WANDafull Look: Newt Scamander

"We wanted it to relate somehow to the animal kingdom, but we thought it was sort-of inappropriate to give him anything that might have a trophy feel to it. We didn’t think he would be into that at all. The main part of this one is wood."—A description of Newt's wand(Pottermore)

What are Wands?

There are many wands in the 'Harry Potter' franchise in both "Harry Potter" and "Fantastic Beasts" and it is a crucial part of the life of a witch and a wizard. Wands are also full of determination to think for its own and do what it thinks best to serve its owner, or rather in some cases, tries not to get owned.

There are several parts that make up a wand: there are the wood and core (what lies inside) and length. The wood is the tree type that when a young witch or wizard arrives in the shop, it is the one that is seen from Holly to Vine. What is unseen is what the wood encircles around, which is a living part of an animal, a magical beast like a Manticore or a Veella. Not all wood is compatible with all animal cores.

The Tree itself already has magic, it has an energy that is connecting all life and itself. If you walk beside a group of trees, they will move through the winds. If you grab a stick, the magic within will not be used right away but it is there. Why? The animal core is not just there for decoration. The tree is already magical but to use it one needs the magic or power of an animal. The Pheonix feather allows the wizard to truly use the power of the Holly wood. The Tree also gives the animal a personality, hence they can think for itself. One can not just fuse a wood to an animal, it takes skills, which is why there are Wandmakers.

A Century worth of Wands and Wandmakers

It is not clear how one merges a tree to an animal, but I do imagine it like clockwork and if two incompatibles come close together.. it will try to repel. If it is forced, it will explode. If done properly then you would have a verity of wands that, by rule, a wandmaker can not use the wand they make. There are many wandmakers all over the world such as Gregorvitch or the worldly visited name in Ollivanders. Some are in France and some are in America (United States). The names are as follows:

Ollivanders

Gregorovich

Jonkers

Beauvais

Quintana

Wolfe

Kiddell

And more and more for decades. The Whole Ollivanders family were wandmakers since long before Hogwarts birth in 382 B.C. What is bizarre to me is that each son of the father's line and the father are named with a "G"; Geraint, Gerbold, Gervaise, and Gerrick. No doubt the original was G----. Gerrick was not the last of the bloodline so far. Garrick had a son and a daughter. His Daughter died before 1991 and a son who would possibly take up the role of Wandmaker. (The son is mentioned in Pottermore on an old article that can no longer be read: https://harrypotter.fandom.com/wiki/Garrick_Ollivander%27s_son).

In the 1920s and before, the Ollivanders at work was Gerbold Octavious Ollivanders whose arch-nemesis was one named Arturo Cephalopos. Before I go into these two i want to bring up the subject matter.

The Wand of a Newt

(I do want to make clear that in the original "Harry Potter" films, they do not use the character's wood type as the actual wand prop. They use a different wood type to get what they perceive is the best way to tell the owner's story. Not Holly but Indian Rosewood to get the red that is needed. In the case of the films, there is only the short stories and the props.)

"This is Ashwood, Shell with mother-of-pearl..."

This is the description that actor Eddie Redmayne made in the interview with Stephen Cobolt. He also said, "Certainly came from Ollivanders". I am certain its a fan theory from none other than the fan himself, Eddie Redmayne. Unless he was told to say that.. it is unconfirmed. Fun Note: Johannes Jonkers of the 1920s used mother-of-pearl for his wands which also is built into Queenie Goldstein's Wand. If so then maybe it is actually an American built wand Newt has.

I do want to note that Eddie does not believe that Newt would have a wand with dead animals as it would displease him.

He also mentions Ash and Ash is indeed a part of the wand based on the details of the prop designer, Pierre Bohana: " The tip was a piece of ash, fairly worn down. It had a lot of character, chips, knocks, and bangs to show a full life, a well-worked life."

The very tip of it was Ash Wood and if pull up what Gerrick himself says about it: "TThe ash wand cleaves to its one true master and ought not to be passed on or gifted from the original owner, because it will lose power and skill and contains a small nugget of truth. ... The ideal owner may be stubborn, and will certainly be courageous, but never crass or arrogant." Truth, stubborn, and courageous all reflect Newt Scamander himself as seen in "Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald". Extreme if the core was the hair of a unicorn.

