Deathly Hallows (objects)

The Sign of the Deathly Hallows represents all three objects symbolically: the Wand, the Stone, and the Cloak.

The Deathly Hallows are three fictional magical objects that appear in the book Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J. K Rowling, and which are referred to by the title. The three objects are the Elder Wand, the Resurrection Stone and the Cloak of Invisibility. According to the novel, the person who unites the Hallows is said to have the ability to defeat death.

According to author J.K. Rowling, the story about how these objects came into existence is "perhaps" based upon Geoffrey Chaucer's The Pardoner's Tale.

The Symbol of the Deathly Hallows

The Deathly Hallows are represented in the novel by a symbol appearing as a circle inscribed within an equilateral triangle, both of which are bisected by a vertical line. The circle represents the Stone of Resurrection, the triangle represents the Cloak of Invisibility, and the line represents the Elder Wand.^[HP7] According to the character of Xenophilius Lovegood, father of Harry Potter's friend, Luna Lovegood, and editor of the fictional magazine,The Quibbler, the symbol is worn by wizards to reveal themselves as believers in the legend of the Deathly Hallows.^[HP7] Because it was a symbol often used by Gellert Grindelwald, a Dark wizard in the back-story of the Harry Potter lexicon, many mistook it to be his own symbol.^[HP7] During the wedding of Bill and Fleur Weasley, for example, Viktor Krum is shocked that Xenophilius is wearing the symbol of the wizard who had killed his grandfather some 60 years prior.

Noted wizards to have worn the symbol

In the book, the Dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald displayed the symbol during his reign of power.^[HP7] Albus Dumbledore, headmaster of the wizarding school that Harry Potter attended, also used the symbol in his signatures (i.e., the symbol replaced the "A" in "Albus"). Dumbledore refused to use this design after he decided he was not meant to seek the Hallows.^[HP7] Xenophilius Lovegood wore the symbol around his neck as a means to declare himself a believer.^[HP7]

Noted locations and items to display the symbol

The symbol appears in the book of wizarding children's stories, The Tales of Beedle the Bard, inscribed by Albus Dumbledore on the top page of the story The Tale of the Three Brothers.^[HP7] A wall in Durmstrang Institute, another wizarding school, bears the symbol, which was carved upon it by Gellert Grindelwald.^[HP7] Another symbol is inscribed on the grave in Godric's Hollow of Harry Potter's ancestor, Ignotus Peverell.^[HP7] Finally, the symbol is engraved into Marvolo Gaunt's ring, which bears the Resurrection Stone and was passed to him through his family from Cadmus Peverell.

The Legend of the Deathly Hallows

Further information: List of fictional books within the Harry Potter series § The Tales of Beedle the Bard

The Tale of the Three Brothers

According to the novel, Albus Dumbledore left Hermione Granger an ancient book entitled The Tales of Beedle the Bard in his will. When Hermione looks into the book, she finds an odd symbol inscribed on a certain page. Wanting to discover its meaning Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger visit Xenophilius Lovegood. He tells them that it is the symbol of the Deathly Hallows. He asks them if they are familiar with The Tale of the Three Brothers. Hermione responds that the tale is in The Tales of Beedle the Bard and turns to the page that has the inscribed symbol.^[HP7]

The story found within the ancient book is about three brothers who were walking and in time, came upon a river too deep and dangerous to swim or wade across, but because the brothers were learned in the magical arts, they produced a bridge over the river. At the middle of the bridge, they came across a hooded figure, Death himself. Death was enraged, for the clever brothers crossed over the river unharmed while the previous travelers drowned in the dangerous waters. Death pretended to congratulate the wizards and told them they each deserved a prize for their marvelous magic.

