CHAPDISC: DH36, THE FLAW IN THE PLAN

[Carol]

No: HPFGUIDX 185272

Zara wrote:
> I figured the ineffectiveness of the Crucio might be an effect of 
Harry being the true owner of the wand Voldemort used. I don't think 
> that is why the Dementors did not affect him. Harry's description 
> makes it sound like he was simply too full of positive feelings to be 
> affected.

Carol responds:
But the wand has worked perfectly well for Voldie up until that point.
It's killed a lot of people, created Nagini's bubble, and destroyed
Harry's soul bit. It also, in a way, kills Snape, sucking him into
Nagini's bubble. (Ugh!) Had it not been for the shared drop of blood,
it would have killed Harry as well. LV himself says that it works just
as well for him as his own yew wand, the wand that chose him (and has
a wood and core that perfectly suit a Darl Wizard obsessed with
immortality.) I'm pretty sure that the reason the wand has suddenly
stopped working effectively is Love--Harry's self-sacrifice. (As for
the Dementors, he feels as if he has his father's Patronus inside him.
Exactly what that means, I'm not sure. See my initial response to
SSS's chapter discussion,
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/185229 )

I don't think the wand knows that Harry is its true owner (how could
it?) until he tells Voldemort and the wand hears what happened. (We
know that wands can hear or they wouldn't react to spoken spells. The
wand can probably also sense Voldemort's thoughts as he hears what's
happening. It already knows that Voldemort isn't its master, but till
then, it has probably thought that its master, if it has one, is
Draco. I think at that moment, the wand *chooses* Harry over the
absent Draco.) If the wand already knew that Harry was its rightful
master and had already chosen him, it wouldn't have tried to kill him
with that first AK. <snip>


> Zara:
> I was very pleased with this particular aspect of the book. I found 
> the wandlore business logical and easy to follow. I also liked what 
> it did to the story. 

Carol responds:
Really? You must be a minority of one! For myself, I found the
wandlore inconsistent, especially the Elder Wand's behavior. I saw no
reason whatever for Voldie to think that it wasn't working for him
except for JKR's plot need to have him kill Snape with something other
than an AK--something that would give Snape time to release his
memories and look into Harry's eyes.

Zara:
> I was not among the disappointed. That said, Slughorn's role was 
significant to the outcome. I do not believe that the unreinforced 
defenders of the castle would have been able to handle Voldemort's 
followers nearly as well. So his idea of bringing the reinforcements
was meaningful. It certainly saved lives, and might have helped tip
Voldemort towards making his final mistake, as watching his followers
fall around him doubtless threw him off balance some. <snip>

Carol responds:
Good point. Were there any DEs left at all after Bellatrix fell, and
were those who were out of action all dead? I found it difficult to
tell which DEs were actually killed, especially since most of the
defenders seemed not to use the Killing Curse. (I do think that the
crowd of followers contained Slytherins based on Phineas Nigellus's
reaction to the battle.) BTW, was it Harry's Love magic that enabled
the defenders to fight LV in person? It can't be the wand, which
already knows that LV isn't its master but doesn't yet know about
Harry disarming Draco. He must still be a powerful Wizard if it takes
three people to duel him. But why doesn't he just kill them? Is he
afraid that if he kills one, another will kill him now that Nagini is
dead? Or does he think that even without Horcruxes, he can't be killed
now that the Chosen One is (supposedly) dead?

Carol, who is far from satisfied with the wandlore and still has many
unanswered questions