Índice

     Continuing the Harry Potter Science series (read parts one, two, and three if you missed them!), today we're looking at one of the aspects of wizarding life that is extremely important but also seems to be taken for granted: wands. Although it is possible to cast spells without using a wand, this is difficult and as a general rule a wizard/witch must have their wand on them at all times. This makes the disappearance of the legendary wand-crafter Ollivander especially disturbing, you can buy wands from other places but his shop is known to be the best. His disappearance only warranted a couple of mentions in Book 6, but I am predicting it will be highly significant in Book 7.

    So, on to wands. Each wizard's wand is unique, and they vary in length, flexibility, wood type, and core. For example, Harry has an eleven inch wand made of holly, with a phoenix feather core. (This feather, incidentally, came from Dumbledore's very own phoenix, Fawkes, and the only other wand with one of Fawkes' feathers belongs to You Know Who...). Hermione has a dragon heartstring core, and Ron's wand has a unicorn hair core. (The phoenix, dragon, and unicorn cores are the only ones that Ollivander uses).

    While the core of the wand seems to be highly significant, the wooden sheath has much to say about the wand owner as well. "The Trio," consisting of the protagonists Harry, Ron, and Hermione, all have wands made of the wood that the Celts assigned to the particular time of year of their birth (kind of like a tree-based zodiac). Harry's wand is holly, Hermione's is vine wood, and Ron's is ash. These are the only characters whose wands correspond to the Celtic tradition, but, as we shall see, the wand wood of all the characters is hardly arbitrary.

    So we know Harry's wand is holly, what does that say about him, besides identifying an approximate date of birth? Although the berries can be slightly toxic, after they have frosted and thawed a few times they soften and provide food for many birds and insects. Also, holly bushes are known to be used by birds as refuges from predators. This seems to correspond to Harry very well. He is a very powerful wizard, and has traces of dark magic lurking in him despite his general heroics, such as his talents as a Parselmouth, something all wizards associate with the "toxic" dark arts. Just like holly berries, though, over the years his Parseltongue incidents have shown to be benign and he has regained the trust of those that were originally repelled when they learned about this hidden talent. As for providing refuge from predators, Harry is a star student in Defense Against the Dark Arts, and starts a club, Dumbledore's Army, in which he tutors other students on defensive techniques.

    Moving on: everyone's favorite naturalist, Rubeus Hagrid. His wand is actually broken, and is concealed in a pink umbrella, but seems to serve him well nonetheless. It is oak, a tree also known as "King of the Forest," which seems fitting for Hogwart's grounds keeper and Care of Magical Creatures instructor. Oak also symbolizes strength and protection, which fits someone of Hagrids huge stature ("twice as tall as a normal man and five times as wide") and kind nature.

    James Potter's wand was mahogany, a symbol of strength, which must have been true since he was known to be a powerful wizard and gave his life to save Harry. Also, there is a type of wood known as "stag mahogany", which is interesting because James was an animagus and his animal form was a stag. Interestingly, Lily Potter's wand was willow. It may not seem like a wand that symbols much robustness, but willow is commonly used in landscape management to prevent erosion, as a shelter/windbreak, and to help with biofiltration, all protective/caring functions fitting a good mother figure like Lily. Also notable, if not scientific: it has traditionally been thought to protect from evil, which is exactly what Lily did in the final act of her life: by dying for Harry, she somehow gave him a power over Voldemort that saved his life that fateful night and has served as his most potent weapon ever since. We still don't know the details of how this happened, hopefully it will be revealed in the last book.

    And last, the one you've surely been wondering about: we know Voldemort's wand has the same core as Harry's, but what wood is it made out of? Yew. Yew trees are notable for two things that relate to Voldemort. The first is toxicity. The leaves, seeds, and fruit of this plant all contain poisonous alkaloids, which have been shown to cause potentially fatal heart problems in mammals. Nasty stuff that you don't want to play around with, much like everyone's favorite villian.


    Druid cults often honor the yew: ("Dark tree, warder of time and ghosts buried long ago") for its extremely long life. There is a yew tree in Scotland that is thought to be 5,000 years old (picture credit to Barry Dunford). This is extremely significant, as Voldemort has been existing on the edge of death--but not quite gone--for sixteen years now, having partitioned his soul between horcruxes in his attempts to achieve immortality. The yew is also known as a tree of knowledge, and is often associated with fortresses--fitting to represent one of the most powerful wizards in the world.

    So, there you have it, something as seemingly mundane as a species of tree can tell us much about a wizard/witch's character. Both the biological properties and legends about each type of wand wood seem to be highly significant, and it's worth the effort to pay attention to details of each character's wand, to see if JKR is dropping hints for us. I personally think that the issue of wands will be highly significant in the next book. We know that Ollivander has disappeared, and also that he had a wand displayed in his window that seemed to be highly prized by him, although we were never told why. We also know that Voldemort sought after relics from the founders of Hogwarts when gathering objects to use as horcruxes...could Ollivander be gone because he possessed the wand of Rowena Ravenclaw?

    Also, we know that the last wand that Ollivander sold before he died was to Neville Longbottom, who is absolutely my favorite character. I have high hopes for Neville in the last book, and I think this detail about the wand is a clue that he is going to have a critical role in the final battles of the book.

    By the way, Neville's wand was cherry, known for being strong and durable, (and also dense, a hat tip to his clumsiness and struggles in school). It was traditionally thought to protect from evil, and it contains anthocyanins (used to reduce pain and inflammation) and anti-oxidants, known to be beneficial for the immune system. I would say that this definitely supports my long-held view that Neville is definitely a guy you want on your team.

    As a final parting note, just for fun: if all this wand talk has you hankering for one of your own, you can customize one here. The franchise opportunities never end!