Harry Potter Theories

NEVILLE WASN'T BAD AT MAGIC-HE WAS JUST USING THE WRONG WAND

Hapless, fumbling Neville Longbottom spent his early years at Hogwarts botching spells left and right, and, despite coming from two powerful magical parents, considered himself "almost a Squib." But his friendship with Harry, and the increasing danger to the wizarding world provided ample opportunity for him to prove himself: He mastered the difficult Shield Charm second only to "brightest witch of her age" Hermione and held his own during multiple duels with Death Eaters. Much of this can surely be attributed to the natural process of maturation and personal growth, but some fans think there was one pivotal change that made all the difference: Neville's wand.

Both Rowling's original text and the Warner Bros. film adaptations make clear one basic tenet of wand lore: the wand chooses the wizard. For a witch or wizard, a visit to Ollivanders Wand Shop is the ultimate personality test, as the otherwise inert wands "choose" whether or not the person wielding them is destined to be its master. When the unique magical artifact's potential aligns with the right witch or wizard, sparks literally fly, and the wand commits itself to a single master.

The corollary to such an enigmatic matching process is that a wizard using a wand that has not chosen him will never wield its full potential. A wizard may adopt another's wand out of necessity, such as Ron Weasley inheriting his brother Charlie's old wand to save the expense of a new one; in such instances, the wand will function sufficiently, but not excellently.

Unlike Ron, who begrudgingly accepted a family hand-me-down as simply the way things had to be in an impoverished household, Neville chose to adopt his father's wand. Frank Longbottom had used the wand to do powerful magic during his time as an Auror, up to and including his final altercation with the Death Eaters who would ultimately torture him to the point of insanity. Knowing that the wand would otherwise go unused during his father's interminable stay in the wizarding equivalent of the psych ward, St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries, Neville took it as his own—and thus began his early years of bungled spells and constant struggle to make magic "work" with a wand that was never meant for him.

Though there is no way to separate truth from coincidence, thus landing this particular theory squarely in the realm of "sounds right, but we may never know," some fans believe that Death Eater Antonin Dolohov did Neville a huge favor by breaking his—or rather, his father's—wand at the Battle of the Department of Mysteries. Neville was thus forced to go through the wand-choosing process for the first time, finally securing for himself a wand that he could truly call his own. In the years following, his magical prowess increased tremendously, fitting him to lead Dumbledore's Army in Harry's absence, duel the most powerful Dark wizards at the Battle of Hogwarts, and even become an Auror, thereby following in his mother's and father's footsteps and making even his infamously disapproving grandmother proud. It would downplay Neville's tremendous personal journey to attribute such drastic changes simply to his wand, but it certainly looks like that 13-inch cherry and unicorn hair from Ollivanders didn't hurt.