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In the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 movie, Voldemort kills Snape because of a misconception. But why didn't he kill Snape with The killing Curse instead of having Nagini kill him?

Then Snape would have died in an instant. So Snape wouldn't have been able to give Harry the information that Harry was a horcrux- so Harry wouldn't have wanted to die and so this would have been a flaw in destroying Voldemort completely. Is there any particular reason behind using Nagini to kill Snape?

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  • I think it's worth pointing out that hindsight is 20/20. At the time, Voldemort didn't know about Dumbledore's plan, or Snape's part in it, or the fact that Harry was eavesdropping. The decision on how to kill Snape didn't seem like an important one at the time.
    – DaaaahWhoosh
    Mar 21, 2018 at 21:54

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If he had used the Avada Kedavara curse, he'd have to use the Elder Wand. He believed if he had used the Avada Kedavara curse, the wand would have resisted him doing so as it did when he tried to kill Harry who is the true owner of the Elder Wand. To avoid this, he slit Snape's throat and then let Nagini attack him.

Apparently, he thought that the true allegiance of that wand was with Snape.

Voldemort: Where does its true loyalty lie?

Snape: With you... Of course, My Lord.

Voldemort: The Elder Wand cannot serve me properly, because I am not its true master. The Elder Wand belongs to the wizard who killed its last owner. You killed Dumbledore, Severus. While you live, the Elder Wand cannot truly be mine.

It's safe to assume that the most powerful wand in the world wouldn't kill its owner. Therefore, one has to kill or defeat the current owner in another way to become its true owner. We already saw that the owner of Elder Wand was murdered in the story of three brothers told by Hermione and when Draco disarms Dumbledore by Expelliarmus, the allegiance of this wand changes.

Hermione: Harry! Why didn't it work for him? The Elder Wand?

Harry: It answers to somebody else. When he killed Snape, he thought the wand would become his. But the thing is... The wand never belonged to Snape. It was Draco who disarmed Dumbledore that night in the Astronomy tower. From that moment on, the wand answered to him. Until, the other night when I disarmed Draco at Malfoy Manor.

Hermione: So, that means...

Harry: It's mine!

Script source

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    The second quote appears to be from the movie rather than from the book. You may want to point out explicitly that the movie and the book versions aren't exactly identical.
    – Mico
    Mar 21, 2018 at 11:58
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    Why wouldn't Voldemort carry around an extra wand, for situations where the Elder Wand's lack of loyalty got in the way?
    – sosiouxme
    Mar 21, 2018 at 12:57
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    @sosiouxme "Just carry another wand". Genius, let me summon the giant eagles and just shoot James Bond immediately and add this to the list of genre-savvy actions.
    – Discrete lizard
    Mar 21, 2018 at 13:21
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    @AJ: The dialogues in the movie are as in my edits (for example see here). For instance: nobody would ever say "the wand answered him" - that makes no sense (wands can't talk); the line is "the wand answered to him" (i.e. the wand obeyed him); this can clearly be heard in the clips.
    – psmears
    Mar 21, 2018 at 13:49
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    @Acccumulation Well, he knew that the Elder Wand doesn't serve him properly. I have improved the wording.
    – A J ♦
    Mar 21, 2018 at 17:38

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