Various comments/ponderings/questions on Voldemort and his wand (really long!)

Tue Aug 20 02:33:36 UTC 2002

No: HPFGUIDX 42929

I've been doing a good deal of thinking about Voldemort and his wand.  Most of this has probably been discussed, but I'm bringing it together here.  I've got a good many questions/thoughts, but they're all sort of related.  I'll try to keep it logically sequenced and not get ahead of myself (ha!).  Be prepared, it's rather lengthy.  Oh, by the way, nothing to do with Latin here. :)

1) First, let's go back to the night Lily and James were killed.  Who took Voldemort's wand from the scene?  Voldemort has said himself that he was torn from his body and could not hold a wand in order to perform any spell to help himself, so it can't be him. As I see it there are two possibilites.  a) Someone was with him and took the wand as he fled after Voldemort was vaporized (for lack of a better word).  b) Someone went to the house (probably before Hagrid arrived as he said he got Harry out just before the Muggles starting swarming the place) and found the wand and took it then.  Logically speaking I'd say for now the first is more likely, due to a couple of things.  One being that finding a wand in all that mess would've been like finding a needle in a haystack.  Unless you can "accio wand" or something.  Second, if someone on Voldemort's side had come wouldn't they have done something about Harry?  Either kill him or steal him, surely.

2) So if someone *did* take the wand, who?  I'll operate on the premis that it was taken by someone already present.  The most logical person to be there would be Wormtail, as he was the secret keeper.  But whether he grabbed it and ran or whatever, if it were him he must've hidden it someplace immediately.  Or else he'd have still had it when he was cornered by Sirius and turned himself into a rat and went into hiding for the next 12 years.  Other possibilities?  Help?  Snape perhaps, if he were there?  But if it were him he'd almost have to be double crossing Dumbledore.  Lucius?  He has all sorts of dark art things he hides anyway, though I don't see how he could've gotten it back to Voldemort.  

3) Who killed Cedric Diggory?  I get the impression, though Harry's not looking for us to know (blinding pain from his scar, wand slips from his hand, knees buckle and he hits the ground), that it was Voldemort with the "high cold voice" saying "Kill the spare."  And Wormtail was the second voice screeching "Avada Kedavra."  But why?  Voldemort says he killed Bertha Jorkins (he's got his ugly baby body [whatever] by now) and we know he killed Frank Bryce.  Why not Cedric Diggory?  He could hold the wand by now, I just found it odd.  Not sure what that means, if anything.

4) Jumping ahead a few years, to GoF graveyard scene--prior incantatum.  Does light always come from a wand when performing a spell?  It's not usually mentioned.  Except there's always a green light with AK.  And in the dueling club when Snape shouts Expelliarmus there's a *flash* of scarlet light.  Back to the graveyard scene, Harry shouts "Expelliarmus" as Voldemort shouts "Avada Kedavra" and a red light comes from Harry's wand, it meets the green light from Voldemort's and becomes *gold.*  Get it?  Red/gold=Gryffindor?  Is there a meaning there?  Is that why the priori incantatum starts on Voldemort's wand and not Harrys?  If it had met and become *silver* what would have happened?  Would spells have come out of Harry's wand?  How does the priori incantatum choose which wand to work with?  Does it look at the spells just cast?  Expelliarmus being a defensive spell and AK being aggressive?  Or was Harry's leg locker and jelly legs stuff a bit boring?

5) More Priori Incantatum.  Okay, we start with the very last spell performed.  Why don't the Cruciatus curses Voldemort kept doing to Harry come out as anything?    First thing we get is the hand for Wormtail.  I would assume only dead people come out, but there's that hand, which throws that off.  Then you've got Frank Bryce, Bertha Jorkins, then straight to Lily and James.  Why isn't there anything for the failed AK?  It blasts back at Voldemort, so I'd almost expect something from Voldemort to come out.  But there's nothing at all.  No lightning bolt, no bright light, no Voldemort/ Riddle--nothing.  This could mean one of two things.  a) No one was actually killed so nothing came, but this doesn't make sense since the Wormtail's silver hand came out.  b) Voldemort used a different wand.

6) Let me expound for a moment on the "different wand" theory.  Someone (no idea who, sorry) mentioned a while back something to the effect of a wand being "overheated" such that it couldn't perform too many AK's back to back.  All right, so Voldemort grabs another wand.  Who is there with a wand?  Let's take a couple of guesses.  a) Wormtail, if he's around.  Voldemort could've changed wands with him which would've gotten Voldemort's wand from the scene anyway.  Then Voldemort could've tried to AK Harry with Wormtail's wand.  b) Any other misc. death eater who may have been hanging out there.  c) Lily or James' wand.  How horrible could it be to kill someone's baby with their own wand?  If it were Lily's, could this be part of the ancient magic?  Something done to her wand?  Here's where it gets fuzzy, stay with me here.  *If* (big if here) the scene in the film is accurate, it took Lily a few seconds to die.  Not long, right?  But for an AK, an eternity.  IF this is remotely accurate (big if, I know, but possible) she was somehow fighting the AK.  For what?  It added to her pain.  That would mean she didn't just die, but suffered doing it.  Perhaps *this* could "overheat" a wand.  So Voldemort can't use his wand to AK Harry, unless he stands around waiting for it to "cool down" which wouldn't be smart.  So instead he grabs Lily's wand, which is lying around somewhere and tries to AK Harry.  But it backfires and he is pratically AK'd himself.  Torn from his body at least.  Since we do know that a wand can backfire (Ron's spellotaped wand) it's a remote possibility.  I'm picturing an AK coming from *Lily's* wand to *Lily's* baby and saying "Nope, not gonna do it," and bouncing back.  Yep, far fetched. 

However, that still doesn't take care of the "how Voldemort's wand got out of the Potter house" question, so Wormtail's is probably a better bet.  If another wand was used.

Well, I think I've covered it all.  I do, however, have nothing better to do at the moment then come up with far fetched ideas.  Which I've done a fine job of, I do believe. :) 

Richelle

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Richelle R. Votaw
1st grade teacher
Kentwood Elementary
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