Harry Potter: Dumbledore's Obsession with the Deathly Hallows Cursed Wizards for Generations

Summary:

• Since he was a teenager, Albus Dumbledore has always been obsessed with the Deathly Hallows.
• After his famous duel with Grindelwald, the Headmaster claimed the Elder Wand for himself.
• Instead of destroying the Wand, Dumbledore kept it, allowing for new generations of fools to find it.

Though they were only introduced in the last Harry Potter book, the Deathly Hallows have been an essential backdrop for many events in the series. From Harry’s trusted Invisibility Cloak to Voldemort’s Resurrection Stone Horcrux to Dumbledore’s all-powerful Elder Wand, the Hallows have always been there — we just didn’t know.

These incredibly powerful artifacts were rumored to make the man wielding them all the Master of Death, and the Hogwarts Headmaster was so focused on that that he completely ignored the opportunity to save the Wizarding World from future Dark Lords. And not just once: Dumbledore kept ignoring it for many decades!

Why Was Dumbledore Obsessed with the Hallows?

When he was young, Albus Dumbledore concluded that the Deathly Hallows from The Tales of Beedle the Bard were real. He was set on finding all three artifacts and reuniting them to become the legendary Master of Death himself — and he wasn’t alone in his ambition. That was how he met and befriended Gellert Grindelwald.

Together with the future Dark Lord (who was, at the time, either his friend or his lover), Dumbledore was researching the Hallows and trying to locate them. Back then, he wanted the Resurrection Stone that could allow him to see his family again, and Grindelwald wished for the most powerful magical weapon — the Elder Wand.

As we know, Dumbledore and Grindelwald’s friendship didn’t last too long. After the future Headmaster’s sister Ariana died in the crossfire of their duel, the relationship between the two was no more. The future they envisioned was gone, but not their common dream: both Dumbledore and Grindelwald still wanted to find the Hallows.

How Did Dumbledore Doom the Wizarding World?

Grindelwald was the first to find the Elder Wand — but even though he was wielding it, Dumbledore still defeated him in their legendary duel and became the Wand’s new master. Since then, it has become the Headmaster’s primary weapon, hidden from the world at large and serving the man who was convinced he’d do no harm with it.

Unfortunately, that was also the time when Dumbledore could’ve rid the world of more Dark Lords and other bloodthirsty fools seeking the ultimate weapon. If the Headmaster found it in himself to destroy the Elder Wand — snap it in halves and cast it into the fire — he could’ve made sure no other man would ever wield it.

But Dumbledore’s obsession with the Deathly Hallows won over his common sense. The Headmaster kept the Wand and made no secret out of it. Because of that, the Elder Wand even ended up in Lord Voldemort’s hand, though temporarily, and even then, it was still kept intact as Harry returned it to its “rightful owner,” Dumbledore.

The Elder Wand kept existing, and so did the new generations of fools and evildoers who wanted to find it. With Harry spilling the beans about the Wand in front of dozens of Death Eaters, those people will know where to begin their search — and eventually, some new Grindelwald will inevitably claim the most powerful weapon.

The Harry Potter movies actually got rid of this mistake — not on Dumbledore’s part but on Harry’s. In the finale of The Deathly Hallows — Part Two, Harry breaks the Elder Wand in halves and casts its remains down from the bridge to never be found again, thus fixing the Headmaster’s (and the book Harry’s) biggest oversight.