Starreader - Blog Posts

Take my Hand's Wands

Hi, hello, I'm lady_angst, author of Underneath a Sea of Stars and the Take My Hand (Take My Whole World, Too) series. In this post I wanted to rant a little about the symbolism behind the wands Hermione and Bellatrix were offered in chapter 5 of Never Forget What You Are, the first entry of TMH which corresponds to the Philosopher's Stone, as there is more to them than meets the eye. Enjoy!

Hermione's wands:

1st: Sycamore wood & unicorn hair. According to the wandlore found on the HP wiki, sycamore made a questioning wand eager for new experience and losing brilliance if engaged in mundane activities. Thus, the sycamore's ideal owner was curious, vital and adventurous, and when paired with such an owner, it demonstrated a capacity to learn and adapt that earned it a rightful place among the world's most highly-prized wand woods.

Ollivander offered Hermione this wand after realising she had a curious, inquisitive mind. The wand failed to form a bond with her because of how adventurous it was, which Hermione ultimately is not.

2nd: Hazel & phoenix feather. Again, according to the wandlore, hazel wands were sensitive and often reflected their owners emotional state. They worked best for a master who understood and could manage their own feelings.

Ollivander offered Hermione this wand in case she was emotionally intelligent on top of inquisitive. The wand failed to form a bond with her because, as we all know, Hermione is very temperamental and gets often lost in her own feelings and pride (especially Book!Hermione).

3rd: Vine & dragon heartstring: Vine wands were among the less common types; they seemed strongly attracted by personalities with hidden depths, and their ideal owners were nearly always those witches or wizards who sought a greater purpose, who had a vision beyond the ordinary and who frequently astounded those who thought they knew them best. 

Hermione's canonical wand! It suits her beautifully, as there is more to Hermione than meets the eye. She's more than just a bushy-haired, know-it-all Muggle-born. She seeks a greater purpose: rising above others' expectations of her, fighting for what's right, keeping her friends and loved ones alive. And she has a vision beyond the ordinary: seeing Bella for who and what she truly is (after messing up big time every once in a while, but hey, we all love us some drama).

Bellatrix's wands:

1st: Walnut & dragon heartstring. Walnut wands were often found in the hands of magical innovators and inventors; this was a handsome wood possessed of unusual versatility and adaptability. Highly intelligent witches and wizards ought to be offered a walnut wand for trial first, because in nine cases out of ten, the two will find in each other their ideal mate. Once subjugated, perform any task its owner desired, provided that the user was of sufficient brilliance.

Bellatrix's canonical wand! Ollivander offers it to her after analysing her: "Left-handed... Creative... Clearly intelligent... There's something else, though... Something to those eyes..." He sees her intelligence and the sharpness (and perhaps the darkness) that dwells within her, so he offers her her canonical wand. However, it doesn't form a bond with her despite sharing a connection because this Bellatrix and the canonical one are not entirely the same—her upbringing was radically different, which affects her personality and way of viewing the world.

2nd: Cedar & dragon heartstring. The cedar wand found its perfect home where there were perspicacity and perception. Garrick Ollivander believed that whenever he met one who carried a cedar wand, he found strength of character and unusual loyalty. The witch or wizard who was well-matched with cedar carried the potential to be a frightening adversary, especially if harm was done to those they were fond of, which often came as a shock to those who had thoughtlessly challenged them.

Originally, this was going to be her wand. It suits her (and her canon self) just fine. Perceptive, strong of character, and unusually loyal? A frightening adversary, all the more so when those she's fond of? Now that's just Bellatrix 100%. But! I decided against it in favour of the one she gets in the end.

Moreover, Ollivander offered this wand to her because it follows the "clearly intelligent, but perhaps a bit jagged" assessment he made of her at first.

3rd: Dogwood & unicorn hair. Dogwood wands were quirky and mischievous; they had playful natures and insisted upon partners who could provide them with scope for excitement and fun. It would be quite wrong, however, to deduce from this that dogwood wands were not capable of serious magic when called upon to do so; they had been known to perform outstanding spells under difficult conditions, and when paired with a suitably clever and ingenious witch or wizard, could produce dazzling enchantments.

Again, this wand follows the "clearly intelligent" assessment, only without the jagged bit. This wand suits her, too, since Bellatrix grows out of her shell throughout PS-PoA until she becomes self-assured and rather playful in GoF-OotP. It also goes on beautifully well with her Patronus in this story. That said, it'll take her years to get to that point, and even then she'll have a fair bit of trauma and life lessons weighing her down, which skews that playful nature and prevents a bond from forming.

4th: Blackthorn & dragon heartstring. Blackthorn wands, which was a very unusual wand wood, had the reputation, in Garrick Ollivander's well-merited opinion, of being best suited to a warrior. These wands appeared to need to pass through danger or hardship with their owners to become truly bonded. Given this condition, the blackthorn wand would become as loyal and faithful a servant as one could wish.

In Ollivander's own words: “How about a wand best suited to a warrior for a young witch with a warrior’s name?”. He wanted to see if perhaps the "jagged" bit was more important than the "clearly intelligent" one with this wand. It also suits her beautifully, and it comes close to the Bellatrix we see in canon, but Bellatrix is more than this, she is more than just a warrior, as we will learn through the series.

5th, 6th, 7th...14th: Unknown.

15th: Walnut & dragon heartstring. Identical to the first in components, length and flexibility, but radically different in shape and demeanour. The main differences between the original one and this one are: the date of creation (mirroring Bellatrix's own conception) and the state of the wood (mirroring Bellatrix's own personality and morality). The walnut tree from which Ollivander got the wood for these wands turned out to be rotten. It is up to interpretation whether the first wand was affected by the affected rot or not. The same goes for the second one, even if Ollivander claims that he managed to salvage some of the wood that was untouched by it.

This ends up being Bellatrix's wand in this series; one that is so similar yet so different to the original where it matters. Like Bellatrix herself. The foundation is the same, but the end result? That's yet to be seen. Here is a reference of the original one vs the tmh one:

(I'll be honest with you, though. I just wanted to give Bellatrix a normal-esque wand so that she doesn't get arthritis from holding her canonical one. Yes, I know that UaSoS's Bella has her canonical one, but she'll put its claw-like shape to good use at one point, shhh.)

If you made it all the way down here, hello again and thank you so much for reading this post! Have a cookie🍪.

Love, Lilith xx