Ollivanders

Warning! At least some content in this article is derived from information featured in: Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery & Harry Potter: Magic Awakened & Hogwarts Legacy.

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“Makers of Fine Wands since 382 B.C.”

— The strapline for this shop[src]

Ollivanders was a wand shop founded in 382 B.C.[3] Located in Diagon Alley South Side in London, England, it was owned by the Ollivander family, widely acknowledged to be the best wandmakers in Great Britain.[1]

Locations

The Hogsmeade local branch of Ollivanders

There were two known locations of Ollivander’s wand shop. There was a branch of Ollivanders in both Diagon Alley[3][1] and in Hogsmeade.[2] The Hogsmeade branch was located on Hogsmeade’s High Street, as the street served as the primary location for the wizarding village’s shops. The Hogsmeade branch was very similar to its counterpart in Diagon Alley.[2]

The Hogsmeade branch was run by an associate of Garrick Ollivander.[2]

History

382 B.C.

It was believed by Garrick Ollivander, a descendant of the original Ollivander, that Ollivanders arrived with the Romans, setting up a stall (which, in due course, evolved into a shop) to manufacture and sell wands to the ancient British wizards, whose wands were crudely-made and inferior in quality and performance.[4]

19th century

Gerbold Ollivander sold wands to students in the late 19th century, including one rather unusual one.

1984

In 1984, Jacob’s sibling went to Ollivanders to purchase their wand.[5]

1986–1987 school year

Millicent Bagnold in Ollivanders

During the 1986–1987 school year, Minister for Magic Millicent Bagnold came to the shop to have Ollivander repair her wand. She was in a hurry and did not want Ollivander to take extra time testing her wand. Jacob’s sibling approached her in the shop, and after cleaning up some wand she knocked over on the floor, spoke to her and persuaded her to attend Knarlenbarn, requesting she bring her pet Knarl with her.[6]

1988–1989 school year

During the 1988–1989 school year, Mundungus Fletcher went to Ollivanders to ask about the wand of an opponent whom he had lost a duel to, but Garrick Ollivander couldn’t tell much. Shortly afterwards, Jacob’s sibling and a friend visited to find out about Fletcher, and Ollivander told them about the previous encounter with him.[7]

After Patricia Rakepick broke Jacob’s sibling’s wand, they went to Ollivanders to purchase a second wand.[8]

1989–1990 school year

At some point near the end of the 1989–1990 school year, Jacob’s sibling and Jae Kim came to Ollivanders to meet Mundungus Fletcher and Ollivander, who had some information on a dark witch who had been gathering information of Jacob’s sibling and their wand (who turned out to be Verucca Buckthorn-Snyde).[9]

1990–1991 school year

Victims drinking the counter-serum

During the 1990–1991 school year, Jacob’s sibling and Ben Copper visited Ollivanders to investigate Ollivander’s misfiring wand.[10] After Jacob’s sibling, Penny Haywood and Professor Snape successfully brewed a counter-serum for Xeep’s Luscious Locks Solution, Jacob’s sibling offered it to the victims of the solution, including Ollivander, in the shop.[11]

1991

Ollivander: “Curious … curious …”

Harry Potter: “Sorry, but what’s curious?”

Ollivander: “I remember every wand I’ve ever sold, Mr Potter. Every single wand. It so happens that the phoenix whose tail feather is in your wand, gave another feather — just one other. It is very curious indeed that you should be destined for this wand when its brother — why, its brother gave you that scar.”

— Ollivander on Harry Potter’s wand[src]

Harry Potter entering Ollivanders on 31 July 1991

On 31 July 1991, Harry Potter was taken to Ollivanders by Rubeus Hagrid in order to get Harry a wand for his first year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Harry tried dozens of wands before he was chosen by a wand of holly and phoenix feather. Mr Ollivander said that he had remembered every wand he had ever sold, and he found it curious that Harry should be destined for a wand that was brother to the one that had killed Harry’s parents, and had almost killed him.[3]

1992

During the Christmas holidays, Ollivanders was closed with a small notice on the door, which read “Wandered out for a spell, will return later”.[12]

1996–1997

Arthur Weasley: “Talking of Diagon Alley, looks like Ollivander’s gone too.”

Ginny Weasley: “The wandmaker?”

Arthur Weasley: “That’s the one. Shop’s empty. No sign of a struggle. No one knows whether he left voluntarily or was kidnapped.”

Ginny Weasley: “But what’ll people do for wands?”

Remus Lupin: “They’ll make do with other makers. But Ollivander was the best, and if the other side have got him it’s not so good for us.”

