Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Characters/Ollivander
From Wikibooks, the open-content textbooks collection
| Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter - Character | |
| Ollivander | |
|---|---|
| Gender | Male |
| Hair color | Unknown |
| Eye color | Silver |
| Related Family | Unknown |
| Loyalty | unknown |
Contents |
[edit] Overview
Mr. Ollivander (no first name given) works at his own wand shop, Ollivander's: Makers of Fine Wands since 382 BC, in Diagon Alley.
[edit] Role in the Books
[edit] Philosopher's Stone
Ollivander, after much trying of wands, sells Harry an 11-inch Holly wand with a phoenix feather core. The core of this wand happens to be one of only two feathers to have come from one particular phoenix; Harry is disconcerted when Ollivander tells him it is the same phoenix which provided the core of Lord Voldemort's wand.
[edit] Prisoner of Azkaban
Ron is given a new wand at the beginning of the year; presumably this also comes from Ollivander's, although he is not mentioned.
[edit] Goblet of Fire
The four champions, Fleur Delacour, Cedric Diggory, Viktor Krum, and Harry Potter, must have their wands checked to confirm that they are all in good working order. It is Mr. Ollivander who is called in to do that checking. He recognizes Harry's and Cedric's wands immediately as being of his own manufacture, recognizes Krum's as being "a Gregorovitch creation," and suggests that the Veela hair core of Fleur's wand could make it temperamental.
[edit] Half-Blood Prince
It is mentioned that a few stores in Diagon Alley have been closed as their owners disappeared. Florean Fortescue's ice cream parlour, for instance, is no longer open, and damage to the store indicates that there was some sort of struggle there; but while Mr. Ollivander has also departed, Ollivander's store is unhurt, leading us to believe that he either decamped to avoid the upcoming battles, or has thrown in with Voldemort. Neville Longbottom remarks that he got a new wand from his grandmother after the battle at the end of the previous book; he thinks he may have one of the last wands Ollivander sold before his disappearance.
[edit] Deathly Hallows
Ollivander is taken and held captive by Death Eaters and can be heard screaming below their meeting room in the basement of the Malfoy residence, seemingly in response to Voldemort's statement that he shall be the one to kill Harry Potter. Lord Voldemort questions Ollivander about ways to overcome the connection between his wand and Harry's. When Olivander's advice of using a different wand works out badly (Harry's wand destroys the wand borrowed from Lucius Malfoy), Lord Voldemort punishes Ollivander.
From developments later in the story, we assume that following Voldemort's failure to receive good answers from Ollivander about the failure of the borrowed wand, he had questioned Ollivander about the "Deathstick", the undefeatable wand.
Later Harry, Hermione, and Ron rescue Ollivander from the Malfoys' basement, taking him to Shell Cottage. Harry has a long conversation with him following his rescue, in the course of which we learn that Ollivander had been forced to make a new wand for Wormtail. We also learn about how wands choose their owners and how wands can be transferred from one wizard to another; that as part of the wand choosing its wizard, a wand may shift its allegiance partly or wholly to one who actually captures it from the original owner. Harry carefully asks here whether it is necessary to kill the previous owner in order to have the wand transfer its allegiance; Ollivander, shocked, says no, but later admits that the history of the Deathstick does seem to be littered with murders.
Finally, Harry confirms that Ollivander had known that Gregorovitch had, or at least claimed to have, the Deathstick, and had spread rumours that he was studying it to determine its secrets. He also confirms that Ollivander had passed this information on to Voldemort.
Ollivander's long imprisonment has weakened him, and it takes him a long time to recover, but just before Harry embarks on his mission to Gringotts, we see Ollivander leaving Shell Cottage on his way to Auntie Muriel's house to convalesce.
[edit] Strengths
Mr. Ollivander is able to remember every wand he ever sold, with details of its construction.
[edit] Weaknesses
[edit] Relationships with Other Characters
[edit] Analysis
[edit] Questions
- Why is it that Mr Ollivander can recall every single wand ingredient to every single customer? One may wonder if he is under a curse or spell of some sort.