The oldest of the brothers, who was a combative man, asked for a duel-winning wand also worthy for a wizard who conquered Death. So Death retrieved a branch from an Elder Tree and fashioned a wand to give to the oldest brother. The second of the brothers, who was arrogant, wanted to humiliate Death further and asked for the power to recall the dead. So Death picked up a stone from the riverbank and gave it to him and told him that the stone had the power of resurrection. The youngest brother was the humblest, the wisest and did not trust Death, and asked for something enabling him to move on without being followed by Death. So Death most unwillingly gave up his Cloak of Invisibility to the brother. After this, Death moved out of the way and the brothers discussed their recent adventure.

In time, the brothers separated towards different adventures. The oldest brother engaged in duels which he always won, boasting about his invincible wand from Death. One night, however, when he was asleep, a jealous wizard crept up on him, slit the brother's throat, and took the wand for himself; Death then took the first brother for his own. The second brother had a home where he lived alone; he got the stone out one day and turned it thrice in his hand. The woman who he hoped to marry, only to have died previously, appeared before him. She was separated from her deathly world and was sad and cold. Driven mad, the second brother killed himself and rejoined his love in death; Death then took the second brother for his own. Death never found the youngest brother until he took off the cloak and passed it to his son. Death appeared upon the youngest brother who greeted him as an old friend and they departed from the world as equals.

The Identity of the Three Brothers

After Hermione saw the symbol of the Deathly Hallows on Ignotus Peverell's grave in Godric's Hollow and Harry recalled Marvolo Gaunt boasting that his ring held the Peverell Coat of Arms on it, they realized that the three brothers were the Peverells; Antioch (the oldest), Cadmus (the middle), and Ignotus (the youngest). Harry believes he is descended from Ignotus, as the cloak is passed through his family. This is also confirmed by the spirit of Albus Dumbledore when he appears to Harry near the end of the novel. The same reasoning suggests that Voldemort, of the House of Gaunt, is descended from Cadmus. Rowling has confirmed that Harry and Voldemort are indeed related to the Peverells in an interview, as the majority of wizard families share common ancestry.

Interviewer: From reading about the original owners of the Deathly Hallows, the Peverell brothers, I'm wondering if Harry and Voldemort are distantly related: Voldemort's grandfather ended up with the Resurrection Stone - ring?
J.K. Rowling: Yes, Harry and Voldemort are smally related through the Peverells. Of course, nearly all wizarding families are related if you trace them back through the centuries. As was made clear in 'Deathly Hallows', Peverell blood would run through many wizarding families.

The Quest for the Hallows

J.K. Rowling revealed in an interview that one of the working titles for Deathly Hallows was Harry Potter and the Peverell Quest. Throughout the history of the novel, many wizards have sought out the legendary Hallows through what is referred to by Xenophilius as the Quest. Apparently, not many have succeeded in finding the Deathly Hallows. They had, after all, no evidence of the locations of the Hallows and no proof that they actually existed.

The Hallows

Elder Wand

File:Elder wand.jpg

Albus Dumbledore's Wand in the Harry Potter films. Assuming that the film versions are canon, this wand is the Elder Wand.

The Elder Wand, known throughout history as the "Deathstick" and the "Wand of Destiny", is an extremely powerful magic wand made of elder wood. 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. It also appears, as the wand is somewhat sentient, as are all wands, that it will not allow itself to cause real harm to its true Master. The wand's ownership, however, is a tricky matter. As stated by master wandmaker Mr. Ollivander, ownership can only be transferred properly. That is, the wand will only fully work for the new user if they disarm, stun, or kill the previous user. This can occur during a duel (although because the Wand is very powerful, this scenario would be rare), or in non-magical ways (killing in Muggle fashion, etc). If a master dies without being defeated, the wand's power will die too, as it had never been won from its master.