— Arthur Weasley, Ginny Weasley and Remus Lupin discussing Ollivander’s disappearance in the summer of 1996[src]

The exterior of the shop before Ollivander’s kidnapping

In 1996, Alexandra Walker attempted to rob the shop. This event made Daily Prophet headlines. When Harry Potter visited Diagon Alley in his sixth year, he found Ollivanders shop boarded up and its owner gone as he was kidnapped by Fenrir Greyback and a group of Death Eaters.[13] He was tortured for an explanation of why Voldemort’s wand and Harry Potter’s wand couldn’t battle. Under the Cruciatus Curse, he told Voldemort that it was because of the twin cores, and that all Lord Voldemort needed to do was use another wand.[14]

Ollivander was tortured and held in the cellar of Malfoy Manor until Dobby rescued him, Luna Lovegood and Dean Thomas.[15] After recovering at Shell Cottage, he went to the Weasley children’s great-aunt Muriel’s place to be protected under the Fidelius Charm.[14] Whilst there, he made a wand for Luna as a thank you gift for the comfort and care she had given him during the incarceration.[16]

2000s

Ollivanders reopened after the Second Wizarding War ended and sold wands to new witches and wizards as usual. Before September 2008, a student bought their wand from Ollivanders.[17][18]

Description

Wands display at Ollivanders Shop

The shop was described as narrow and shabby with peeling gold letters over the door of the shop read: Ollivanders: Makers of Fine Wands since 382 B.C.[3]

Harry Potter being served by Ollivander in the shop

The shop’s display consisted of a solitary wand lying on a faded purple cushion in the dusty window. The shop was tiny, empty except for a single, spindly chair in the corner. Thousands of narrow boxes containing wands were piled right up to the ceiling of the tiny shop, and the whole place had a thin layer of dust about it.[3]

Items for sale

Behind the scenes

“Oh no — not Ollivanders, everybody got their first wands from here.”

— Hermione Granger discovering Ollivanders abandoned[src]

Ollivanders being attacked and destroyed by Death Eaters in the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

• In the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Death Eaters attacked the store directly, causing an explosion that left it in a wrecked state; debris, products and furniture lay all over the place, the windows were broken open instead of being boarded up, and the door was unlocked. Unlike in the book, Ollivander clearly struggled while being taken by Fenrir Greyback, while two Death Eaters took with them stocks of wands as booty. The trio discovered the mess when they saw the state it was left in. It was while looking around the crime scene that Ron noticed Draco and Narcissa Malfoy moving towards Knockturn Alley.

Appearances

• Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (First appearance)
• Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (film)
• Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (video game)
• Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (video game) (Exterior only)
• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Mentioned only)
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (film) (Mentioned only)
• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (film)
• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (video game) (Seen on the Daily Prophet)
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1
• Harry Potter: A Pop-Up Book
• The Wizarding World of Harry Potter
• Harry Potter: The Wand Collection
• LEGO Harry Potter: Building the Magical World
• LEGO Harry Potter
• LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4
• LEGO Harry Potter: Years 5-7
• LEGO Harry Potter
• Harry Potter Trading Card Game
• Pottermore
• Wizarding World
• Harry Potter for Kinect
• Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery
• Harry Potter: Wizards Unite
• Harry Potter: Magic Awakened
• Hogwarts Legacy
• The Art and Making of Hogwarts Legacy

Notes and references

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Pottermore (old version)
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 The Wizarding World of Harry Potter
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, Chapter 5 (Diagon Alley)
4. ↑ Writing by J. K. Rowling: “Mr Ollivander” at Wizarding World
5. ↑ Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery, Year 1, Chapter 1 (Your Journey Begins)
6. ↑ Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery, Year 3, “KNARL’S BIG DAY” Achievement
7. ↑ Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery, Year 5, Chapter 10 (Knockturn Alley)
8. ↑ Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery, Year 5, Chapter 17 (Broken Bonds)
9. ↑ Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery, Year 6, Chapter 45 (The Messenger)
10. ↑ Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery, Year 7, Chapter 12 (And Hello Magical Accidents and Catastrophes)
11. ↑ Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery, Year 7, Chapter 15 (The Counter-Serum)
12. ↑ Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (video game) (PS1 version)
13. ↑ Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Chapter 6 (Draco’s Detour)
14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Chapter 24 (The Wandmaker)
15. ↑ Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Chapter 23 (Malfoy Manor)
16. ↑ Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Chapter 25 (Shell Cottage)
17. ↑ Harry Potter: Magic Awakened
18. ↑ This page from the official website of NetEase states that the story starts ten years after the Battle of Hogwarts (“游戏故事时间设定在霍格沃茨大战十年之后”)
19. ↑ Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (video game) (PS1 version)