yekke – The elder wand was in Dumbledore’s possession and when Draco disarmed him the wand’s allegiance switched to Draco (without him knowing). Then Snape killed Dumbledore to cement his allegiance to Voldemort and Dumbledore was buried with his wand(really Draco’s) that Voldemort would later steal. Meanwhile, while Harry is on the run he ends up in Malfoy Manor and duels Draco, successfully disarming him causing the elder wand(currently in Dumbledore’s tomb) to become loyal to him. Then when Harry and Voldemort are dueling the elder wand(in Voldemort’s possession) will not kill Harry as it is loyal to him. The spell backfires killing Voldemort and so ends the final battle. It was a clever plot device use by JK to ensure Harry would win the fight without having to actually murder anyone. As for Dumbledore dying, it was to symbolize the end of Harry’s time at Hogwarts and the start of the final battle against Voldemort and the death eaters.
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