The ways of how Harry treats the Elder Wand are different in the book and the movies. In the book, after Harry uses the Elder Wand to fix his holly and phoenix wand, he returns it back to Dumbledore and says, “I’m putting the Elder Wand back where it came from”. I think there are multiple reasons why the author wrote this scene this way. First, since Dumbledore was the owner of the Elder Wand, Harry thinks he should give it back to Dumbledore after Voldemort dies. Second, Harry really likes his holly and phoenix wand. When it breaks, Harry is upset for a long time and carries it with him everywhere although Hermoine has told him that it cannot be fixed due to the severe damage. However, Harry is hopeful that perhaps the Elder Wand can help him fix the holly. Magically, his wand resealed and “he picked up the holly and phoenix wand and felt a sudden warmth in his fingers, as though the wand and hand were rejoicing at their reunion.” After fixing his holly, Harry gets something meaningful back and he becomes very happy again. Third, in my opinion, the Elder Wand is the most powerful weapon in the magic world, and it belongs to the most powerful wizard who is Dumbledore. This action also reveals how much respect and admiration that Harry has towards Dumbledore and emphasizes the special relationship between them.
In contrast to the book, the movie demonstrates a different reaction towards the Elder Wand. Harry breaks the wand and throws it in the pile of relics of Hogwarts. The reason why the director made this adaption in the film is perhaps he thinks that destroying the Elder Wand is the best way to prevent it from causing trouble in Harry’s future life. After all, that "wand’s more trouble than it's worth."
I prefer how the book depicts the way Harry treats the Elder Wand because it makes more sense to see Harry using the Elder Wand as the last method to fix his holly and phoenix wand that he cherishes instead of taking the ownership of the Elder Wand. As a Harry Potter fan, I could feel the sadness with Harry when his holly was broken, and when I saw his wand was resealed, I also felt the joy. In Harry’s mind, he probably thinks no one besides the headmaster Dumbledore deserves to use the Elder Wand. To protect the most powerful wand, he chooses to return it to Dumbledore, who he thinks the wand belongs to. This allows readers to feel the affection and admiration that Harry shows to Dumbledore through this action of returning the Elder Wand. In contrast, in the movie, Harry breaking the wand in half can be interpreted as being disrespectful to the wand. As we all know, we only break things when we are mad or we don’t want keep it anymore. Here the director filmed it this way indicating that Harry thinks the wand brings more trouble to the world than its value. Therefore, he doesn’t want to keep it and breaks it as a way to protect his loved ones from being hurt. Throwing away the wand in the ending of the movie gives the audience all kinds of speculations about what will happen to Harry’s magic power in the future.
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