Ash is the wood type of Newt's wand. Going back to the designer thou, she says something interesting: "...the handle is made of a piece of shell but it's very tubular, like a sandworm shell in feel, but with a pearling effect. (The Making of Fantastic Beasts book) Pearling as in "mother-of-pearl". Shell? Sandworm Shell is an odd thing... Sandworms are notable in the book series "Dune" and made reference to within Tim Burton's Beetlejuice. "In a group interview conducted separately with Harry Potter propmaster Pierre Bohanna, we learned Newt’s movie wand has lime wood, shell, bone and other elements to reflect his consideration of animals." (https://harrypotter.fandom.com/wiki/Newton_Scamander%27s_wand#cite_note-4). LIme wood, shell, and bone and other elements. A mixed mash of possibilities like his Patronus. But the interesting thing is Lime Wood and at the time of Gerbold is the famous wood type, Silver lime.

Silver lime: "This unusual and highly attractive wand wood was greatly in vogue in the nineteenth century. Demand outstripped supply, and unscrupulous wandmakers dyed substandard woods in an effort to fool purchasers into believing that they had purchased silver lime. The reasons for these wands’ desirability lay not only in their unusually handsome appearance, but also because they had a reputation for performing best for Seers and those skilled in Legilimency, mysterious arts both, which consequently gave the possessor of a silver lime wand considerable status. When demand was at its height, wandmaker Arturo Cephalopos claimed that the association between silver lime and clairvoyance was ‘a falsehood circulated by merchants like Gerbold Ollivander (my own grandfather), who have overstocked their workshops with silver lime and hope to shift their surplus’. But Cephalopos was a slipshod wandmaker and an ignoramus, and nobody, Seer or not, was surprised when he went out of business."

Takeaways: Very popular at the time and Gerbold sold them but they were so popular that wandmakers would paint over their stock to fool newcomers into thinking it is Silver Lime. Newt's wood is ash BUT if his wand was Ash tipped and Lime, then Silver LIme is painted over Ash at most. This suggests that he got his wand from a wandmaker who "dyed substandard woods in an effort to fool purchasers into believing that they had purchased silver lime". Enter Arturo Cephalopos who claimed that people false the information "they had a reputation for performing best for seers and those skilled in Legilimency". Now he does not have that power but how can anyone explain how Newt knew Queenie was a Legilimen?

Let's go back to the "mother-of-pearl" but thou, Johannes Jonkers used it as an inlay for his wands but also chose Wampus Hair as the core. A Wampus is an American 6-legged cat that has the power of Hypnosis and Legilimency. So in theory, the user could also have its power, in the same way, a wizard who masters Transfiguration prizes Shikoba Wolfes Thunderbird wand as the Thunderbird is told to transform in some tribal stories.

If Silver Lime, then Newt is tied to clairvoyance.

Cephalopos is also an odd name, similar to a Cephalopod. In the Blu-ray edition of Fantastic Beasts, Prop Designer said that the handle is made from Belemnite which is a skeleton of ancient squids. The giant squid in the lake of Hogwarts or like the translucent squid he carried in the first film called Marmite. A Cepholod is a squid (even thou it might not be named for that reason which the name suggests a man of low intelligence). He went out of business as predicted.

No where says what his wand types were thou, only that he tried to prevent Silver lIme from going forward. Unless she actually believed that these wands are capable of seeing the future, then it explains him wanting to cause a stir of the story that is as false thou true.

I admit that I started believing that Artur Cephalopos is the wandmaker of Newt's, but it only suggests that it isn't Ollivander but of another wand. In this case, it seems that his wand is a Jonkers Production.

I do want to note that as a countereffect of it all, the birthdates don't add up. Gerbold would be a kid unlike his father Gervaise. "Early in my career, as I watched my wandmaker father wrestling with substandard wand core materials such as kelpie hair, I conceived the ambition to discover the finest cores and to work only with those when my time came to take over the family business. This I have done."

Gervaise would fittingly be the wandmaker of the 1920s being born before1890. Kelpie, Kneazle, and Troll were his choosing cores. Newt has three pet kneazles and is seen in merchandise and in-film with a kelpie. Newt is British so he would have to arrive at a shop nearby to attain his wand from a close shop being Ollivanders. He believed that a wizard or wich with Cedar can not be fooled. Gerbold on the other hand believed Fir-wood was the wand of a survivor and only 3 unknown wizards had them from him. He also says: "If you seek integrity, search first among the poplars"; " Here is a wand to rely upon, of consistency, strength and uniform power, always happiest when working with a witch or wizard of clear moral vision."

So many possibilities. How do you see it? Who made his wand? Is the indication of sea animals important? Did Jonkers use Silver Lime Wood with Wampus Hair core and so is his wandmaker? and Why the use of "Sandworms" ?

Sandworms (Arenicola marina) in the U.K. are worms or Lugworms and they can be found in the beach sands and are also found in America. Another one is called Alitta Virens. I guess the wand is really unknown; unknown core, unknown wood, and unknown wandmaker, and even thou I would like it to be Cephalopos, as I showed, it is just simply a Wandaful Look at a Newt.