Mykew Gregorovitch

Mykew Gregorovitch
Biographical information
Born	In or before 1909
Died	2 September 1997, Gregorovitch Zauberstäbe
Physical information
Species	Human
Gender	Male
Hair colour	White
Magical characteristics
Wand	Unknown wood, length and core 15", Elder, Thestral tail hair core
Patronus	Non-corporeal
Affiliation
Occupation	Wandmaker (retired)
Loyalty	Gregorovitch Zauberstabe Elder Wand

"I vos one of the last to purchase a Gregorovitch vand. They are the best — although, I know, of course, that you Britons set much store by Ollivander."

— Viktor Krum's high opinion of Gregorovitch's work

Mykew Gregorovitch (d. 2 September 1997) was a wizard, famous wandmaker and the proprietor of Gregorovitch Zauberstabe in Europe. His wands were also sold at Wands by Gregorovitch at Carkitt Market in London, in competition with Ollivanders.

Biography

Early life

"[Hawthorn] makes a strange, contradictory wand, as full of paradoxes as the tree that gave it birth, whose leaves and blossoms heal, and yet whose cut branches smell of death."

— One of Gregorovitch's writings on wandlore.

Gregorovitch as a wandmaker

Next to nothing was known about Gregorovitch's childhood, but given his accent, it is likely he was raised in Europe. During the course of his career as a wandmaker, Gregorovitch became an expert in wandlore and supplied many witches and wizards in European countries with reliable wands. Ollivander, however, was not fond of Gregorovitch's work.

He did acknowledge that Gregorovitch was a "fine wandmaker" but, in the same sentence, disparaged his styling.

While Ollivander did not agree with many of Gregorovitch's conclusions, they did concur about hawthorn wands, which were complex and intriguing in their natures.

Elder Wand master

Gregorovitch when he was younger

At some point in his life, Gregorovitch came into the possession of the Elder Wand, one of the Deathly Hallows and the most powerful wand in existence, and upon realising its true nature, he began experimenting to try and duplicate its powers. Gregorovitch, somewhat foolish by nature and hoping it would improve business, or perhaps trying to outsource some fresh outside talent that could assist him in his grander endeavours, started a rumour about him possessing a powerful wand and his efforts to replicate its properties. The result occurred one night when Gregorovitch heard someone break into his workshop. He quickly ran inside and saw a blonde-haired young man had taken the wand. The man shot a Stunning Spell at Gregorovitch, before leaping out the window. The man was in fact Gellert Grindelwald, although Gregorovitch never lived long enough to find out who stole the wand.

Retirement

Despite the loss of the Elder Wand, Gregorovitch continued his work, and many years later retired, with one of his last wands being sold to Viktor Krum.

Death

Voldemort: "Give it to me, Gregorovitch."

Gregorovitch: "I have it not, I have it no more! It was, many years ago, stolen from me!"

Voldemort: "Do not lie to Lord Voldemort, Gregorovitch. He knows. . . . He always knows."

— Voldemort and Gregorovitch

Lord Voldemort, who sought a way to bypass the unique nature of his and Harry Potter's wands, interrogated and tortured Ollivander (who had been a prisoner of the Death Eaters for some time) for information. Eventually, Ollivander revealed he had heard of the rumour of Gregorovitch possessing the wand. Intrigued, Voldemort resolved to track the wand down and gain possession of it, not only to use it to defeat Harry, but also to possess the most powerful wand in the world. Harry himself saw this vision through his unique bond with Voldemort, and under his best friend Ron Weasley's suggestion, he might have been thinking about Dragomir Gorgovitch.

Voldemort kills Gregorovitch

Over the course of the next few months, Voldemort hunted Gregorovitch down, murdering a family that lived in his former residence. Voldemort inevitably found Gregorovitch, keeping him from escaping by using the Levicorpus jinx. Voldemort demanded he give him the wand, but Gregorovitch said it had been stolen from him many years ago. Enraged to have exhausted months of effort to find Gregorovitch and to find out he was not any closer to the wand, Voldemort believed he was lying, and as such performed Legilimency to confirm it. During his search through Gregorovitch's memories, Voldemort found the memory of the incident when he lost the wand. Finishing his search of Gregorovitch's mind, Voldemort immediately demanded to know who the thief was, but when Gregorovitch admitted he never found out, Voldemort, recognising he had all the information he required, ignored Gregorovitch's pleas for mercy and cast the Killing Curse on him. Gregorovitch's death was witnessed by Harry Potter through his unique link to Voldemort's mind.

