Sir Oliver Wood

> Bad news, Harry. I've just been to see Professor McGonagall about the Firebolt. She — er — got a bit shirty with me. Told me I'd got my priorities wrong. Seemed to think I cared more about winning the Cup than I do about you staying alive. Just because I told her I didn't care if it threw you off, as long as you caught the Snitch on it first. Honestly, the way she was yelling at me... you'd think I'd said something terrible.
>
> Wood's intense devotion to Quidditch, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

**Oliver Wood** (born c. ***1975*** or ***1976***) was a wizard who was the ***Keeper*** and Captain for the Gryffindor Quidditch team during his time as a student at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, which he attended from ***1987*** to ***1994***.

## Biographical information

### Date of birth

Between ***1 September*** ***1975*** and ***31 August*** ***1976***

## Physical description

### Gender

Male

Oliver was known for his determination and skill on the playing field, and his long lectures before practices. He led the Gryffindor team to victory in the ***Quidditch Cup*** in his ***seventh year***.

## Biography

### Early life

Oliver was born in ***Great Britain*** or ***Ireland*** in ***1975*** or ***1976***, likely into a wizarding family.

### Hogwarts years Template:C

 File:Oliver DADA class.jpg
Oliver Wood attended Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry from ***1987*** to ***1994***. He was sorted into Gryffindor and presumably shared a dormitory with Percy Weasley.

He joined the Gryffindor Quidditch team as a ***Keeper***. During his first game he took a Bludger to the head two minutes in, and woke up a week later in the Hospital Wing. He mentioned this to Harry Potter when Oliver was in his fifth year, as Harry was nervous for his first Quidditch match. Oliver also mentioned that he didn't really remember his first match because of this.

He also attended Hogwarts with Charlie Weasley and Hufflepuff ***Nymphadora Tonks*** for four years before they graduated. Oliver would frequently talk about Charlie's superb Quidditch skills and showed appreciation for them, as he was a huge Quidditch fan himself.

Sometime before 1991, Oliver was given an "*award for effort*".

Oliver once borrowed Template:QTA from the Hogwarts Library and was due to return the book on ***9 April*** in an unknown year.

#### Gryffindor Quidditch Captain

Template:Dialogue a-b

Oliver became Captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team in either 1990, his fourth year or 1991, his fifth year.

In the 1991–1992 school year, despite assembling a good team, he was unable to find anyone skilled enough to play as ***Seeker*** for the team after the departure of Charles Weasley in the previous year. However, his search was ended when his Head of House, Professor McGonagall, observed Harry Potter catch Neville Longbottom's Remembrall on a broomstick from a fifty foot dive. McGonagall claimed that it was a move that even Charlie Weasley couldn't have pulled off, convincing Oliver that Harry was indeed something special. He immediately saw that Harry's build was perfect for a Seeker, and impressed upon McGonagall the need for Harry to have a decent broom to fly.

 File:Oliver teaching Harry.jpg  Oliver gave Harry his first Quidditch lesson in private, immediately seeing that Harry was a natural flyer on a broomstick. Wanting to use Harry as a secret weapon during the first match of the season against Slytherin, Oliver tried to keep his presence on the team under wraps. Despite his best efforts, however, word got out about Harry's presence, although his skill level was a secret from everyone outside the team.

 File:Oliver wood ps.jpg
Captaining the side against their nemesis, Slytherin, in the first game of the season, Oliver was delighted when Harry captured the Golden Snitch in his first match, winning the game for Gryffindor. However, the second game of the season, against Hufflepuff, gave Oliver cause for concern, when he found out that Professor Snape would be refereeing the match in place of ***Madam Hooch***. Fearing that Snape would not be fair to Gryffindor following their defeat of Slytherin, he urged Harry to catch the Snitch as soon as possible. When he caught it within five minutes, Oliver was overjoyed. If Gryffindor could beat Ravenclaw in the final match of the season, then they would surely capture the ***Quidditch Cup***.
Shortly after, Gryffindor House lost one hundred and fifty house points due to the actions of three first year students, including Harry Potter. Harry offered his resignation to Oliver, who declined it, his reasoning being that if they didn't win at Quidditch, they had no chance to recoup the lost points. Despite this, Oliver likely felt somewhat irked towards Harry, as, during team practice sessions, his angry teammates simply referred to Harry as "the Seeker".
The final match of the season against Ravenclaw was a disaster. Harry was in the hospital wing after facing Professor Quirrell and Lord Voldemort, and recovering the Philosopher's Stone. Without Harry and his Nimbus 2000 broomstick, the Gryffindor team suffered its biggest defeat in three hundred years.

