Wizardkind

**Notice:** This **article** uses content directly taken from the Wizardkind **article** at the Harry Potter Wiki, and is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License.
**Wizardkind** were humans that were born with the ability to perform magic. An individual male human with magical ability was known as a **wizard** (plural: **wizards**), and an individual female human with magical ability was known as a **witch** (plural: **witches**), though "wizard" was sometimes used as a gender-neutral singular noun like "man" is to refer to humans. There were three statues of wizardkind: pure-blood, half-blood, and muggle-borns, and they were relative to Squibs and Muggles.

It was said that most of the greatest wizards did not have an ounce of logic, suggesting their complete reliance of powerful magic led them to be able neglect other aspects of their mind.

## Origins

The origins of wizardkind is unknown. Whether, in ancient times, some humans randomly discovered they had magic, some extraterrestrial beings or objects came with magic, or there was some sort of ritual or potion or pact, their origins remained a mystery.

However, if it was the first, then some Muggle-borns may not have been the descendants of Squibs (as was most often theorised) but entirely new wizards, like the very first members of wizardkind.

## Performing Magic

In childhood, wizards and witches may have exhibited random bursts of magic, called accidental magic, which were honed and controlled as they progress to maturity.

To perform controlled magic, almost all wizards/witches needed to use a wand, although the advanced skill of wandless magic may have been mastered in later life. A few highly advanced wizards could do controlled magical feats without a wand, such as Albus Dumbledore, who demonstrated the ability at the close of Harry Potter's first year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and Lord Voldemort, who once demonstrated this ability during the Battle of the Seven Potters in 1997.

## Heredity

*Main Article: Blood Status*
Magical ability was an inherited trait passed genetically from one's ancestry. Witches and wizards were classified by blood status according to their relation to these ancestors, which were usually their parents.

Pure-bloods were born of two wizarding parents and at the very least, four wizarding grandparents. Pure-blood supremacists believed that a good wizarding family tree should have no Muggle ancestors; however, every family tree had at least one Muggle ancestor by the 1990s.

Half-bloods were mainly born of one wizard and one Muggle or Muggle-born parent.

Muggle-born wizards and witches were distantly descended from a Squib who had married into a Muggle family. Magical genes resurfaced many years later in a Muggle-born descendant when that branch of the wizarding family had usually lost all traces of its wizarding legacy.

However one inherited their magic made no difference whatsoever — a pure-blood's, half-blood's, and Muggle-born's abilities and physiologies were indistinguishable.

## Physiology

The physiology of wizards was subtly different from that of non-wizards. As such, wizards would react differently to the effects of contact with a magical creature, such as being attacked by a Murtlap. Wizards also by nature could not be fooled by certain types of magic or magical barriers. It was, for example, possible to hide certain magic from Muggles via Muggle-Repelling Charms, which naturally would have no effect on wizards.

Wizards had the power to cure 'mundane' illnesses and injuries, and contact with non-magical creatures that Muggles could not. However, they could struggle to repair any damage caused by magical means such as the Memory Charm and Unforgivable Curses.

Despite their science and living conditions being almost Medieval, wizards were, ironically, probably healthier than Muggles, presumably due to their inherent magic protecting them from most mundane illnesses.

### Life Span

*See Also: List of Oldest Wizards*
Wizard life expectancy in Britain reached an average 137¾ years in the mid-1990s, according to the Ministry of Divine Health, although the oldest wizard on record reached the age of 755 in late 1991; wizards in general have a much longer life expectancy than Muggles, usually living two or three times as long as their non magical counterparts, some living even longer than that depending on circumstances.

In addition, seeing as James Potter's parents had him "late in life,” witches likely have significantly longer childbearing years than Muggle women.

### Physical Appearance

Most wizards looked no different from Muggles, although some wizards bear unusual physical characteristics; while silvery-blonde hair is very rare among Muggles, many wizards had it, to name a few Winifred Warrington, Ivy Warrington, and Chiara Lobosca. Ivy Warrington also had a purplish hue to her blue eyes that Muggles could not have. Rolanda Hooch had yellow eyes. These features are consistent with usage of magic, or simply having magic, being shown to affect bodily appearance, especially the eyes (as, for instance, Tom Riddle's eyes turned bright red after his constant use of the Dark Arts).

In other cases, this may simply have been a cosmetic application of self-transfiguration, charm work or potion usage to alter the colour of one's eyes or hair to reflect the wizard's personal preferences.

## Sub-Types

Some wizards exhibited special inborn (or acquired) attributes which marked them as unique amongst their kind. They are listed as follows:

### Inborn Attributes

These often hereditary traits marked subdivisions within wizardkind.