Well, we already had the arm-wrestling contest back in GoF. What else was that silly business with pushing the beads of gold light back and forth?
But oh ghod, yes. I mean why, *why*, if Tom Riddle's personal choices were so bloody bad, can't they be rolled into constituting the very reason why he ended up defeating himself? Not because of the choices that he *didn't* make -- because he was incapable of it -- but because of the choices that he actually *made*?
If the Elder Wand is unique -- really unique -- you have some chance of doing that. And the elements for the proper sort of uniqueness are all *right there*. The thing is set up as haveing always been more powerful than any other wand out there. It is centuries old at the very least. It has been through a lot of hands and connected with a lot of wizard's souls (more on that in a minute). If any wand was going to develop a sort of self-consiousness and independent thought, or power of "choice" it is this wand. Tom even is fully aware of and *complains* about it's active lack of cooperation -- which is the only reason why he would have disposed of as useful a tool as Snape. All that is needed is one good reason to explain *why* the wand is refusing to work with Tom. A reason related to *Tom*.
As for the soul thing; we've been getting hints that magic is soul-based, or at least an attribute of the soul since CoS. Indeed, ever since PS/SS. Harry wasn't born a parselmouth after all. Neither was Ginny. And yet she was directing a basilisk through the school when she was under Tom's control, and even though Harry clearly wasn't possessed, he was still able to chat up a boa constrictor in the zoo.
We got the major hint with NH Nick's little talk at the end of OotP where he assures Harry that *only* witches and wizards are capable of manifesting as ghosts. The other shoe drops in HBP when Snape officially identifies a ghost as the imprint of a departed soul. Clearly there is *something* different about the souls of wizards which distinguishes them from the souls of Muggles. And, given that they hare basically all one species, the only thing that is a viable candidate is the ability to channel magic.
Ergo: it is a tenible hypothesis to conclude that magic is connected to a wizard's soul, and that his wand is, in a very practical manner, his "soul mate".
Tom's old yew wand was with him every step of the way as he butchered his soul. And it actively assisted him to do it. That wand was going to have no objections to the state of Tom's soul. It would never have let him down if it could help it. We don't know how well Lucius Malfoy's wand actually cooperated with Tom, just that he was able to AK Charity Burbage with it. And even if it was balking, he would have only interpreted that as its being an inferior wand. But the Elder Wand's reputation would have made its lack of compliance apparant.
And if the Elder Wand refused to obey him the place to look isn't the wand, but Tom himself. What is most likely to be different about Tom from all the other wizards through whose hands it has passed over the centuries? Eh?
no subject
But oh ghod, yes. I mean why, *why*, if Tom Riddle's personal choices were so bloody bad, can't they be rolled into constituting the very reason why he ended up defeating himself? Not because of the choices that he *didn't* make -- because he was incapable of it -- but because of the choices that he actually *made*?
If the Elder Wand is unique -- really unique -- you have some chance of doing that. And the elements for the proper sort of uniqueness are all *right there*. The thing is set up as haveing always been more powerful than any other wand out there. It is centuries old at the very least. It has been through a lot of hands and connected with a lot of wizard's souls (more on that in a minute). If any wand was going to develop a sort of self-consiousness and independent thought, or power of "choice" it is this wand. Tom even is fully aware of and *complains* about it's active lack of cooperation -- which is the only reason why he would have disposed of as useful a tool as Snape. All that is needed is one good reason to explain *why* the wand is refusing to work with Tom. A reason related to *Tom*.
As for the soul thing; we've been getting hints that magic is soul-based, or at least an attribute of the soul since CoS. Indeed, ever since PS/SS. Harry wasn't born a parselmouth after all. Neither was Ginny. And yet she was directing a basilisk through the school when she was under Tom's control, and even though Harry clearly wasn't possessed, he was still able to chat up a boa constrictor in the zoo.
We got the major hint with NH Nick's little talk at the end of OotP where he assures Harry that *only* witches and wizards are capable of manifesting as ghosts. The other shoe drops in HBP when Snape officially identifies a ghost as the imprint of a departed soul. Clearly there is *something* different about the souls of wizards which distinguishes them from the souls of Muggles. And, given that they hare basically all one species, the only thing that is a viable candidate is the ability to channel magic.
Ergo: it is a tenible hypothesis to conclude that magic is connected to a wizard's soul, and that his wand is, in a very practical manner, his "soul mate".
Tom's old yew wand was with him every step of the way as he butchered his soul. And it actively assisted him to do it. That wand was going to have no objections to the state of Tom's soul. It would never have let him down if it could help it. We don't know how well Lucius Malfoy's wand actually cooperated with Tom, just that he was able to AK Charity Burbage with it. And even if it was balking, he would have only interpreted that as its being an inferior wand. But the Elder Wand's reputation would have made its lack of compliance apparant.
And if the Elder Wand refused to obey him the place to look isn't the wand, but Tom himself. What is most likely to be different about Tom from all the other wizards through whose hands it has passed over the centuries? Eh?