#### Sixth year

> It'll be down to you, Harry, to show them that a Seeker has to have something more than a rich father. Get to that Snitch before Malfoy or die trying, Harry, because we've got to win today, we've got to.
>
> Oliver telling Harry to catch the snitch at any cost, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

 File:Oliver-Wood-quidditch.jpg
Oliver spent the summer of 1992 devising an entirely new training schedule that included early morning practice sessions. He was determined to win the Cup, and his enthusiasm for regular training sessions knew no limits. He was annoyed that his team did not seem to be taking it as seriously as he was, but that may have been a result of getting them all up earlier than they expected on the day of their first training session.
On the first Saturday back at school, he booked the Quidditch pitch to begin training earlier than the other teams. His plan was cut short by the arrival of the Slytherin team, who had been given permission to use the pitch by Professor Snape in order to train their new Seeker, Draco Malfoy.

 File:Oliver keeper.gif  Gryffindor won their first match of the season against Slytherin, but the unexplained attacks on Muggle-born students (later found to be caused by the reopening of the Chamber of Secrets and the freeing of the monster within) forced the cancellation of the year's remaining matches. When Minerva McGonagall announced the good news that the school would not be closing, many students shouted "*Dumbledore's back*" or "*The heir of Slytherin has been caught*". Wood instead showed his intense love for Quidditch by shouting "*Quidditch matches are back on*."

## Physical description

Oliver was well built and burly, and had a commanding presence, especially to those in his team. He was known to get a maniacal look in his eyes when he was enthusing about Quidditch.

## Personality and traits

> I think we'd better check with Puddlemere United whether Oliver Wood's been killed during a training session, because Angelina seems to be channelling his spirit.
>
> Oliver's intense and slightly manic personality, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

 File:Oliver Wood – COSF.png
Wood was described as an intensely driven, competitive personality. He was singularly focused and determined to creating the best Quidditch team in the school. His ambition and dedication to the sport was such that he forced his players to train relentlessly, including early morning starts and all-weather training. Wood's obsession with winning occasionally became somewhat maniacal.
In 1992 he told Harry to "*catch the Snitch or die trying*" and in 1993, Fred and George Weasley declared, with only mild exaggeration, that Wood was attempting to drown himself in the showers after a defeat as he refused to come out when they did. They also said in 1996 that "*Wood might have done the Slytherins if he could have*," after someone asked who would try to kill off a Quidditch team. He regularly scheduled three practice sessions a week, rising to five a week before an important match. His overriding ambition was to win the Quidditch cup before he graduated, a dream which he finally achieved in 1994.
Despite this, Wood was remarkably humble concerning his own skill, putting the team's success down to the other members of the team. He would often be more concerned about his teammates than himself, like urging them to eat breakfast before a match, yet touching nothing himself. He was also extremely loyal to Gryffindor and saw the success of the Gryffindor team as Gryffindor House's success as a whole. He also assured Harry that he didn't blame him for the loss as he respected that there had to be at least one game where Harry wouldn't win.
Although he was fair-minded and approachable, Wood (which is an irony given his position as Captain of his team) appeared to struggle with interpersonal skills, as he often seemed oblivious to the way in which he came across to people. He never seemed to realise that his long-winded pep talks did not engage the rest of the team, and indeed frequently disgruntled them, possibly decreasing their motivation.

## Magical abilities and skills

> **George Weasley**We think you're very good too, Oliver.**Fred Weasley**Cracking Keeper,**Fred and George about Oliver's Keeping skills**Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

* **Flying**: Oliver was Captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team during his fourth year onwards. He later became a professional Quidditch player for Puddlemere United's reserve team on the position of Keeper, showing him to have been an excellent and highly accomplished broomstick flyer.
* **Duelling**: Though not much is known about his skills on the battlefield, he must have been an exceptional duellist to have been able to survive the Battle of Hogwarts with considerable proficiency in martial magic.

