5

Wandmakers are the source of wands.

So obviously, it would probably be a wandmaker that holds the record of the first ever wizard that used a wand to channel his magic. But it depends I think?

Gregorovitch

What I think is that he might be the first wizard who used a wand, given the fact that he is a wandmaker?

Ollivander

It could also be Ollivander since he is a wandmaker.

Other wandmakers

I'm pretty sure that wandmakers are not just Gregorovitch and Ollivander. There might be other wandmakers that aren't actually famous.

As far as I know, wands are an optional magical instrument. Wizards and witches can perform magic without them but it takes great practice to perform magic without a wand. Most spells are done with the aid of wands. Advanced wizards can perform certain spells without the use of a wand. Any idea of who is the first wizard that used a wand? Is there any canonical statement or maybe a confirmation that came from J.K. Rowling?

3
  • 6
    Grindelwald is not a wandmaker; Gregorovitch was a wandmaker. And wands have been around for at least a few thousand years, afaik. Nov 4, 2017 at 17:49
  • @TimE.Lord sorry got a bit confused thanks for correcting.
    – Invoker
    Nov 4, 2017 at 17:56
  • 3
    Ollivander was family business.... so it was definitely not the Ollivander Harry meets.
    – Skooba
    Nov 4, 2017 at 18:10

3 Answers 3

19

Wands were invented in Europe, but we don't know who first used one.

The only real mention of the origin of wands is in the Pottermore writing on Uagadou, which is the African wizarding school.

The wand is a European invention, and while African witches and wizards have adopted it as a useful tool in the last century, many spells are cast simply by pointing the finger or through hand gestures.
Uagadou (Pottermore)

Nowhere is it mentioned who actually invented wands, or who had been the first to use one. However, if we believe the Pottermore writing, both the inventor and first user of a wand (who could easily be the same person) would have been European.

It's certainly not Ollivander or Gregorovitch - wands are too old.

We can say for certain that wands existed before Gregorovitch or Ollivander could have invented them. This is shown not simply on Pottermore, but in the books themselves as well as the early supplementary books. The sign on Ollivander's shop says they've been making wands since 382 BC.

“The last shop was narrow and shabby. Peeling gold letters over the door read Ollivanders: Makers of Fine Wands since 382 BC. A single wand lay on a faded purple cushion in the dusty window.”
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Chapter 5 (Diagon Alley)

A crowd chases a Quidditch team that beat their home team while wielding their wands in 1385.

“Quidditch was well established in Ireland by the fourteenth century, as proved by Zacharias Mumps’s account of a match in 1385: ‘A team of Warlocks from Cork flew over for a game in Lancashire and did offend the locals by beating their heroes soundly. The Irishmen knew tricks with the Quaffle that had not been seen in Lancashire before and had to flee the village for fear of their lives when the crowd drew out their wands and gave chase.”
Quidditch Through the Ages

Salazar Slytherin had a wand, which is stated on Pottermore to later be owned by Gormlaith Gaunt and Isolt Sayre, so wands would have existed in the Founders' time. It had been passed through the centuries to Isolt, who lived in the early 1600s, so wands existed centuries before that.

In all the years that she had lived with it, Isolt had never known that she held in her hand the wand of Salazar Slytherin, one of the founders of Hogwarts, and that it contained a fragment of a magical snake’s horn: in this case, a Basilisk. The wand had been taught by its creator to ‘sleep’ when so instructed, and this secret had been handed down through the centuries to each member of Slytherin’s family who possessed it.
Ilvermorny - (Pottermore)

4
  • Isn't Ollivander a European? Or I'm mistaken that Britan is in the vicinity of Europe?
    – Invoker
    Nov 4, 2017 at 19:15
  • 7
    @Invoker Pottermore suggests the first Ollivander came to Britain from a Mediterranean country, since the name means "the one who owns the olive wand" and olive trees are not native to Britain. pottermore.com/writing-by-jk-rowling/mr-ollivander
    – Obsidia
    Nov 4, 2017 at 19:22
  • Is there a particular family where the four founders of Hogwarts get their wands?
    – Invoker
    Nov 4, 2017 at 19:36
  • 3
    @Invoker It's not mentioned anywhere who the Founders got their wands from,
    – Obsidia
    Nov 4, 2017 at 19:39
6

It seems as long as there have been wizards there have been wands.

Garrick Ollivander comes from a family of wand makers.

Mr Ollivander himself believes that his earliest forebears in this country arrived with the Romans, and set up stall (subsequently shop) to sell to ancient British wizards whose wands were crude of construction and unreliable in performance.

But we know it was not Africa where wands were first used, but Europe;

The wand is a European invention, and while African witches and wizards have adopted it as a useful tool in the last century, many spells are cast simply by pointing the finger or through hand gestures.

Other magical Communities around the world seem to do just fine without them.

The magic wand originated in Europe. Wands channel magic so as to make its effects both more precise and more powerful, although it is generally held to be a mark of the very greatest witches and wizards that they have also been able to produce wandless magic of a very high quality. As the Native American Animagi and potion-makers demonstrated, wandless magic can attain great complexity, but Charms and Transfiguration are very difficult without one.

In conclusion we do not know who first invented the wand to be used in the magical community but it would have to be in ancient times (the Romans first landed in Britain in 55 BC and Ollivanders has a sign that reads 352 BC).

3
  • So those who invented wands can possibly be with the same era as the four founders?
    – Invoker
    Nov 4, 2017 at 19:41
  • 5
    No, Howards is only approx. 1000 years old. Wands were invented at least 1000 years before that.
    – Skooba
    Nov 4, 2017 at 22:53
  • okay. was it mentioned somewhere where did these 4 founders get their wands from? suppliers?
    – Invoker
    Nov 6, 2017 at 15:49
0

The oldest story we know that references a wand is The Tale of Three Brothers which is in the book The Tales of Beedle the Bard. (Which I find Canon)

The Tale of Three Brothers is a story much more older than Hogwarts, or than any wandmaker that we know of. In the animation, we can clearly see that the brothers are holding their wands to build the bridge. So that also eliminates the probability that the Elder Wand is the first wand.

However, these brothers were learned in the magical arts, and so they simply waved their wands and made a bridge appear across the treacherous water.

Here is the quote from the story which I found on Harry Potter and Deathly Hallows.

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