Wandlore to the Core
written by Tiago.
This book is written by Tiago., a young wandlorist and experimental wand researcher. It contains information gathered from history around the world and personal experiences, summarizing interesting facts about the history of wandcraft and wand properties, some of them never told by other wandmakers.
Last Updated
05/31/21
Chapters
4
Reads
9,281
Wandlore, Wandcraft and Wand Properties
Chapter 2
Wandlore is the branch of magic involving wands, its magical properties, abilities and features. Wandmakers and wandlore scholars gather knowledge from magizoology, herbology, charms and from pure experimentation with wands to understand how all elements of them may influence one’s magic. Any wizard or witch is able to perform enchantments without the aid of a wand, and they would also be able to use almost any tool to conduct a spell. However, the wand is the most appropriate item for channelling the magic, as their properties not simply guide the spell, but considerably enhance and model it. In this chapter you will understand the basic principles involving wandlore and wandcraft, besides some insight on older wand versions’ functioning.
We may start with basic concepts of magic. Every living being is bound to the laws of biology, which in turn falls within the laws of physics. Any inanimate thing is also bound to the laws of physics. These are principles that shape the chemistry forming everything in universe. But we, magical folk, do not need to understand these scientific concepts in depth because, even being under their governance, we can surpass most of them. The forms of magic are capable of overriding the fundamental laws of nature: destroying or creating chemistry out of nothing is Charms; transforming unrelated chemistry is Transfiguration; moving independently of space and time is Apparition. Then magic could, in a very basic concept, be understood as capacitation to bypass fundamental laws of existence. However, life is a tricky existence. Life itself neglects some of its own principles. Therefore, magic cannot work life: neither create it, nor mess with its essences (which makes for some exceptions of Gamp’s Law of Elemental Transfiguration, for instance).
Coming to talk about wands, we need to understand the magic of their parts in separate before thinking about perceiving them as one. Most woods used in wandcrafting are not taken from magical plants, but rather from essentially common trees where a bowtruckle lives. This tinny creature uses its own simple magic on the tree to protect its habitat, and wood is a material which consistently stocks magic. Therefore, it is an interesting material to be used as base for the wand: it will never let the magic of the core to escape, unless damaged. When crafting a wand, the wandmaker need to trick or distract the bowtruckle, then use an enchantment while cutting off the piece of the tree to be used in order to prevent the magic created on the plant by the bowtruckle from fading out. The next step is carving the wood. The majority of wands range from 9 to 14 inches in size and all present a long-rod shape, but the wandmaker can be creative on incising adornments.
Since the wood bears a weak and limited magic, the potential of the wand is linked to the core. That is the reason Garrick Ollivander (considered by some the best wandmaker in history) have chosen to use only material from very powerful creatures: unicorn, phoenix, and dragon. Those cores fill the wand with strong magic. Many different cores have been experimented and their effects on wands vary in performance according to the wizard or witch using it. For that reason, core solely should not be used to determine a wand’s power: it is certain that a dragon is a more dangerous creature than a hippogriff, for example; nevertheless, a wand bearing a hippogriff feather as a core can perform more devastating spells than one carrying dragon heartstring if the wizard to which this wand was paired knows how to exercise it better.
A wand could be crafted combining any wood to any core, though some cores seem to perform better when paired to certain types of wood. It is up to the wandmaker choosing the match, and the more he or she knows about the magic in the core and the more adequate type of wood to harbour it, the better the results will be. The core is inserted to the crafted wood by using a difficult spell (believed to be created by Antioch Peverell). The wand is then finished.
Pairing a wand to a wizard or a witch is an important task that the wandmaker need to take on seriously. Many would simply craft a wand according to what a costumer had asked, or would try to sell wands made of costly materials, but an honest wandmaker would have its options in store and would pay attention to which wand chooses the costumer. The wand is said to choose the wizard because the properties of wood and core used on its crafting are best suited for certain personalities and abilities, and the magic within the wand resonates to the magic within the wizard or witch. The personality of a potential owner seems to be recognised by the selectivity of the wood type, while the abilities of the person are somehow paired by the magic of the core. The flexibility and length of the wand are more likely related to self-awareness of the user.
While it is clear that the presence of a powerful magical core is responsible for the long-term vitality of a wand, the attempts to use magical substances as coating had been unsuccessful. Now that you are familiar with the properties of the parts of a wand you can understand why: the wood bears an input magic and is suited for harbouring more powerful magic; therefore, the element kept inside the wood as a core to the wand would have its magic sustained and its properties preserved; in contrast, a magical substance that is laid around the wood as a coat to the wand would have its magic dispersed and its properties diminished. The wands coated with kitsune fur by a Japanese family stopped performing spells with no further inconveniences because that is a rather weak creature, and the residual magic from the fur simply faded away, carrying the magic from the wood with it. Yet the incident with the Chinese Fireball dragon had catastrophic results for the wizards and witches who tried to cover their wands with the beautiful red scales from the beast, since this is a very powerful creature. The residual magic in the scales held devastating strength and, probably incited by the minute magic of the wood turned into core, dispersed in the form of gigantic golden flames (compared to the fiendfyre curse).
The ancient Persian and Egyptian necromancers extracted bones from corpses using dark spells and therefore the bones got embedded with residual dark magic, serving as appropriate tools for further necromantic enchantments. As for the animal bones used by North American shamanists, they did not present dark magic. It is not clear whether the shamanists themselves firstly extracted the bones from the animals or if this technique was developed by the skin-walkers, but the residual magic found in the fossilized wand-like instruments is of transformative nature, which combined to their short sizes, makes for great items for self-transfiguration.
