Mistakes made in Deathly Hallows? The Elder Wand

[Beatrice23]

No: HPFGUIDX 181495

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "hp_fan_2008" <falkeli at ...> 
wrote:
>
> bdclark0423:
> > Mistakes made in Deathly Hallows?
> > 
> > The Elder Wand:  a wand that must always win duels for its owner.
> > 
> > Dumbledore recounts to Harry the events with Grindelwald and this
> seems contradiction to what describes the Elder Wand: he knew that 
the
> two were evenly matched, with perhaps himself a shade more 
skillful. 
> I won the duel. I won the wand.
> > 
> > So if the Elder Wand must always win duels for its owner, how did
> Grindelwald lose the wand to DD?

Beatrice23:  Is it that the Elder Wand is truly unbeatable?  Or is 
this part of the mythology/lore of the object itself?  Certainly the 
wand is given the label of being "unbeatable."  But is has passed 
from one owner to another for...well, centuries apparently.  This 
means that no owner has died of natural causes, yet.  So saying it is 
undefeatable is hyperbole or perhaps just a slight exaggeration. 

Perhaps it is better to say that the wand is undefeatable, not the 
master of the wand.  Therefore the master of the wand can make a 
mistake.  He could perhaps hesitate as Grinwauld might when faced 
with injuring his old friend.  Or might be taken unaware as 
Dumbledore is at the top of the tower (although I guess we can say 
that Dumbledore chose to save Harry at the cost of his own life).  
What I am trying to say here is that the wizard can make a mistake, 
but if the wizard commands the wand correctly then he and the wand 
are unbeatable.  

I guess we should also think about the lore of the other objects, 
too.  The ring is supposed to "bring back the dead."  But DD tells us 
that no spell can bring back the dead.  And in fact, while the ring 
can bring the bearer into contact with the dead, the dead will long 
to be, well, dead again.  So are they really "brought back?"  Or is 
it just that the bearer can try to hold on to them for his own 
selfish reason?  They can't really live.  They only exist with the 
bearer of the ring not independent from him/her.  EG.  as soon as 
Harry drops the ring his parents, et al begin to fade away.

Also, Harry's cloak.  Certainly, as Harry realizes, it is the best of 
the three objects, but it even has some vulnerability.  The real 
Moody and the fake Moody can see through it with their magical eye.

I don't think that JKR made a logical mistake here.  Just that wand 
lore / wand ownership is incredibly complex.  It isn't straight 
forward at all.  Think about this for instance:  If Draco had not 
disarmed DD, then Snape would have won the wand as DD intended.  BUT, 
if this had happened then Voldemort would have won the wand when he 
killed Snape with Nagini, thus Harry could not have defeatedly LV, 
because LV didn't hesitate or use a spell that was less effective 
than Harry's spell.