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

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 191026


> Annemehr:
> 
> I don't understand - why is it illogical for LV to think he could become master of the Elder wand by killing Snape, believing as he did that Snape had become its master by killing Dumbledore?  Actually, come to think of it, why didn't he kill Snape for it much earlier?
>

Pippin:
Ollivander would have told Voldie the same thing he told Harry: that whether the wand *needs* to pass by murder was unknown. Its history was bloody, but that might have been simply because it was so greatly desired. The laws of wand ownership are complex, much depends upon the manner of taking, much upon the wand itself, but in general, Ollivander says,  if a wand has been won, its allegiance will change. 

Grindelwald did not kill Gregorovitch and Dumbledore did not kill Grindelwald, yet they both became masters of the Elder Wand. Voldemort ought to have known that better than anyone, since he killed Gregorovitch and Grindelwald himself. 

I suppose Voldemort considered that he himself had won the wand from Dumbledore, since he had engineered the plot to kill him, and taken the wand from his tomb. But when he had had the wand for a while and it had failed to grant him any special powers (you can read about those in Beedle, if you are interested),  he began to be troubled by the thought that it was not truly his. 

So he decided to rearrange matters by killing Snape. But it was crazy to think that would make him master of the wand if he wasn't master already. He should have realized that Snape must have killed Dumbledore too late, after the wand had already passed to another.

Pippin