Post-mortem

It later turned out that the thief was, in fact, Albus Dumbledore's one-time close friend and infamous dark wizard: a young Gellert Grindelwald. However, Gregorovitch never lived to find out about this.

Physical description

By the time of his death, Gregorovitch was described as having pure-white hair and a thick, bushy beard.

Personality and traits

Gregorovitch in his shop

Although Gregorovitch's backstory and education are not fully known, his reputation rivalling that of Ollivander indicates he was very intelligent. His boasting about owning the Elder Wand suggests naivety and/or greed while he also displayed carelessness in making it so easy for Grindelwald to steal.

Gregorovitch claimed to never have identified the Elder Wand's thief, meaning he may have remained in hiding during Grindelwald's reign or paid little attention to news or history. It is unknown if he was aware of Voldemort before the latter attacked and killed him, but he seemed genuinely terrified upon facing the Dark Lord in person.

Magical abilities and skills

• Wandmaking/Wandlore: Gregorovitch owned and operated a wand shop to highly successful standards, being at least on par with the very brilliant Ollivander, and according to some, was more skilful than even him.
• Charms: Gregorovitch was capable of conjuring at least a non-corporeal Patronus, a highly advanced piece of magic and a mark of superior magical skill, given the immense difficulty of casting the said spell.

Possessions

Gregorovitch's wand, before his acquiring and after his loss of the Elder Wand

• Gregorovitch Zauberstabe: Being a proflific Wandmaker, Gregorovitch owned and operated his own wand shop, located somewhere in Europe.
• First wand: Gregorovitch owned a wand of unknown length, wood and core before gaining ownership and mastery of the Elder Wand.
• Elder Wand: Gregorovitch gained ownership and mastery of this legendary and extremely powerful wand and also one of the Deathly Hallows. It is unknown however under what circumstances he managed to come into ownership of the Elder Wand.

Relationships

Garrick Ollivander

Garrick Ollivander, a colleague who respected Mykew.

Not much is known about the relationship between Gregorovitch and his colleague Ollivander, however Ollivander explicitly stated that he found him a good wandmaker, even if he did not like the design of Gregorovich's creations. The two agreed on the properties of hawthorn wood although they disagreed on many other fronts. This implies that they confronted their theories or that at least Ollivander read what Gregorovitch published.

Under torture, Ollivander revealed to Voldemort that there was once a rumour that Gregorovich possessed the Elder Wand, which put Voldemort on his trail and ultimately resulted in his death. It is not known if Ollivander knew of his colleague's death, but if he found out, it is likely that he felt guilty.

Etymology

Gregorovitch is derived from the given name Gregor (that would be Gregory in English), originally of Greek origin meaning "to watch, be alert". Грегорович or Gregorović (that can be Anglicised as Gregorovitch) is a rather common Slavic surname: Gregorović, as most surnames in Serbia, Bosnia, Croatia etc., was originally a patronym, meaning "son of Gregor": eventually it became a surname in the same way the Scottish "McGregor" (also meaning "son of Gregor") did.

Behind the scenes

Gregorovitch as seen in LEGO Harry Potter: Years 5-7

• Actor Rade Šerbedžija portrays Gregorovitch in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1.
• The book states that Gregorovitch has a big, bushy beard. However, photos of him for the film show him with a regular, short beard.
• The Gregorovitch wands shown in the film series all have a rugged, natural appearance and don't have separate handles but the handle is made and is part of the wand itself, as opposed to the ornately carved wands made by other Wandmakers, such as Ollivander.
• In LEGO Harry Potter: Years 5-7, Harry's visions of Voldemort searching for the Elder Wand is omitted and it only shows him finding the wand in Dumbledore's tomb. However, despite this, Gregorovitch is a playable character in all the versions of the game.
• Gregorovitch is the only known Elder Wand master that was not killed or disarmed by the wand's new master.

Appearances

• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (First mentioned)
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (First appearance) (Appears in vision(s))
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (Appears in vision(s))
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (video game) (Mentioned only)
• LEGO Harry Potter: Years 5-7
• Pottermore (Mentioned only)
• Wizarding World (Mentioned only)
• Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (film) (Mentioned on wand permit application)
• Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery (Appears on a Famous Wizard Card)