Here’s How Harry Potter’s Biggest Drama Queens Proved the Deathly Hallows Useless

Summary:

• The Elder Wand was called “undefeatable,” but Dumbledore defeated Grindelwald who was wielding it.
• The Invisibility Cloak was supposed to hide its owner even from Death, but Moody Eye saw right through it.
• The Resurrection Stone was the only Deathly Hallow that wasn’t overmarketed by Beedle the Bard.

One of them was the most powerful battle wizard in Magical Britain with sensational blue eyes and a tendency to yell at minors… Well, actually, that makes two of them. Alastor Moody and Albus Dumbledore were both extremely powerful and unnecessarily dramatic, but they also had some rather peculiar hobbies.

Both Dumbledore and Moody managed to disprove the legends about the Deathly Hallows in their own ways, adding those items to the list of enemies they slayed.

How Did Dumbledore ‘Kill’ the Elder Wand?

Out of the three Deathly Hallows, the Elder Wand has always had the bloodiest and most seductive reputation. According to Beedle the Bard, Death created it when the elder brother asked for a “wand more powerful than any in existence: a wand that must always win duels for its owner.” The Elder Wand was known as “undefeatable.”

Naturally, combat wizards and ill-minded Dark fellows of all sorts have always been on the hunt for the Elder Wand. For centuries, they cut each other’s throats and backstabbed each other to get their hands on the one wand that would make them invincible … Unaware that, in fact, the Elder Wand was not a guarantee for victory.

Albus Dumbledore himself proved it in his duel with Gellert Grindelwald. They were both immensely powerful and talented wizards, but Grindelwald was also wielding the Elder Wand; still, Dumbledore emerged victorious. In this wizarding duel, the myth of the Elder Wand and its wielder’s invincibility was disproven for good.

How Did Moody ‘Kill’ the Invisibility Cloak?

Beedle the Bard never gave many details about the Invisibility Cloak. Though it wasn’t praised, like its sister artifacts, admittedly, Death searched for the younger brother for many years but “was never able to find him.” Logically speaking, if even Death could not see someone wearing the Cloak, then no one else would, either.

It was mentioned that in the world of invisibility cloaks, the Deathly Hallows was something of the Invisibility Cloak Supreme: it hid its master from everything and anything. Harry Potter himself was relying on the Cloak for years and it kept him concealed from all danger — until, of course, Alastor Moody came around.

Not exactly Mad-Eye himself, to be frank, but someone else using his Mad Eye™. With no extra effort of his own, Barty Crouch Jr. could see right through Harry’s Invisibility Cloak — all thanks to his Eye which, as far as we’re aware, has never been considered a Deathly Hallow. So much for “even Death won’t find you,” duh.

Did Anyone ‘Kill’ the Resurrection Stone?

Arguably, the Resurrection Stone has never had a stellar enough reputation for it to be ruined, in the first place. While Beedle the Bard praises the Elder Wand’s power despite its owner’s demise and highlights the effectiveness of the Invisibility Cloak, he’s blunt about the Stone’s problems: it doesn’t work quite as advertised.

The artifact called the Resurrection Stone was never capable of resurrecting anyone: it only summoned a shadow of a person, “silent and cold, separated <...> by a veil.” Beedle the Bard didn’t make an effort to market the most unique Deathly Hallows, so there was no need to disprove its uselessness. Anyone who could read already knew it was severely overhyped by Death, so who cares?