Whenever there is an idea to create a story in which a character from the Potterverse travels to a different world, like Middle Earth, Westeros or the Marvel Cinematic Universe there immediately comes a question: do they have wands?

Because let's face it, HP wizards are massively powerful compared to characters from other fandoms. And the decision to give them a wand or not changes many things.

Personally, I prefer stories where they keep their wands. Even if that means that they are overpowered. Even if it means a curbstomp.

Why? Because in my eyes, their wands are a part of them. Without them they are not real HP wizards, but instead something I wouldn't hesitate to call cripples.

If I want to read a crossover with HP wizards, then they should be wizards and not wizards-minus-wands.

I mean, imagine a story about Godzilla, except the monster is as small as a car. That would not be Godzilla, but a weaker imitation.

 

No wands is just an inherently unsatisfying solution to power imbalances. Generally nerfing the power of any character for plot reasons is unsatisfying for readers. I think someone said it in the Lucifer thread best recently - you want to see the protagonist at full power overcoming (or failing) obstacles, otherwise it feels like it doesn't really count.

You need to come up with other ways to balance things out, which isn't always possible or easy. Like most things, it separates the good authors from the bad. It's a hard line to walk and I don't think there is a good answer for a lot of cases. Sometimes HP just doesn't work as a crossover with some fandoms unless you get creative.

 

I actually rather like the questions that get brought up when a protagonist is forced to adapt to having no wand - often it means the protagonist has to attempt to create their own wand, which is an interesting challenge that can lead the story in a cool direction if done right. Or, if not seeking to regain the use of a wand, then the protagonist is forced to develop wandless skills; it can be just damn satisfying just to read a progression like that.

I suppose what I like the most is the survival aspect of the whole thing: you throw your character into the deep end by depriving them of the tools and support they need most, and then see what happens.

Taking away his wand is a plot device, yes - but I don't think it's lazy writing at all. Not when it brings so many challenges to the table that wouldn't have existed otherwise.

Don't get me wrong - It's nice to read fics where Harry goes around being OP with a wand every so often, but that's not quite the issue here: the big problem is when an author wants Harry to struggle but pulls it off terribly and we instead end up with him having his wand and all his magical knowledge but just being useless for no well-explained reason. Give me a lost wand any day over that shit.

 

Well this is, as you might expect, something that I often think about, what with crossovers kinda being my thing.

Letting Harry keep his wand is, without doubt, my first choice if there is a story to be told there. It is one of the most recognisable aspects of the Harry Potter fandom and to strip it out will often leave the characters feeling very far removed indeed from the world of Harry Potter. All those Harry Potter/Star Wars crossovers which simply retcon Harry into a Jedi and do away with magic entirely aren't even really crossovers, to my mind.

But there has to be a story to be told. And curbstomp is only one story, and in most cases it has already been written. What happens when you give Harry his wand and drop him in Westeros? Some variant on 'The Difference One Man Can Make'. What happens when you give Harry his wand and drop him in Marvel? Some variant on 'Wand and Shield'. What happens when you give Harry his wand and drop him in Middle-earth? Some variant on 'The Power He Knows Not'.

The temptation, when Harry has his wand is for him to solve the problems, because he can. But 'Harry solves the problems of X universe' is only one story, really, even if you can choose to tart it up in different ways.

By taking Harry's wand away, though, you can take away some of his agency. You can move the focus of the story from 'Harry solves the problems of X universe' to 'Harry solves his own problems in X universe'. The wonderful thing about this, from a writer's perspective, is that you now have control over the things driving the story. You do not have to be beholden to the canon of the crossover universe, you can make your own path.

But wait, I hear you cry. Why can't you do the same but leave Harry his wand? Why does Harry have to get involved in the Ring Quest, or the Other Invasion, or the events of the Avengers?

Well, he doesn't have to get involved in those things. But when Harry has his wand you need a story with a certain amount of scope otherwise there will be no jeopardy at all. I mean, sure, Harry in Westeros could just sit around and become the richest man in the world, feared by everyone. But how interesting would that be, I wonder? 'Harry wins, Harry wins again, Harry wins forever unless he does something frustratingly stupid' just doesn't make for such an interesting story.

Could it be done well? Certainly. The most interesting storyline for a low-magic crossover, for me at least, centres on the use/misuse of power. It is entirely possible to make Harry his own antagonist in such a story, after-all, he's the only one with the power to stand against himself. But this is rather more cerebral than most crossovers, which are usually born out of 'wouldn't this be cool?' rather than 'wouldn't this raise some interesting philosophical questions?'

Of course I will say that any story where Harry loses his wand in the crossover event should absolutely make the regaining of that wand a central component of the story. It should never be thrown away, and forgotten about by the author as that just screams story-telling from convenience.

TL;DR: Losing a wand should be a plot point first, not a plot convenience.