After boasting of his unbeatable wand, Antioch Peverell met his end— murdered in his sleep by a rival wanting to claim the wand. Ever since, the wand has been sought by power-hungry wizards. It moved to Emeric the Evil, then to Egbert the Egregious. It vanished for some time until resurfacing under the control of Godelot, whose son Hereward took it from him. After another disappearance Barnabas Deverill owned the wand and was killed by Loxias, who was then killed by either Arcus or Livius. It eventually came to the possession of Gregorovitch, a Bulgarian wandmaker. Gregorovitch boasted about how he possessed the Elder Wand, as it would boost his popularity as he tried to reverse engineer its secrets as he faced competition from Ollivander. It subsequently fell to Grindelwald, who stole it from the famed wandmaker. It is not known if Gregorovitch mastered its secrets properly but he did have a reputation in Europe. Since full control of it passed to Dumbledore when he defeated Grindelwald, presumably the Stunning Spell Gellert sent at Gregorovitch stunned him causing possession of the wand to switch to Grindelwald. In Deathly Hallows, Rowling never explicitly states whether or not Grindelwald became the master of the Elder Wand, because the narration stated that Grindelwald stole the wand from Gregorovitch, so theoretically Grindelwald was never the master of the wand (although it could be that when Grindelwald used the wand to stun and overpower its previous owner the wand recognised a superior master). This scenario is more probable considering the fact that Dumbledore was renowned for having defeated Grindelwald in a duel, a feat theoretically impossible if Grindelwald were in fact the master of the Elder Wand. Albus Dumbledore later defeated Grindelwald and became the wand's master.

When Dumbledore arranged his death with Snape (as revealed in the The Prince's Tale chapter of Deathly Hallows), he meant Snape to "end up with the Elder Wand." Because his death would not have been the result of his defeat, Dumbledore hoped this might break the wand's power. However, since Draco Malfoy disarmed Dumbledore, the plan failed and Draco became the wand's new master. After Dumbledore's death, the wand was placed inside his White Tomb. Voldemort opened it and claimed the wand as his own. Only later did he learn that he never mastered the wand because he did not gain ownership from its previous owner. He has mistakenly believed the wand's previous owner to be Snape, since Snape had been the one to kill Dumbledore. The wand's allegiance was later won by Harry when he struggled with Draco and disarmed him, even though Draco never had the Elder Wand itself in his possession.

Voldemort cast four Killing Curses on Harry, but each lacked the desired effect. The first Killing Curse's failure, according to Dumbledore, was due to Lily Potter's self-sacrifice to protect Harry, at which point Harry became the unintended Horcrux. The second Killing curse is in the fourth book, where the twin cores protected Harry and the imprints of Voldemort's victims gave Harry time to escape. The Elder Wand did destroy Voldemort's soul fragment inside Harry with the third killing curse (Voldemort could not kill Harry, but he could certainly destroy that part of himself). The Killing Curse knocked Harry into a death-like state for a few moments, in which in his mind he was given a choice to "move on" to the afterlife or return to the living world, and he chose the latter. Voldemort's Cruciatus Curse, used on Harry when Voldemort thought he was dead, caused no pain to Harry. In the final battle, the Elder Wand recognizes its true master, and when confronted with Harry's Expelliarmus charm, the wand causes Voldemort's final Avada Kedavra curse to rebound and kill him. Harry is the wand's true master and the wand cannot hurt its owner.

Harry uses the Elder Wand to repair his damaged holly and phoenix feather wand (an act that the great wandmaker Mr. Ollivander believed improbable according to what he knew—he mentions that wandlore is very ancient and complicated).

J.K. Rowling revealed in an interview that one of the working titles for Deathly Hallows was Harry Potter and the Elder Wand.

Harry intends to return the wand to Dumbledore's tomb. He determines that, if he dies of a natural death, the power of the wand will die out with him.

