Neville's wand

[jomarelvy]

No: HPFGUIDX 127807


Jazmyn wrote:
> Ron was using his brother's old wand when he started too.  Not 
> every kid can afford a shiny new wand for school, after all.  
> People likely read far too much into that 'wand chooses the 
> wizard' thing.  Neville was using Hermione's wand after his broke, 
Sirius was using other peoples wands just fine and when Harry got 
> his wand, he was so new to the magic thing, he had never had a bit 
> of training yet, so maybe IF you can afford a new wand, then waving 
> a number around till one feels right is best.  I have no reason to 
believe the wands are sentient at all and 'chose' anything and 
believe that it's 'just an expression' that the wand chooses the 
wizard, not to be taken literally.  Much like with musical 
instruments, the violin chooses the musician really means you try 
several till one 'feels' right, it doesn't mean the violin points 
> at someone and says 'him'..
> 
> Note that there are second hand wands sold too, meaning that wands 
can be resold and I suspect that some wizards might have more than 
one wand for specializing in certain types of magic, such as people 
who enchant things for a living.  The wand is not a sentient thing, 
it's a tool, just like a hammer or a wrench.  As a contractor, I 
> can tell you that we do have our 'favorite' tools, which are ones 
that work best for certain types of jobs or feel right in the hand 
when working.  I see the wands only as tools, not anything else.
> 


Jomarelvy here:
The 'wand chooses the wizard' thing seems to me as more than a simple 
expression. The quite few pages that JKR devoted in chapter 5 of book 
1 to Harry's buying his wand supports my idea that the wand is in 
fact a very personal thing and more than a mere tool.
I used to believe that JKR uses the wands to symbolize the 
personality and virtues/characteristics of each wizard. My hunch was 
confirmed when she explains what kind of wood 
she gave Harry's and Hagrid's wands (JKR's site Extra Stuff-WANDS). 
Therefore, when JKR says that 'it is the wand that chooses the 
wizard', I think she is saying that a wand's wood, core and length 
must suit the wizard's personality. 
However, we have not been told so far the characteristics in 
Neville's wand (his father's old). But we DO know what Neville's like 
and we have been TOLD that Neville is not like his father. This is 
why I believe Neville's magic has not been too good. 
Now, I also believe that it is the magic WITHIN the wizard that makes 
it all work. If the wizard (i.e. Neville, Ron, Peter Pettigrew)lacks 
confidence, the expected outcome is rather poor. When the wizard 
feels confident, the magic is good, that would probably explain why 
Neville did well using Hermione's wand at the end of OOTP. We had 
never seen such a courageous and confident Neville. 
Personally, I hope JKR will tell details of Neville's new wand in 
book 6 (unless he now uses his mother's old -lol), but I have the 
feeling that Neville can certainly afford a new wand and I expect it 
will match the two sides of Neville's personality: oblivious and 
caring, yet courageous and loyal.