Another thing I'm not sure about is how deaths by Nagini is credited to Voldemort. If the owner of the Elder Wand was killed by an ordinary snake, I'm sure that the wand's power would break. But Voldemort believed that Nagini killing Snape would result in him being the master of the Elder Wand. If Nagini contains a a fragment of Voldemort's soul, would that mean that any deaths by her are actually Voldemort's murders? Toon Ganondorf (t c) 00:10, 26 April 2009 (UTC)
- Voldemort is acknowledged as Snape's murderer by Harry in DH36: "“That wand still isn’t working properly for you, because you murdered the wrong person. Severus Snape was never the true master of the Elder Wand. He never defeated Dumbledore." I'm not sure whether all deaths caused by Nagini would be considered Voldemort's murders; we don't know if Nagini sometimes kills out of her own will or only on Voldemort's orders.
- Additionally, I don't think Voldemort used Nagini to kill Snape because he believed that this was an absolute requirement for him gaining control over the Elder Wand, but out of practical necessity. Because Voldemort wasn't its master, the Elder Wand wouldn't work for him, and thus he couldn't cast the Killing Curse, and had to rely on Nagini. ★ Starstuff (Owl me!) 09:37, 27 April 2009 (UTC)
I don't agree with Starstuff. Voldemort would have been able to cast the killing curse on Snape. He had already performed extraordinary magic with the wand, and he explains this as a result of him being an extraordinary wizard. But the actual mastering of the elder wand would have given him the power to break the ancient magic beneath the twin cores and the magic bond between him and harry, and forwards making him trully unbeatable. A killing curse against Harry Potter would need a much more amount of magic than a killing curse against Snape. To be on topic, Nagini's killings are atribued to Voldemort because he is the one who makes the decisions. He has almost total control on the snake and therefore it is able to command the snake to kill. As in the case of Harry sacrificing him in the forbidden forrest but not dying, i believe it is not important that he didn't actually die, but that he accepted death by walking towards it and not fiting back. As well as in that case, here too matters the one who makes the decision. And also, to explain why Voldemort diddn't use the avada kedavra, i believe j.k. rowling wanted a way in which harry could see snape's memories and understand about what he had to do, about who severus snape really was, and also she would have wanted a way in which severus snape could prove himself loyal to dumbledore until the end, and more important, to prove that he tried to pay back til the very end for the mistake which lead to the death of Lily. The choice of killing Snape with Nagini rather than the avada kedavra is the mean to closure. The wizarding world, harry, and the readers needed to know the truth. About everything.--Ohmbun 17:45, 29 April 2009 (UTC)