D-G duel/House Elves/Krum/Sirius-Gryffindor/Slytherin/Shadow/Snape/Marietta

[urghiggi]

No: HPFGUIDX 175802

Catlady:
> My own idea as to how DD could defeat the wizard with the unbeatable
> wand is: he cheated. I'm not sure how he could cheat: if the
> Deathstick doesn't bother to defend against spells it considers
> harmless and non-combat, could DD have figured out how to use such a
> spell in combat? Vanishing the earth out from under GG's feet so that
> GG fell down a hole? Flinging a potted Devil's Snare at him?
> 

Julie H:
See, there is no way to make this make logical sense without a lot of mental gymnastics 
that disguise the shakiness of the plotline. This plotline simply cannot be made to make 
logical sense with the amount of information we've been provided in canon. Now, maybe 
one of these days someone will ask JKR "how did Dumbledore defeat Grindelwald in a duel 
if Grindelwald had the Elder Wand?" (And yeah, I think it IS supposed to be unbeatable -- 
or why all the hoo haa over the years? If it's just a "really good wand" ... the whole drama 
and mystique of the thing falls apart, and the temptation of HP to pursue it is hollow.) 
Maybe JKR has a completely logical answer... but it's not in the book that I can see.

As for the theory that it recognized Draco's wand as the one that had beaten it -- and 
recognized that wand later in HP's hand -- fair enough, that works for DH. But it doesn't 
necessarily work in the murder cases discussed by Xeno Lovegood, including the original 
story where it changed hands via a throat-slitting but apparently transferred its allegiance 
to the throat slitter (again, no wand in use).

It is convenient of course to say "well, yeah, that was all legend, not really reflective of the 
facts of how this wand works." But when the modern-day "facts" are so muddled and thin 
on the ground ... then we're just back to the old "mysterious and complex" summation of 
Ollivander....

Julie H, chicago