One of the main components of the Harry Potter universe is magic. The entire story revolves around the Wizarding World and keeping it hidden away from muggles, or people without magical blood. But in order to perform spells, charms, and curses, one must have a wand up to the standard necessary to amplify a witch or wizard’s natural-born ability.
Wands are made from a distinctive type of wood, whether it be elm, oak, vine, or otherwise, and a special magical core such as unicorn hair, phoenix feather, or dragon heartstring. Here is a listing of the most powerful wands in the Harry Potter universe, ranked.
Updated June 2nd, 2020 by George Chrysostomou: The Wizarding World continues to bring much needed magic into many lives and with J.K. Rowling having released a new short story, it seems appropriate to revisit her most famous universe.
15 Mad-Eye Moody’s Wand
An auror, a protector, and a member of the Order of the Phoenix, Mad-Eye Moody possesses an incredibly powerful wand. This is of course also a wand that was hijacked by Barty Crouch Junior.
It’s a powerful magical artifact and one that meant that Moody was always in control of a situation. Although he possessed other objects such as a staff, his wand was always his most reliable weapon.
14 Remus Lupin’s Wand
Remus Lupin has also been a Hogwarts professor for the defense against the dark arts. Any wizard who takes on that role has to have a pretty powerful wand to back up his lessons.
Lupin’s gifts are boosted tremendously by the wand that he wields. Made from cypress and unicorn hair, it may not stop him from becoming a werewolf but it has certainly aided him in his missions with the Order of the Phoenix.
13 Nymphadora Tonks’s Wand
Nymphadora Tonks might just be one of the most underrated magic users on this list. She clearly has huge magical potential, which is demonstrated through her talents of body morphing.
Her wand certainly aids her with her casting though, allowing her to become an auror and giving her the strength to side with Dumbledore and the rest of the Order. She’s fought and defeated numerous Death Eaters with this wand.
12 Sirius Black
Harry’s godfather is a tough individual, having survived 12 years in one of the most dangerous places in the Wizarding World, Azkaban. Before this, Black proved himself to be a talented wizard, even mastering the art of being an animagus.
Joining the Mauraders, Sirius had a bright future until the dark lord intervened. Since his escape, his thin wand has proven useful in battling off death eaters and defeating Lucius Malfoy.
11 Newt Scamander’s Wand
Newt Scamander is an experienced wizard when it comes to magical creatures and his wand has helped him in developing those skills. However, his other abilities certainly shouldn’t be undervalued.
Despite his offensive magic being mixed in terms of power, he has managed to fight Grindelwald and even an obscurus. His subtly designed wand is likely a huge factor in his success in casting spells, perhaps boosting his magic beyond his own abilities.
10 Lucius Malfoy’s Wand
Lucius Malfoy’s wand was passed down to him by his father and it was made of elm and dragon heartstring. Apart from belonging to a powerful wizard, Malfoy’s wand is simply one of the coolest in the Harry Potter universe. It’s a fan-favorite because of its serpent head design.
Clearly, Malfoy was a wizard adept at the Dark Arts. Voldemort even made Lucius the leader of the Death Eaters. Throughout the books, Lucius always appeared to be lurking in the shadows, slippery as an eel. He kept his wand stored in a cane and could whip it out in a moment’s notice.
9 Hermione Granger’s Wand
Hermione’s original wand has a dragon heartstring core, like many on this list, and is made from vine wood. Everyone who is a fan of Harry Potter knows that Hermione is widely considered the brightest witch of her age.
Despite being discriminated against often in the wizarding world because of her muggle-born heritage, Hermione has repeatedly proven how powerful and skillful she is as a witch. Her wand has obviously been a critical part of Hermione’s magical education. She has helped save Harry and Ron on more than one occasion with her quick thinking and knowledge of a vast amount of spells and charms.
8 Bellatrix Lestrange’s Wand
Another dragon heartstring wand must rank on this list. It is made out of walnut and comes in at 12 3/4 inches. This wand belongs to Bellatrix Lestrange, an extremely wicked witch and one of Voldemort’s most devoted followers. Bellatrix is known for her nasty habit of torture. She is proficient at using the Cruciatus curse on her many victims.
