CHAPDISC: DH32, The Elder Wand

[potioncat]

No: HPFGUIDX 184753

Potioncat, now returned with answers to the last few questions, and 
hoping she's corrected WORD's autoformat.

> 
> 12) Please excuse the length of these last. They concern 
> the "official" subject of this chapter as expressed by the title. I 
> begin with some quotes from the text and an observation.
> 
> "Why doesn't it work for me, Severus?" <snip>
> "I do not understand. You ¡V you have performed extraordinary magic 
> with that wand."


Potioncat:

My feeling is that Snape doesn't have any idea what's going on. I 
don't think he knows this is DD's wand, or even have any inkling of 
the Elder Wand connection.

I think JKR wrote this conversation so that we would understand LV's 
expectations were higher for some unknown reason. I don't know if 
anyone had a clue what was going on at the first read, I certainly 
didn't. What's important here is that LV thinks the wand is not 
working as well as he thought it should. No one else--character or 
reader-- is aware that any thing is wrong with the wand. Unless of 
course, as you may be suggesting, Snape does know the wand itself 
should be extraordinary. 

The Elder wand sub-plot is one of those topics that pushes buttons. 
Some readers don't like it, some don't think it is playing fair, and 
some just sort of float over it, accepting it without much question. 
It really doesn't bother me. It just seems LV went to a lot---a very 
lot--of trouble to get this super-deluxe model and it isn't living up 
to his expectations. He already knew "he" could do extraordinary 
magic, he expected the wand to allow him to do even better 
extraordinary magic.
 

„« 
Carol answered question  12 in 
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/184744

> Carol:
That
> happens around Easter break, right after "Malfoy Manor," IIRC, so
> Voldemort has had the wand for about a month. However, the only
> "extraordinary magic" (aside from mass murder of DEs) that Snape 
could
„« know LV performed with that wand is Nagini's bubble.

Potioncat:
I snipped the part about whether Snape knew it was DD's wand. I don't 
think he does, which seems to be in agreement with Carol. I accept 
Carol's timeline because she's good at details and I am not. But, I 
don't agree Snape wouldn't have seen LV cast any magic with the wand. 
DD made frequent trips away from the school, I don't see why Snape 
might not do the same. He might take the Carrows, sneering at 
McGonagall that they had an important meeting to go to---all the 
while knowing the staff and students could breathe easy for a few 
hours. So we don't know what magic Snape may have seen,  or 
whether  "you've performed extraordinary magic" was just Snape's way 
of kissing up.

I didn't yet know why Snape was staring at the snake and babbling on 
about finding Potter. I kept thinking, "Shut up about Harry. You're 
in danger and I don't know why but listen to LV, will you!"

Oh, btw, at the end of the last chapter, Nagini wasn't in the bubble 
yet. So this protection bit has happened fast.




> Carol:
\snip What's more
> extraordinary than extraordinary? If he's performing extraordinary
> magic, as he's always done with a wand perfectly suited to him, and
> this wand is performing equally well, what is he complaining about?
> It's like saying, "My wife is perfectly beautiful, but I want a wife
„« who's *perfectly beautiful!" snip

Potioncat:
I think it's more like an extraordinary violinist who has been 
playing on an ordinary violin. One day he obtains a Stradivarius. 
He's expecting music that is some how more refined---then hears no 
difference.


 
> > 13) Do you think the acquisition of this new wand might be a 
matter
> Severus would have mentioned to Albus? Why or why not, and what do 
„« you suppose Albus would have said back, if yes? 

Potioncat:
I'll have to think about this question in the next chapter. But right 
now, I don't think Snape knows anything about this wand. It is 
difficult to think Snape wouldn't have checked on DD's vault after LV 
asked to see it alone. But even if he knew it had desecrated, would 
he know the wand was missing?


 
> > 14) How do you feel about not knowing the answers to these 
questions
> about two major characters and the magical artifact that settled the
„« central conflict of the series?

Potioncat:
Again, this doesn't push my buttons, it does leave a sort of "what 
the heck!" reaction, but yet to me, it fits OK. The controversy 
reminds me of some of Agatha Christie's works. We discussed her after 
HBP along with "unreliable narrator". One of the books we discussed 
at that time, "The Murder of Roger Ackroyd" reminds me a lot of DH. 
That is, fan reaction to it---and the reason for the reaction--remind 
me of DH.