The Wizarding World franchise may be relatively new when considered to other staples of the pop-culture world, but slowly, bit by bit, more and more lore is being added. While the Harry Potter books and movies do a great job of fleshing out this magical universe, they don't answer every question, and there are some aspects of the world that are still being fleshed out even now, with Hogwarts Legacy doing quite a bit of the heavy lifting. One area of lore in particular that Hogwarts Legacy expands is the Ollivander family, the oldest and best wandmakers in the world.
Though magic is said to have originated in Africa in the Harry Potter universe, wands are a European creation, designed to harness the innate magical abilities of witches and wizards and increase their effectiveness. While wands are used and made across the Wizarding World, no wandmakers can match the Ollivander family, who have been in the business since the ancient Roman era.
Ollivanders - The Oldest and Best Wand Shop in England
The Ollivanders are a long, long line of witches and wizards, known for being the best wandmakers not only in England, but across the entire globe. Though their family history is still a little unclear, it's widely believed that the Ollivanders originally came to England alongside the ancient Romans. The name Ollivander roughly translates to "he who owns the olive wand," and as olive trees aren't native to England, it's thought that they must have originated somewhere in the Mediterranean.
After arriving in England in 382 B.C., the original Ollivander set up the very first family-owned wandmakers stall. At this point in Wizarding World history, the vast majority of witches and wizards were attempting to craft their own wands, using whatever ingredients they could find around them. These wands would often be extremely temperamental, refusing to cast spells and even leading to some dangerous magical accidents. When Ollivander opened his first wand shop, the business became an immediate success, with his wands being of incredibly high quality.
The Ollivanders' family history gets a little fuzzy from there onwards, with the next piece of information not coming until the Middle Ages. At some point during the Middle Ages, Geraint Ollivander took over the family business, setting up a full-time shop in London. Geraint Ollivander wrote about his desire to match wizards and witches with wands made from cypress tree bark, as apparently, that would indicate that they were destined to do something heroic in their lifetime.
In the 19th century, at the same time as Hogwarts Legacy, Gerbold Ollivander takes over as the head of the Ollivander family. At this point in time, two Ollivander wand shops are situated in England, one in London's Diagon Alley, and one in Hogsmeade, a village just outside of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Gerbold studied wand lore extensively during his lifetime, and made some interesting discoveries along the way, such as wands made from fir trees had a strange habit of protecting wizards against otherwise lethal incidents.
Gerbold would go on to have a son named Gervaise, who like every one of his ancestors before him, took on the responsibility of running the Ollivanders wand shops across England. Gervaise would then marry a Muggle-born, and the two would have Garrick Ollivander, the same Ollivander that Harry Potter gets his wand from in Diagon Alley just before he heads to Hogwarts for his first year.
Hogwarts Legacy is available now on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S. PS4 and Xbox One ports are scheduled to release on April 4, the Nintendo Switch version is arriving on July 25, 2023.
