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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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  • Re: Secondhand wands

    [info]alisonven
    10/26/08 06:11 am (UTC)
    Also, why do they bother with wands at all? Do they focus the magic more? I mean, children are able to do feats of magic without wands, I wonder why they need to use wands as they get older? Wouldn't it be more sensible to teach a child how to contol wandless magic - that would give them a big advantage over those who stay with wands. Ooh, I feel another plot bunny coming on ... XD
    Alison

    • Re: Secondhand wands

      [info]terri_testing
      10/26/08 09:32 pm (UTC)
      Children's magic is uncontrolled to the point of being essentially involuntary--except for Lily Sue and Tommy Riddle, who'd experimented enough to develop some control. (Both of them, note, are Muggle-raised kids who don't know they're supposed to be unable to control their magic without a wand.)

      I think it's an intensified version of what Severus told his DADA class about nonverbal magic--"It's a question of concentration and mind power, which some ... lack." We see lots of people doing nonverbal spells, eventually; that I recall, we only see Riddle, Snape, and Dumbledore perform wandless magic as adults.

      It does seem to be a question of focus, rather than power per se. And the involuntary magic of kids seems to be mostly along the lines of countering immediate threats (and to operate in an inconveniently literal manner).

    • Re: Secondhand wands

      [info]oryx_leucoryx
      10/26/08 09:39 pm (UTC)
      If we take the most extreme example - Tom was capable of mind-control, torture and some form of Legilimency before he even held his first wand, but as an adult he preferred a formal Cruciatus (though used non-verbal Legilimency and Imperius). So it seems even he got extra edge from formal magic. We never see him killing wandlessly, or even non-verbally - he always pronounces the AK aloud. So I guess the use of a wand, a formal spell and pronouncing the spell all add power.

      • Re: Secondhand wands

        (Anonymous)
        10/27/08 11:23 am (UTC)
        I think that the wand works as an amplifier, something as a corpus of piano, and at the same time as a focuser (? if this is the correct word ?). I have read somewhere it is possible to channel magic through any object in this world, so I suppose it could be possible to use one´s own body, e.g. fingers, too.
        As i see it, magic is just another form of energy and if the thing with needles works for electric field (according to what I recall from my secondary school), it can work for magical field as well.
        To say incantations aloud can help to focus the intention. It is a bit different to feel an idea only and to express it with words, the latter is more concrete (or specific?).
        Than I think different spells require different amounts of energy and will power. So somethink easy, like, say, levitation of a quill, can be performed wandlessly and wordlessly even by an average wizard, but an AK cannot even by Voldemort or Dumbledore. As I see it, everybody has his maximum available amount of magical energy and will power. The more energy and intention one has, the more difficult spells can perform or wandlessly or wordlessly or both.
        (Sorry for the terrible English.)
        -- ioannina --

    • Re: Secondhand wands

      [info]geri_chan
      10/27/08 04:16 am (UTC)
      I do think that it's an issue of focus. Children can do wandless magic, but they seem to have little control over it, and it seems to come out mostly in reaction to strong emotions.

      However, I believe that using a wand as the focus object is a matter of tradition, and it might be possible to focus it some other way. Asian magic seems to operate in a very different way from Western magic, making use of chants and gestures, or spells written on pieces of paper rather than a wand. (I admit that my "knowledge" comes mostly from manga and anime, but I figure that's okay, since JKR was drawing on a lot of fictional sources for HP. ^_^)
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