Why Harry would not use Elder Wand? WAS: Re: Wand allegiance.

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 187322

 
> Alla:
 For example, sure James would have left any wand on the sofa. But how is it relevant to trying to figure out how much more effective Elder wand would or would not have been in the fight than his regular wand if the fight did not happen?

Pippin:
My point exactly. There's no advantage to superior weapons if the enemy doesn't give you a chance to use them. 

  "The best defense is a good offense" applies to sports and conventional warfare. It works for an isolated enemy, if the  enemy lets you know who he is and where he can be found. It doesn't help if  he's hiding among your friends or using innocent people as shields.  Against the criminals and terrorists that Harry would be fighting as an auror, canon says the best defense is "constant, never-ending vigilance." 


If Harry could treat the Elder Wand with the care it deserves, and not mishandle it the way he mishandled most of the other magical items that came his way, he could be as safe a guardian for it as Dumbledore was.  But Harry  doesn't have the innate caution or the self-discipline that Dumbledore had. Plus he'd be under pressure from Ron, who lusts for victory, and Hermione, who thinks she knows what's best for everybody without the trouble of asking them. 

Now, if you want to say they have all learned their lessons and will not act like that any more, fine. But I don't think so. The lesson you learn in the Potterverse is not how to get over your weaknesses. Instead you learn what your weaknesses are, and not to put yourself in situations where they will get the better of you. 

In any case, carrying the wand increases the chances that someone will be able to take it from Harry, and that person will almost certainly *not* be a safe guardian. 

The defenses of Hogwarts have stood for a thousand years and never fallen to assault, so I think we can say that they work better defensively than the Elder Wand itself, which has been captured many times. The spells guarding Hogwarts never sleep, never get tired or distracted or ill, and evidently do not weaken with age. Harry is not going to be so durable. 

Alla:
> I can sort of see hypothetical relevance of only one of your examples and even that one to me is barely there, that is Voldemort still giving Harry his wand. Are you sure that if it was Elder wand Voldemort would have given it back to harry? 

Pippin:
Actually, I was thinking of Voldemort being armed with the Elder Wand to begin with. There wouldn't have been the brother wand effect. But Harry still would have been protected by Lily's blood in Voldemort's reconstituted body. If  Harry's expelliarmus  worked, then a wandless Voldemort might be facing a still-living Harry who was free of the soul bit, still had his own wand, and possibly Voldemort's also. 


Pippin