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Snape's Wand

The World of Severus Snape

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Snape's Wand

[info]torino10154
10/21/08 09:21 am
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We don't know anything about Snape's wand. What sort of wood? The core and length? For info on known wands for comparison, here is a link to the Lexicon wand page.
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  • [info]ether_bunny
    10/21/08 09:23 am (UTC)
    The trio characters' wands have wood that aligns with their birth month on the celtic scale, and she does state there that none of the others were deliberately chosen to match their birth month. But I've tried to 'build' his wand for my own mental satisfaction before, and here's what I came up with.

    I started researching the different kinds of wood and the supposed spiritual/magical properties they have, and the first one I looked at was that which aligned with his birthday, which was birch. I thought it fit surprisingly well: BETH (Birch) December 24 to January 20 - Born under this sign, you have unwavering inner strength and gladly lend support to those who rely on you. Purity of thought and a knack for realistic evaluation and quiet determination are also associated with this tree sign.

    As for cores, when I first started trying to figure this out, I was not aware that Ollivander only used the three sources for his wand cores - unicorn hair, dragon heartstring, or phoenix feather. I initially wanted to have him use a thestral heartstring (which, incidentally, JKR has now said the Elder wand's core is) but when I was told that it wasn't an Ollivander core, I chose dragon heartstring. We don't know much about the properties of the cores, but I see the dragon as being the strongest in aggressive strength, and also more war-like than the others.

    I thought unicorn hair was out of the question. Since the unicorn is a symbol of purity and innocence, I just couldn't see Severus as having that. Although Draco and Ron both have unicorn hair, I think that despite their less saint-like qualities, they still represent naivety & innocence. For instance, Ron is very untouched by loss - Arthur was originally to die by Nagini's attack but JKR changed that to protect Ron's childhood, so he did not experience personal loss until Fred's death.Obviously, Draco is protected by Severus, who prevents him from killing Dumbledore. He's also described as wanting to be involved in the DE but being horrified at what it actually takes to do so.

    I could see Severus having a phoenix feather, because he does sort of have a rebirth partway through the first war when he returns to the 'good' that all children are presumably born into. But I think that overall, he is not meant to be a figure that represents rebirth, that is clearly Harry's function.

    So... that's about all I can think to comment on. Like Krum, his wand is probably 'rigid' and I imagine it being fairly long, good for duelling.

    I did once look to find the 'Snape's Wand' that is sold as a toy/prop to collectors, the one that's modeled after movie-Snape's wand. However, there is no information offered with it, so there's no help there. It's basically just a black wand, 15" in length. It also has intricate carvings/designs on the handle, which I think is an appropriate touch.

    • [info]ether_bunny
      10/21/08 09:27 am (UTC)
      Another note about Birch wood - I can't find the source now, but there are animal/wood associations. Birch is associated with the White Stag. Close enough to the doe, I think, and his relationship with Harry is so important that I also think it could apply there.


      I also think there are a few other woods that could work.

      FEARN (Alder) March 18 to April 14 - Born under this sign, you have tremendous courage and power to win in disputes. But be careful not to dissipate your strength in meaningless debate.

      GORT (Ivy) September 30 to October 27 - Born under this sign your abilities further your personal goals and your personal causes. Be sure to use this talent productively.

      NGETAL (Reed) October 28 to November 24 - Born under this sign you have secret strengths, as well as secret motivations. Use your detective abilities wisely.

    • [info]torino10154
      10/21/08 10:04 am (UTC)
      OK a couple of thoughts here-Lily's and James's wands do not match their birth months (hers is Willow, his Mahogany).

      I do like the sound of birch. Funny we often picture him with a dark color wood for a wand and birch is usually quite fair.

      • [info]ether_bunny
        10/21/08 10:08 am (UTC)
        I know, I meant to say that although the trio's wands were chosen in that way, the others were not. But I think that since JKR was looking at the wood information to begin with, it's likely that she chose the wood for individual wands based on the properties they're supposed to have, though not necessarily by the Celtic calander/beliefs. (My comment was too long initially and I had to cut stuff out so IJ would let me post it, so maybe I wasn't clear, lol)

    • (Anonymous)
      10/21/08 11:26 am (UTC)
      A month or two ago, I have finished a story, where exactly this question was a subplot. (Sorry, it is not in English, I am not a native speaker and I prefer to write in my mother tongue :( (: .) the solution there was as follows: Severus had two wands. The first was birch and dragon heartstring, 13", good for healing, white and rather old fashioned, it seemed to be very fragile because of its carving. It was very old, too, made by Ollivander's father, and Severus told it waited for him for very long time. He owned it from the age of 11, but he stopped to use it shortly after he took the Mark. Then he bought the second one, ebony and phoenix, plain, black and at first sight dangerous.
      (And when Voldemort died and the magic of the Mark was collapsing, it happened, that it tried to destroy Severus' magic and to murder him, so he got rid of the Mark. Then the second wand, the ebony one, rejected him and he came back to the birch one. It was a little bit more difficult, but for this question it doesn't matter.)
      -- ioannina --