Resurrection Stone

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The Resurrection Stone set into Marvolo Gaunt's ring, as seen from the spine of the UK version of the Half-Blood Prince

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 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 Albus Dumbledore and Gellert 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. Voldemort turned the ring into a Horcrux, not knowing its magical nature. The stone is later used by Harry Potter before confronting Lord Voldemort.^[HP7]

Dumbledore recovered the ring from Marvolo's estate, recognizing it as both a Horcrux and one of the Deathly Hallows. Forgetting that as a Horcrux the Resurrection Stone was likely cursed, and motivated by personal desire, Dumbledore attempted to use the Resurrection Stone to talk to his deceased family. However, the curse destroyed his hand and began to spread throughout his body. Though the spreading was partly contained in the destroyed and blackened hand by Severus Snape, Dumbledore was doomed, having perhaps a year to live. Before summoning Snape, Dumbledore had destroyed the Horcrux, using Godric Gryffindor's sword. The stone was later passed to Harry through Dumbledore's will, hidden inside a Snitch. The Snitch, the same one Harry caught in his first-ever Quidditch match (Harry originally caught the Snitch in his mouth and nearly swallowed it), revealed the message "I open at the close" when touched by Harry's lips. Harry is unable to open the Snitch until he is about to die, and he realizes that "the close" means death. When he whispers, "I am about to die", the Snitch opens. Harry uses the stone to summon his parents, Sirius Black and Remus Lupin to comfort him before he meets Voldemort.

The stone slips through Harry Potter's numb fingers in the Forbidden Forest. He and Dumbledore's portrait later agreed that Harry would neither search for it nor tell others where it is, in order to prevent the three Deathly Hallows from ever being united by a single owner. In a recent interview, J.K. Rowling said she'd like to believe that a centaur's hoof pushed it into the ground, burying it forever. This way, it would presumably never be found in the Forbidden Forest.

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 Harry Potter universe, which are sometimes woven from the hair of a beast known as the Demiguise, and can become opaque with age and are vulnerable to being penetrated by various spells.

Harry Potter's Invisibility Cloak 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. The cloak was not in James Potter's possession the night he was murdered; he had previously lent it to Dumbledore, who was greatly interested in the Deathly Hallows, to study. Dumbledore gave the cloak to Harry several years later as a Christmas present during his first year at Hogwarts. Harry uses the cloak throughout the series in order to sneak around the school on various adventures. It is large enough for Ron and Hermione to accompany him, and they frequently do, although this becomes increasingly difficult as they grow up throughout the series. 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.

In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, it is revealed that Harry's cloak is in fact the Cloak of Invisibility: one of the "Deathly Hallows", along with the Elder Wand and the Resurrection Stone. The Deathly Hallows are magical objects which can give the possessor of the set mastery over death. The Cloak's invisibility charm will never wear off and it can not be removed or damaged by magic.

While making the wearer invisible to ordinary people and wizards, some creatures are able to sense people hidden under it. Snakes for example cannot see through the Cloak of Invisibility, but they can sense movement and heat, and therefore can detect people under it. Mrs. Norris, the cat of the caretaker, Argus Filch, also seems to see Harry when he wears the cloak. Wearers can also be detected by the "Homenum Revelio" spell. In Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Mad-Eye Moody's magical eye could see Harry through the cloak. In the Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban Dumbledore warns that Dementors' perception of humans is unhindered by invisibility cloaks, as they sense people through emotions. In the same novel, Dumbledore seemed to be able to sense when the cloaked Harry was nearby.

There are a number of different types of Invisibility Cloaks. All are very rare and expensive, and they may be spun from the pelts of Demiguises, magical herbivores that are found in the Far East, or are ordinary cloaks with a Disillusionment Charm or a Bedazzlement Hex placed on them. Over time, these will lose their invisibility ability, eventually becoming opaque.

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.

The Deathly Hallows and Horcruxes

Initially, it is believed that both The Deathly Hallows and Horcruxes can be used to deceive death. However, Dumbledore tells Harry near the end of the book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, that while the Deathly Hallows made their owner the "Master of Death", they did not bestow immortality as the true "Master of Death" does not run away from death and instead embraces that he or she must eventually die. Of course what Dumbledore may have meant was that mastery of death is achieved, ironically by accepting it, as Harry has shown acceptance of death yet has always evaded it, unlike Voldemort who tried to gain immortality yet ultimately died in the end.

References

• Rowling, J. K., Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Bloomsbury, 2007.