Snake Cane

Lucius Malfoy's walking stick
Object information
Made	1992 or earlier
Usage	Conceals a wand inside
Owners	Lucius Malfoy Draco Malfoy

"It's not a cane, you cretin, it's a walking stick..."

— Draco Malfoy to Argus Filch

Lucius Malfoy's walking stick is an ornamental cane and heirloom of the Malfoy family. Most noticeably, however, it was owned and used by Lucius Malfoy. The cane itself is coated in shiny black lacquer. At the top of the stick is a silver snake's head, which has green crystal eyes. The snake's head is actually the handle of his wand, which is hidden inside the stick.

History

Early History

Lucius with his walking stick

The walking stick, as a family heirloom, was passed down, from father-to-son, through the long line of pure-blood successors of the Malfoy line. Its past owners include Brutus Malfoy and Abraxas Malfoy, before it eventually passed into the hands of Lucius Malfoy, the patriarch of the Malfoy family during the time of the First and Second Wizarding War.

Lucius Malfoy's possession

Throughout his life, Lucius was frequently seen with this walking stick. But in 1996, after his father was discovered as a Death Eater and sent to Azkaban, Draco Malfoy took possession of the cane and brought it with him to school. When looking through Draco's luggage, Argus Filch took the stick out and examined it. Thinking it was an artefact filled with Dark magic, Filch did not want Draco to enter the Castle with it. Severus Snape, however, pulled Draco out of trouble, as he was sworn to protect him. Despite using his father's walking stick, Draco was not known to use his father's wand during that year (it was presumably taken from Lucius when he went to Azkaban), so it it is possible Draco put his own wand in the place were Lucius's used to go in the walking stick.

Lucius Malfoy pulling his wand out of his walking stick to attack Harry Potter

The walking stick was returned to Lucius following his escape from Azkaban the following year. However, Lord Voldemort "borrowed" the wand from inside it to circumnavigate his own wand's brotherly connection with Harry Potter's. He snapped the snake head off the wand handle before bringing it with him to the Battle of the Seven Potters. It is unknown if the Wand was replaced.

Behind the scenes

• Replicas can be purchased by collectors at various fan shops, such as the Noble Collection.
• The walking stick only appears in the film adaptations of the Harry Potter novels. It has never been mentioned or referred to in the books.
• The walking stick seems to have magical abilities of its own, as in the Order of the Phoenix film Lucius is seen wielding it during a duel in the Battle of the Department of Mysteries until Harry Disarms him of it, to which Sirius Black comments "nice one". It has been speculated that the cane could be enchanted with a Shield Charm, which could explain why Lucius uses it in his duel against Sirius and Harry in combination with his wand.
• It is possible that after Lord Voldemort broke his walking stick, Lucius had a new one placed in its stead in the walking stick, seen as he kept the cane and silver-headed snake handle after losing his wand.
• In the films, Alastor Moody is also shown using a walking stick: a thick wooden staff which serves as a magical weapon for him as well as an actual walking stick, other than his wand.
• Similarly, Rubeus Hagrid also disguises a wand within another object: his pink umbrella. This is due to the fact that Hagrid's wand was broken when he was expelled from Hogwarts.
• Lucius Malfoy's walking stick can be seen in the band Mushroomhead's music video for "Save Us" it is held by Waylon Reavis. It can be clearly seen at 1:10 in this video.
• It was Jason Isaacs's idea to have Lucius conceal his wand inside a walking stick.
• Lucius Malfoy's walking stick may be inspired by the cane Alex DeLarge had in the 1971 film A Clockwork Orange. Alex's cane was used to conceal a dagger, while Lucius' cane concealed his wand.
• The idea of a walking stick concealing weapons dates from Japanese swords called Shikomizue, which were blades concealed inside canes to be carried in public without detection. Later, these weapons became very famous in Europe, especially England, similar to the fictional character Watson from the 2009 movie adaption of Sherlock Holmes.
• The films' take on Lucius using his cane as a shield of sorts while wielding his wand is similar to the daisho configuration of Japanese swordsmanship, where a samurai or other swordsman would use a smaller secondary sword as a shield while using a full-sized katana in their dominant hand. Ironically, the shaft of Lucius's cane is longer and is used for defence while the shorter wand is used for offence in duelling.

Appearances

• Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (film) (First appearance)
• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (film)
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (film)
• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (film)
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1
• LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4
• Harry Potter: The Character Vault