Instead of doing productive things (*eyes multiple WIPs*), I decided to figure out what wands the Voltron Alliance would have. (It’s a thing I do now, apparently.) Here’s what I came up with, along with some runner ups, because oh my word were some of them hard to pick for. Keith, Shiro, and Hunk were actually the hardest. So many good options!
Coran: was the easiest, actually. I give him a Spruce wand, with a phoenix feather core.
Unskilled wandmakers call spruce a difficult wood, but in doing so they reveal their own ineptitude. It is quite true that it requires particular deftness to work with spruce, which produces wands that are ill-matched with cautious or nervous natures, and become positively dangerous in fumbling fingers. The spruce wand requires a firm hand, because it often appears to have its own ideas about what magic it ought to be called upon to produce. However, when a spruce wand meets its match - which, in my experience, is a bold spell-caster with a good sense of humour - it becomes a superb helper, intensely loyal to their owners and capable of producing particularly flamboyant and dramatic effects.
(Italics are mine. Runner up was Larch)
Allura gets an Aspen wand with a dragon heartstring core
Wand-quality aspen wood is white and fine-grained, and highly prized by all wand-makers for its stylish resemblance to ivory and its usually outstanding charmwork. The proper owner of the aspen wand is often an accomplished duellist, or destined to be so, for the aspen wand is one of those particularly suited to martial magic. An infamous and secretive eighteenth-century duelling club, which called itself The Silver Spears, was reputed to admit only those who owned aspen wands. In my experience, aspen wand owners are generally strong-minded and determined, more likely than most to be attracted by quests and new orders; this is a wand for revolutionaries.
(Runners up: Cypress, Poplar)
Pidge is chosen by a Sycamore with a dragon heartstring core.
The sycamore makes a questing wand, eager for new experience and losing brilliance if engaged in mundane activities. It is a quirk of these handsome wands that they may combust if allowed to become ‘bored,’ and many witches and wizards, settling down into middle age, are disconcerted to find their trusty wand bursting into flame in their hand as they ask it, one more time, to fetch their slippers. As may be deduced, the sycamore’s ideal owner is curious, vital and adventurous, and when paired with such an owner, it demonstrates a capacity to learn and adapt that earns it a rightful place among the world's most highly-prized wand woods.
(I like that her wand will explode if bored. Runners up: Pine and Walnut. I now give Haggar Walnut.)
Lance gets a Dogwood wand with a unicorn hair core
Dogwood is one of my own personal favourites, and I have found that matching a dogwood wand with its ideal owner is always entertaining. Dogwood wands are quirky and mischievous; they have playful natures and insist upon partners who can provide them with scope for excitement and fun. It would be quite wrong, however, to deduce from this that dogwood wands are not capable of serious magic when called upon to do so; they have been known to perform outstanding spells under difficult conditions, and when paired with a suitably clever and ingenious witch or wizard, can produce dazzling enchantments. An interesting foible of many dogwood wands is that they refuse to perform non-verbal spells and they are often rather noisy.
(You have no idea how badly I wanted to give him either a Black Walnut or Hazel--also Hazel for the water aspect. Other runners up were Apple and Willow)
Shiro ends up with a Cypress wand and unicorn hair core
Cypress wands are associated with nobility. The great medieval wandmaker, Geraint Ollivander, wrote that he was always honoured to match a cypress wand, for he knew he was meeting a witch or wizard who would die a heroic death. Fortunately, in these less blood-thirsty times, the possessors of cypress wands are rarely called upon to lay down their lives, though doubtless many of them would do so if required. Wands of cypress find their soul mates among the brave, the bold and the self-sacrificing: those who are unafraid to confront the shadows in their own and others’ natures.
(Runners up: Cedar, Cherry, Fir, Rowan. These were all so close. So close. So very close. Especially the last three. Fun fact: I even changed it from Fir right before I posted this. And you have no idea how much I wanted to do Rowan because it sort of fits, but also because the Elder wood has a note that those matched with Elder “often feel a powerful affinity with those chosen by Rowan”. My brain has kept up a continuous background scream of ZARKON AND SHIRO PARALLELS ZARKON AND SHIRO PARALLELS since.)
Hunk finally is chosen by Cedar with a unicorn hair. It nearly has to get in a fight with English Oak to get there first.
Whenever I meet one who carries a cedar wand, I find strength of character and unusual loyalty. My father, Gervaise Ollivander, used always to say, ‘you will never fool the cedar carrier,’ and I agree: the cedar wand finds its perfect home where there is perspicacity and perception. I would go further than my father, however, in saying that I have never yet met the owner of a cedar wand whom I would care to cross, especially if harm is done to those of whom they are fond. The witch or wizard who is well-matched with cedar carries the potential to be a frightening adversary, which often comes as a shock to those who have thoughtlessly challenged them.
(The other runners up were Alder and Pear. Hunk was really hard to pick just one.)
Keith was the hardest. Hands down. He is chosen by Holly with dragon heartstring (or maybe phoenix feather).
Holly is one of the rarer kinds of wand woods; traditionally considered protective, it works most happily for those who may need help overcoming a tendency to anger and impetuosity. At the same time, holly wands often choose owners who are engaged in some dangerous and often spiritual quest. Holly is one of those woods that varies most dramatically in performance depending on the wand core, and it is a notoriously difficult wood to team with phoenix feather, as the wood's volatility conflicts strangely with the phoenix's detachment. In the unusual event of such a pairing finding its ideal match, however, nothing and nobody should stand in their way.
(Red Oak was closest to next. Likes centimeters away. No, I don’t think Keith is actually as angry as he’s often portrayed in a lot of fandom--our boy is super awkward. But he does have a tendency towards anger and definitely impetuosity. Give him my man Harry’s wand. Blackthorn reminded me of the Red Lion, and then also Ebony and Cypress were in there.)
Bonus: I gave Alfor Elm, just because.
Anyone else’s opinions are welcome. I will talk Harry Potter, wand types, and character interpretations until I run out of oxygen.
