Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Questions
I finished reading the last Harry Potter book early this morning. I have a few questions about it, particularly in regard to the Elder Wand.
1. How was Dumbledore able to best Grindelwald in a duel when the latter was in possession of the Elder Wand at the time?
2. How was Bellatrix able to deflect a spell from Dumbledore in Order of the Phoenix when Dumbledore had the Elder Wand?
3. If Voldemort took some of Harry's blood to aid in his physical revival in Goblet of Fire, thereby taking into himself some of Lily Potter's protective charm, how did a Killing Curse kill Voldemort when it couldn't kill Harry? Was it because all of Voldemort's Horcruxes had been destroyed by that point?
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Shatbat
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I don't know much about how the Elder Wand works and whether it is truly unbeatable. One of the running theories is that it is not *truly* unbeatable, just a very powerful one. Supported by one part in Harry's dream when Dumbledore mentioned that the three brothers were not more than very accomplished wizard, and the "Death" part was just legend. So that would help explain the first two.
And the protective charm protects Harry, not Voldemort. The fact that Voldemort had Lily's blood meant Voldemort could never kill Harry, but the opposite wasn't true (and in fact, Voldemort ended up killing himself anyway) I do wonder when did Dumbledore realize this; in the goblet of fire it is mentioned how his expression changed to that of a very old man when hearing the news, but later on in the dream he says he had foreseen this possibility.
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To build may have to be the slow and laborious task of years. To destroy can be the thoughtless act of a single day. - Winston Churchill
I think the Elder Wand is not unbeatable but just very powerful. Voldemort didn't kill Harry, really. If I remember correctly what happened was that the wand refused to kill its true owner and the spell went back and killed Voldemort instead. I remember Harry telling Voldemort to give him back his wand and explaining that Malfoy defeated Dumbledore before Snape killed him, so it was Voldemort the one using the Elder Wand. I think Dumbledore realized that in Goblet of Fire. Harry said that he saw a gleam of triumph in Dumbledore's eyes, but then thought perhaps he had imagined it.
The one of the three Hallows I found most interesting was actually the Stone. Like in an episode of Sabrina the Teenage Witch, when her aunts gave her a reanimation card for Halloween.
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"Of all God's creatures, there is only one that cannot be made slave of the leash. That one is the cat. If man could be crossed with the cat it would improve the man, but it would deteriorate the cat." - Mark Twain
Shatbat
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Joined: 19 Feb 2012
Age: 32
Gender: Male
Posts: 5,791
Location: Where two great rivers meet
That a character in the book states something does not necessarily mean it is actually so. The Elder Wand ss the stuff of legends. I don't have access to the book right now, it will take me a few hours until I do, but somewhere, someone talks about the Hallows and mentions how the Invisibility Cloak won't actually hide you from Death, it is just a very good cloak that doesn't fade or fail like the others. Something similar can be said of the Elder Wand.
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To build may have to be the slow and laborious task of years. To destroy can be the thoughtless act of a single day. - Winston Churchill
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