Welcome to Harry Potter Theory. In today's video we're discussing wand history, woods, cores, lengths and more. Why wands, you ask? Well they’re one of the foundations of Harry Potter!

Let’s start with a history lesson.

Considered to be a ‘complex and mysterious branch of magic’ wandmaking refers to a ‘wandmaker’ using wand cores and woods to construct wands for witches and wizards. The profession dates back many many centuries, and the earliest known wandmakers were said to have been druids. A druid was considered to be, in Celtic times, a member of the learned and priestly class. Druids considered anything with a ‘woody stem’ to be a tree, which led to them producing wands out of things like vine a tradition followed by wandmaker Garrick Ollivander in the 20th century. Though druids were skilled at their craft, at this stage in history it was still totally normal for a customer of a wand shop to bring their own core with them, a tradition that has basically fallen off in more recent times.

The first Wandmaking shops were known to date back to the establishment of Ollivander’s Wand Shop in 382 B.C. The original ‘Ollivander’, the ancestor of Garrick Ollivander, was thought to have come from a Mediterranean country in Roman times and set up a stall in what would eventually become Diagon Alley. The etymology of the name Ollivander is said to literally mean “he who owns the olive wand” which is a very FITTING name, and further points to him coming from a Mediterranean country where olive trees would grow natively.

The Ollivander family revolutionized wand making when they publicly forsook the traditional wandmaking process, which previously had witches and wizards procure their own wand core. Ollivander believed that this process produced wands that were ‘inferior’ in quality and performance, which led to the family procuring all wand components for future customers.

Ollivander researched the best wand cores and would always find the best wand wood to complement it, and where the purchaser would previously select a wand of THEIR choosing, he began the tradition of having the wand choose the wizard.

Now, if you’re any sort of Harry Potter fan at all then you’ll know that wands are tools that witches/wizards use to channel their magic. We’re introduced to Ollivander’s wand shop right near the beginning of the Philosopher’s Stone when Harry is picking up his supplies for Hogwarts.

...Watch the video for the rest!

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