 

It depends on the world.
For example, Harry against S-rank ninja from Narutoverse will lose spectacularly, wand or no wand. The same can be said about the powerhouses from Forgotten Realms.
But if you don't want the other characters to be completely outshined by Harry, you can simply change the rules of magic. Different world, different rules.

 

Steelbadger

Now, just because I prefer having Wands, that doesn't mean I dislike all stories where wands aren't present. The Prince Who Was Promised and the Shadow of Angmar are both fantastic stories.

One of the few stories I liked in which a HP character is sent to another world without a wand was Taure's White Wizard which has Voldemort being the one sent.

I can buy the Dark Lord being proficient with wandless magic much quicker than I would buy Harry being so. The fact that Shade!Voldemort can also possess people and animals gives him an extra advantage. And I have no doubts that Voldemort would be able to construct a wand much quicker than Harry (obviously).

In fact, I once thought of a scenario where after being vanquished by baby Harry, the Shade Voldemort wakes up many decades into the future where machines rule the world, the skies are dark and humans are farmed in endless fields. Yeah, the Matrix. His possession ability would be awesome in that setting.

 

I'm not a fan of OP wandless magic, so generally, I try to avoid that. But, generally, it's the wizard that makes a story, not the wand, so as long as the story telling is good, it doesn't really matter (see Steelbadger's LotR crossover)

 

It also depends on your HP character's age, methinks - if younger than fifth year, then keeping the wand is okay, not if older than fifth year. Let me explain.

(1) before 5th year, the character is simply too young to have other skills for survival, especially on more hostile worlds; at the same time, though they have magic, they would not have the more overpowering skills and spells at their command.

(2) after 5th year, however, a witch or wizard will be old enough to take care of themselves even without wand magic. What's more, post 5th-year magic such as apparition and more powerful (both combat and non-combat) spells can become game-breaking for your character in the new universe.

In one of my plot ideas, I have Harry deposited in middle-earth during the events of The Hobbit, and his joining Thorin & co. is for a chance to take down a dragon in order to make a wand. In another, a wandless Harry is deposited in another world, which is magically richer than HP-earth, so he was able to patch together some wandless magic, plus local spells, plus unfamiliar foci (staves, swords, etc.) to get by.

 

There are always problems you can't fix just by applying enough violent magic, so finding those problems is what you should do in crossovers.

For example, let's say Harry gets thrown into Middle Earth. He finds himself in the council of Elrond, recognizes the ring as a horcrux-type thing and fries it with fiendfyre on the spot. Mission accomplished? No. There's still Saruman and his army of orcs, there's a bazillion orcs in Mordor just waiting for someone to tell them where to attack to, there's still a Balrog in Moria. And the three rings are losing their power, Galdalf's heavenly mandate is over and the different peoples are less likely to be inclined to join forces now that the boogie man is gone. So the world is still plenty fucked up, and there's little one wizard can do against an army of orcs alone, much less multiple armies attacking at the same time.

 

Of course they can. Just add a dash of Hagrid, of course.

Anyway, I don't think you have to make it so Harry does/doesn't have a wand throughout the whole story. In fact, in universes with bad power creep, I like the idea of Harry losing/snapping his early on, and then having to craft a replacement. Early on, this forces Harry outside his comfort zone, making him grow as a person, and gives the author room to be creative with using Harry's secondary skills (athletic ability, potions, leadership, etc) for solutions, which in turn makes the conflict more interesting. Later on, this helps to adjust for power inflation, and - given the empathic nature of wands - could be an interesting avenue for self-discovery and character development. Unfortunately, I can't say I've seen this done very often, although this may be largely due to the fact that so many crossovers go unfinished.

 

Harry Potter is a story about an orphan who goes to school, and ends up fighting the terrorist who killed his parents and gutted his society. But I do think that having magic involved is probably what makes it a best-seller - although a purely non-magical HP world might be potentially interesting, a lot of the events of the books can only happen because of magic.
You could alter events (Voldemort went to a plastic surgeon, there's a hypnotist talking to Ginny through the window, and so on) so that they take place in a purely muggle world, but it would require effort.

The reason I read a crossover isn't because I want to see what would happen if a Viking called Harry (or Harald, most likely) was also on the island of Berk, even if he was "not like all the other vikings but not in the same way as Hiccup!!1!", or "really smart like Hiccup but also brave!", even if this character was a replacement for Hiccup.

The crossover points have to actually bring something with them. Just like in non-crossovers, there has to be more than just character names in common with canon unless the author is just writing barely-concealed original fiction.

So I don't mind if Harry's magical knowledge is only used for potions, or if he plans on getting a wand, but he has to use magic at some point, or it might as well just be a SI fic.

 

Yeah I'll mirror this.

Stories, not just fanfic, that force the protagonist to survive without their usual special talent can be done extremely well. Good way of showing character. It's the person, not the ability.

In popular media, I think Iron Man 3 recently did this well. Tony Stark spent 90% of that film out of the suit, deprived of it (despite the fact he didn't have to be), and the character work was great. Film itself was a touch hit or miss, but that aspect of it was handled really well.