## Possessions

 File:OliverWoodWandNN8258.jpg
* **Wand**: The wand of Oliver Wood was made of an unknown length, core and wood. It was purchased by him, prior to his first year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in 1987, probably from the reputed wandmaker Garrick Ollivander.
* **Broomstick**: Considering Oliver was a dedicated Quidditch fan and player, Wood would have therefore owned his own broomstick which he would have flown with.
* ***Stopwatch***: Oliver used his stopwatch during Quidditch training.

## Etymology

The olive branch often is a symbol of peace. The olive tree's symbolism also includes a great harvest and long life. Wood is a place name (like Brooks or Field) and suggests ancestors who lived near or in a forest, or who were woodcutters. It is possible that Wood was meant to be the opposite of the name ***Flint***, the name of the Slytherin Quidditch team captain and Wood's rival.

## Behind the scenes

 File:Wod.jpg
 File:Oliver Wood LEGO.png
 File:Oliver Wood PAS.png
* In Template:PS, when Oliver was explaining Quidditch to Harry Potter, he said that the team that catches the Snitch will win the game. This is inaccurate as in the World Cup in ***1994***, ***Viktor Krum*** caught the snitch, but Ireland won as they were ahead by more than 15 goals (150 points). However, he could have meant that the team would usually win the game due to the amount of points that the Snitch is worth (Incidentally, in Template:GOF, it is not revealed that Ireland won in this way). It is also possible that he was explaining the rules that Hogwarts usually played by.
* Oliver was portrayed by ***Sean Biggerstaff*** in the film adaptations of Template:PS, Template:COS and Template:DH, although he did not match ***J. K. Rowling***'s description of Wood as "burly." Biggerstaff portrayed Wood as a ***Scot***, although this is never mentioned in the ***books***. Biggerstaff originally planned to audition using an English accent, but was encouraged by Chris Columbus to read the lines in his own Glaswegian dialect; thus Oliver Wood became Scottish in the films.
* Though Oliver was not a member of ***Dumbledore's Army***, having left Hogwarts two years before its formation, Wood fought with ***D.A.*** members in the ***Battle of Hogwarts***. He was most likely alerted to the Battle of Hogwarts by former members of his Quidditch team who were members of Dumbledore's Army.
* Oliver did not know what basketball was. This suggests that he comes from a purely magical family. However, Oliver used golf balls when first practising with Harry Potter, suggesting he may be a half-blood, or at least has a family member who knows about golf.
* In Template:DH,Oliver can be seen leading an aerial attack on ***Death Eaters*** during the ***Battle of Hogwarts***.
* The hair and head pieces of the Oliver Wood minifigure in the Template:LEGO sets are identical to those of the minifigure for Mutt Williams, a character from the *Indiana Jones* series.

## Appearances

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* Template:PS Template:1st
* Template:COS
* Template:POA Template:Possible
* Template:DH
	+ Template:DH
* Template:PM
* Template:WW
* Template:QWC
* Template:TCG
* Template:HPV
* Template:WU Template:Mention
* Template:PAS
* Template:MA Template:HoM mention

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## Notes and references

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1. ↑ Template:POA - "Oliver Wood was a burly seventeen-year-old, now in his seventh and final year at Hogwarts."
This statement is made between 1 October and 15 October 1993.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 In Template:PS, Oliver does not know what basketball is, implying he is from a wizarding family. His parents also attended the Quidditch World cup in Template:GOF.
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 Template:PS
4. ↑ Template:PS
5. ↑ The trophy list has "Award for Effort - Oliver Wood" written at the bottom. As these trophies are in the cabinet as of 1991, it was before that.
6. ↑ Template:QTA
7. ↑ Template:PS - "'We know Oliver's speech by heart,' Fred told Harry, 'we were on the team last year.' This implies that Oliver was captain in the previous year, 1990, as he was giving the same speech.
8. ↑ Template:PS - "Bill was head boy and Charlie was captain of Quidditch." As Charlie's last year at Hogwarts was 1990–1991 it's likely that he would be Quidditch Captain his final year with Oliver becoming captain the next year, 1991.
9. ↑ Template:PS
10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 Template:COS
11. ↑ Template:COS - PS1 version
12. ↑ The Honest Actors' Podcast - Sean Biggerstaff
13. ↑ Template:See image

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