I'm not sure if this has been discussed yet, but a forum search didn't turn up any results...

Here's the thing:
While looking through the rereleased time line at the lexicon it struck me that in 382 BC Ollivanders Wand shop was opened for business. In my mind it's hinted at that Ollivander was the original owner (and founder) of the shop. Almost every (more or less) important character has been given a (general or exact) age. His age is mentioned nowhere. If Ollivander is really (at least) as old as the shop, he's now more than 2370 years of age. Old, even for wizards (the founding four didn't reach that age and even Nicolas Flamel was "only" 665 years old.

If he is indeed the founder of the shop, he found a way around death. Extremely interesting, especially for LV and his minions.

And if the above is true: how does he stay alive for such a long time?

Any thoughts??

An interesting thread but........in History of Magic forum!
Moblithreadus!

LL mod
You_won't_know_who

I always thought it was a long, long line of Ollivanders who had had that shop.
And the reason Voldemort kidnapped Ollivander was because LV needed a new wand that wouldn't go wonky when he had to fight Harry.

This is my opinion, as well. I've always thought that Ollivander was descended from the original owner of the shop.

(About whether LV kidnapped Ollivander? Haven't decided yet if that happened, or whether Dumbledore advised him to go into hiding.)

From the looks of it, Ollivander will be playing a bigger part in the next book then he has yet played, so we may just find out how old he really is. Though I do agree with dbn, it was just a family shop that got handed down to whomever was the best wand maker in the family.

So, Nicholas Flames is very very young compared to Olivander, isn't he?
I guess, Oliwanders were just lucky to keep their family alive and well from that long ago till our days.
If Olivander was indeed that old, many people would be aware of that miracle. LV would be the first one to get to him loooong time ago to get t his secret of immortality. Ollivandder would be dragged out of his shop long before book 6.

I have to agree with dbn that because 'Ollivander' is a family name, it refers to the current Ollivander's great-great-great-&c.-grandfather, rather than the current one himself. For the present Ollivander to be that old, surely it would be something of great note in the wizarding world -- for the same man to be, as such, immortal?

There is a possibility that Ollivander, with his pale eyes, isn't entirely human. But if he is the original Ollivander I think Voldemort would have been after him for his secret before now, if it was something he could use. As for Ollivander's age, he must be at least 80, because he can remember selling Tom Riddle his wand.

Our Ollivander has to be a descendant of the shop founder from
382 bc. If there was a man alive more than two thousand years old Hermione would most assuredly know! As for him not being entirely human, we'll have to read in book 7!

I at one point wondered if Ollivander was the only Ollivander as well and decided he wasn't. However for the sake of arguement and the fact that I am not 100% sure of my own conclusion...



Exactly. Ollivander's unnatural eyes were exactly what made me think he might be the founder of the shop. That and his abnormal memory that suggests timelessness. DD said that LV was not the first to create a Horcrux and as we have seen, with each Horcrux LV made, he became less human. It is possible that Ollivander created his own Horcrux and his the first shop owner.

I don't think Ollivander would have a horcrux though, because he doesn't seem that evil, and horcruxes give you red eyes not pale ones.

I've always thought that Ollivander's unnatural appearance was mainly there to help convey how eerie the situation was for Harry - since it was his first excursion to the magical world and this was someone who had actually sold wands to his father, his mother and their murderer.

A number of people have pale eyes in the books (notably Lucius Malfoy) and Luna's eyes are also described in a very similar way to Ollivander's.

One other thing - Ollivander's is described as "Makers of fine wands since 382 BC". It's a plural, so one way or another, there has to be more than one person involved.

I really don't think that the Ollivander we've seen is the founder of the shop, but I do think that there's something strange about him, the way he remembers EVERY wand he sold, I really don't think that any other wand maker remember that.
And I don't think Voldemort wants Ollivander to make him another wand, after all we are told the hole series that the wand choses the wizard and that you don't get the same effect with another wand, so I don't think that LV would give up his wand, the wand that once make him the "most" powerfull wizard of all times.