Severus Snape’s death was an impactful moment in the Harry Potter books and movies alike, but the screen adaptation made a mistake that significantly altered the Eldar Wand twist. In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, Voldemort used his wand to slash Snape’s throat before allowing Nagini to finish him off. He did this believing that his servant was the true master of the Elder Wand, and it wouldn’t be until later that he realized (too late) that the Death Stick’s loyalty belonged to someone else. Still, the moment Voldemort successfully used the wand to seriously injure Snape, he should have realized the truth.
In the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallow book, Voldemort didn’t use the Elder Wand to harm Snape. Instead, he depended entirely on Nagini to murder the servant he believed to be completely loyal to him. Harry, Ron, and Hermione witnessed the gruesome event, and it was lucky they were there since it was only because of this that Harry was able to retrieve Snape’s memories, return them to Dumbledore’s Pensieve, and learn the truth about his destiny to sacrifice his life to Lord Voldemort. In the end, it was thanks to the Elder Wand’s loyalty and Voldemort’s ignorance of wand lore that the titular Harry had his victory, but the Harry Potter movies subtly messed this up.
Voldemort Used The Elder Wand To Injure Snape In Deathly Hallows – Part 2
In the Deathly Hallows book, Voldemort very specifically didn’t use the Elder Wand against Snape since he believed the weapon would be useless against its proper owner. This was the entire reason Voldemort killed the Potions Master since he had noticed that the Death Stick was not working for him as it should have. As Dumbledore’s killer, the Dark Lord thought that Snape had the wand’s loyalty and that he needed to murder him to effectively claim the Elder Wand. When Voldemort left Snape in the ever-growing puddle of blood, he believed he had achieved precisely this.
However, in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2, Voldemort first uses the Elder Wand to slash Snape’s throat. It was a fatal wound, which made Nagini’s subsequent attack overkill. The problem here, however, is that, had the wand been loyal to Snape, such an attack would have been impossible. The Elder Wand would not fatally harm its true master, and Voldemort knew this. This is precisely why Voldemort didn’t use Avada Kedavra on Snape in Harry Potter, but slitting his throat would have amounted to the same thing. So, the moment Voldemort successfully used the wand to injure his servant, it would have tipped him off that something wasn’t right.
Why Snape Wasn’t The Master Of The Elder Wand (Even Though He Killed Dumbledore)
The Harry Potter movies didn’t spend much time explaining the Elder Wand plot, which is likely why Deathly Hallows – Part 2 made such a significant mistake during Snape’s death scene. At the film’s end, Harry briefly explained that Snape had never been the wand’s master since Draco had disarmed Dumbledore that night. Then, since Harry had stolen Draco’s wand in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1, the Elder Wand’s loyalty had transferred to Harry—even without having ever touched the thing. Then Harry (very controversially) broke the Elder Wand, hoping to rid the wizarding world of its corruptive power.
Though Harry covered the gist of how wand loyalty worked in Harry Potter, a lot was left out. The books explained that Voldemort believed that the Elder Wand’s loyalty could only be transferred through murder. So, he didn’t know that disarming would achieve the same thing. Additionally, during his final battle with Voldemort in the Harry Potter books, Harry warned Voldemort of the truth, explaining that because Dumbledore and Snape had planned the headmaster’s death together, Snape wouldn’t have won the Elder Wand even if Draco hadn’t claimed it first. Unfortunately for Voldemort, he wasn’t willing to listen.
Voldemort Never Fully Understood The Elder Wand – But He Knew Better Than To Attack Snape Himself
The fact that Voldemort still attacked Harry Potter even after the Boy Who Lived warned him that Snape had never been the master of the Elder Wand proves just how ignorant the Dark Lord was of wand lore. Still, he knew the basics well enough to recognize that the wand wouldn’t harm its true owner. If he hadn’t, he simply would have used his favorite spell, Avada Kedavra, to murder Snape in a far more efficient way. Ultimately, the Harry Potter movie’s decision to skip over the Killing Curse, only to let Voldemort use the Elder Wand to slash Snape’s throat, was redundant and entirely contradicted the Elder Wand twist that served as the foundation for the series ending.
