Harry Potter Wand Guide: Every Character's Wood, Core and Length

Harry Potter’s wand is holly with a phoenix feather core and is 11 inches long. Hermione’s is vine wood with a dragon heartstring core, Ron’s second wand is willow with unicorn hair at 14 inches, Draco’s is hawthorn and unicorn hair at 10 inches, and Voldemort’s is yew with a phoenix feather at 13½ inches. The books give at least the wood or the core for most main characters, but not for all of them: Snape’s and Sirius Black’s wands are never described. The table below collects what the books and the official Wizarding World site say, as gathered by the Harry Potter Lexicon and the Wizarding World site.

One thing surprises many buyers: replica wands are usually longer than the lengths in the books. Replicas follow the props made for the films, and the props were designed for the screen rather than measured against the text. We explain the difference further down.

The main characters’ wands

Character	Wood	Core	Length and feel
Harry Potter	Holly	Phoenix feather	11 in, supple
Hermione Granger	Vine	Dragon heartstring	Not given
Ron Weasley (second wand)	Willow	Unicorn hair	14 in
Lord Voldemort	Yew	Phoenix feather	13½ in
Albus Dumbledore (the Elder Wand)	Elder	Thestral tail hair	Not given in the books
Draco Malfoy	Hawthorn	Unicorn hair	10 in, reasonably springy
Bellatrix Lestrange	Walnut	Dragon heartstring	12¾ in, unyielding
Lucius Malfoy	Elm	Dragon heartstring	Not given
Neville Longbottom (second wand)	Cherry	Unicorn hair	Not given
Rubeus Hagrid	Oak	Not given	16 in, rather bendy
Fleur Delacour	Rosewood	Veela hair	9½ in, inflexible
Viktor Krum	Hornbeam	Dragon heartstring	10¼ in, quite rigid
Peter Pettigrew	Chestnut	Dragon heartstring	9¼ in, brittle
Lily Potter	Willow	Not given	10¼ in, swishy
James Potter	Mahogany	Not given	11 in, pliable

Notes on the table

Harry and Voldemort. The two wands share a core: according to Looper’s overview of the series’ wands, each holds a feather from Fawkes, Dumbledore’s phoenix. Harry’s holly wand is introduced in Philosopher’s Stone, used through the whole series and repaired in Deathly Hallows.

Ron. Ron starts at Hogwarts with a secondhand wand. The Lexicon notes that his first wand was ash, and Looper adds that it snapped in his second year. The willow wand is the one he uses from Prisoner of Azkaban onwards.

Neville. His first wand had belonged to his father. The cherry and unicorn hair wand is the one that replaced it.

Dumbledore. The Elder Wand is the most famous wand in the series. It is elder with a core of Thestral tail hair, and the Lexicon lists Gellert Grindelwald as an earlier owner. The books do not give its length.

Hermione. The Wizarding World site lists her as one of its examples of a dragon heartstring wand, and the Lexicon gives vine as the wood. Neither source gives its length.

Ollivander’s own wand. For completeness: the Lexicon, citing Rowling’s writing on Pottermore, gives it as hornbeam and dragon heartstring, 12¾ inches.

Wands the books never describe

Several wands that fans most want are not described in the books at all. Snape’s, Sirius Black’s and Luna Lovegood’s wands have no stated wood, core or length. Looper notes that Luna’s film wand is decorated with what look like acorns, but that any connection to oak is speculation. If you see a confident specification for any of these, it comes from the films, a game or fan writing, not from the books.

What the three cores mean

Garrick Ollivander uses only three cores, and the official Wizarding World site sums up their character this way:

• Unicorn hair produces the most consistent magic and is the hardest core to turn to the Dark Arts. It is very loyal to its first owner, but it is the least powerful of the three and can “die” if it is mishandled. Ron, Neville and Draco all have unicorn hair wands.
• Dragon heartstring produces the most power and the most flamboyant spells, and it learns quickly. It bonds strongly with its current owner, which makes it the easiest core to win in a duel and to turn to the Dark Arts. Hermione, Bellatrix and Krum have dragon heartstring wands.
• Phoenix feather is the rarest core and offers the widest range of magic, though it can take longer to reveal it. It shows the most initiative of the three, sometimes acting on its own, and is the most selective about its owner. Harry and Voldemort both have one.

Some wands use cores Ollivander would not touch. Fleur’s wand contains Veela hair, and the Elder Wand’s core is Thestral tail hair.

The Lexicon also records Ollivander’s view that a wand is the sum of its wood, its core and its owner’s nature, and that each can counterbalance the others. Lengths vary widely, from Hagrid’s 16 inches to Dolores Umbridge’s birch and dragon heartstring wand, which the Lexicon gives as an unusually short 8 inches.

Film replicas: why the lengths are different

The boxed character wands on our site are made by The Noble Collection, and they copy the props used on set, not the book descriptions. The difference can be large.

Replica	Approximate length (maker or listing)	Book length
Harry Potter’s First Wand (Ollivanders box)	About 13 in	11 in
Harry Potter’s wand (Ollivanders box)	About 14 in	11 in
Voldemort’s wand	About 37 cm (14½ in)	13½ in
Dumbledore’s wand (Elder Wand)	About 40 cm (15¾ in)	Not given
Draco Malfoy’s wand	About 15 in	10 in
Professor Snape’s wand	13½ in	Not given

Two Harry wands appear in the list because the prop changed. The Noble Collection’s distributor explains that its “first wand” replica copies the wand Harry buys in the first film, before the design was changed for the third.

The Noble Collection’s character wands are hand-painted resin, come in an Ollivanders-style box with a velvet lining and a ribbon (or a cheaper windowed box), and are listed for ages 14 and up. That age rating matters if you are buying for a child. For younger fans, the same distributor lists a PVC version of Hermione’s wand, about 30 cm long and suitable from age 6, and our Harry Potter wands collection includes illuminating wands that light up when you wave them.

How to choose a wand

If you are buying a wand as a gift, there are three sensible ways to choose:

1. By character. The simplest route. Harry’s, Hermione’s, Dumbledore’s Elder Wand and Voldemort’s are the best known, and every one of them is available as a boxed replica.
2. By core. Some fans prefer a wand with the same core as their favourite character’s. The official Wizarding World site explains the three cores in more detail.
3. By use. A resin replica is for display. A child who wants to play needs something sturdier, such as an illuminating wand or a costume wand from the Harry Potter cosplay costumes collection.

A wand pairs well with other film replicas. The Harry Potter collectibles and gifts collection has the Marauder’s Map, house items and display pieces, and the Harry Potter jewelry collection includes Hermione’s Time-Turner. For more ideas sorted by who you are buying for, see our Harry Potter gift guide, or browse all Harry Potter merchandise.