15 Things You Didn’t Know About Wand Cores In Harry Potter
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Aside from love and music, wandlore is arguably the most sophisticated concept in Harry Potter. The Ollivander family has been creating wands for over two thousand years, but these magical instruments are probably much older. Neither Dumbledore nor Voldemort could fully grasp the relationship between wands and their wielders — in fact, even the best wandmakers in the world find their work to be “complex and mysterious.”
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A diverse array of magical cores are used during wand building, each with specialized properties and propensities. Most cores are commonly recognized and easily available, whereas a few are obtained from exotic or dangerous sources.
Updated on February 16th, 2023 by Ajay Aravind: Wands are the source of all magical power in the Wizarding World, at least according to the Harry Potter universe. Although these implements are mostly meant to channel the user’s innate magical energy, the right type of core can help augment the output of any given spell. We’ve revamped this list with some more information about the wand cores mentioned in Harry Potter and Hogwarts Legacy.
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Some Wand Cores Are More Expensive
Unicorn tail hair is relatively costlier than other wand cores — “ten galleons a hair,” as Horace Slughorn eagerly proclaims in The Half-Blood Prince. Similarly, phoenix feathers are exceedingly scarce, so they’re likely to be just as expensive.
However, wands in Harry Potter cost seven galleons a pop, irrespective of the materials employed in their creation. This means that Ollivander’s business has been operating at a loss for millennia. That said, it’s entirely possible that the wandmaker’s profit margin is boosted by the cheaper wand cores in his stockpile.
Thestral Hair Cores Have Unique Properties
Despite their association with death, Thestrals are extremely gentle creatures. They can be easily domesticated and fly faster than the best brooms in the world, including the Firebolt. Thestral tail hair is highly magical and equally unpredictable, which is why wandmakers see little value in it.
The Elder Wand, purportedly constructed by Antioch Peverell, utilizes a Thestral tail hair core. Whether this material is responsible for the Elder Wand’s overwhelming magic is still not clear. In any case, Thestral tail hair cores are qualitatively unique.
Wand Cores Influence The Wand’s Personality
Author J.K. Rowling describes “wands as being quasi-sentient […] because they carry so much magic.” They develop a bond with their wielder that strengthens over time and usage, which is why winning a wand’s loyalty is not an easy task.
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At the same time, wand cores play an essential role in ascertaining the wand’s mood and caliber. The Elder Wand, for instance, gravitates solely towards power, making it as cold and indifferent as death itself. It must be noted that the type of wood also influences the wand’s overall personality.
Sibling Wand Cores Share Their Source
Harry and Voldemort’s wands are made of holly and yew, respectively, but they both have a phoenix feather belonging to Dumbledore’s bird companion, Fawkes. Wands with identical cores are treated as siblings, and produce extraordinary results when used antagonistically.
Harry and Voldemort experience a rare phenomenon called Priori Incantatem, which links their wands with “a thread of shimmering golden light” before sealing them inside a glittering “dome-shaped web.” Any duel between these two wands doesn’t follow the normal rules of magic.
Kelpie Hair Isn’t Popular Anymore
Kelpies originate in Scottish folklore — shapeshifting equines that haunt the famous Lochs of Scotland. They are exceedingly dangerous creatures in Harry Potter, but any magic-user can subdue them with a simple Placement Charm. For example, Newt Scamander manages to tame a wild Kelpie without much effort.
Interestingly, Gervaise Ollivander once relied on Kelpie hair wand cores, but his son Garrick deemed this material flimsy and inadequate for his purposes. Kelpie hair wands have since fallen out of favor with modern wandmakers.
A Single Plant-Based Wand Core
Wands incorporate cores from countless magical creatures, from Trolls and Kneazles to the legendary Curupiras of the Amazon rainforest. On the other hand, the only known core taken from a plant species is Dittany stalk.
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Dittany is a cure-all remedy, speeding up the process of wound healing while simultaneously preventing disfigurement. Given the extensive range of magical benefits offered by this therapeutic herb, it can be assumed that Dittany wands are competent substitutes for animal-based cores.
Wands Were Once Custom Designed
Wand cores in the Wizarding World have been whittled down to a few basic materials, but this wasn’t the case for a long time. According to Rowling, clients used to “present the wandmaker with a magical substance” with which they had a personal connection, or one that they had been bequeathed.
The author facetiously mentions “the whiskers of a favorite Kneazle […] or the mane of a kelpie a witch had once met on holiday.” Among Harry Potter characters, Fleur Delacour’s rosewood wand contains “an ‘air from ze ‘head of a veela,” specifically her grandmother’s.
