Thoughts on Wands (slightly long)

[Steve <bboy_mn@yahoo.com>]

No: HPFGUIDX 53010

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "karywick
<karenwickersham at a...>" <karenwickersham at a...> wrote:
> --- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Steve <bboy_mn at y...>" 
> <bboy_mn at y...> wrote:
> > > 
> > ... My analysis of wandmaking, ... I'm using it in a story (for
> >  reference, Harry's next wand, in my world, will be Holly handle,
> > Yew shaft, and Dragon Heart core with a dragon carved into the
> > handle), ...
> > 
> > My ... theory on 'the wand chooses the wizard' is that there 
> > is a magical harmonic resonance between the wand and the wizard. 
> > ...edited...
> > 
> > -end- bboy_mn

KARY:
> So, Steve- ... Harry will need a new wand after ... the climax with 
> Voldmort??
>
> Is his wand just matched to this task ... or is it ...
> matched to Harry because it has Fawkes' feather in it?   

> I think ... the wands length might have ..to 
> do with the height or physical strength of the person ... Fluers is
> so short and Hagrids is so long .... 
>
> The type of wood might have something to do with what their special
>  ability is.  ...edited...
> 
> The core has to have to do with something that would give that 
> particular person more magical power or strength.  I've been 
> wondering then why would  Voldemort's wand have Fawke's feather in 
> it?  ...edited...   
> 
> I never felt that Wizards cast off wand for new ones all the time 
> unless a catastrophe happened ... ... Unicorh hair- ... a few weeks 
> ago someone mentioned ... Weasleys had  Unicorn hair.... ... wands
>  could just be easily repaired with a spell ... suggested on this 
> list.
> 
> I know I've suggested more questions than offered answers but I've 
> always wondered about LV's wand and wonder what other's thought.
> 
> Thanks but its one of those things I've been wondering on those 
> insomiac nights when I can't stop my brain from wandering! ;)
> 
> Kary

bboy_mn:

Harry's new wand - remember that is in my fan fiction not the actual
book. Harry saves a homeless boy by giving him a scholarship to
Hogwarts. This boy and his friend apprentice with Ollivander and one
of their first experimental wands happens to match Harry. Harry would
never give up his Holly/Phoenix wand, partly because he would feel
disloyal to Ollivander. But at the same time, he can't help being very
intrigued by finding another matching wand. 

Harry's current wand - a wand is a very personal thing to a wizard,
they develope a deep attachement to it because the two of them are in
such perfect harmony. But also because of sentimental reasons, getting
your first wand is a big step in a young boys life. It is the first
and strongest symbol that a boy is becoming a man. Your first step to
truly being a wizard. Almost like an American boy getting his first car.

Length - True Hagrid has 16" but Ron has 14" while Harry only has 11".
 I always suspected those Weasley brothers had big wands (that was a
nasty pun and I appologies for it). So Hagrid is a giant, he has 16",
Ron is tall and skinny but not especially big in general; he has 14".
To my knowledge those are the two biggest wands we've seen to date.
Fleur, unless I'm mistake, is also tall and thin, yet she has a short
wand. So I don't think there is a direct connection between stature of
a person and size of their wand. Not to say it can't come into play
but it does so in a minor and secondary way. To some extend you size
and stature affect your general nature. Hagrid, being a giant and a
generally good person, has had to compenstate for his side by
developing a gentle loving nature. However, magic and physical size
are not proportional. A tiny little wizard maybe very magically
powerful, and a physically large imposing wizard might only be
marginally magical. We have to keep in mind that we are dealing with a
very abstact force. Yet, there are certain characteristics of wand
that speak to the characteristics of a particulat wizard. Harry has
Holly, generally associated with life, rebirth, and renewal, and to
some extent suffering. Where as Yew, the wood of Voldemort's wand, is
associated with death. 

