CHAPDISC: DH36, THE FLAW IN THE PLAN

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 185283

 
> Carol:
 He says it performs the same extraordinary magic as
> his other wand, but that wand is perfectly suited to him. It would,
> IMO, be impossible for the Elder Wand to exceed the wand that
created the Horcruxes and the protections on the locket Horcrux. 

Pippin:
Um, you don't even need a wand to create horcruxes. And Dumbledore
found the protections for the locket disappointingly crude -- they
weren't impressive magically, but they were well-designed to take
advantage of the weaknesses imposed by the potion. 
 
It's not like there's some kind of destiny at work and one of the
wands which happens to be  at Ollivanders on the day you come in  has
to be the one true wand for you. Harry might feel that way about his
phoenix feather wand, but then, they've been through a lot together,
and it's all he has left of Fawkes. 

Is it your theory that the Elder Wand has no extraordinary power at
all?  I think that's contradicted by the way both Ollivander and
Dumbledore deal with  it. Even Hermione's convinced by the end.

Carol:
Yet Voldie says it does just as well. He has the wand for at least a
month and it performs perfectly from the start. No complaints from him--

Pippin:
Haven't you ever had the experience of being blind to a problem until
you woke up all of a sudden? And then, maybe, convinced yourself that
it was solved when it actually wasn't?

To show Voldemort figuring out that the wand isn't working would
undermine the logic of the end of the story, where he fails to grasp
that  most of his power is gone. 

Voldemort doesn't trust anything but his own feelings. But he doesn't
understand how distorted they are, especially once he has unknowingly
absorbed the power of love. One of love's powers is to make things
seem better than they are. 

I think he fell in love with the idea of the Elder Wand, and so he
never was  objective about how well it was working for him. He was
either wildly disappointed or wildly enamored, and it had to do with
his own mood more than with the function of the wand itself. 

In fact it wasn't capable of giving him its best performance, but IMO
Voldemort was only intermittently capable of noticing that. He may
have noticed it before, and forgotten again before he got a chance to
do something about it. 

If you've ever tried to reason with a toddler, you know that babies
don't need cause or evidence: when they feel good, all's right with
the world, and when they feel bad, nothing is any good. 

Pippin