While some people love and some people hate the final battle of the Harry Potter series thanks to the tricky nature of the wand lore, Harry Potter was able to finally defeat Voldemort. The reason for this was that Harry was the true master of the Elder Wand during their duel, leading to the wand not wanting to harm its true master. This has led some to wonder whether or not it would be possible for Harry to beat Voldemort if he never became the master of the Elder Wand when he disarmed Draco much earlier in the story.
Thanks to the nature of the world of Harry Potter, determining the answer to that question is surprisingly tricky. People have attempted to offer solid explanations on each side of the debate, but regardless of where the evidence points, no one is ever truly satisfied thanks to the many moving parts involved in the finale of the Harry Potter series.
How Powerful Were Harry Potter And Voldemort?
The first key aspect to determine if Harry could beat Voldemort would be to determine exactly how strong each of the wizards is. Unfortunately for Harry – the wizard who never ended up finishing at Hogwarts properly, the lord of all dark wizards was arguably the strongest wizard to ever exist aside from Albus Dumbledore. Almost every single indication the average person would get from a comparison of the two is that while Harry was a strong wizard, Voldemort would have easily dispatched the boy.
One major hurdle Harry faces right away is that his most used combative charm is Expelliarmus, a disarming charm, not a killing curse. Every single curse Harry could throw at Voldemort wouldn’t even be at a Hogwart graduate level, and the dark lord would already have been experienced fighting and killing vastly more knowledgeable and skilled wizards. Without the mastery of the Elder Wand, Harry was a boy fighting a god, and even though he was a bit of a celebrity around Hogwarts, everything he’d learned wouldn’t be enough to stop someone like Voldemort.
This is made all the more clear through Voldemort often being described as one of, if not the most powerful dark wizard of all time. If Dumbledore’s words are to be believed, it’s likely that Tom Riddle at the same age could have taken Harry in a fight with little issue. Voldemort was more or less a master of every kind of magic one could think of, and it’s additionally said that the only person who would be able to rival him in a straight duel would be Dumbledore. As Harry was nowhere near Dumbledore’s level, this only serves to prove that Harry is horrendously outmatched by Lord Voldemort.
Why Is The Elder Wand So Important?
The mastery of the Elder Wand is seemingly the only thing that allowed Harry to defeat Voldemort during their duel at Hogwarts. The mastery of the wand is a bit confusing, but essentially, Draco had taken it from Dumbledore, and Harry then took it from him. Voldemort wrongly believed Snape was the master and killed him, believing he’d become the master. When the duel between Harry and Voldemort commenced, the wand refused to harm its rightful master.
The wrench in this somewhat confusing but also linear chain of events is that the Elder Wand doesn’t always work the same as other wands. In particular, the Elder Wand chooses strength above all else, something that almost certainly has to be how Dumbledore managed to defeat an Elder Wand-wielding Grindelwald in a duel. Dumbledore could have disarmed Grindelwald, but considering the Elder Wand is said to be unable to lose in a duel, these two pieces of information come into conflict with one another.
Realistically, if everything in the series occurred the same way, except Harry hadn’t disarmed Draco at any point, then neither Harry nor Voldemort would be master of the wand, making the draw of strength the biggest potential game-changer in their duel. The point here is that it is possible that Harry actually would have gained mastery of the Elder Wand regardless of whether or not he’d disarmed Malfoy to become the master purely based on subjective magical feats that demonstrate strength.
Could Harry Potter Have Beaten Voldemort In A Duel?
The answer here is actually incredibly tricky. Realistically, it doesn’t seem like Harry would stand a chance against Voldemort in a one-on-one fight if Voldemort was the true master of the Elder Wand, and that’s even more true if he wasn’t the true master anyway. It’s not hard to see that Voldemort was in possession of magics that Harry could only ever dream of pulling off, making Voldemort the more powerful of the two, and thus causing the Elder Wand to want to remain in his possession. Despite all of that, there are a few things to keep in mind.
It is possible that because Harry demonstrated the willingness to sacrifice himself by going to his death at the hands of his enemy, the wand could have viewed Harry as the strongest wizard, and in turn, considered him to be its new master upon his return to life. It’s also speculated that because of Harry’s sacrifice in the Forbidden Forest, similar protection that he had from his mother’s love was cast upon everyone at Hogwarts, making them impossible for Voldemort to adequately harm. Considering the charm of love’s protection is considered rare and powerful, this could be viewed as highly advanced magic that would once again cause the Elder Wand to want to move to Harry’s possession.
Ignoring the actual allegiance of the wand, Harry would almost certainly lose in a straight duel. However, if the remaining people of Hogwarts were truly under similar protection to what Harry had previously had, it’s not unthinkable that the many skilled witches and wizards still standing at Hogwarts would have taken Voldemort out anyways once all the other Horcruxes were destroyed. That would be a bit of a darker ending for the series, but it just goes to show just how outmatched Harry was by the greatest dark wizard to ever exist even if the Elder Wand didn’t factor into their battle.
Harry Potter is available to stream on HBO Max