Wood - working from memory here but I think Willow (re:Lily) was good
for charms and Mahogany (re:James) was good for tranfiguration, so
obviously different woods have different general magical
characteristices. And the next reasonable conclusion is that people
who favor Charms magic as their strength, will naturally favor woods
that lend themselves to charms. But it is much more refined than that.
You can't order a wand from a menu of characteristics and personal
preferences. The components must be very precisely matched and them
regardless of you intellectual and emotional preferences; you match
what you match. So we have to ask, how many Willow/Unicorn Hair wands
did Ron try before he found the one that matched him? It is not as
simple as 14" of Willow and Unicorn Hair. To get a replacement,
because we are dealing with a completely different piece of wood and a
completely different unicorn, the new matching wand, his next wand
might be 12" with unicorn hair because that is the combination of two
very specific components that happen to Magically resonate with Ron.
(For reference - in my little FF world, Ron's new wand will be a
highly controversial dual core wand, unicorn hair and dragon heart
made of Cypress wood)

Cores - Like wood, cores have specific general characteristics (I was
probably the one you referred to who mentioned this previously). I see
dargon heart and phoenix as power wands which would be good for
transfiguration; a type of magic that requires a strong burst of
magical power to force something to change state. Whereas unicorn hair
is better for charms, because, while still needing to be magically
powerful, it must also be very refined. Proper charms work requires a
very precise application of magic. Phoenix feather, I see, in a sense,
as the Royal core, both highly refined and magically powerful. Also,
much more rare in both availability and likelihood to match a
particular wizard. I suspect wizards with Phoenix feather wands are in
a great minority.

The Weasleys - oddly, I think I was also the person you are referring
to who said that I thought the Weasleys favored unicorn hair. Not
absolutely down to the last person, but my own personal opinion is
that you will find more unicorn hair in the Weasleys than in a
randomly select group of the same number of people. 

Buying new wands - you are right, wizards and witches don't go out and
 buy wands as casually as buying a new shirt. A wand is very special
and very personal, so people just don't get bored with wands and
decide to go get a new one. Only under dire circumstances or by
stumbling a cross another well matched wand would a wizard consider
buying another one. Or they may seek a second wand that is more
attuned to a specific type of magic they want to do, and while it
would be nice for that one specific task, it would not work as well as
an all-purpose wand.  Remember all wizards can use all wands, but you
get the best results with a closely matched wand.

Wand construction - let me continue with the musical harmonic
resonance analogy to illustrate wand making. Steel and brass don't
have the same characteristics. A musical tuning fork made of steel
would be a much different size and shape than bass to product the same
musical note. Aluminun would be different than either brass or steel,
etc....

Now let's make a wooden box that resonates at the same frequence as
the tuning fork. When you do this and the tuning fork is placed on the
box, the sound is greatly amplified. Because they resonate together
and re-enforce each other, the resulting amplitude is greater that the
combined value of the individual forces of the tuning fork or the box.
The whole is greater than the sum of it's parts.

Now we consider the material the box is made out of, certainly a soft
pine wood box is going to be a different size and shape than a hard
wood oak box. And because the density and pliability of individual
pieces of oak will differ, so to will the boxes made from those
different pieces of oak. Referring back to the metal in the tuning
fork, different pieces of metal are going to have different densities,
temper, and purity, and therefore, just as with wood, no two pieces of
metal are truly alike. Each steel tuning fork will be slightly
different from another steel tuning fork of the same pitch.

So we have a wide variety of metals and a wide variety of woods that
can be combined in various way to create a tuning fork and resonant
box of a given pitch. And while identical material components will be
very similar, there will be no two alike. 

I have given an illustration that involves mechanical physics and it
does serve as a good illustration of my point, but we must remember
that magic in not physical or mechanical, it is a very deep mysterious
abstract force that resonates in a world defined only by itself. So,
we have to put some limitations on how much emphasis we place on basic
physical characteristics of a wand. Mr. Ollivander is creating wands
using an deep esoteric intuitive magical 6th sense that has been hone
from years, perhaps centuries of experience. He is weighing components
against each other based on parameters that we mere muggles and a
majority of magical people can and will never understand. That's why
wandmaking is truly an art form, it can only be done well by those who
are truly gifted in the art.

So, I still stand by my position regarding how wands are construction
and how a wand picks a particular wizard.

At least, that's MY story and I'm sticking to it.

bboy_mn