Snape and the Elder Wand

[Nina Jackson]

I have tried to post this on the "Snape" discussion, but it doesn't seem to be coming through. So I'm sorry if I've ended up posting it several times. Anyway...

I just finished the book and I'm so excited to be able to share with others!
I reread books 1-6 to prepare, and as I was reading book six I thought that maybe Snape WAS a "good guy" and that he was just staying deep under cover. It occurred to me that maybe Dumbledore was pleading for Snape to kill him, not save him, and then Snape didn't kill Harry before leaving... But when he gave Voldemort the real plan for moving Harry I figured I was wrong. I loved reading all of Snape's memories and how it all came together.

I had trouble understanding about the Elder Wand, but a friend explained it this way:

"
I was very confused about the Elder Wand but here is how I have finally come to understand its progression. Bear with me as it's a little complicated:

1. Grindewald steals the Elder Wand from Gregorovitch. Grindewald then stuns Gregorovitch. The wand transfers allegiance because Grindewald 'won' the wand in this way and Gregorovitch never recovered it.

2. Dumbledore defeats Grindewald and obtains the elder wand (we're not told how, but it doesn't matter).

3. In book 6, Draco disarms Dumbledore on top of the lightning struck tower. Dumbledore is too weak and feeble at this point to get it back so the wand considers this a defeat and recognises Draco as its master. Draco doesn't know about the Elder Wand so the wand is buried with Dumbledore.

4. Voldemort breaks into Dumbledore's tomb and steals the Elder Wand but does not win its allegiance because he has not defeated Draco. He later believes Snape was master of the EW because Dumbledore had planned for Snape to get it (if Snape had killed Dumbledore before Draco disarmed Dumbledore he would not have won the wand because Dumbledore had asked Snape to kill him. So Snape would not have defeated Dumbledore and the wand would have died out then and there).

5. Harry and Draco have a fist fight and Harry steals Draco's wand. I was really confused about how this made Harry master of the Elder wand also, but I think it is because the Elder wand recognised the WAND that defeated it (Harry was using the wand he got from Draco) and thus Harry, because he was master of the wand that conquered the elder wand, was also master of the Elder Wand. I think this is why Harry dying a natural death should make the wand's legacy end. He's not going to lose it if someone disarms him either because the elder wand will not recognise harry's holly and phoenix feather wand as its master (the phoenix wand was never involved in conquering the elder wand) or because Harry will be able to recover his wand and regain the elder wand's allegiance (ie. Teaching his children 'expelliarmus' won't transfer the wand to them.)"

[Nancy Edwards]

I was confused too when I tried to figure out how this wand-transfer works. Thanks for clarifying it. Now I can speak intelligently to those kids who already had it figured out ..big grin!

[Deborah Stafford]

I have been puzzling over this as well. The part that still puzzles me is this;

Voldemort apparently didn't know that Dumbledore had the Elder Wand or he would have made SURE that Snape or Draco got the wand after killing him, or would have been there to kill him, himself. It seems to me that voldemort figured out who had the wand then went to steal it, then figured out the thing with Snape.

I wondered if what Harry told V at the last was a ploy to put V off a little bit?

[Nina Jackson]

But Voldemort didn't figure it out until he found Grindewald. He didn't even care about the Elder Wand until he found out about the twin cores and then found that even someone else's wand didn't work.

I don't think Harry was using a ploy, although he probably did hope the news would shake Voldemort up a bit.

[Karen Manassa-Walstein]

The whole time I was reading book 7, I kept referring to Wikipedia. Now I'm not a true fan of Wikipedia but it was wonderful for helping me understand horcruxes, deathly hallows, elder wands, Death Eaters and even Harry Potter's family tree. (he's a distant cousin of Voldermort).