Wand Thoughts

[Steve]

No: HPFGUIDX 153239

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Kim" <inspirit at ...> wrote:
>
> ...edited,,,
> 
> My first thought brought about some rather minor questions:
> "The wand chooses the wizard."  How?  Why this wizard instead of
> that one?  ...
>

bboyminn:

Peggy has already done an excellent job of answering you, hopefully I
can expand in that slightly. First, there is no intellectual or moral
component in the 'wand choosing the wizard', it is purely mechanical
or perhaps a blend of mechanics and magic.

I also think that it means you can't walk into a Wand Shop and say, oh
isn't that a pretty wand, I think I'll have that one. Or you can't
say, no I don't want any whimpy short wand, I want a nice fat long
one. Well, you could say those things and get a wand that worked, but
you would never get a wand that matched you. So, in this sense, the
wizard can't choose the wand. He can't choose it based on aesthetics
or personal preference for size, shape, or color. 

Because a wizard can't choose a closely matched wand based on personal
preference, then we can only concluded figuratively that the wand
chooses the wizard. 

I use the illustration of magical resonance. When a wizard and a wand
have a very close magical resonance, when they are in magical harmony,
then the wizard has found a wand that matches him.

 
> ...edited...
> 
> If the wand chooses the wizard, and there are two wands with 
> Fawkes feather in it, and one chose Voldy and the other chose 
> Harry... Then I have some more questions:
> 
> Why did a wand with Fawkes' feather choose Voldy?  And why does 
> Olivander expect great things from the person chosen by the other 
> wand with that feather?  ...edited...
> 
> Or am I reaching too far for a plot twist to unravel?
> 
> Thanks for your thoughts, Kim

bboyminn:

>From what I can tell Ollivander only had two wands that had Fawkes
Phoenix feathers. One was sold to Voldemort many years ago. It seems
that Dumbledore and Ollivander are in close contact, and we can assume
that Ollivander has at least has a vague idea about Harry's fate,
which explains why he wrote to Dumbledore as soon as Harry bought his
wand. So, we know in the intervening roughly 50 or 60 years since
Voldemort bought his wand, he has proven himself a very great and
powerful wizard. Since Harry buys a wand that is very similar to
Voldemort's, and since Ollivander has a general sense of Harry's fate,
it is reasonable for him to conclude that we can also expect great
things from Harry.


Now if you will all indulge me, I will dip into the realm of pure and
heavy speculation, and also into an area I have spoken about many
times before. For those who are bored with hearing it, please feel
free to allow you minds to wander.

I speculate that wand cores have characteristics. The books seem to
imply that wands with Unicorn Hair are suited to subtle magic like
Charms. Magic that requires a very refined and precise technique.
Certainly they work for any and all magic but they are particularly
suited for the subtle and precise magic necessary to Charm. Where as
Dragon Heart is more suited to the powerful transient burst magic
necessary for Transfigurations. Certainly you can perform subtle magic
with a Dragon Heart core, but Dragon Heart is especially powerful at
preforming magic that requires a strong burst of magic to force a
transfigured object to change state. I consider Phoenix Feather the
'Royal' core; it is equally suited and especially powerful in both
subtle and delicate as well as high energy burst transformation magic.

Also note that Dragon parts, blood, claw, skin, meat, heart, are all
readily available. We see them several times in the course of the
books. Unicorn Hair is also readily available. Hagrid gives away a
huge ball of it to Slughorn. We see that Unicorns are somewhat easy to
capture since Ollivander, Grubbly-Plank, and Hagrid have all done
this. However, we have only seen one Phoenix, and a reading of the
history and nature of Phoenix tells us that their feathers are likely
to be very rare and very expensive. 

I believe an extension of that is the assumption that most people walk
out of Ollivander's with either a Dragon Heart String or a Unicorn
Hair wand. Those who match the very rare Phoenix wands are equally as
rare. I think the fact that Harry matched a 'Royal' Phoenix feather
wand, and the fact that that particular wand was a brother to
Voldemort's was also a sign that Harry was indeed a powerful wizard.
Also, note that Harry tried other Phoenix feather wands, but only
Fawke's wand feather was a match to him.

A little thought and a lot of speculation.

Steve/bboyminn