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"You will never fool the cedar carrier."
— Gervaise Ollivander[src]

Gervaise Ollivander was a pure-blood wizard who came from a long line of wandmakers who had operated in Diagon Alley since his earliest ancestors arrived in England with the Romans, and set up stall (subsequently shop) to sell to ancient British wizards. He was the son of Gerbold Octavius Ollivander, and the father of Garrick Ollivander.[3]

Biography[]

Early life[]

Gervaise Ollivander was born before 1890 likely,[1] somewhere in Great Britain. He was born into the wizarding Ollivander family, who had been in the wand-making business since 382 B.C.[3]

Career as a wandmaker[]

"Early in my career, as I watched my wandmaker father wrestling with substandard wand core materials such as kelpie hair, I conceived the ambition to discover the finest cores and to work only with those when my time came to take over the family business. This I have done."
Garrick Ollivander[src]

Gervaise took up the family business in London, studying further into wandlore and becoming an accomplished wandmaker.[3]

He and his wife, a Muggle-born witch, had at least one child, Garrick sometime in, or prior to, 1909.[3]

According to Gervaise, it was impossible to fool a wizard or witch who carried a wand of cedar wood, an opinion that his son shared.[3]

As it was practise at the time, a customer would often present the wandmaker with a magical substance to which they were attached, or had inherited, or by which their family swore.[3] As such, Gervaise used a wide variety of wand cores. Early in his career, his son Garrick saw his father working with substandard wand core materials such as Kelpie hair, Kneazle whisker and troll whisker. It was then that he conceived the ambition to work with only the finest cores, and thus discover the ideal wand.[3]

Appearances[]

Notes and references[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 His son Garrick was born as late as c. 1907 (as he was a listed wandmaker on wand permit forms in 1926) so Gervaise would likely have been of age by this time.
  2. On Writing by J. K. Rowling: "Pure-Blood" at Wizarding World - The Ollivanders are mentioned to have been included in the Pure-Blood Directory published in Britain in the 1930s. As Gervaise Ollivander was already alive by 1930, this establishes that he must be a pure-blooded wizard; his son was not a Pure-blood, however. This was due to Gervaise marrying a Muggle-born.
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 Pottermore
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