      • [info]elethian
        10/24/08 03:17 am (UTC)
        Severus had two wands. The first was birch and dragon heartstring, 13", good for healing, white and rather old fashioned, it seemed to be very fragile because of its carving. It was very old, too, made by Ollivander's father, and Severus told it waited for him for very long time. He owned it from the age of 11, but he stopped to use it shortly after he took the Mark.

        I used that idea in a drabble too, once, except I made the division point that he took a different wand after he defected from the Death Eaters.

  • [info]sionna-raven.livejournal.com
    10/21/08 03:35 pm (UTC)
    I tend to believe that Snape's wand wood is based on general folklore, fairytales or myth, which gives us: rowan = defense against evil magic or witchcraft; ash = powerful wand wood from Norse mythology or blackthorn = the traditional English wood for magician staffs and wands.
    I favour rowan or blackthorn. The rowan tree is quite similar to Snape, thin, bendy, easily overlooked in the forest among all the large trunks of oaks and beeches. The berries are bitter and said to be poisonous, but they are not. They are quite wholesome in fact. Birds of all sizes feed on the berries, because they dry on the tree and are still available late in winter. A full grown rowan is an impressive tree, but they rarely get that old. Like birches rowans grow almost everywhere, simply pop up where a bit of earth and sunlight can be found. The birch is a definitely female tree, the rowan though most fruit-bearing trees are female is often considered to be male. I can't help it, but underestimated, misjudged as poisonous, bitter and seen as a large weed by most people, while having healing powers, fits Snape. In some regions rowan branches are hung over doors or fireplaces to fend off witches, Defense against the Dark Arts. It was also refered to in the last Wombat; the wiggen or witchen tree is the main ingredient for Wiggenweld Potion which is the antidote to Draught of the Living Dead. This wood is good for defense and used in potions, both Snape's favourite magic subjects.
    Blackthorn is the wand wood in folklore. Muggles tend to feel uneasy about blackthorn wands, thinking of Dark Wizards, but it's neutral, can be used for White and Black Magic and is extremely powerful for defense.

    • [info]adamantium
      10/25/08 02:43 am (UTC)
      I was thinking blackthorn as well, actually, and it's one I've used for his wand in several RPGs I've been in. I like that it has all these negative connotations of belong to Satan, and is said to have to been a part of Christ's crown of thorns. Yet it's also been used for protection, the trees being grown as a barrier, so that anyone trying to get in has to fight through the thorns.

      This site also has some interesting information on the blackthorn.

  • [info]mary_j_59
    10/21/08 08:52 pm (UTC)
    Long before I had heard of the celtic woods and how they aligned with birth months - indeed, before I even knew what Severus's birth month was - I had decided in my own mind that his wand was birch with dragon heartstring. Birch, to me, denotes flexibility and grace; it has sweetish sap and medicinal uses, and it just seemed appropriate for a healer and potions master. Also, it does have a lightness and gentleness about it, which would be counteracted by the dragon heartstring - dark and masculine.

    This just seems to fit so well, because (sorry, Sionna!), Severus is the only male in canon with a strongly expressed feminine side* - but he is definitely masculine. In his person, he joins so many paradoxes: Muggle and Wizard, killer and healer, masculine and feminine, spy and guardian of truth - and on it goes. And I saw, even after HBP, that he is basically a gentle soul - but also a warrior. I just think birch fits him. I do like the idea of rowan, as well, because it is the tree of healing in one of my favorite Irish fairy tales, and because of Quickbeam the ent- not so sure of the others.

    *To those who say, "But Dumbledore's gay! and what about Sirius, etc - " Yes, precisely. Sirius is hypermasculine, like a lot of the Gryffindors, and Dumbledore, too, is not open about who and what he is. You can have a strongly expressed feminine side and be a straight man (Severus); you can be hypermasculine and (probably) gay (Sirius).

    And now I think I've said too much!

    • [info]caravaggio49
      10/22/08 11:11 am (UTC)
      as to "basically a gentle soul"....that's why I always believed him to have a wand with a unicorn hair core.

      • [info]mary_j_59
        10/22/08 08:44 pm (UTC)
        I could easily be convinced of that, especially after DH. Several reasons, but among them (no offense, I hope) is that Severus comes a lot closer to being a Christ figure than anyone else in these books. MUCH closer than Harry. And the unicorn is, of course, a symbol of Christ - and also a magical beast that detoxifies poisons.

