Even though Harry Potter receives the Cloak of Invisibility during his very first year at Hogwarts, it is not until the last installment of the series where it is revealed that it is one of the fabled Deathly Hallows. Along with the Elder Wand and the Resurrection Stone, these magical artifacts are supposedly created by Death himself. While most regard the story as a mere fairy tale, others covet the Deathly Hallows to become the Master of Death.
Throughout the history of the Hallows, only Harry is known to have been in command of all three and, thus, hold that title. However, he never uses them for gaining power or immortality. With several of the other characters fixated on conquering them, what actually becomes of the Deathly Hallows?
What Are the Three Deathly Hallows?
Originally told in The Tales of Beedle the Bard, the story of the Deathly Hallows begins with the three Peverell brothers, who are traveling at twilight and come across a river with no way to cross it. As they possess magical abilities, they simply wave their wands to create a bridge over it. That is when Death suddenly appears then, who feels cheated that they have managed to avoid drowning in the river. Under the guise of congratulating them, Death offers them gifts for their cleverness, which he plans to use to kill them off.
The first brother, Antioch, asks for the most powerful wand to ever exist. Death breaks off a branch of a nearby ancient tree and uses it to create the Elder Wand. The second brother, Cadmus, asks for the power to bring back loved ones from the grave (in an attempt to disgrace Death even further). Death picks up a stone from the riverbed to create the Resurrection Stone for him. The third brother, Ignotus, just asks Death for a way for him to leave without being followed by him. In response, Death reluctantly hands him his own Cloak of Invisibility.
When the brothers go their own separate ways, Antioch heads off to duel with an enemy. After killing him, he boasts of the power of the Elder Wand to others. Another wizard then slits him in his sleep and steals the wand from him. Cadmus, on the other hand, uses the Resurrection Stone to bring back the woman he loved from the dead. However, she only turns out to be a pale imitation of her former self as the dead cannot truly return to the living world. Eventually, Cadmus hangs himself so he could be with her in death. In contrast, Ignotus uses the Cloak of Invisibility to hide from Death until he grows old, which is when he greets him “as an old friend”.
Dumbledore theorizes that the Hallows were more likely created by the brothers, who were extremely powerful wizards. They are eventually passed down in the Peverell family for generations. The Cloak of Invisibility, which is immune to all charms and hexes, ends up with Harry, who is the direct descendant of Ignotus. Similarly, the Resurrection Stone is placed inside a ring that is inherited by the House of Gaunt — implying that Voldemort is also a descendant of Cadmus. Unaware what the family heirloom truly is, Voldemort steals it from his uncle Morfin and turns it into a Horcrux. The Elder Wand appears throughout the centuries under various names, like the ‘Wand of Destiny’ and ‘Deathstick’. It is in the possession of the wandmaker Gregorovitch at one point, but it is stolen from him by the Dark wizard Grindelwald. In the famous duel between him and Dumbledore in 1945, the latter wins it from him and is its master until his death.
Why Did Voldemort Need the Deathly Hallows?
Although Voldemort possesses two of the Deathly Hallows at some point, he is ignorant about their connection — as is confirmed by the fact that he uses his ancestral Hallow to create a Horcrux. Dumbledore believes that, even if Voldemort gets to know, he would still be interested in only the Elder Wand, which would grant him the greatest power in the entire wizarding world. This is exactly how it turns out: Voldemort pursues the wand to not just defeat Harry, but also make him truly invincible. In 1998, he tracks down Grindelwald in Nurmengard and demands to know where it is.
During this confrontation, he learns that Dumbledore claimed the wand in the duel decades ago. This is when he steals it from his grave at Hogwarts. However, Voldemort never becomes the true master of the wand as Dumbledore’s murder by Snape has been secretly planned long ago (thus, not making Snape its rightful owner), and Draco disarms him just moments before his death. Voldemort kills Snape as a result, but he does not know that the Elder Wand’s allegiance has actually shifted to Harry since he conquers Draco’s wand while escaping from Malfoy Manor. At the end of the Battle of Hogwarts, the wand favors Harry, and Voldemort is defeated once and for all.
As the only wizard in history who seeks to create an abominable number of Horcruxes, Voldemort has always gone to great lengths to achieve immortality. Hence, even if he had been familiar with the legend, he would have failed to become the true Master of Death since that requires the acceptance of death and the understanding that “there are far, far worse things in the living world than dying”.
What Happened to the Deathly Hallows After Voldemort Was Defeated?
After destroying the Horcrux in the ring, Dumbledore leaves the Resurrection Stone to Harry, hidden in a Golden Snitch. At the Battle of Hogwarts, before Harry ventures into the Forbidden Forest toward his death, he uses the stone to talk to shades of Lily and James Potter, Sirius Black and Remus Lupin. Afterward, in a rather anticlimactic fashion, he drops the stone on the floor of the Forbidden Forest, and neither looks for it again nor tells anyone about it. J. K. Rowling revealed later on that, when a herd of centaurs had rushed to the Hogwarts to help fight against the Death Eaters, one of them stomped on the stone and pushed it into the ground. Its exact whereabouts are still unknown to this day.
As he has no intention to use the Elder Wand either, Harry uses it to repair his own broken wand before returning it to the White Tomb. He believes that, if he dies naturally, no one can claim it for themselves ever again and its power would finally be broken. The wand’s fate differs in the book though: he is not seen using it to fix his wand, and he instead snaps it in half and throws it over the bridge. Due to its inconsistency with the book’s version, however, this scene was highly criticized by fans.
On the other hand, Harry keeps the Cloak of Invisibility for himself as he feels that it does not pose any threat as such. Just as his ancestors had done, he resolves to pass it down to his own children one day.