CHapter 1: A History Of Duelling
Chapter 2: Famous spells
Chapter 3: Spells in duels
Chapter 4: Famous duels
 
 

Duelling came along with the coming of man thousands of years ago. It is believed from thousand year old cave drawings that even cave wizards with their primitive stone and wood wands participated in duels. Duels were performed only by males and were used to determine which cave wizard was more adept to lead the tribe.

As man evolved, both men and women were allowed to duel but only those of noble blood or those who were granted special permission by the powers that be. Egyptian hieroglyphics tell of Egyptian servants, with special permission of course. duelling  to entertain the Pharaohs and royalty. All royalty was expected to know how to duel if ever they needed to defend the throne. The Egyptians were the first to allow slaves to learn to duel as they felt threatened by the rise of Julius Caesar and wanted all their people to be in a position to defend the land if necessary.

Slaves and commoners were allowed freedom to duel until medieval times. In France as muggle duelling (done with metal swords) became more violent and common, the state saw their country losing more and more young, able men to this form of social retribution. In time of war and instabilities,  France simply could not afford to lose so many young men over silly disputes over land, women, and drink. All forms of duelling bacame illegal. Duelling would become punished by death in France until the Revolution. After the revolution, as the people reclaimed their rights and country, duelling returned. Although, since the country now believed in liberty, fraternity, and equality, all duelling was amateur and any wizard who killed their duelling partner, even by accident, would be killed on the spot.

Duelling in the Americas goes all the way back to its natives. In both north and south America, native wizard duelling was encouraged in native tribes but always remained amateur. Natives did not believe in killing their own. Duels were done in order to perform complicated magic for show and practice for times of confrontation. Children were also encouraged to duel in order to practice their magic, but were closely supervised by elders. When two rival tribes would meet, the tribe leaders would duel. The winner of the duel would have the right to appropriate the rival tribe’s riches: women, warriors, treasure, land...basically the whole tribe became theirs. Usually those in the vanquished tribe would join the victorious tribe and become servants.

With the oncoming of colonisation came then exchanges between native colonies and the European colonizers. This is by far the most important historic point in magical history. Not only did the natives and Europeans exchange in goods, but they also exchanged in magic. The peoples of Europe had the most powerful wands for there was a larger variety of magical creatures in Europe, wood types, and wand makers than anywhere else in the known world. On the other hand, the people of Africa, and the Americas had the most powerful magic. The people of the colonies were not only great wizards and witches but were especially specialized in channelling their magical energy through things other than wands such as staffs (Native Americans) and dolls (Africans). It is a well known fact that without a wand, one can perform but little and unfocussed magic yet in the tribes of Africa and America at the time of colonisation, wizards performed greatly complex magic with both precision and skill without the use of wands. Unfortunately, due to colonisation and exchanges, this great skill of magic without wands has been all but lost as the Natives eventually left behind their old magical practices for the simplicity and convenience of the European wands. So how is this the greatest moment of magic history? Well, simply put, when the powerful magic of the natives was performed with the powerful wands of the colonizers, the wizarding world took a giant leap forward. The African and American Natives were more than happy to teach their magical skills to the colonizers. Although the natives did not believe in harming their own, that would not stop the Europeans. Back home, duelling was once again in vogue and extremely deadly as wizards and witches were itching to witness the effects of the spells from the  “colonies”  such as the “Spirit Burn”. Many wizards and witches who committed crimes and would normally have been sent to a wizard prison  were often used in “demonstrations” of native magic. Few survived these public exhibitions.

So as we can see, duelling has been part of wizard life for as long as there have been wizards. On every continent, in every culture, duelling has been a key element of wizard identity. The famous dueller, Matinho Desrivus (1789-1893) summed it up best when he said, “ If you end your life without ever having raised your wand in battle, that would make you a noble man, but not a true wizard!”