Magical Objects - Deathly Hallows

The Deathly Hallows are three magical objects that appear in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. In the novel, the lore behind them states that a person who unites the Hallows will become a "master of death". Throughout the history of the novel, many wizards have sought out the legendary Hallows through what is referred to by Xenophilius Lovegood as the Quest. Apparently, not many have succeeded in finding the Deathly Hallows. They had, after all, no evidence of the locations of the Hallows and no proof that they actually existed. Also, very few actually believe this story. The many, like Viktor Krum, believe the sign of the Deathly Hallows to be the mark of Gellert Grindelwald.

According to "The Tale of the Three Brothers", the Peverell brothers found Death. Death gave them one choice of anything they wanted; the first brother chose a wand that could not be defeated in battle, the second asked for a way to bring back someone from death, and the third selected a cloak that made the wearer invisible to hide from Death himself. According to Rowling, the story about how these objects came into existence is "perhaps" based upon Geoffrey Chaucer's "The Pardoner's Tale".



Elder Wand

The Elder Wand, known throughout history as the "Deathstick" and the "Wand of Destiny", is an extremely powerful wand made of elder wood with a core of Thestral tail hair.[4] Supposedly, it is the most powerful wand in existence, and when used by its true master, he or she cannot be defeated in a duel (however, in Deathly Hallows Dumbledore dueled with Grindelwald and conquered the wand, despite the fact it is supposed to be unbeatable). It also appears, as the wand is somewhat sentient, as are all wands, that it will not allow itself to cause real harm to its true Master. The wand's ownership, however, is a tricky matter. As stated by Mr Ollivander the wandmaker, ownership can only be transferred properly. That is, the wand will only fully work for the new user if they directly Disarm, Stun or kill the previous user. This can occur during a duel (although because the Wand is very powerful, this scenario would be rare), or in non-magical ways (killing in Muggle fashion, etc). Rowling has stated that the wand is brutal in its choice of master, that, whilst most wands have some allegiance to their own masters, the Elder Wand only responds to power, i.e. becoming the possession of the most powerful wizard in a duel. If a master dies naturally without ever being defeated, the wand's power will die too, as it had never been won from its master. After defeating Voldemort, Harry discusses its fate with the portrait of Dumbledore, and decides that he should put it back into Dumbledore's grave, so that no more wizards will die in the pursuit of the item.

After boasting of his unbeatable wand, Antioch Peverell met his end – murdered in his sleep by a rival wanting to claim the wand. Ever since, power-hungry wizards have sought the wand. It eventually came to the possession of Gregorovitch, a Bulgarian wandmaker. Gregorovitch boasted about how he possessed the Elder Wand, as it would boost his popularity as he tried to reverse engineer its secrets as he faced competition from Ollivander. It subsequently fell to Grindelwald, who stole it from the famed wandmaker. It is not known if Gregorovitch mastered its secrets properly but he did have a reputation in Europe. The Stunning Spell Grindelwald sent at Gregorovitch while stealing the wand caused it to recognize him as its master, although this is never explicitly stated in Deathly Hallows. Ultimately Grindelwald was defeated by Dumbledore, who then assumed control of the wand, it being the "only hallow [he] was fit to possess, not to boast of it or kill with it, but to tame it."

When Dumbledore arranged his death with Snape, he meant Snape to "end up with the Elder Wand." Because his death would not have been the result of his defeat, Dumbledore hoped this might break the wand's power. However, since Draco disarmed Dumbledore, the plan failed and Draco became the wand's new master. After Dumbledore's death, the wand was placed inside his White Tomb. Voldemort opened it and claimed the wand as his own. Only later did he learn that he never mastered the wand because he did not gain ownership from its previous owner (who, after all, was already dead). Thereafter he slew Snape, not realizing that the wand's allegiance had passed to Draco, even though Draco never had the Elder Wand itself in his possession; furthermore, Draco was Disarmed by Harry, and thus relieved of the Elder Wand's allegiance, before Voldemort even took possession of the Wand itself. While Voldemort wielded the Wand for its entire presence in the novel, he never understood who actually owned it, until Harry spells it out for him (and the reader) in the final pages of the book.

At the beginning of the final book, Voldemort attempts to use a Killing Curse on Harry as the boy and the decoys attempt to flee Privet Drive: at this time Harry's wand mysteriously acts of its own accord and stops Voldemort. This is what causes Voldemort to seek out Gregorovitch and the Hallow. The Elder Wand did destroy Voldemort's soul fragment inside Harry with another killing curse; Voldemort could not kill Harry, but he could certainly destroy that part of himself. The killing curse only knocked Harry into a death-like state for a few moments, in which in his mind he was given a choice to "move on" to the afterlife or return to the living world, and he chose the latter. Voldemort's Cruciatus Curse, used on Harry when Voldemort thought he was dead, caused no pain to Harry. In the final battle, the Elder Wand recognizes its true master, and when confronted with Harry's Expelliarmus charm, the wand causes Voldemort's final Killing Curse to rebound and kill him. Harry is the wand's true master and the wand cannot hurt its owner.

