Reliable Narrator
Harry Potter

What if Draco never disarmed Dumbledore on the Astronomy Tower?

Removing Draco’s tower disarm spotlights the ambiguous hinge in wandlore: is a choreographed, merciful killing a ‘defeat’ the Elder Wand recognizes? The answers cluster around two outcomes—Snape briefly holding true mastery or the chain breaking into a masterless state—both still leaving Voldemort fatally misunderstanding allegiance. The most elegant narrative repair is a mid-duel allegiance flip to Harry when he defeats the wand’s wielder, preserving DH’s thematic payoff without the Draco→Harry shortcut.

Competing Theories

We've gathered the strongest arguments from across the internet. Here's how they stack up.

Snape, Reluctant Master

Best Supported

With Draco’s Expelliarmus removed, Dumbledore remains the Elder Wand’s master on the tower. Snape administers the agreed mercy killing while Dumbledore is weakened and pleading, but the wand’s logic is pragmatic: killing is a form of defeat even if not required, and the Elder Wand’s legend has long conflated mastery with lethal supremacy. On that reading, Snape becomes the new master the moment he casts the Killing Curse. Voldemort never truly wins the wand thereafter. He avoids dueling Snape a

  • DH, The Wandmaker: Ollivander states a wand’s allegiance can be won by defeating its owner; killing is not required, but can qualify
  • DH, The Elder Wand: Voldemort uses Nagini behind a magical barrier to kill Snape, indicating no wand-to-wand conquest
  • DH, The Flaw in the Plan: Harry frames the Elder Wand as refusing to kill its master and flipping allegiance upon decisive defeat
  • Beedle the Bard lore: Elder Wand’s tradition associates it with passing through murder and conquest

Background Context

In canon HBP, Draco disarms a weakened Dumbledore on the Astronomy Tower, unintentionally winning the Elder Wand’s allegiance. Snape then kills Dumbledore as prearranged. In DH, Voldemort steals the Elder Wand from Dumbledore’s tomb but misreads wandlore, believing killing Snape will secure mastery. Harry later overpowers Draco at Malfoy Manor, becoming the wand’s true master; thus, during the final duel, the Elder Wand refuses to kill its master and Voldemort’s curse rebounds. Wandlore establishes that defeat—not murder or possession—governs allegiance, and nonlethal disarming can suffice.

Full Analysis

A detailed breakdown of each theory with supporting evidence.

Core Claim

With Draco’s Expelliarmus removed, Dumbledore remains the Elder Wand’s master on the tower. Snape administers the agreed mercy killing while Dumbledore is weakened and pleading, but the wand’s logic is pragmatic: killing is a form of defeat even if not required, and the Elder Wand’s legend has long conflated mastery with lethal supremacy. On that reading, Snape becomes the new master the moment he casts the Killing Curse. Voldemort never truly wins the wand thereafter. He avoids dueling Snape a

With Draco’s Expelliarmus removed, Dumbledore remains the Elder Wand’s master on the tower. Snape administers the agreed mercy killing while Dumbledore is weakened and pleading, but the wand’s logic is pragmatic: killing is a form of defeat even if not required, and the Elder Wand’s legend has long conflated mastery with lethal supremacy. On that reading, Snape becomes the new master the moment he casts the Killing Curse. Voldemort never truly wins the wand thereafter. He avoids dueling Snape and has Nagini deliver the fatal bite from behind a protective barrier, which fails the “defeat a wizard” criterion. When the Battle of Hogwarts culminates, the Elder Wand in Voldemort’s hand is unallegiant. In the final exchange, Harry’s Expelliarmus cleanly defeats the wand’s current wielder; the Elder Wand flips allegiance mid-cast and refuses to kill its new master, rebounding the Killing Curse onto Voldemort and preserving the canonical moral: mastery follows demonstrated strength, not theft or murder-by-proxy.

Core Claim

Dumbledore intended to end the Elder Wand’s line by dying undefeated; excising Draco’s disarm partially restores that plan. If the wand recognizes ‘defeat’ as competitive conquest, Snape’s euthanasia—performed at Dumbledore’s request, without a duel—fails to qualify. Dumbledore therefore dies undefeated and the chain of allegiance breaks. The wand remains intrinsically potent but masterless, withholding cooperation from all would-be wielders. Voldemort’s tomb robbery and later schemes cannot ma

Dumbledore intended to end the Elder Wand’s line by dying undefeated; excising Draco’s disarm partially restores that plan. If the wand recognizes ‘defeat’ as competitive conquest, Snape’s euthanasia—performed at Dumbledore’s request, without a duel—fails to qualify. Dumbledore therefore dies undefeated and the chain of allegiance breaks. The wand remains intrinsically potent but masterless, withholding cooperation from all would-be wielders. Voldemort’s tomb robbery and later schemes cannot manufacture loyalty. In the final duel, the Elder Wand—still unmatched—underperforms or actively resists Voldemort’s lethal intent, and Harry’s Expelliarmus, backed by superior wandlore and Voldemort’s misread, overturns the Killing Curse. The rebound is then read not as “won’t kill its true master” but as the blowback of a peerless tool rejecting a false claimant at the decisive instant.