Three Supreme Wand Cores
After decades of hard work and experimental research, Ollivander determines the most effective wand cores, namely phoenix feather, dragon heartstring, and unicorn tail hair. Known as the Supreme Cores, these three materials are the most popular wand cores in the Wizarding World.
Harry’s phoenix feather wand is magically versatile, Ron’s unicorn hair wand is steady and unwavering, whereas Hermione’s dragon heartstring wand is remarkably potent. The three Supreme Cores embrace most magic-users, even if they’re not always the strongest.
Thunderbird Tail Feathers Are Fickle
Thunderbirds are found in the continental U.S., especially in Arizona. These vulnerable rainbow-tinted creatures are capable of generating massive storms through wing movement alone. Thunderbirds are naturally rich in magic, explaining why their tail feathers are used by American wandmakers like Shikoba Wolfe.
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That being said, these wands are notoriously temperamental and require consistent work before they can be properly controlled. Thunderbird tail feathers are particularly noted for their affinity towards Transfiguration magic.
Slytherin’s Wand Had A Basilisk’s Horn Core
Salazar Slytherin created a personalized wand by embedding a shard of horn from his pet Basilisk within a framework of snakewood. This wand could allegedly be inactivated and revived by specific commands in Parseltongue.
Slytherin’s wand disappeared from Great Britain around the 17th century and resurfaced in North America, where it was permanently neutralized. Considering the Basilisk’s incomparable magical strength, one can only imagine the power contained within Slytherin’s wand.
Wampus Cat Hair Wands Are A Big Mystery
Wampus Cats are large felines that look like cuddly versions of Ice Age’s Diego. These animals are endemic to the Appalachian mountain range, and can supposedly hypnotize people with a single look. Wampus Cats are commonly associated with the Cherokee, who know more about this creature than anyone else in the world.
In fact, the Cherokee are the only group of people to have successfully utilized Wampus Cat hair cores. Given the scarcity of this material, Wampus Cat hair wands are actually more mysterious now than during the 1600s, when they were first produced by wandmaker Johannes Jonker.
Wand Cores Pair With Wand Woods
Wand cores are completely useless without a wood casing. Wizards and witches can’t pick up a dragon heartstring or a unicorn tail hair and expect it to channel their magical aura. That said, wand woods are just as magical as the cores they contain. Furthermore, wandmakers can’t use any wood-core pairing they fancy — on the contrary, there is a unique synergy between specific kinds of cores and woods.
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Harry’s phoenix feather and holly wand shouldn’t work in theory because these two materials are apparently out of sync with each other. Similarly, weak-willed magic-users have been cautioned not to use the dragon heartstring-cherry combination because it would make their wands uncontrollable.
Unicorn Tail Wands Can Wilt
Wilting is an extremely rare outcome in wandlore, wherein the wand automatically discharges all its inherent magic and turns into a useless stick. Then again, this process can only occur if multiple requirements are met. Wands occasionally become so loyal to their users that they outright refuse to work for anyone else.
These self-neutralized wands may be restored by removing the core and replacing the wood. If this quasi-surgical procedure is followed to the letter, these wands might function in someone else’s hands. Unfortunately, wands with unicorn hair cores simply cannot be rescued.
Different Wandmakers Use Different Cores
Garrick Ollivander is hardly the only wandmaker in Harry Potter. In fact, he’s not even the only wandmaker in Diagon Alley, although very few people have even heard of Jimmy Kiddell’s Wonderful Wands. While Mykew Gregorovitch is briefly mentioned throughout the story, his major claim to fame is having the Elder Wand stolen from him.
There are presumably hundreds of wandmakers around the world, if not thousands. Among them are Violetta Beauvais, who incorporates rougarou hair into her products, and Thiago Quintana, whose quixotic wands contain spines from the Arkansas White River Monsters. Fans can only imagine the sheer variety of wand cores used in Asia and Africa.
Some Obvious Candidates Aren’t Exploited
Wand cores constitute a minority of magical substances in the Wizarding World. Even first year Potions students employ numerous magical materials over the course of a single semester, far exceeding the number of wand cores in existence.
As such, fans have wondered why wandmakers don’t use ultra-magical substances like Wolfsbane, Murtlap Tentacles, Billywig Stings, Dragon Horn, and Mandrake Roots. Although these items may not be suited to channel magic, it doesn’t mean that they shouldn’t be experimented on. Wandlore research is clearly underfunded by the Ministry of Magic.
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