        The more I think of a unicorn hair for him, the more I like it. :)

  • Fun reading!

    [info]terri_testing
    10/22/08 06:15 pm (UTC)
    Some nice thoughtful comments.... I think Severus actually had 3 wands. The one that chose him as a child was birch and unicorn. When he became a Death Eater he got an unregistered (very likely either non-Ollivander, or stolen) which was dragon heartstring and maybe yew. (Given Priori Incantatem, I think most of the Death Eaters, and most criminal witches and wizards, have an "extra" wand that's not known to be theirs that they can, at need, abandon at a crime scene while their "official" wand will test out clean.)

    And I think when he repented of being a Death Eater he had emotional issues with using his first wand (innocence lost--and especially if it had associations with Lily. Maybe the two magical neighbors had gone together to Diagon Alley?) and got a new one. Dragons are fiercely protective, so I think his third wand had dragon heartstring core. I could see birch or rowan (weed tree yay!), but we're told Jo supervised the movie wands, so ebony might be canon.

  • [info]alisonven
    10/23/08 02:32 am (UTC)
    Here's my drabble on the subject:
    Disclaimer: The characters in this fanfiction are not mine. I’m making no money from this foray into the imagination.


    Bonfire Night
    By Alison Venugoban

    The blinds were drawn against the flashing lights in the sky, since Da was upstairs sleeping off a drunk.

    Eileen handed Severus her wand. “Take it,” she said quietly. “And wave it. Show me you’re a wizard!”

    Unspoken, the words, “We can’t afford a new wand for you. But if you can make this work, you’ll get into Hogwarts.”

    His whole future depended on the next moment. Unsure, nervous, fearful that he might turn out to be just a Muggle after all, he gulped and waved the wand.

    The shower of answering sparks made the fireworks outside pale into insignificance.

  • Lily's wand

    [info]terri_testing
    10/26/08 09:38 pm (UTC)
    By the way, regarding wands… I feel like a total idiot. The very first thing we learn about Lily Evans is that her wand is willow. In Celtic symbolism, willow is apparently associated with water, the moon, strong feminine and intuitive power.

    But in more recent English symbolism, willow stands for a lover forsaking one or dead, for desolation and sorrow. The weeping willow. An old way of saying that someone can't get over a lover's desertion or death is that s/he "is wearing the willow." Anyone in the Harry Potter canon associated with Lily Evans fit that description? Nah, I couldn't come up with anyone either. Headdesk!

    • Re: Lily's wand

      [info]oryx_leucoryx
      10/26/08 10:23 pm (UTC)
      We also learn it was her 'first' wand. Did she need another one because the first one broke (perhaps in one of those 'defiances' of Voldemort?) or because of a life-changing event (marrying James, giving birth, something else)? And what happened to her and James' wands? Did they disintegrate in the blast or what? I bet they weren't left for the Muggle authorities to find, but they weren't saved for Harry either.

  • [info]janus
    1/25/09 02:53 pm (UTC)
    How strange to see this after I wrote a wand story! I wish I had seen it first. Perhaps I would have selected Ash. Old power, Odin's staff, Ygdrasil. What was I thinking?

    This:
    I found the three cores Ollivander used too limiting. There are so many magical creatures, so many more possibilities. I had Ollivander contemplating the wand's suitability to the owner's based on their physical qualities and what he could determine of their souls. Severus' concern for his soul - which I interpret as his 'being,' his self respect, his essence - was very telling to me. "That boy's soul is not yet so damaged... I would not have it ripped apart on my account" "And my soul, Dumbledore? Mine?" So I have taken this to be a key to him. I'll admit it: I sift everything. So the wood was mahagony, like James' as James looked like Sev in the traincar the first day, but well-cared for while Sev looked neglected. Dark rich complex wood. And for me it represents old expensive furniture - what Severus envied and desired, what he valued, the heritage he deserved but had not been given. There it was in his precious wand, an embodiment. Part of him! Magic means everything to him. And at his core, at the wand's core is unicorn hair. This is Christ, as has been pointed out - sacrifice, the scapegoat. But it is also virginity. Poor Severus. Hence Ollivander's look of pity. And his wand is longer than James'. ha!

    Initially Ollivander tried thestral mane, thinking perhaps Severus' soul matched his appearance, but he was wrong. And dragon heartstring was not correct either.

    The girl's wand was walnut, a lower grade hardwood used for floors and furniture of less quality. It is often trying to be something it is not. And the core was Augurey feather because, as the story pointed out, the bird like the girl moans plaintively and loudly moaning at, well, nothing.
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