Wand Materials

[OliveOil_Med]

Metal isn't man-made. Metal ore is found in the ground, it's natural.

That is true! Remember that natural gold is panned out of rivers and iron ore is what all iron and steel begins as.

As for stone and bone being hard to put the core into... it is magic.

Yes, there are a great many things that baffle the mind in the Harry Potter books that are better left to the 'it's magic' explaination and leave it at that.

But you still haven't answered my question, Aide. Are your wands going to need a balance of all five elements, or will there be elemental dominance of some kind?

[Virgil]

Hmm. I've been lurking around this thread, and I have a few thoughts that I'd like to add.

One thing that I've been pondering about for my WIP chaptered fic (it's not on the archives yet) is using human hair in the core of a wand. Specifically, hair from Merlin's beard. Wouldn't it be cool if there were one or two wands existing in the world containing hair from Merlin's beard? It could be handed down from generation to generation, somewhat like ye old Deathstick... hmm... I suppose it doesn't really suit your purpose, Aida, but it's an interesting thought.

I bet wizards in Africa could make wands from the ivory tusks of elephants. If you think elephants are too Muggle-y, you could invent an elephant-like magical creature. There's the Erumpent, which looks a bit like a rhinoceros, and its horn could be used for wand materials - the outside or the inside, really.

Another thought just struck me. It might sound stereotypical - but if the story is set in China, why not make wands out of bamboo? It makes sense to me. >.< Jade, which has already been mentioned, would be lovely as well, although it might be unnecessarily heavy...

As for acquiring lava in places where there are few volcanoes, that shouldn't be all too hard. Even if you're not at a place where lava is spewing out of the Earth, it's always right there beneath your feet. I suppose one could dig (really, really, really deep) for it, or perhaps Summon the lava out of the ground, and then let it cool into obsidian or some other extrusive igneous rock.

*takes out copy of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them*

The hair of a Demiguise would be cool. That's would they use to weave Invisibility Cloaks (I didn't actually know that - I'm reading straight about of Fantastic Beasts)

(Hm... fingers of a Grindylow? Maybe not...)

The scales of a Kappa would be cool. They're Japanese, but I'm sure they could be bred in China as well.

The skin of a Manticore would be mighty powerful for a wand core, although how one would go about collecting it - you're on your own there. It "repels almost all known charms and the sting causes instant death" so... maybe a Manticore that was already dead?

The plumage of an Occamy! That one actually is Chinese. I love this book.

The golden hide of a Re'em. (Re'ems are giant oxen which can also be found in the Far East.)

Hmm... the hair of a Sphinx would be very hard to come by, but very magical indeed...

Hope I could help!

Peace,
Virgil

[AidaLuthien]

One thing that I've been pondering about for my WIP chaptered fic (it's not on the archives yet) is using human hair in the core of a wand. Specifically, hair from Merlin's beard. Wouldn't it be cool if there were one or two wands existing in the world containing hair from Merlin's beard? It could be handed down from generation to generation, somewhat like ye old Deathstick... hmm... I suppose it doesn't really suit your purpose, Aida, but it's an interesting thought.

It is an interesting thought, but you're right, doesn't quite suit my purpose.

I wonder if it would work though. It seems that wand cores can be made from the hair of human-like magical people (Fleur's wand with its core of Veela hair) which implies that other human-like people (merpeople, centaurs) could also donate hairs to wands. Would a human hair have enough magic to make a wand work... I don't know.

I could see my Chinese wizards using their own hair in conjunction with a magical core though. Hmmm....

I bet wizards in Africa could make wands from the ivory tusks of elephants. If you think elephants are too Muggle-y, you could invent an elephant-like magical creature. There's the Erumpent, which looks a bit like a rhinoceros, and its horn could be used for wand materials - the outside or the inside, really.

Another thought just struck me. It might sound stereotypical - but if the story is set in China, why not make wands out of bamboo? It makes sense to me. >.< Jade, which has already been mentioned, would be lovely as well, although it might be unnecessarily heavy...

Ivory is a good idea but doesn't quite fit with the five element theme I've been playing with. Neither does bamboo, really...

The five elements are water, fire, metal, wood and earth. No, there is no air.

As for acquiring lava in places where there are few volcanoes, that shouldn't be all too hard. Even if you're not at a place where lava is spewing out of the Earth, it's always right there beneath your feet. I suppose one could dig (really, really, really deep) for it, or perhaps Summon the lava out of the ground, and then let it cool into obsidian or some other extrusive igneous rock.

... that sounds just like the kind of secret complicated thing that these people would want to do! Yes!!

As for the other animal cores, it's a lot of good information, thank you. I wasn't actually planning on using different cores besides unicorn hair, dragon heartstring and phoenix tail feather because I figured the different shells would be complicated enough. Still, it's definitely food for thoughts.

Thanks, Virgil.

[OliveOil_Med]

Since your interest seems to have shifted to animals and cores lately, here's a little bit of information from a previous thread that I thought could be of use to you.

• Phoenix Feather – Very Magical.
• Dragon Heartstring – Hexes are a specialty of this core.
• Unicorn Tail – Best for the pure of heart.
• Leprechaun Hair – Somewhat temperamental to Non-Irish.
• Demiguise Hair – Only the best for Transfiguration.
• Hippogriff Talon – Excellent for Charm Work.
• Runespoor Fang – Best for those who deal with Dark Magic.
• Hair from the Mane of a Kelpie – Superb for all spells.
• Chimaera Scale – Very rare, yet very powerful.
• Ashwinder Ash – Casts the best protection charms.


I've also found some creatures that canon claims come distinctly from Asia.

• Acromantula – from Borneo
• Demiguise – from 'the Far East'
• Fire Crab – from Fiji (or is that Oceania?)
• Kappa – from Japan
• Lethifold – from 'tropical places'
• Occamy – from Indian and 'the Far East'
• Pogrebin – from Russia
• Ramora – from the Indian Ocean
• Re'em – from North America and the Far East
• Sea Serpant – from the Atlantic, Mediterrean, and Pacific Ocean
• Yeti – from Tibet

I'm sure there are plenty more creatures that live in the world as well, but J.K. probably just focused on the ones around Britain for her textbook. You could probably look up magical creatures in the mythology of China and other surrounding nations.

[AidaLuthien]

Yeti fur.... bwahahaha. Somehow I don't imagine that working particularly well, for some reason.

Anyway, I'm planning on keeping my cores simple: dragon heartstring, unicorn hair, phoenix feather and maybe a few others.