Fawkes

[karenoc1]

No: HPFGUIDX 54197

Hi!

Barbara's comments about Fawkes are very interesting.  Regarding his 
name, I think at least two things are possible: Fawkes is not as old 
as we think, and Dumbledore named him himself, or Fawkes was not 
originally owned by Dumbledore, and he is only around 300-390 years 
old.  Phoenixes are not immortal; they just have an extra-long life-
span, of say 500 years or so.  And since other wands have phoenix 
feathers (and Fawkes only gave two feathers), I think it's safe to 
say that there have been more than one phoenix in this Wizarding 
World.  Whether or not more than one phoenix exists at a given time 
may be in question, though.

Anne U wrote:
> 2) Fawkes (whose age is indeterminate but we know he's ancient 
> because he's been reborn many times) has given only 2 tail 
feathers, 
> and those ended up in the wands that chose Tom Riddle--who later 
> *chose* to become Lord Voldemort--and Harry Potter. I believe it's 
> established that the Mr. Ollivander who made and sold the wand to 
> Harry is the same Mr. Ollivander who made and sold the other wand 
to 
> Tom Riddle (and not, say, a son or a nephew). So I'd also like to 
> know whether Ollivander made these two wands at approximately the 
> same time, knowing that Tom Riddle and Harry Potter *themselves* 
> would eventually be chosen by the wands? Or did he make them at the 
> same time knowing that the two wands would eventually choose two 
(as 
> yet unknown to him) extremely powerful wizards? Or did he make them 
> at different times using tail feathers given at different times??

This is also really interesting: playing with the notion of free 
decisions versus fate in Harry's world.  I don't know for certain, 
but my gut tells me that Mr. Ollivander made the two wands (Fawkes 
feather with yew and Fawkes feather with holly) at the same time; he 
then put them away in their respective boxes waiting for them 
to "choose" their owners.  And I don't think that Mr. Ollivander knew 
that either Tom Riddle or Harry Potter would be chosen by those two 
wands.  

But there's that fate element.  We may think that Harry may have been 
destined to be chosen by a wand that shares a core with Voldemort's 
because they are intrinsically linked, but what if the reverse is 
true?  What if Tom Riddle was chosen by his wand BECAUSE Harry Potter 
was destined to have the other wand, especially if the cores really 
do relate to Harry's possible Godric Gryffindor connection?  This 
makes my poor head hurt....  

Anyway, thank you Barbara, Mr. Ed, and Anne for this topic!  And 
please excuse me if I've mentioned something already covered in the 
archives.

Karen