Wand allegiance

[lealess]

No: HPFGUIDX 182050

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Zara" <zgirnius at ...> wrote:
>
>> Lealess:
>> Could someone explain to me why a wand would not switch allegiance
>> from someone who gives himself up to be killed to the killer?
>> After all, it wasn't the soul piece that decided to let Voldemort
>> kill it. It was Harry. That seems a clear defeat to me. Does
>> the wand really care about who he allowed himself to be killed
>> for? I know there's some kind of explanation, probably to do with
>> Voldemort passing out or something, but it keeps eluding me.
>
> zgirnius:
> The general question might be thornier (see e. g. Harry's
> interpretation of the plan Dumbledore made with Snape. Perhaps what
> would really have happened if it had gone as planned, is that the
> Elder Wand *would* have been Snape's. Or not. Personally, I can see
> it going either way.)
>
> But in the specific case of the Elder Wand and Harry, it seems
> pretty clear. Since Harry did not die, and Harry retained his own
> wand (that is, the wand he won from Draco), he was quite simply,
> not defeated by Voldemort. A wand that chooses the more powerful
> wizard would prefer Harry, who can survive a Killing Curse, over
> Voldemort, who can't even cast one successfully.
>

OK, that makes sense. I just sort-of saw an analogy with
Draco's "winning" of the wand in the first place. Essentially,
Dumbledore seemed to be giving himself up to be killed by Draco, no
matter what Dumbledore thought of his powers of persuasion or Draco's
nerve. When Draco lowered his wand, what happened to the allegiance
then? Why wouldn't the wand switch its allegiance back to Dumbledore? 
It's hard for me to see Draco as the more powerful wizard, in any
event... he just had the element of surprise.

Confusing the matter for me is that the Harry/Voldemort meeting in
the forest was predicated on what Harry should have known were false
premises, that Voldemort would spare others in exchange for Harry.
It seems futile, to give your life for a lie and loyalty to
Dumbledore. It seems the wand would have transferred its allegiance
to Voldemort the moment Harry gave himself up to be killed. Did it
then switch back?

Wand Lore obviously makes me go gaga. And as you say, the
whole "plan" to have Snape possess the Elder Wand presents thorny
questions.

lealess