As a longtime fan of the Harry Potter series, I must say that the journey of the Elder Wand throughout the saga is nothing short of captivating. From Dumbledore’s mastery to Voldemort’s obsession, it’s a tale as old as time – or at least, as old as the wizarding world.
As a hardcore Harry Potter gamer, I’ve always been captivated by the mystical magical artifacts that fill the wizarding world. However, it wasn’t until “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” book and movie that I came face-to-face with three legendary magical items like no other. The Deathly Hallows themselves, a trio of enchanted objects, are said to be mere myths by many wizards. But they’re real, and they include:
In simpler terms, we can trace much of Harry Potter’s magical artifacts back to an old wizarding family called the Peverells. The Cloak that Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) gets at age eleven is linked to his ancestor Ignotus, a member of this family. The Resurrection Stone was originally owned by Cadmus, another Peverell sibling, and later passed down through the Gaunt clan, with Tom Riddle (the future Dark Lord) being one of its descendants. Now, let’s discuss the wand – according to ancient wizarding legends, it belonged to the eldest brother Antioch Peverell. This family story can be found in a famous magical children’s book. So, how did this wand end up with Albus Dumbledore, headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry (portrayed by Richard Harris and later Michael Gambon after Harris’ passing in 2002)? We need to explore its history within the wizarding world.
What is the Elder Wand in the Harry Potter books and movies?
According to “The Tale of the Three Brothers” from “The Tales of Beedle the Bard,” the origins of the Elder Wand are shrouded in mystery and violence. The story goes that three brothers, attempting to cross a treacherous river, employed magic to surmount the hazard, enraging Death himself. In response, Death offered each brother a reward for defeating him; Antioch sought an invincible wand but was killed by another wizard using a knife after boasting about it in a tavern, and Cadmus took his own life following the use of the Resurrection Stone to create a ghostly image of the girl he adored. Ignotus, the third brother, requested the Cloak to evade Death until he was ready to depart on his own terms. Thus, the narrative of the Elder Wand suggests that it is an incredibly perilous artifact that may well lead to your demise.
Ignoring the theory that Death might have crafted these magical artifacts, we might instead consider that Antioch could have made the wand, fashioned from elder wood with a Thestral hair core, on his own. As Xenophilius Lovegood, portrayed by Rhys Ifans in the book and movie “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,” explains, this wand left a “gruesome history” and was once possessed by notorious wizards like Emeric the Evil and Godelot (author of “Magick Moste Evile”), among others. However, its journey eventually leads it to Albus Dumbledore; but that story has its own intricacies.
Who did Dumbledore beat to get the Elder Wand?
Here’s one thing we do know for sure about the Elder Wand: at a certain point in wizarding history, it was possessed by the famous wandmaker Gregorovitch, who gets name-dropped in “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” (he made the wand of Stanislav Yanevski’s famous Quidditch player and Triwizard Tournament champion for Durmstrang, Viktor Krum). Unfortunately for quite literally everybody, a young thief named Gellert Grindelwald steals the wand from Gregorovitch and goes on to become the pre-eminent dark wizard of his time (basically, Grindelwald walked so that Voldemort, played in his final form by Ralph Fiennes, could run).
In the world of Harry Potter, Grindelwald and a young Dumbledore shared a friendship and, it seems, a romantic relationship. However, when Grindelwald turned to darkness, Dumbledore confronted him in a duel in 1945. This legendary encounter saw Dumbledore defeating Grindewald, thereby gaining control of the Elder Wand. The unique feature of this wand is that it chooses its wielder, and it changes hands if one wizard defeats another. Since Dumbledore wasn’t typically a fighter, he challenged Grindelwald to protect the wizarding world from impending tyranny and atrocities. Upon gaining the Elder Wand, it experienced a brief period of peace. However, when Dumbledore passed away in “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,” chaos ensued once more, and the wand was stolen from his tomb.
The Harry Potter Elder Wand timeline is really confusing
In the middle of “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,” during the conclusion of the first movie that split the extensive narrative into two parts, Voldemort manages to break into Dumbledore’s tomb and unabashedly takes the Elder Wand. With this action, he gains control over the wand as he resolves to finally eliminate Harry Potter permanently. However, Voldemort is left disappointed when seizing the wand from Dumbledore’s tomb had no effect; the wand was already owned by someone who was still alive.
After realizing that the wand wasn’t performing as well as he expected, Voldemort focuses his attention on Severus Snape, whom he considers his most devoted servant. Since Snape was responsible for Dumbledore’s death in “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,” Voldemort mistakenly believes that the wand actually belongs to Snape, so he feels compelled to eliminate him to truly claim it. However, as Harry reveals at the end of the book, Voldemort is dead wrong. Snape and Dumbledore had orchestrated Dumbledore’s “death” — the former headmaster was already gravely ill and would have died soon regardless — so Dumbledore was never truly defeated by Snape. Instead, it was Slytherin student Draco Malfoy (Tom Felton) who had disarmed Dumbledore before Snape arrived on the scene. Draco maintained control of the Elder Wand until Harry disarmed him in “Deathly Hallows,” and when Voldemort attempts to cast a Killing Curse with a wand that isn’t his, it backfires, ultimately leading to Voldemort’s demise.
Who’s the last Harry Potter character to get the Elder Wand and where is it now?
After Voldemort is vanquished, it is Harry who rightfully claims mastery over the Elder Wand and becomes the only one to possess all three Deathly Hallows. In the story, Harry employs the Resurrection Stone prior to Voldemort’s first “killing” blow against him, which unexpectedly destroys the Horcrux dwelling within Harry; the Cloak remains in his possession. Interestingly, Harry makes two contrasting decisions in the book and movie, but the choice made in the novel is more logical.
In the film, Daniel Radcliffe’s character Harry, in a moment of impulse, breaks his wand in half and throws it into a chasm. This action fulfills its purpose, but since we don’t witness Harry mending his wand himself, it leaves the conclusion feeling less satisfying compared to the book. Regardless, following their final confrontation where Voldemort perishes, the ‘bloody trail’ associated with the Elder Wand ceases to exist.
The “Harry Potter” movies are streaming on Peacock now.
Read More
Sorry. No data so far.
2024-12-01 22:30