Core Claim

If the chain is muddled—either broken at Dumbledore’s death or never properly claimed by anyone—the Elder Wand may default to its general rule: it updates allegiance when it observes a clear defeat. In the Great Hall, Harry’s Expelliarmus overcomes Voldemort’s Killing Curse and disarms him in a head‑to‑head contest, providing the wand with its first unambiguous post-break ‘win’ to follow. Under this model, the Elder Wand flips to Harry during the spell exchange itself. The moment allegiance upd

If the chain is muddled—either broken at Dumbledore’s death or never properly claimed by anyone—the Elder Wand may default to its general rule: it updates allegiance when it observes a clear defeat. In the Great Hall, Harry’s Expelliarmus overcomes Voldemort’s Killing Curse and disarms him in a head‑to‑head contest, providing the wand with its first unambiguous post-break ‘win’ to follow. Under this model, the Elder Wand flips to Harry during the spell exchange itself. The moment allegiance updates, the wand refuses to kill its newly recognized master, and Voldemort’s curse rebounds. This preserves DH’s climax without requiring the Draco→Harry chain; it treats the Elder Wand as radically present‑tense and opportunistic in choosing the victor it has just witnessed.

Core Claim

If both Snape’s killing of Dumbledore and Voldemort’s subsequent murder of Snape are deemed valid defeats, the Elder Wand could pass from Dumbledore to Snape to Voldemort in sequence. That grants Voldemort full allegiance before the final duel, removing the disloyalty flaw Harry exploits in canon. A fully mastered Elder Wand against Harry’s borrowed wand would be catastrophic: Expelliarmus would likely not overcome Avada Kedavra, and the duel’s dynamics would hinge entirely on Harry’s sacrifici

If both Snape’s killing of Dumbledore and Voldemort’s subsequent murder of Snape are deemed valid defeats, the Elder Wand could pass from Dumbledore to Snape to Voldemort in sequence. That grants Voldemort full allegiance before the final duel, removing the disloyalty flaw Harry exploits in canon. A fully mastered Elder Wand against Harry’s borrowed wand would be catastrophic: Expelliarmus would likely not overcome Avada Kedavra, and the duel’s dynamics would hinge entirely on Harry’s sacrificial protection. While that protection shelters others, it does not reliably save Harry from a head‑on Killing Curse backed by a loyal Elder Wand, tilting the climax toward a bleaker outcome or forcing a different tactical resolution.

The Verdict

Best Supported Theory

Snape, Reluctant Master

How We Weighed the Evidence

This what‑if probes the fuzzy border between ‘defeat’ and ‘death’ in wandlore and tests whether consent, mercy, and intent matter to magical artifacts that supposedly ‘seek strength.’ It re-centers Snape and Dumbledore’s moral calculus on the tower and asks if their plan could ever have worked as designed. Most of all, it shows how a single, almost incidental spell—Draco’s Expelliarmus—quietly carries the fate of the war.

Our Conclusion

Removing Draco’s tower disarm spotlights the ambiguous hinge in wandlore: is a choreographed, merciful killing a ‘defeat’ the Elder Wand recognizes? The answers cluster around two outcomes—Snape briefly holding true mastery or the chain breaking into a masterless state—both still leaving Voldemort fatally misunderstanding allegiance. The most elegant narrative repair is a mid-duel allegiance flip to Harry when he defeats the wand’s wielder, preserving DH’s thematic payoff without the Draco→Harry shortcut.

What Would Change This?

Given multiple valid interpretations, only explicit creator confirmation or new canonical material that directly addresses this question could settle the debate.

Sources (12)

  1. 1
    Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Ch. 27 ('The Lightning-Struck Tower')Canon
  2. 2
    Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Ch. 27Canon
  3. 3
    Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Ch. 36 ('The Flaw in the Plan')Canon
  4. 4
    Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Ch. 24 ('The Wandmaker')Canon
  5. 5
    Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Ch. 36 (Headmaster’s office scene)Canon