The Harry Potter Compendium
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The Harry Potter Compendium
The Harry Potter Compendium
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in: Articles with information from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Articles with information from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Wands,
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Harry Potter's wand

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"Point me!"

This article is about Harry Potter's first and main wand. You may be looking for one of the other wands he acquired in his travels..

Harry: "I don't want it."
Ron: "What? Are you mental?"
Harry: "I know it's powerful. But I was happier with mine."
— Harry Potter on his desire to give up the Elder Wand in favour of his own wand.[src]

Harry Potter's wand was 11 inches long, made of holly and had a phoenix feather core[1]. The feather was donated by Fawkes, Albus Dumbledore's phoenix. It was revealed by Garrick Ollivander that Tom Riddle's wand core also came from Fawkes, making the two wands "brothers". Harry's wand was described as being "nice and supple.

"The wand chooses the wizard. That much has always been clear to those of us who have studied wandlore... These connections are complex. An initial attraction, and then a mutual quest for experience, the wand learning from the wizard, the wizard from the wand."
—Garrick Ollivander on wands. [src]

Harry obtained his wand from Ollivander, at a price of seven Galleons, just before his first year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He had tried out many other wands first with little success, but felt a warm feeling upon being handed the holly wand.[1] Despite his wand being brothers with Lord Voldemort's wand, noted by Ollivander after Harry's wand had been chosen, Harry generally did not put much thought into this connection at first, regarding the relationship as something that the wand could not help, any more than he could help being related to his aunt.

Stolen[]

Harry attended the Quidditch World Cup with the Weasley family and Hermione Granger. During this time, Barty Crouch Jr. managed to fight off his father's Imperius Curse long enough to take Harry's wand and cast the Dark Mark into the sky with it. This caused some Ministry of Magic officials to be suspicious of Harry, after it was discovered, upon using Prior Incantato, that his wand had cast Morsmordre (the spell that conjures the Dark Mark).[3]

Harry's wand and Voldemort's wand[]

File:Priori Incantatemof.gif

Priori Incantatem taking effect during the Duel in Little Hangleton.

Harry Potter: "Professor, when I was in the graveyard, there was a moment when Voldemort's wand and mine sort of...connected."
Albus Dumbledore: "Priori Incantatem."
— Harry and Albus Dumbledore.[src]

When Lord Voldemort returned and forced Harry to duel him in the Little Hangleton graveyard, the rare magical effect of Priori Incantatem (the reverse-spell effect) was triggered. Their wands recognised each other as "brothers" and refused to attack one another. A battle of wills began, and Harry's wand forced Voldemort's to regurgitate its spells, resulting in the emergence of the spirits of James and Lily Potter, Bertha Jorkins, Frank Bryce and the recently-murdered Cedric Diggory. After Harry broke off the connection, they lingered for a while to hinder Lord Voldemort and the Death Eaters. This gave Harry enough time to escape.[3]

When the Order of the Phoenix evacuated Harry from 4 Privet Drive, they were ambushed by over thirty Death Eaters and Lord Voldemort himself. When Lord Voldemort attacked Harry, Harry's wand recognised him as an enemy, despite the fact he was using Lucius Malfoy's wand instead of his own, in order to avoid causing the reverse-spell effect. Harry's wand shot "a spurt of golden fire" at Voldemort, destroying Lucius's wand and allowing Harry and Rubeus Hagrid to escape to safety.[4]

Damage[]

Hermione Granger: "You're still really angry at me, aren't you?"
Harry Potter: "No. No, Hermione, I know it was an accident. You were trying to get us out of there alive, and you were incredible. I'd be dead if you hadn't been there to help me."
— Harry and Hermione after the latter accidentally broke his wand.[src]
File:BrokenwandHP.JPG

Hermione showing Harry that his wand was broken by a curse she used.

On Christmas Eve of that year, Harry and Hermione ventured to Godric's Hollow during their search for Lord Voldemort’s Horcruxes, hoping to speak to Bathilda Bagshot. Voldemort had foreseen Harry's intentions, and had planted his snake Nagini in Bathilda's corpse beforehand. As soon as she had Harry alone, Nagini attacked him. Hermione raced to his defence, using a Blasting Curse to repel the snake. The curse ricocheted, damaging Harry's wand. Harry asked Hermione to repair it afterwards, but it was too badly damaged. Harry was very upset at the loss of his wand, though he was not angry with Hermione, recognising that she had saved his life. Despite its destruction, Harry kept the pieces of the wand in his mokeskin pouch.

Harry and Hermione took turns using her wand, until Ronald Weasley returned to them carrying wands he had taken from Snatchers. Thereafter, Harry made do with a blackthorn wand, although it did not work as well for him as his own wand had. However, the trio was caught by Fenrir Greyback's Snatcher gang and taken to Malfoy Manor, in the spring of 1998, and all their wands were confiscated. In the ensuing fray, Harry disarmed Draco Malfoy and took his wand.[4]

Repair[]

"As his wand resealed, red sparks flew out of its end. Harry knew that he had succeeded. He picked up the holly and phoenix wand and felt a sudden warmth in his fingers, as though wand and hand were rejoicing at their reunion."
—Description of the wand's repair.[src]

During the Battle of Hogwarts, Harry duelled Lord Voldemort for the final time. As the Elder Wand, which Lord Voldemort wielded, was loyal to Harry, the Killing Curse directed at Harry rebounded and killed Lord Voldemort. Harry then used the Elder Wand to successfully repair his original wand and planned to return the Elder Wand to the grave of Albus Dumbledore.[4]Wands

Harry Potter has owned several different wands up until the end of the Second Wizarding War, though only th

  • or, Harry wrested this wand from Malfoy's hands, winning its allegiance. He used this wand until the end of the Second Wizarding War. Its ultimate fate is unknown.
  • The Elder Wand - Elder, thestral hair, 15 inches. The Elder Wand had a long and bloody history until it finally came into the hands of Albus Dumbledore. Though Lord Voldemort stole the wand itself from Dumbledore's grave, its true allegiance lay with Dumbledore's disarmer: Draco Malfoy. Thus when Harry won the allegiance of Draco's wand, he also won the allegiance of the Elder Wand. However, he was only in possession of the actual wand for a very short time, and performed only one spell with it - Reparo on his broken Holly wand.
  • Voldemort's wand (possibly) - Yew, phoenix feather, 13 1/2 inches. This was the wand that Lord Voldemort carried for most of his life. After his final duel with Voldemort, Harry likely won the allegiance of the wand (if it was still intact at the time). However, given the fact that Voldemort used this wand to murder Harry's parents, it is highly unlikely that Harry will ever physically possess, let alone use, the wand.

Behind the scenes[]

File:Harrypotterwand.jpg

Harry Potter's wand.

Author's comments[]

J. K. Rowling has explained her choice of holly for Harry's wand wood:

"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. Some time after I had given Harry his holly-and-phoenix wand I came across a description of how the Celts had assigned trees to different parts of the year and discovered that, entirely by coincidence, I had assigned Harry the ‘correct’ wood for his day of birth. I therefore decided to give Ron and Hermione Celtic wand woods, too... I liked having a hidden connection between Harry, Ron and Hermione’s wands that only I knew about (until now, anyway)."[5]

Appearances[]

Notes and references[]

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Chapter 5
  2. ↑ Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
  5. ↑ "Extra Stuff: Wands" at J.K. Rowling's Official Site
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