The Deathly Hallows

As promised, these are the Deathly Hallows: The Resurrection Stone, The Cloak of Invisibility and The Elder Wand. The deathly-hallows-symbol-harry-potter-and-the-deathly-hallows-564456_1422_1545Deathly Hallows were first mentioned in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in a novel that Dumbledore wills to Hermione called The Tales of Beetle the Bard. The story, The Three Peverell Brothers, is inside of it containing information on the three Deathly Hallows. In the wizarding world, the tale is told by many parents as a bedtime story, a myth, however… it’s real. According to The Tale of the Three Brothers the Peverell found Death. Death gave them one choice of anything they wanted; the first brother a wand that could not be defeated, the second a way to bring back someone from the dead, and the third a cloak that made the wearer invisible (to escape Death himself). The symbol to the right is a combination of all three hallows into one. The Triangle symbolizes the cloak, the circle, the stone and the line, the Elder Wand.

The 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 (an animal only visible by those who have seen death). 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, giving a good estimate of how magically powerful Dumbledore is). The wand choses the wizard as the Elder Wand will only work properly when in the hands of it’s true master. The wand will only fully work for the new user if they directly Disarm, Stun or kill the previous user. Since Dumbledore was the wands’ true master, after the defeat of Grindelwald, he was able to posses it. Draco later became the next owner of the wand due to the fact he successfully “disarmed” Dumbledore in the 6th book. Then in chapter 23: Malfoy Manor, Harry manages to disarm Draco and escape, that is when Harry became the true owner of the Elder Wand. When Voldemort tried to use the wand against Harry, it recognized it’s master and didn’t work properly for him. Harry then defeats Voldemort, he repaires his old Phoenix feather wand and buries the Elder Wand with Dumbledore once again.

The 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 (Voldemort’s grandfather) 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, undead. Voldemort turned the ring into a Horcrux, not knowing its magical nature.

The 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, can become opaque with age and are vulnerable to being penetrated by various spells. 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, and eventually to Harry. 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. 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.

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