Who WAS the True Master of the Elder Wand?

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 183959

> Carol responds:
> 
> I don't think that counts as the wand failing voldemort. It served
its purpose--killing a lot of people in his wrath--and *he* certainly
> never thought (or Harry would have known), "The wand failed me! It
> should have killed him through the door!" 


Pippin:
Of course he didn't think in the middle of a temper tantrum! But this
is supposed to be the Deathstick, the WW's premier killing machine,
the wand with a long and bloody history, and though it did kill a
number of people, it did so no more efficiently than Voldemort's old
wand. The wand "rose and fell, and rose and fell" (quoting from
memory) -- that's horrific, but  any wand can kill people one at a
time. That's not the stuff of which legends are born. The door's just
the icing on the cake. That Bella and Lucius could escape at all,
without even deflecting a spell to draw them back, is as telling. 

We don't get the  history that Ollivander gave Voldemort, so
Dumbledore's use of the wand is the only demonstration of its true
powers that we have. I don't think we're supposed to recall all of
Dumbledore's magic, I think we're supposed to go back and look at it.
It's quite instructive to re-read Dumbledore's battles. Even Harry can
tell that unusual magic is at work. He can feel it.
 
Carol:
but Voldemort himself doesn't start thinking about the wand's
supposedly not doing his bidding until more than a month later 

Pippin:
Exactly. Not until he kills with it does Voldemort have evidence that
the wand is not doing all it should. But he has to go and check on his
horcruxes first.

Carol:
> Carol, who still thinks that this part of the storyline is
> unconvincing and serves no purpose except to get Snape killed

Pippin:
You mean, JKR was deliberately clumsy? I mean, why bother to give
Voldemort an unconvincing reason to kill Snape? No reason at all would
do as well. But Harry had to have some reason to start thinking that
*he* might be the master of the Elder Wand, without it being so
obvious that the reader would get there first. 

Pippin