Powerfully Magical and other Qualities (was Sectumsempra)

[Rick & LeAnn Kelley]

No: HPFGUIDX 156710

(Sorry I'm late getting into this discussion, but I've been out of town.)

 

Potioncat said:
<SNIP>
 

I think we are meant to understand that there are 3 qualities that determine
how successful a spell or spell caster is going to be.
1. How powerfully magical the caster is.
2. How tactically sound the caster is. This ranges anywhere from what spell
to use and when to use it all the way to how sneaky the caster is (e.g.
Occulumency, non-verbal, and just plain shooting them in the back)
3. How much magic does the caster know as well as which spells s/he is
capable of  employing/operating.

 

rkelley:
I'd like to add a fourth quality to this list:  The caster's wand.  In PS/SS
Ollivander told Harry he remembered when he sold his parents their first
wands.  He said Lily's was, "Ten and a quarter inches long, swishy, made of
willow.  Nice wand for charm work."  And about James' wand, ".a mahogany
wand.  Eleven inches.  Pliable.  A little more powerful and excellent for
transfiguration.  Well, I  say your father favored it - it's really the wand
that chooses the wizard, of course."   And about Voldemort's wand, "Thirteen
and a half inches.  Yew.  Powerful wand, very powerful, and in the wrong
hands.well, if I'd known what that wand was going out into the world to do."
(Could Ollivander have snapped the wand and diminished Voldemort's powers?)

 

Lily later received praise from her teachers for her charms ability.  Was
that ability due to her own powers which were conducive with her wand's
abilities, or did her wand give her extra powers for charms?  Was James able
to transform into an animagi at such a young age due to his innate
abilities, or because he had a wand which was good for transfiguration, or
was it a combination of both?  Or did the wand choose James because it
recognized he already possessed strong transfiguration powers?    This
passage indicates that wands are very important in one's wizarding
abilities.
I think it's quite likely that the wand which chose Harry is one of the most
powerful ones ever made by Olivander, and the particular wood and core
combination of his wand may be extremely conductive of Harry's power.  How
much power is added to Voldemort and Harry by the wands which chose them can
only be speculated upon, but I think it is a quality very worthy of adding
to this list.

 

 



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