Wandlore and more

[sistermagpie]

No: HPFGUIDX 185358

> > zanooda:
> > 
> > Harry only managed to cast successful Unforgivables in DH, when 
he 
> was
> > using Draco's wand, not his own. His previous attempt to "Crucio"
> > Bellatrix with his own wand was unsuccessful. I don't think that 
it
> > was Draco's wand that made Harry use Unforgivable curses, but 
maybe 
> it
> > was easier for Harry to cast a successful curse with a wand that
> > already did it a few times, like Draco's. 
> > 
> > I'm not sure that Draco ever used Imperius curse (maybe on 
> Rosmerta),
> > but he definitely crucio'ed a few people, so the knowledge of the
> > curse would be stored inside his wand. I don't blame Harry's use 
of
> > Unforgivables on Draco's wand - actually, I don't blame Harry for
> > using the curses at all :-), I just think that maybe the wand 
made 
> it
> > technically easier for Harry.
> 
> a_svirn:
> You are right; his previous attempts were rather amateurish. Still, 
> we were talking about intent rather than skill. Was the Elder Wand 
> responsible at least in part for Voldemort's lust for power and 
> violence? I don't believe there is any evidence of that. Certainly, 
> Draco did not torture people with any degree of enthusiasm. (In 
fact, 
> I wonder how he managed that at all when he was so queasy all the 
> time.)

Magpie:
Harry only tried a Crucio once before, didn't he? And it really 
wasn't that amateurish. He got a result, just not a very strong one. 
He himself comments after the successful one that the difference was 
that he really meant it that time. He can feel the difference. 
There's no indication that this ability Harry himself claims as his 
own and that there's no hint don't come from him come from his 
corrupted wand. Especially since it's not like Draco was particularly 
known for Crucio either. On the contrary, in the same book Harry 
glimpses him being ordered to torture and not enjoying it at all.

a_svirn:
> Concerning this thorny question of the wand-lore, there is another 
> thing I don't understand – the universal disdain for the 
Expeliarmus. 
> So much so, that it became Harry's "signature move" as Lupin put 
it. 

Magpie:
Yes, it seems a little silly the way suddenly this spell is supposed 
to show that Harry doesn't have the heart to do more. It's not like 
Harry's had a real problem with being a bit more violent when he 
needs to be in the past. The spell is useful and made perfect sense 
in the situation he was in at the time. Plus we now know it could 
help you neutralize a particular wand for life.

Regarding why the Elder Wand didn't wind up in Draco's hands, while I 
don't think Draco's character made him any kind of master of it, it's 
not like the wand is supposed to break any laws of physics to get to 
the person, right? It's more like the DADA curse--stuff happens in a 
perfectly natural way, it just winds up with the job being open the 
next year.

To relate it to the wand and Draco, actually, it's more that Draco 
himself didn't claim the wand that indicates something about why he 
wasn't its master. He wasn't seeking its power on any level in that 
moment or afterwards. He gets it in a scene where's standing over a 
disarmed old man and unable to deliver a killing blow. Harry wasn't 
seeking the Elder Wand itself but he was doing something more in line 
with the Wand's priorities.

-m (who still hates the revised wand-lore that wipes out the original)