Who WAS the True Master of the Elder Wand?

[Carol]

No: HPFGUIDX 183936

Leeann wrote:
> It, The Elder Wand, must in fact be "won" from the previous master.
Just possessing it or holding it does not make one its true master. It
will work to some extent, but not to its full potential.

Carol responds:
I agree with this assessment. Grindelwald makes sure that he "wins" it
by Stupefying Grindelwald, not merely stealing it. And merely taking
the wand from the dead Dumbledore, who was no longer its master,
doesn't make Voldemort its master (despite the annoying fact that we
never see the wand failing him; it creates Nagini's bubble and kills
just as effectively as the yew wand until the confrontation with Harry). 

Leeann: 
> One thing has bothered me about the Elder Wand. It is referred to as
"the Unbeatable Wand". If it is truly unbeatable, how did DD beat
Grindelwald? Is "Unbeatable" just a word used in folklore?, or is it
really undefeatable?

Carol responds:
I'm going to hazard a guess and say that, because the wand is
extraordinarily powerful and always "chooses" the victor rather than a
compatible Wizard (Draco is neither extraordinarily powerful himself
nor a murderer; he merely happened to Disarm DD, not knowing the
significance of his action) and because it has passed from hand to
hand by murder, it has come to be *regarded* as unbeatable. (It's also
called the Death Stick, for similar reasons.)

However, the master of the wand is in no sense unbeatable, since he
can lose the wand through trickery or death. And if the wand were
unbeatable, how could Draco, of all people, have Disarmed Dumbledore,
who lost the wand because he took a split second to Petrify Harry. (In
his present condition, having drunk the potion and put on the ring,
his reflexes really aren't what they once were.) If the wand were
unbeatable, it would have reacted as Harry's holly wand did against
Voldemort, casting a spell of its own volition to protect its master.
Similarly, Dumbledore, who claims that his magical skills were a shade
above Grindelwald's, defeated Grindelwald despite GG's being the
wand's true master. Adn DD in the MoM, fighting Voldemort, does not
definitively beat him (though Voldemort resorts to possessing Harry).
They appear to be equally matched; Voldemort's AK's would have killed
Dumbledore, Elder Wand or no, if it weren't for Fawkes and the
animated Fountain of Magical Brethren.

If we look at a hypothetical case, Draco as master of the Elder Wand
against Voldemort with the yew wand, who do you think would win? My
money is on the more powerful, more skilled and more ruthless
Voldemort, who would not hesitate to kill Draco while he was still
deciding what to do or trying to gather his courage.

It's quite possible that the Elder Wand, though undoubtedly powerful
and capable of attracting those who crave power, is distorted into
something greater than it really is. Voldemort, like Grindelwald,
believed the legend. No doubt GG attributed his "greatness" (to borrow
Voldemort's description of himself) as much to the Elder Wand as to
his own power, skill, and intelligence, and perhaps his reputation as
the master of the Elder Wand helped him to gather followers, but he
quite possibly gave the wand too much credit. The legend contains a
grain of truth but is not the full truth, just as Pure-Blood supremacy
contains a grain of truth, which is that Muggle blood ordinarily
contains no magic and therefore not only Pure-Bloods but Wizards in
general are "superior" to Muggles in possessing magical power. But,
like they myth of Pure-Blood supremacy, it seems (to some Wizards)
truer than it is.

Carol, who will be happy to revise these random thoughts based on the
arguments and evidence of other posters