Unicorn hair wands and Ollivander the Legilimens (Was: Neville's new wand/unicor

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 137181

Ehren wrote:
> Do we know of anyone else that has unicorn hair in their that has 
> died or is still alive? 
 
Melissa responded: 
> Hmm If I am remembering correctly Ron's first wand. . the one that
was handed down from Charlie and that was broken during the Whomping
Willow encounter also had unicorn hair. . (I think it was poking out
of it) and so far Charlie's still alive.

Carol adds:
You're correct about both the wand and Charlie being still alive at
the end of HBP. (Of course the hands on Mrs. Weasley's clock are all
pointing to mortal peril, and given Charlie's profession, he could
easily be the first Weasley to actually die--as opposed to the close
calls experienced by Ginny, Arthur, and Bill. Mrs. Weasley's boggart
will almost certainly not be an empty fear.)

I don't think, however, that unicorn hair wand cores are an indicator
of who is going to die in the HP books. Remember that Ollivander, the
best wandmaker in Britain and the one from whom most Hogwarts students
buy their first wands, uses only three "powerful magical substances"
as cores in his wands. (He doesn't use Veela hair, for one thing.) At
least one-third of the wands he sells would have unicorn hair cores,
the remainder being either phoenix feathers (surely extremely rare) or
dragon heart strings. Surely so large a segment of the witches and
wizards who attended Hogwarts is not doomed to die simply because the
unicorn hair wands chose them ("the wand chooses the wizard"), nor has
Ollivander (even if he's ESE!) doomed one-third of the WW to die as
innocent victims of Voldemort by selling them unicorn hair wands.

But perhaps there is some common character trait shared by Charlie
(whom we barely know), Ron, Neville, and Cedric that would cause a
unicorn hair wand to be attracted to them. It could relate to the
level of power that the wand senses or to the affinity for a
particular branch of magic. James's (first?) wand, we're told in
SS/PS, was a bit more powerful than Lily's and showed an affinity for
Transfiguration (shown to be true when we learn in PoA that James was
an Animagus), but Lily's aptitude is said to be for Charms, which does
not fit at all with Slughorn's sentimental memories of Lily as a
skilled Potions maker in HBP. (I still think there's more to Lily's
self-sacrifice than meets the eye and that it relates to her skill at
Charms, foreshadowed by Ollivander's remarks very early in the
series.) At any rate, I think we have to posit moral neutrality in
both the wand itself (to the extent that it's a sentient object) and
in the maker (Ollivander). To create and sell unicorn hair wands to
students who show an affinity for them (or vice versa) is not to doom
the student to an early death at the hands of Voldemort or his Death
Eaters. (The twelve Muggles PP killed were innocent victims, and none
of them had wands of any kind.)

But while we're at it, why would Fawkes's feather choose Tom Riddle
when Fawkes is associated with Dumbledore, the antithesis of
Voldemort? The only connection I can see is Tom's strong desire for
immortality (also suggested by the yew wood, as discussed in several
earlier threads), along with the previously mentioned attraction of a
powerful wand to a powerful wizard. 

As for Ollivander, whose disappearance is noted early in HBP, we will
undoubtedly see more of him in Book 7. While it appears that he's been
kidnapped by the DEs, I think he's another of Dumbledore's protected
persons and that he's being hidden by the Order. I also think he's the
first Legilimens we encounter in the HP books (he knows that Hagrid
has hidden the pieces of his wand in his umbrella), and the only one
now in a position to help Harry retrieve his own memories and place
them in a Pensieve. Few wizards have that skill--certainly not
Harry--and DD can no longer do it. Nor is Snape, whether he is good or
evil, in a position to help Harry explore his past. Ollivander is both
powerful and intelligent, and he seems to have had some sort of
understanding with Dumbledore regarding the Fawkes-feather wands, not
to mention those disconcerting silvery eyes that seem to see right
through you. If anyone can help Harry retrieve his own memories and
discover the truth about Godric's Hollow, it's Ollivander.

Carol