Olivander and an Uber-wand

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 165631

Dondee wrote:
> My sister today told me of her new theory as to why Ollivander
> disappeared and I thought I'd share it with you...
> 
> We know that LV will have trouble using his wand against Harry's in
the future because they share Fawkes' feathers. We know Ollivander is
the "best" wand maker acording to Arthur Weasley and that he only
works with phoenix feathers, unicorn hairs, and dragon heart strings.
JKR has stated that Harry, Ron and Hermionie's wands make a
triumvirate of power because they each contain one of the three cores.
> 
> My sis wonders if Ollivander was taken for the purpose of creating a
> new wand for LV that would contain all three cores as a kind of
Uber-wand. <snip> 

> 
Carol responds:
I've never heard the "uberwand" theory before, but others have
suggested that Ollivander was kidnapped to force him to create a new
wand for LV to prevent the Priori Incantatem/brother wand effect.

I disagree for multiple reasons. For one thing, all Voldemort has to
do is disarm Harry or have a DE disarm him and the whole brother-wand
effect is a moot point. He had no trouble Crucioing Harry in the
graveyard. The only thing he couldn't do was Imperio him (not a result
of the wand he was using, any more than being unable to possess him in
OoP relates to the wand).

Also, the wands JKR has chosen for Harry and Voldie are highly
symbolic, as I noted in my Christmas FILK, "The Holly and the Yew
Wood." Harry's wand is holly (associated with Christmas and
symbolizing the resurrection of Christ) and Phoenix feather
(symbolizing immortality, rebirth, and renewal) and Voldemort's is yew
(symbolizing immortality, transformation, and rebirth) and the same
Phoenix feather core. The wand is the emblem of Voldemort's quest for
earthly immortality (as opposed to the eternal spiritual life beyond
the Veil, which he fears above all things, viewing death as the end of
everything rather than "the next great adventure"). The chief
difference between these two wands, both symbolizing immortality and
eternal life, is that Harry's is associated with Christianity and
therefore with the eternal life of the soul, whereas Voldemort's is,
ironically, made of a wood so poisonous that the breathing the dust
from sanding or cutting the wood can poison the woodworker (Ollivander
must have had to take magical precautions in preparing this particular
wand. Why he would make it at all since a wand associated with both
death and rebirth would surely choose only a Dark wizard obsessed with
immortality is beyond me, especially if Ollivander is an ally of
Dumbledore's as he seems to be.)

Although Harry's wand appears to be quite powerful, Voldemort's seems
even more so (thirteen-and-a-half inches as opposed to eleven inches,
if size matters). He is, next to Dumbledore, the most powerful wizard
in the WW--and the most powerful *Dark* wizard for a century (more so
than Grindelwald, apparently). The yew-and-Phoenix-feather wand
*chose* Tom Riddle, presumably sensing both his power and his
obsession with immortality, just as its "brother" chose Harry
(apparently sensing some connection with Voldemort, whether his powers
or, heaven forfend, a soul bit, or merely his destiny as Voldemort's
nemesis, we don't know). The conflict between the brother wands is,
IMO, symbolic of the conflict between their owners.

Ollivander expects "great things" from Harry based on the wand that
chose him, noting that "He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named did great
things--terrible, yes, but great" (SS Am. ed. 85) with its brother.
(Does Ollivander know about the Horcruxes? What else would qualify as
"terrible but great"?) It seems likely that Voldemort would want to
keep the wand that helped him achieve "greatness." Just as Harry is
fond of his own wand, thinking that it's not the wand's fault that
it's related to Voldemort's any more than he can help being related to
Aunt Petunia, Voldemort also appears to be fond of his wand, as he is
of "dear Nagini": "Voldemort slipped one of those unaturally
long-fingered hands into a deep pocket and drew out a wand. He
caressed it gently too" (he has just finished examining his hands with
a "rapt and exultant" expression) GoF Am. ed. (644). The wand he's
caressing is the same one that he used to kill Harry's parents and the
other victims who later come out of it (including Cedric--though how
the wand got into Voldemort's pocket after Wormtail used it on Cedric
is unclear. Did he use a different wand, his own, to summon the bits
of bone for the potion? He ran off without a wand in PoA.) Voldemort's
wand is also, clearly, the same one that killed his parents earlier,
the same wand that created the Horcruxes, the brother to Harry's wand,
as we see in the Priori Incantatem effect.

Would Voldemort give up the powerful wand that helped him rise to
power and (apparently) helped resurrect him, the wand with the
powerful symbolism of yew and Phoenix feather, just because it's the
"brother" to Harry's wand? I doubt it seriously. He'll just find a way
to get around that effect, preferably disarming Harry, giving him
another taste of the Cruciatus Curse that the wand performs so
effectively before killing him.

Carol, who thinks that all this symbolism would be thrown away if
Voldemort were to replace the powerful yew-and-phoenix-feather wand
with which he has done so many great but terrible things