This curse isn’t an easy one to perform but Bellatrix is adept at it. Of course, this is probably because she’s had years of practice inflicting pain on people, sadly. Even as a skilled witch, clearly her wand is powerful enough to allow her to do the Dark Lord’s bidding.
7 Minerva McGonagall’s Wand
This list wouldn’t be complete without mentioning the wand owned by Minerva McGonagall. Her wand is made of fir and dragon heartstring and comes in at 9 1/2 inches. McGonagall’s wand is clearly powerful because she is an expert and professor of Transfiguration.
We know Transfiguration is one of the most difficult and complicated types of magic in the entire Harry Potter universe, and yet McGonagall is able to transform a desk into a pig and back again with a simple twitch of her wand. She is an accomplished Animagus herself, which proves her prowess with the magical art form. It’s clear her wand is an excellent tool for her.
6 Severus Snape’s Wand
It is unknown what Severus Snape’s wand was made of, but it is clearly powerful. Despite your feelings on Snape, the complicated character that he is, Snape is still a powerful wizard. He was able to work as a double agent for Dumbledore for years without Voldemort, or the Death Eaters, discovering his duplicity.
Plus, he is an accomplished potions master and he excels at Legilimency. While we don’t know exactly what Snape’s wand core or wood base is, it’s still apparent his wand was a faithful companion to his wizarding career until the very end. Combined with his sharp intellect and skill, it made him an inimitable wizard.
5 Voldemort’s Wand
Voldemort’s wand shares a twin phoenix core with Harry Potter’s wand. Obviously, Voldemort eventually wields the Elder Wand, but it’s been proven multiple times throughout the Harry Potter series that Voldemort’s wand serves him perfectly well. With it, he’s killed many, tortured even more, and managed to create his Horcruxes.
His wand was 13 inches long and constructed from yew, in addition to the phoenix feather from Fawkes. However, when faced with Harry Potter’s wand, his wand was ultimately defeated by Harry’s during the pivotal graveyard scene in Goblet of Fire. This is why Voldemort’s wand isn’t ranked higher, but it is still, undeniably, a powerful wand.
4 Harry Potter’s Wand
We know that Harry’s wand was made from holly and contained a phoenix core from Dumbledore’s bird, Fawkes. His wand shared a twin core with Voldemort’s wand. But ultimately, Harry’s wand appears to be the stronger of the two.
It never failed him in all his years at Hogwarts and beyond, and it was able to defeat Voldemort in Goblet of Fire when their wands connected. Of course, a lot of that is because of Harry’s own abilities, his capacity for love, and his differences from Voldemort, but there is no denying that his wand was a very special part of his magical journey.
3 Gellert Grindelwald’s Wand
For a time, Gellert Grindelwald was actually in possession of the legendary Elder Wand. Dumbledore eventually defeated him for it. But prior to that, Grindelwald must have had another wand to get him through his magical education at Durmstrang Institute. We don’t know what that wand was, but we can easily assume it was of extraordinary power.
Grindelwald was best friends with Dumbledore for many years and the two of them went on to become some of the most renowned wizards of all time. Grindelwald was basically the master of Dark Arts well before Voldemort came along, and thus we know his wand was capable of vast potential.
2 *2. Dumbledore’s Wand
We may not know what Dumbledore’s wand was made of, but we do know it was extremely powerful. Dumbledore is known as one of the greatest wizards of all time. He was so strong that even Voldemort himself was fearful of the man. Dumbledore was able to perform magic never seen before by anyone else in the books.
His abilities were profound. He was also adept at performing spells non-verbally. Obviously, much of Dumbledore’s skill is because of him, but there’s no doubt his wand plays a big role in his abilities. He was able to go head-to-head with Gellert Grindelwald and wielded it when he won the Elder Wand.
1 The Elder Wand
This is obviously the most powerful wand in the entire Harry Potter universe. The Elder Wand is part of the legendary Deathly Hallows along with the Cloak of Invisibility and the Resurrection Stone. Even Voldemort himself coveted the Elder Wand.
It has the ability to fix other wands, as Harry uses it to fix his faithful wand instead of taking the wand for himself. Supposedly the wand was hand-carved by Death from the Elder tree, and it can make a wizard (or witch) invincible. Obviously, that’s not entirely true, since Harry was able to defeat Voldemort while he had it.
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