How would things be different if Snape had gotten the Elder Wand?

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 190946

Stephanie:
>
> Just wondering, if Dumbledore's plan worked. Snaped disarmed him and killed him becoming the owner(?) of the Elder wand. Did Dumbledore tell Snape about the elder wand which he wanted him to have once he was dead?
> 

Pippin:
There are two possibilities:   either the wand was enchanted to present itself to Snape, an enchantment that was cancelled when Draco became the wand's new master, or Snape was instructed to get the wand.

That may account for some of Snape's hesitation on the tower. My guess is Snape  did not know at the time that it was the Elder Wand, just that he was supposed to get it. 

If Dumbledore's guess was correct, Snape would not have become the new master of the wand, because Dumbledore would have died undefeated.  Anyone who used the wand would have only their ordinary powers. Or possibly the wand, without a new master, would have no powers at all. It is after all long past the age when ordinary wands lose their powers. Charlie's old wand was wearing out by the time Ron got it.

Either way, Snape could simply present the wand to Voldemort as proof that he had accomplished his mission. Voldemort   would accept it, not knowing that it is (or was)  the Elder Wand which can only be transferred by combat.

Once that happened, it would no longer be possible for Voldemort to take the wand from Snape against his will, and so even if Dumbledore was wrong in his guess and Snape had become master of the wand, it would not make Voldemort master of the wand to kill him.

Possibly Dumbledore hoped Voldemort would conclude that the wand Snape had taken was a fake -- there is all that stuff about fake wands in GoF-- and Dumbledore must have hidden the real one. Voldemort would naturally think that Dumbledore had hidden it for Potter, and therefore Potter was looking for the Elder Wand.

The logical thing for Voldie to do, then, is allow Potter to find it, and then strike before Harry can defeat Snape and make himself master of the wand. That provides extra cover for Harry on his search for horcruxes, and it protects Snape, since he is useful and there will be no profit in killing him unless the "real" wand can be found -- and it never will be. 

In the story as written, Voldemort concludes with crazy illogic that killing Snape will make him master of the wand. But he had no reason to think that was so, it was contrary to what was known about the wand,  and there is no way Dumbledore could have predicted it.

Pippin