Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (spoiler question)?

Question

I was hoping that someone could maybe help me out with the whole Elder wand deal between the characters in the book. I finished the book and was still confused about malfoy getting the wand from Dumbledore because he took it, and how Harry in the end got it......


could someone please clear this up for me, I don't really understand, thanks ^_^

Answer 1

good answers all 3 above. The one thing I would add (and I think this is the hard point) is that the concept of transferring "ownership" of the wand is very theoritical. The WAND itself, when it combat, cannot be defeated; it will win every battle for it's owner. But if you defeat the owner of the wand - whether or not the wand is involved - ownership passes to you, immediately. That's why you can get it like the legend said (kill someone and steal the wand while they're sleeping) or get it just by doing a succesful disarming spell, like Draco. But you can kill someone and NOT get the wand - Snape wouldn't have gotten it even if Draco hadn't already become the posessor, because he didn't defeat dumbledore, even though he killed him (he killed him on his orders, remember.) And you can be the owner/master of the elder wand without having it in your possession, like Draco and like Harry.


It's been broken down already but here's my take on it:

Dumbledore = owner of Elder Wand
Draco does "expelliarmus" (remember Dumbledore had just done petrificus totalus on harry and Draco caught him right then).
Draco's spell is succesful; Ownership Transfers.
Draco = owner of elder wand
WAND stays WITH Dumbledore's body, even though magical "ownership" means it's Dracos.
So the next two things don't impact AT ALL:
Snape kills Dumbledore (doesn't matter, the wand has already been defeated and transferred to Draco)
Voldemort steals wand from Dumbledore's tomb (doesn't matter, because wand is still Draco's - voldemort would have had to steal it from Draco for this to work)

Then Harry disarms Draco. it doesn't matter to the Elder wand that a different wand was disarmed! what matters is that Draco was defeated and disarmed by Harry. The Elder Wand is Harrys until Harry himself is disarmed or killed by someone.

Elder Wand=Harry's

But Voldemort HAS it = doesn't matter to the Elder Wand

Then Harry Performs expelliarmous on Voldemort. The wand obeys it's master and goes straight to Harry. Harry now owns AND has in his hand the elder wand.

To break the spell, Harry must die a natural death, never having lost the wand to expelliarmous. If he does (and that's his plan) the wand cannot transfer it's power to anyone and loses it's power because now it's true master is dead.

Answer 2

1. When the Death Eaters attacked Hogwarts at the end of HBP, Malfoy burst in on Dumbledore and used the disarming spell, which Dumbledore could not parry, being close the death from the potion he had to drink. By so doing, Draco Malfoy defeated Dumbledore and so won the loyalty of the wand.

2. When Harry and Ron rescued Hermione in Malfoy Manor, Harry attacked Draco and took his wand. When that happened, Harry won the loyalty of both the wand he physically took and any other wand that considered Malfoy its master--that is, the Elder Wand.

It took a long time for Harry to figure this out, but the hint was there in Voldemort's dissatisfaction with the performance of the wand.

wl

Answer 3

Many wizards, including Voldemort, believed that the Elder Wand could change to a new owner only with the death of the previous owner. Most men went to great lengths to obtain the Elder Wand, killing the wandholder being the most popular. This is not true though, as simply taking the wand moves it's ownership. We see this when Grindelwald takes Gregorovitch's wand.

Here is the plot breakdown:

Draco disarms Dumbledore, taking his wand from him, in Half-Blood Prince. This makes Draco the rightful owner of the Elder Wand, as he took it from the previous wandholder.

In Deathly Hallows, Harry disarms Draco at Malfoy Manor, taking his "old" wand. Draco does not have the Elder Wand, as we know. Neither Harry or Draco realize it, but Draco is the true possesser of the Elder Wand, and Harry disarming Draco transfers the ownership.

Voldemort believes Snape to be the holder of the Elder Wand, seeing as Snape killed Dumbledore. But Snape did not take Dumbledore's wand.

At the Final Battle, after Voldemort (tear) kills Snape, he believes the wand is now his. Harry calls for the Elder Wand. Harry realized that it was his ever since Malfoy Manor.

Hope this helped! I'm half-asleep, it's the most coherent manner I can get the story across :).

Edit: Just for clarification, seeing as my answer was missing something, according to someone...

"Ownership" of the Elder Wand is obtained by besting the wandholder. Most wizards viewed death as the only way of getting it. We find out in Hallows that dissarming in battle can also. Both of these methods result in the holder of the Elder Wand being "bested". As a mentioned before, Grindelwald obtains the wand by breaking into Gregorovitch's cottage and stealing it, so no real magic is needed to "best" your opponent. You could poke the wandholder in the eye and physically take the wand and it would be yours.

Answer 4

Ok, so before Dumbledore was killed in the 6th book, Malfoy used Expelliarmus on Dumbledore, so that's how it came to be in Malfoy's possession because you don't need to actually kill the owner of the wand to gain the power and right to use it.

Then, Harry ended up defeating Malfoy in the 7th book in the Malfoys' house, which is how he got Malfoy's actual wand, but in the process, he also gained the right to use the Elder Wand because it also happened to belong to Malfoy without anyone knowing, even Malfoy himself.

Answer 5

Malfoy defeated Dumbledor when he disarmed him before Snape killed him, so then the wand belonged to him. Then Harry bested Malfoy when he disarmed him (I think it was in the Malfoys house) thus the wands ownership transferred to Harry.