Skip to main content

Why didn't anyone go looking for Voldemort's wand after he was defeated at the Potters?


This question shows that only Wormtail, after almost 14 years, decided to go and fish out Voldemort's wand from the wreckage



Is it hinted anywhere in the book why no one else ever tried to look for the wand until this time?


We might speculate that people assumed his wand was also destroyed in the explosion that happened, as we know from book 2 that wands are subject to irreparable damage from mechanical forces as well, but as we see from Wormtail bringing it back, this clearly did not happen with Voldemort's wand, so we can assume that wand experts in Harry Potter world would be aware of this possibility (that is, of the wand surviving). The wand also seems to be the single most important object associated with any wizard in the Harry Potter world.


Moreover, Voldemort's wand (or even it's fragments) would have been a sort of relic for both his followers or opposers, and we also know that at least Dumbledore was personally sure that Voldemort will return one day, and he had, in fact, spent years looking for people associated with Voldemort in the past or possible objects that he may have tried converting into horcruxes.


Why didn't anyone think about looking for whatever was left of Voldemort's wand in the wreckage in Godric's Hollow, until Wormtail?



Answer



Peter Pettigrew did not wait 14 years to retrieve Voldemort's wand from the Potters' home as the added first line of your question suggests. After retrieving the wand almost immediately, he was in hiding for 12 years (not 14 years).


"Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban":



You haven't been hiding from me for twelve years," said Black. "You've been hiding from Voldemort's old supporters. I heard things in Azkaban, Peter...




Wiki has your answer:



Upon his curse rebounding upon himself, Voldemort's wand was blasted from his body and landed not far away from his body in the ruin of the Potter home. After Rubeus Hagrid rescued the infant Harry from the wreckage of the house later that evening, Peter Pettigrew returned to the house and discovered the Dark Lord's wand in the wreckage[2], taking it with him as he fled the scene in order to prevent the wand from falling into the Ministry's hands and possibly exposing him as a traitor since all wands have a record of the spells they have cast and can be examined by those trained to do so. He would keep this wand in an undisclosed location for twelve long years afterwards, until the time when he could locate its true owner once again. Tom Riddle's wand



[2] Wiki has a link at the bottom in the notes that used to link to the 'rumours' section of JK Rowling's website.


Some users on reddit also verify having seen her comments on the rumours section of her website. The exact quote they attribute to JKR is:



"Strong feat for a rat, I know." http://www.reddit.com/r/harrypotter/comments/3935we/voldemorts_wand/



The rumours section of her website has been since deleted. I tried searching for the interview but could not find it.



FYI, the term "rat" here is a double entendre; a word with two meanings. In the literal sense, Peter physically could transform into a rat. However, figuratively he was a rat, somebody who snitches, which Peter did by outing the Potters. So it could be that JKR is just talking about Peter figuratively. Further when Peter transforms physically into a rat, so do his clothes, his wand, etc. So why couldn't he simply carry two wands on him in human form and then transform into a rat? Either way, JKR clearly states that Peter did get it almost immediately, and she is authoritative in canonical terms.


So your answer is in my first paragraph from wiki. Peter Pettigrew got the wand, as he didn't want anyone else discovering it and possibly exposing him as a traitor.


There is no mention of this in the book directly, but an author or writer's comments or answers to questions are canon and as good as what's in the books. Sometimes it's even better, as writers will tell you just because a character in a book says something, doesn't make it so. As explained to me by more experienced users on the site, it is commonly referred to as "The Word of God."


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Did the gatekeeper and the keymaster get intimate in Ghostbusters?

According to TVTropes ( usual warning, don't follow the link or you'll waste half your life in a twisty maze of content ): In Ghostbusters, it's strongly implied that Dana Barret, while possessed by Zuul the Gatekeeper, had sex with Louis Tully, who was possessed by Vinz Clortho the Keymaster (key, gate, get it?), in order to free Big Bad Gozer. In fact, a deleted scene from the movie has Venkman explicitly asking Dana if she and Louis "did it". I turned the quote into a spoiler since it contains really poor-taste joke, but the gist of it is that it's implied that as part of freeing Gozer , the two characters possessed by the Keymaster and the Gatekeeper had sex. Is there any canon confirmation or denial of this theory (canon meaning something from creators' interviews, DVD commentary, script, delete scenes etc...)? Answer The Richard Mueller novelisation and both versions of the script strongly suggest that they didn't have sex (or at the very l...
1 comment
Read more

Why didn't The Doctor or Clara recognize Missy right away?

So after it was established that Missy is actually both the Master, and the "woman in the shop" who gave Clara the TARDIS number... ...why didn't The Doctor or Clara recognize her right away? I remember the Tenth Doctor in The Sound of Drums stating that Timelords had a way of recognizing other Timelords no matter if they had regenerated. And Clara should have recognized her as well... I'm hoping for a better explanation than "Moffat screwed up", and that I actually missed something after two watchthroughs of the episode. Answer There seems to be a lot of in-canon uncertainty as to the extent to which Time Lords can recognise one another which far pre-dates Moffat's tenure. From the Time Lords page on Wikipedia : Whether or not Time Lords can recognise each other across regenerations is not made entirely clear: In The War Games, the War Chief recognises the Second Doctor despite his regeneration and it is implied that the Doctor knows him when they fir...
Post a Comment
Read more

story identification - Animation: floating island, flying pests

At least 20 years ago I watched a short animated film which stuck in my mind. The whole thing was wordless, possibly European, and I'm pretty sure I didn't imagine it... It featured a flying island which was inhabited by some creatures who (in my memory) reminded me of the Moomins. The island was frequently bothered by large winged animals who swooped around, although I don't think they did any actual damage. At the end one of the moomin creatures suddenly gets a weird feeling, feels forced to climb to the top of the island and then plunges down a shaft right through the centre - only to emerge at the bottom as one of the flyers. Answer Skywhales from 1983. The story begins with a man warning the tribe of approaching skywhales. The drummers then warn everybody of the hunt as everyone get prepared to set "sail". Except one man is found in his home sleeping as the noise wake him up. He then gets ready and is about to take his weapon as he hesitates then decides ...
Post a Comment
Read more

warhammer40k - What evidence supposedly supports Tau as related to the Necrontyr?

I've heard of rumours saying that the Tau from Warhammer 40K are in fact the Necrontyr. Is there anything that supports this statement, in WH40K canon? I just found this, on 1d4 chan 1 : Helping Necrons? Or are they Necrontyr descendants? An often overlooked issue is that Tau have no warp signatures, just like Necrons, hate Warpspawns and Warp in general, just like Necrons, have the exact same skull shape,stature and short lives, and the overwhelming need for Technology and beam weapons, JUST LIKE NECRONS. GW may have planned a race that simply prepares a pacified, multiracial galaxy for Necrons to feast upon, supported by Ethereals that have a C'tan phase blade. Then there is a reference of "dark seed in east" by the Deceiver, so the tricky C'tan might give Tzeentch the finger in the JUST AS PLANNED competition. Or maybe GW just has so little creativity that they simply made a new civ conforming to an Old One's standards without knowing it. Is this the connec...
Post a Comment
Read more