Ollivander's Post-DH

[coolh5000]

I have reached a point where I want to take a next-gen character (Teddy Lupin) shopping for his wand. And this got me thinking about what would have happened to Ollivaner's once the war was over.

I personally do not think he would still have been working in the shop. He was very old in the time of DH and his experiences in that year could not have been good for him - he might even be dead by the time of my fic. Therefore I need someone to replace him. I have so far come across three options, that others have used in fanfiction.

1 - Ollivander continues to work in the shop himself, sometimes with an assistant.
2 - Some sort of family member takes over the running of the shop. However I'm not so sure he strikes me as a family kind of man. He is more of a Dumbledore type (has lived his life alone)
3 - Another person takes over the running of the shop.

Right now, three seems to be the best option to me but I need to decide who. I quite like the idea of Luna though I am not sure how believable she would be as she is so often imagined to spend her adult life hunting creatures. However, she spent a long time with Ollivander and got to know him well. It is likely he would have wanted his busniess to pass into the hands of someone he knew and trusted. She is a Ravenclaw and has shown herself to be very intelligent. I can imagine the uncertainties of wandlore would be a subject she would thrive on and she certainly seems to share a similar mysterious/dreamy temperament that you might say Ollivander had. Any alternative thoughts on who it could be? The ideal would be to create an OC, I suppose.

There is also the question of whether Ollivander's would retain its share of the market if the man himself died. Without his superior wandmaking skills, would other wandmakers find it easier to set up shop and get custom.

So, does anyone have any opinion on the future of Ollivander's?

[Inverarity]

Wandlore is supposed to be a very deep and arcane field of study; one gets the impression that you pretty much have to devote your life to it. They obviously don't teach much about it in Hogwarts, so I'd assume you have to apprentice under a master wandsmith, and if it's like any other exacting art/science, you probably have to apprentice for a long time, and then spend many years as a journeyman, before you can be considered a "master."

So while I can see Luna possibly deciding to apprentice as a wandsmith after DH, possibly even with Ollivander, I cannot see her being good enough to take over for him within just a few years. Sure, she might have the skills to create a functional wand, but that doesn't mean she's going to be good. Even if she is some sort of natural prodigy (which I'd find unlikely -- Luna in fan fiction is always given all sorts of preternatural skills and abilities that don't have any basis in canon), it's not likely that a young witch with no reputation to speak of would be accepted as a skilled wandsmith, fit to take over for Ollivander.

Therefore, if you want it to be plausible, you either need to establish that Ollivander had a long-time apprentice, or else have someone else (possibly from Europe) move to London to take over his position as Britain's preeminent wandmaker.

Or, make that a central point in your story, the fact that Britain now has only relatively young and inexperienced wandmakers. Luna could be one of them, fighting to establish her reputation. It could be a situation where poor wizards (like the Weasleys) have to "settle" for a Lovegood wand, while those who can afford it go to the Continent to buy their children wands. I'd expect the Ministry would be actively trying to entice an experienced wandmaker over, since they certainly don't want the entire wizarding world saying that British wands suck!

It's actually a rather intriguing story premise.

[OliveOil_Med]

I agree that whoever did take over Ollivanders would have wandmaking be their life. It definantly is not for dabblers, it being such a fine art.

If you really do want to use Luna, I would make her an apprentice, but not running the store. I feel like it would be something she wants to learn just for the sake of learning it, but she wouldn't make it her life's work.

To make it more believeable, I would definantly create an OC who is offically running the shop.

[coolh5000]

Thanks both of you It's not a major plot point in my story (has you may have guessed by the fact that I hadn't really thought about it) so for believability's sake I will most likely create an apprentice for Ollivander, as I still want it to be his business. I am still fascinated by the idea of Luna becoming a wandmaker though - I know the natural career path to send her down is the searching for unusal animals one but I believe she could do more than that. She may not have shown any amazing natural born talent in canon but I can't help feeling she's rather intelligent underneath everything.

Or, make that a central point in your story, the fact that Britain now has only relatively young and inexperienced wandmakers. Luna could be one of them, fighting to establish her reputation. It could be a situation where poor wizards (like the Weasleys) have to "settle" for a Lovegood wand, while those who can afford it go to the Continent to buy their children wands. I'd expect the Ministry would be actively trying to entice an experienced wandmaker over, since they certainly don't want the entire wizarding world saying that British wands suck!

It's actually a rather intriguing story premise.

It would certainly be an interesting one. Unfortunately, it would need an author with a greater intelligence than I, who can themselves understand the complexities of wandlore. I'm not going to deny the fact that it's all been a little bit beyond me.