Evolution of the Wand

The wand is the quintessential magic tool, undergoing many transformations in its long history. The oldest wands ever discovered were very ugly, rough-hewn tools. They were traced back to early farming communities from Mesopotamia. Indeed, Jarmo (circa 7000 B.C.), the oldest known settlement of mankind, must have had at least a small handful of wizards. Early signs of monster domestication and herbalism were found in conjunction with these wands.

Not much changed for wands until the Sumerians settled on the banks of the Euphrates (circa 3500 B.C.). It was at that time that the Temple of Eridu was erected. The Sumerians hoped to outshine the old Temple at Tepe Gawra by making it more garish and full of decoration. The High Priest demanded a golden scepter for him to show off to his friends. When this moldy cleric placed the scepter in his hand, the first true wand found its wizard. Lightning shot from the heavens, and danced all about him. The Muggles stared at him, mistaking his wizard magic for a sign from their gods. They bowed to him reverently, insuring his status as High Priest for the remainder of his otherwise insignificant life.

Suddenly, there were city-states popping up all over the countryside. Other priests and nobles also had to have their scepters too; they had become quite the fashion statement. About the time that Hammurabi ascended the Babylonian throne (circa 1800 B.C.), the fancy scepters held by kings and men of the cloth were beginning to be imitated. Less-expensive versions started becoming available, so that the common priest could look more impressive. Soon, wand making became an affluent trade.

Wands began to look more or less standardized in length and material. Gold was found to be the most conductive material for magic. The higher-class wandmakers, called vanders, attempted to find ways to make gold into thin sheets to wrap about thin wooden rods to mimic this conductivity. Some even dipped the wands, leaving a solid core of wood or pottery. The gold used in making the wands made the price still relatively prohibitive for most wizards (witches did not use wands until early 200 B.C. and after). The wand industry stagnated a bit; a new solution for wand making was needed.

Around 500 B.C., a little-known wandmaker started toying with the idea of using magical creature's feathers or hairs to augment otherwise nonconductive materials. His name was Ifalonus Vander. Some of his scrolls were uncovered by the Ministry of Magic in Iraq. The first reads:

'There is a problem with using components from magic beasts within a wand. The problem is: how to make the wand such that the item is imbedded into the wand itself? I have tried to hollow out (wooden) wands and place in the item in question, but then it is not fully part of the wand, and looses conductivity. I will now attempt to hollow out a piece of the middle, cut off the end, and seal it with a metal button.'

Unfortunately, this attempt didn't work much better than the prior method. Many attempts were made, and (presumably) after years of trial and error, a solution was discovered. It was during Mr. Vander's visit to an herbal symposium that he learned of a way to make branches grow around existing objects. A thought occurred to him. If he could take the initial component and have a branch grow around it, then he might be able to hone a wand out of the resultant wood block. The idea was profound; he immediately started researching his new idea. Unfortunately, it was about the time that Cyrus the Great conquered Babylon, and most of his work was abandoned as he fled to Greece to avoid persecution.

All was not lost, however. Mr. Vander had three sons, all of whom he taught the art of wandmaking. His third son, Leonid, learned about his father's attempts to make this new wand type, and began his experiments where his father left off. Countless attempts were made, and Leonid had almost given up all hope that it would work. Then one day, he saw his mother cooking. He watched as she wrapped rice in a grape leaf and inserted it into a lamb's stomach. The only scroll that survives of his work was this most important scroll, which describes how he finally made a successful wand:

'After watching my mother make her grape leaf recipe, I began to wonder: what if I made a capsule for (the component), then grew a branch around the capsule? Breathless, I created a capsule out of an olive branch (the same type of wood used in his wand making), inserted the (dragon) scale, and waited impatiently for the wand to grow. After an entire year, the wood block was large enough to hone into a wand. I picked it up after the standard whittling, and felt a tremendous surge of energy. I knew that, at long last, I had the wand that my father always dreamed of making.'

He dubbed this new wand Ollivander, meaning Olive Wand. After many more years of experimenting, Leonid still had mixed results with his wands. Even though they were the type of wand that the elder Vander had intended to make, they were still variable in their quality. This meant that they were just as costly as the gold wrapped or gold dipped wands that they were trying to compete with. Leonid grew to despair, and his work all but failed until his son showed an interest.

Leonid's son, Godric attended the same herbal symposium that his grandfather attended years before, and was also stricken by a fabulous idea. The herbalists had developed a method of topiary that forced a branch - even a knotty, bent one like an olive branch - to grow magically straight. It was this innovation that led to the standardization of wands as we know of them today. In 382 B.C., the first Ollivander's Wandsmith was opened, employing the Ollivander secret technique.

Over the centuries, Ollivander has come to be the makers of the finest wands in the magical world. They have continually developed more techniques (that they now keep secret), and craft better and better wands. There are imitators of course, but the history of quality and craftsmanship makes Ollivander's wands the brand that selective wizards and witches make, time and time again.