "Wild Child"


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