Harry uses the Elder Wand to repair his damaged holly and phoenix feather wand (an act that the great wandmaker Ollivander believed impossible according to what he knew — he mentions that wandlore is very ancient and complicated). Harry intends to return the wand to Dumbledore's tomb, in the hopes of fulfilling Dumbledore's original plan: for the reigning owner of the Elder Wand to die a natural death, thus ending its bloody trail of violence.

Rowling revealed in an interview that the first working title for Deathly Hallows was Harry Potter and the Elder Wand.

Resurrection Stone

The Resurrection Stone allows the holder to see and communicate with the dead. According to the fairy tale concerning the origin of the Deathly Hallows, using the Resurrection Stone drove its original owner, Cadmus Peverell, to commit suicide after seeing his deceased fiancée but being unable to truly be with her. By the time the stone was seen in Marvolo Gaunt's possession, it had been set into a ring. The ring bore the symbol of the Deathly Hallows, which Gaunt believed to be the Peverell coat of arms. Both Dumbledore and Grindelwald desired the stone, but for different reasons. While Dumbledore wanted it to communicate with his dead family, Grindelwald intended to use it to create an army of Inferi. Voldemort turned the ring into a Horcrux, not knowing its magical nature.

Dumbledore recovered the ring from Marvolo's estate, recognizing it as both a Horcrux and one of the Deathly Hallows. Forgetting that as a Horcrux, the Resurrection Stone was likely cursed, and motivated by personal desire, Dumbledore attempted to use the Resurrection Stone to talk to his deceased family. However, the curse destroyed his hand and began to spread throughout his body. Though the spreading was partly contained in the destroyed and blackened hand by Snape, Dumbledore was doomed, having perhaps a year to live. Before summoning Snape, Dumbledore had destroyed the Horcrux, using Godric Gryffindor's sword.

The stone was later passed to Harry through Dumbledore's will, hidden inside a Snitch. The Snitch, the same one Harry caught in his first-ever Quidditch match (Harry originally caught the Snitch in his mouth and nearly swallowed it), revealed the message "I open at the close" when touched by Harry's lips. Harry is unable to open the Snitch until he is about to die, and he realizes that "the close" means the end, or his death. Harry uses the stone to summon his parents, Sirius, and Lupin to comfort him before he meets Voldemort. The stone slips through Harry's numb fingers in the Forbidden Forest. He and Dumbledore's portrait later agreed that Harry would neither search for it nor tell others where it is. In a recent interview, Rowling said she would like to believe that a centaur's hoof pushed it into the ground, burying it forever.

Cloak of Invisibility

According to the legend, the Cloak of Invisibility has the power to shield the wearer from being seen by Death. It is a true invisibility cloak, in the sense of being able to completely shield the wearer from sight, and cannot be worn out by time or spells. Other typical invisibility cloaks described in the books, which are sometimes woven from the hair of a beast known as the Demiguise, can become opaque with age and are vulnerable to being penetrated by various spells.[1]

In Deathly Hallows, it is revealed that Harry's cloak is in fact the Cloak of Invisibility: one of the Deathly Hallows. It originally belonged to Ignotus Peverell. After his death, the cloak was passed down from father to son, through Peverell's descendants to James Potter[6] and eventually to Harry. The cloak was not in James' possession the night he was murdered; he had previously lent it to Dumbledore, who was greatly interested in the Deathly Hallows, to study. Dumbledore gave the cloak to Harry several years later as a Christmas present during his first year at Hogwarts. Harry uses the cloak throughout the series in order to sneak around the school on various adventures. It is large enough for Ron and Hermione to accompany him, and they frequently do, although this becomes increasingly difficult as they grow up throughout the series. At the end of Book 7, Dumbledore explains to Harry that the Cloak's true magic is that it can shield and protect others as well as its owner, as demonstrated by Harry and his friends on various adventures under the cloak throughout the series.

While making the wearer invisible to ordinary people and wizards, some creatures are able to sense people hidden under it. Snakes for example cannot see through the Cloak of Invisibility, but they can sense movement and heat, and therefore can detect people under it. Mrs Norris also seems to see Harry when he wears the cloak. Wearers can also be detected by the "Homenum Revelio" spell.[3] In Goblet of Fire, Moody's magical eye could see Harry through the cloak. In the Prisoner of Azkaban Dumbledore warns that Dementors' perception of humans is unhindered by invisibility cloaks, as they sense people through emotions. In Philospher's Stone, Dumbledore used homenum revelio the human-presence-revealing spell and was therefore able to sense when the cloaked Harry was nearby.[7]

At the conclusion of the seventh book in the series, Harry decides that the Invisibility Cloak will be the only Hallow that he will keep, and intends to pass it on to his descendants.