The next chapters of this book contain information on the features of the wand parts and the possible characteristics they look for in potential users. Starting with size and pliability, then presenting a long list of wood types and core materials, the information on the following pages were gathered by me from studies regarding wandlore found throughout the world, conversation with more experienced wandmakers, and personal experiences.
We may start with basic concepts of magic. Every living being is bound to the laws of biology, which in turn falls within the laws of physics. Any inanimate thing is also bound to the laws of physics. These are principles that shape the chemistry forming everything in universe. But we, magical folk, do not need to understand these scientific concepts in depth because, even being under their governance, we can surpass most of them. The forms of magic are capable of overriding the fundamental laws of nature: destroying or creating chemistry out of nothing is Charms; transforming unrelated chemistry is Transfiguration; moving independently of space and time is Apparition. Then magic could, in a very basic concept, be understood as capacitation to bypass fundamental laws of existence. However, life is a tricky existence. Life itself neglects some of its own principles. Therefore, magic cannot work life: neither create it, nor mess with its essences (which makes for some exceptions of Gamp’s Law of Elemental Transfiguration, for instance).
Coming to talk about wands, we need to understand the magic of their parts in separate before thinking about perceiving them as one. Most woods used in wandcrafting are not taken from magical plants, but rather from essentially common trees where a bowtruckle lives. This tinny creature uses its own simple magic on the tree to protect its habitat, and wood is a material which consistently stocks magic. Therefore, it is an interesting material to be used as base for the wand: it will never let the magic of the core to escape, unless damaged. When crafting a wand, the wandmaker need to trick or distract the bowtruckle, then use an enchantment while cutting off the piece of the tree to be used in order to prevent the magic created on the plant by the bowtruckle from fading out. The next step is carving the wood. The majority of wands range from 9 to 14 inches in size and all present a long-rod shape, but the wandmaker can be creative on incising adornments.
Since the wood bears a weak and limited magic, the potential of the wand is linked to the core. That is the reason Garrick Ollivander (considered by some the best wandmaker in history) have chosen to use only material from very powerful creatures: unicorn, phoenix, and dragon. Those cores fill the wand with strong magic. Many different cores have been experimented and their effects on wands vary in performance according to the wizard or witch using it. For that reason, core solely should not be used to determine a wand’s power: it is certain that a dragon is a more dangerous creature than a hippogriff, for example; nevertheless, a wand bearing a hippogriff feather as a core can perform more devastating spells than one carrying dragon heartstring if the wizard to which this wand was paired knows how to exercise it better.
A wand could be crafted combining any wood to any core, though some cores seem to perform better when paired to certain types of wood. It is up to the wandmaker choosing the match, and the more he or she knows about the magic in the core and the more adequate type of wood to harbour it, the better the results will be. The core is inserted to the crafted wood by using a difficult spell (believed to be created by Antioch Peverell). The wand is then finished.
Pairing a wand to a wizard or a witch is an important task that the wandmaker need to take on seriously. Many would simply craft a wand according to what a costumer had asked, or would try to sell wands made of costly materials, but an honest wandmaker would have its options in store and would pay attention to which wand chooses the costumer. The wand is said to choose the wizard because the properties of wood and core used on its crafting are best suited for certain personalities and abilities, and the magic within the wand resonates to the magic within the wizard or witch. The personality of a potential owner seems to be recognised by the selectivity of the wood type, while the abilities of the person are somehow paired by the magic of the core. The flexibility and length of the wand are more likely related to self-awareness of the user.
While it is clear that the presence of a powerful magical core is responsible for the long-term vitality of a wand, the attempts to use magical substances as coating had been unsuccessful. Now that you are familiar with the properties of the parts of a wand you can understand why: the wood bears an input magic and is suited for harbouring more powerful magic; therefore, the element kept inside the wood as a core to the wand would have its magic sustained and its properties preserved; in contrast, a magical substance that is laid around the wood as a coat to the wand would have its magic dispersed and its properties diminished. The wands coated with kitsune fur by a Japanese family stopped performing spells with no further inconveniences because that is a rather weak creature, and the residual magic from the fur simply faded away, carrying the magic from the wood with it. Yet the incident with the Chinese Fireball dragon had catastrophic results for the wizards and witches who tried to cover their wands with the beautiful red scales from the beast, since this is a very powerful creature. The residual magic in the scales held devastating strength and, probably incited by the minute magic of the wood turned into core, dispersed in the form of gigantic golden flames (compared to the fiendfyre curse).
The ancient Persian and Egyptian necromancers extracted bones from corpses using dark spells and therefore the bones got embedded with residual dark magic, serving as appropriate tools for further necromantic enchantments. As for the animal bones used by North American shamanists, they did not present dark magic. It is not clear whether the shamanists themselves firstly extracted the bones from the animals or if this technique was developed by the skin-walkers, but the residual magic found in the fossilized wand-like instruments is of transformative nature, which combined to their short sizes, makes for great items for self-transfiguration.
The next chapters of this book contain information on the features of the wand parts and the possible characteristics they look for in potential users. Starting with size and pliability, then presenting a long list of wood types and core materials, the information on the following pages were gathered by me from studies regarding wandlore found throughout the world, conversation with more experienced wandmakers, and personal experiences.
