Wand Wood

"*Only a minority of trees can produce wand quality wood (just as a minority of humans can produce magic). It takes years of experience to tell which ones have the gift, although the job is made easier if Bowtruckles are found nesting in the leaves, as they never inhabit mundane trees.*"
— Garrick Ollivander[src]

Various types of **wood** were used in the construction of wands. Once carved into the appropriate shape, the wood was embedded with a magical substance that served as its core, which might be chosen specifically to match the type of wood in question. Wands could vary significantly in length — from a minimum of 7" to at least 16" — and come in varying degrees of rigidity, including "springy", "flexible", "supple" and "unyielding".

## Nature

Only a minority of trees could produce wand quality wood (just as a minority of humans could produce magic). It took years of experience to tell which ones had the gift, although the job was made easier if Bowtruckles were found nesting in the leaves, as they never inhabited mundane trees.

Different types of wood had their own "personalities" and thus wands were likely to choose a wizard with a matching personality. Every single wand was unique and would depend for its character on the particular tree and magical creature from which it derived its materials. Ollivander believed that wand wood had almost human powers of perception and preferences.

Some wand woods were especially well suited for certain branches of magic; alternatively, some woods were poorly suited for certain branches of magic.

Wand-making was the study of a lifetime, and wandmakers could continue to learn with every wand they made and matched. Moreover, each wand, from the moment it found its ideal owner, would begin to learn from and teach its human partner. Therefore, the following notes on various wand woods should be regarded as general notes to use as a starting point, and ought not to be taken to describe any individual wand.

## Known wand woods

Harry Potter's wand: 11" holly, phoenix feather, nice and supple

Hermione Granger's wand: 10¾", vine, dragon heartstring

Viktor Krum's wand: 10¼", hornbeam, dragon heartstring, quite rigid

Draco Malfoy's wand: 10", hawthorn, unicorn hair, reasonably springy

Ron Weasley's first wand: 12", ash, unicorn hair

Ronald Weasley's second wand: 14", willow, unicorn hair

The Elder Wand: 15", elder, Thestral hair

Neville Longbottom's second wand: 13", cherry, unicorn hair

Remus Lupin's wand: 10¼", cypress, unicorn hair, pliable

Fleur Delacour's wand: 9½", rosewood, Veela hair, inflexible

Cedric Diggory's wand: 12¼", ash, unicorn hair, pleasantly springy

Lord Voldemort's wand: 13½", yew, phoenix feather

Bellatrix Lestrange's first wand: 12¾", walnut, dragon heartstring, unyielding

James Potter I's wand: 11", mahogany, pliable

Horace Slughorn's wand: 10¼", cedar, dragon heartstring, fairly flexible

Minerva McGonagall's wand: 9½, fir, dragon heartstring, stiff

Gilderoy Lockhart's wand: 9", cherry, dragon heartstring, slightly bendy

Dolores Umbridge's wand: 8", birch, dragon heartstring

Sybill Trelawney's wand: 9½", hazel, unicorn hair, very flexible

Ginevra Weasley's wand: yew wood

Seraphina Picquery's wand: 13½, swamp mayhaw, rougarou hair

Chadwick Boot's wand: prickly ash, horned serpent horn

## Behind the scenes

* Although J. K. Rowling has said that she only used the Celtic assignations for Harry, Ron and Hermione, Draco Malfoy's wand wood of hawthorn match his date of birth in the Celtic tree calendar as well.
* Wand wood bearing trees are often protected by bowtruckles and protective curses cast by their owners.
* Many superstitions have arisen around wands, based on the woods used. Certain wands are supposedly incompatible *"When his wand's oak and hers is holly, then to marry would be folly."* It also can denote flaws in the owner's character *"Rowan gossips, chestnut drones, ash is stubborn, hazel moans"*. Among these sayings is also *"wand of elder, never prosper"*.
* It is unclear if magical variants of trees used as wand woods, such as the Wiggentree and the Whomping Willow, can be used as wand wood, or if such wands would have additional properties.

### Author's comments

J. K. Rowling has explained her choice of wand woods for Harry Potter and Lord Voldemort:

*"It was not an arbitrary decision: holly has certain connotations that were perfect for Harry, particularly when contrasted with the traditional associations of yew, from which Voldemort's wand is made. European tradition has it that the holly tree (the name comes from 'holy') repels evil, while yew, which can achieve astonishing longevity (there are British yew trees over two thousand years old), can symbolise both death and resurrection; the sap is also poisonous.*"
Rowling has also revealed that she discovered that Harry's wand wood corresponded to his date of birth in the Celtic tree calendar afterward, and decided to use the calendar to assign the wand woods of Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger as a "hidden connection" between the three.

She has also commented on Hagrid's wand wood:

"*Hagrid, for instance, has an oak wand, though by this Celtic system he should have a wand made of elder; in Britain, the oak is 'King of the Forest' and symbolises strength, protection and fecundity; what other wood could 'choose' Hagrid?"*