[HPforGrownups] Why the wand worked for Dumbledore

[Deborah Krupp]

No: HPFGUIDX 172836



Lee Kaiwen <leekaiwen at yahoo.com> wrote:                                  Deborah Krupp blessed us with this gem On 26/07/2007 02:27:
 
 > Grindelwald was not the true master of the Elder wand, because he did 
 > not win it, he stole it.


 I believe what JKR wrote was that the wand must be "captured" from its 
 previous owner. Whether "capture" is limited to defeat in battle, or 
 extends to theft is left as an exercise for the reader.


Deborah here:
Sorry, Lee, you've given me credit for Kim's gem.  Mine was further down the page in response to Kim's thought "I'm still trying to figure out how it  became Dumbledore's true wand.  I'm sure he won it from Grindelwald, but since Grindelwald stole it, things can't be that simple."

I quoted canon, giving Dumbledore's explanation of why the wand did work for him, essentially, because he wanted it only to prevent others from using it wrongly and brought up the parallel with Harry and the philosopher's stone coming from the Mirror of Erised.

As to whether stealing the wand works to transfer ownership of the wand, that seems to be relatively open and in some way up to the wand itself.  The wand has a long history of owners, and presumably it was transferred at least some of the time through duels or having been stolen.  It seems the more pure the reason to own it, the better it accepts the master, but maybe it is my deluded idealism still trying to believe this world is good.  We know Dumbledore was the master of the wand, and it worked well for him, and his intent was pure - to save others from the wand.  It also seems to work for Harry, who never wanted it, but only wanted Voldemort not to have it, and when given the option chose not to keep it for himself or allow anyone else to be corrupted by its power.

         



       
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