Where does magic actually lie: In wizards or wands?

Question

I always thought about this whenever I saw Harry Potter movies or read books, that where exactly magic lies? Is it in wizards or wands? As mentioned in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Harry is able to make the glass disappear. Then in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban he blows away his aunt without even touching the wand. So if magic is possible without wands why do they need it in the first place? Also, Ollivander tells Harry that wand chooses the wizards, so does wand actually have magic? Kindly help.

This question has a better answer than the one it was marked a duplicate of... — , Dec 28 '14 at 06:34

score 8 · Accepted Answer · edited Oct 12 '19 at 02:44

8

Magic is possessed by Wizards, of course. But, a Wand is required to focus and channel magic.

However, exceptionally gifted wizards are sometimes able to do accidental wandless magic.

edited Oct 12 '19 at 02:44

Stormblessed

11,359
8
62
100

answered Dec 27 '14 at 09:04

user931

115,946
150
581
1,075

That link cleared a lot of things. – FaizanHussainRabbani Dec 27 '14 at 10:25
7

Accidental wandless magic isn't something that only "exceptionally gifted" wizards do; it's something that untrained young wizards do. – Anthony Grist Dec 27 '14 at 12:36
@Anthony there is a difference between intentional and accidental. Obviously the gifted ones intend to use wand less magic, no? – Dec 28 '14 at 06:39
Note that there are claims that some residual magical energy can be retained within a wand and the corrupt government claims that is sufficient for non-wizards to cast spells. The source of magic is, however, clearly the wizard. – kaine Dec 29 '14 at 14:48
@kaine Interesting. Any citation for that? – user931 Dec 29 '14 at 16:17
@SachinShekhar In deathly hallows when umbridge is interrogating mudbloods in the ministry. I don't have access to the books at the moment so can't give you a page number but she was asking "who did you steal the wand from" to which the woman was responded about how the wand chose her. Obviously the source is unreliable but I pointed that out. – kaine Dec 29 '14 at 16:22

score 1 · Answer 2 · edited Dec 27 '14 at 17:54

1

Magic is with the wizard and not the wand, the wand serves only as a foci. However having said that there is also ambient magic present in places of importance and old history like in case of Harry Potter series, Hogwarts, or old family manors.

edited Dec 27 '14 at 17:54

Null

69,853
22
297
381

answered Dec 27 '14 at 16:49

Rick Roy

179
5

What about zoo? – user931 Dec 27 '14 at 17:40
Perhaps not so much zoos, as snakes. – Jon Hanna Dec 27 '14 at 19:17
Not sure you will get ambient magic in a zoo. More like in old structures which are inhabiated by magicals – Rick Roy Dec 29 '14 at 01:48

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Dec 27 '14 at 19:02

0

When I read your question I thought of what Hagrid said to him in the very first book,"You're a wizard, Harry." Wizards have wizard blood as opposed to muggle blood. Even if a person has part wizard blood and part muggle, they will still have wizard abilities like Hermione Granger (a half-blood). Muggles do not have the ability to use magic.

answered Dec 27 '14 at 19:02

Tyler

9
1

Hermione is a "mud-blood" as both her parents are muggles and she has not (apparent) wizard lineage. She is still a witch. Half bloods do exist (Voldemort is one). – kaine Dec 29 '14 at 14:46

Where does magic actually lie: In wizards or wands?

3 Answers3

Linked