Elder Wand
A weapon that bows only to the conqueror, ensuring no true master ever holds it for long.
The Elder Wand is a legendary and extremely powerful wand made of elder wood with a core of Thestral tail hair, as described in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. It is one of the three Deathly Hallows, objects that, according to wizarding legend, can provide mastery over death if one person owns all three. The wand's allegiance is transferred when its owner is killed, defeated, or disarmed. J. K. Rowling revealed in an interview that the first working title for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was Harry Potter and the Elder Wand.
Quick Facts
- Core material
- Thestral Tail Hair
- Wood type
- Elder Wood
Lore & Background
The Elder Wand's allegiance is transferred when its owner is killed, defeated, or disarmed. Through a series of events, Voldemort comes to possess the Elder Wand, even though Harry is its true master. Unaware of the wand's loyalty to Harry, Voldemort attempts to duel him near the end of the novel. The wand refuses to kill Harry, with the result that Voldemort's curse rebounds on him, and he dies. After Voldemort's death, Harry uses the Elder Wand to repair his own broken wand. He then returns the Elder Wand to Dumbledore's tomb. In Part 2 of the film adaptation of Deathly Hallows, Harry, realizing the wand is too dangerous to fall into the wrong hands, snaps it in two and throws the pieces off a bridge.
Reader's Guide
In the war's final hours, Harry Potter became the true master of the Elder Wand after defeating and disarming its prior owner, Draco Malfoy, who unwittingly won it from Dumbledore just before Dumbledore's death. Having disarmed Draco Malfoy, Harry held the wand's loyalty. Harry decides to leave the Elder Wand in Dumbledore's tomb.
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Elsewhere in Harry Potter
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