Wand

A wand is a tool used by wizards and witches to channel magical powers. Most spells are done with the aid of wands. It is possible to do magic without a wand, but is very difficult and requires much concentration and power. Only advanced wizards can perform magic without the use of wands.

Wandlore
Wandlore is a specific class of magic that refers to the history and magical properties of wands. Mr. Ollivander claims that it is a "complex and mysterious branch of magic." [HP7] As mentioned below, the idea that a wand chooses its wizard is part of wandlore, as is the idea that wands can switch owners.

Materials
Generally, wands are long, thin rods of wood with a magical substance embedded into their core. Some of the woods used are Cherry, Hawthorn, Holly, Hornbeam, Mahogany, Maple, Oak, Rosewood, Willow and Yew, although in the official Warner Bros. website Cedar is also mentioned as well as Ash. The cores that have been documented so far are Phoenix feather, Dragon heartstring, Veela hair, Unicorn hair, and Thestral hair. Another important characteristic of a wand is its length. On the official website in Ollivanders Wand Shop the lengths range from 7 inches to 13 inches but Voldemort's and Ron Weasley's are 13 1/2 and 14 respectively Rubeus Hagrid's 16 and 1/2. Yet another characteristic of a wand is its rigidity, ranging from "unyielding" to "springy." J.K. Rowling used a Celtic calendar to assign certain types of woods to Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, and Harry Potter based on their birthdates. The exact process of making a wand is not known. Likely, it is as difficult and complex as wandlore itself.

General wand properties
In almost all documented cases, the wand chooses its wizard. This is due to the unique character of each wand, which must match that of the wizard, as the wizard may not be able to perform magic if his and his wand's characters conflict, or the magic may be sub-par to magic performed with the wizard's own wand. When trying out different wands, an aspiring wizard may cause some damage when he encounters wands that don't get along with him.

A popular but unconfirmed theory suggests that the wand's length is directly proportional to the wizard's height: the longer the wand, the taller the wizard, and the shorter the wand, the shorter the wizard. Examples of this have been found, as in Dolores Umbridge's short wand, and Ron Weasley's long one.

Examples of damage caused by "mismatched" wands were seen in 1991, where wand boxes flew off of shelves and banged into walls and when a glass jar on a shelf was shattered as a result of Harry Potter waving the wrong sort of wands. He tried out many wands before he found the one that chose him. Apparently, a warm feeling is felt when the wizard or witch chooses the right wand, and the wand sometimes emits a few sparks or does some similar small sign of magic.

Wands are capable of changing masters. When a wand's master is disarmed, stunned, killed or has their wand snatched from their hand, the wand will accept the old master's attacker as its new master. This will occur even if the wand in question is not in the possesion of either of the two people involved. However, most wands share an affinity with their masters and will not easily discontinue its allegiance with the previous master; furthermore, wands forcibly taken in circumstances of purely competitive or friendly nature, or are stolen without attacking the previous master will not change allegiance.

Wands can be broken by spells or by physical damage. Wands in this condition will have greatly reduced magic abilities. Even when repaired, the wand's magic won't improve and the wand may break again when performing magic. The Elder Wand is able to completely repair broken wands, although this ability may be lost if the current master (Harry Potter) dies undefeated, as most of the wand's power would disappear with him.

It was revealed by Rowling that wands are quasi-sentient, meaning that while they cannot think or communicate like a human they can perform certain actions through their own will. This could be how they choose their wizard, and also explains how Harry's wand was able to act on its own against Voldemort.

Some known wands:

Makers
There are many makers of wands, but the best known, and most experienced in Britain is Ollivander's. The wandmaking establishment has been making wands since 382 BC and is located in Diagon Alley, London. Regretfully, Mr. Ollivander was missing from the summer of 1996[HP6], until he was discovered by the trio and rescued by the house-elf Dobby in Harry's seventh year. His disappearance was a kidnapping by Death Eaters. Ollivander provided Harry with information about the Elder Wand and about the passing of wand ownership.

Another notable wand maker is Gregorovitch, who made the wand of Viktor Krum, and once wielded the Elder Wand. He was later tracked down and murdered by Voldemort in his quest to find the Elder Wand.



Behind the scenes

 * Wands used in the Harry Potter films are shown to have clear handles for wizards to hold onto them such as the bone handle of Voldemort's yew wand. The books however do not describe such handles. In fact all the pictures by Mary GrandPré in the American editions depict all wands as thin rods.