The U-Bend #42: Should There Be a Wizarding A-Bomb?

by Andrew Lee and Robert Lanto

Evil Lord Voldemort has plans, namely to kill Harry. Otherwise, taking over the wizarding world is top on his list. Now we’ve seen the first hints of how this takeover will occur. Alliances with anti-ministry forces, bribery, extortion and use of the forbidden spells. While it may strike fear in the hearts of his enemies, for us we felt there could be more. After all there has to be something that causes everyone to fear Voldemort (besides thinking they’re number two on his hit-list). A weapon or spell of mass destruction perhaps?

In many great stories there lies an ultimate weapon, waiting to be useful. The One Ring to rule all rings, a nuclear bomb to nuke all nuclear bombs or some computer-generated super squid monster that eats ships and kills non-named crew members. All these weapons are the villain’s ultimate tool. After all, the only way to fear the villain is to fear their evil power. And nothing backs up their power more than a super-laser in their backyard.

For wizards, these are mostly the Dark Arts. The standard list of Unforgivable Curses, spells and potions (Polyjuice is so borderline). These also include Dark servants (Basilisk, Nagini), those who want power/revenge (giants) and those who are generally insane (we’re looking at you, Bellatrix). Although these can also include Dark objects such as evil journals, evil veils and evil opal necklaces (Dear Draco, that was the lamest plan ever.). So the question is: Would Voldemort build a veil to destroy all veils? Or rather, would Voldemort build some sort of super weapon to aid him in his goal of wiping out non-purebloods? Why go through the trouble of recruiting minions and building an evil network when you can just swish and flick them to oblivion?

Then again, is there even a need for such a weapon/spell? After all, one spell managed to destroy an entire city block. One giant (possibly) and some Death Eaters knocked around the entire West Country until it looked like a hurricane hit it. But Voldemort’s ultimate weapon may not be a weapon at all. With the Horcruxes, Voldemort can simply avoid death and keep returning to live in the back of people’s heads (do you think he ever got hungry back there)? Although, it does raise the question if Voldemort can die of old age. He can certainly outlive his enemies. With the Horcruxes Voldemort can still be defeated in a battle and return to defeat his weakened opponent. If he had battled Dumbledore again in book 6 Voldemort would have a better chance of pulling off a victory the second time around.

Ultimately, the existence of a wizarding super weapon is one that will probably never come to pass. Except for the existence of Slytherin’s Wand of Mass Maiming being hidden somewhere in Hogwarts the odds of their needing to be a wizarding super weapon are pretty low. For Voldemort, his plan doesn’t seem to be focused on getting/building a super weapon. For him, it’s oriented on showing the power of pure-blood wizards (and their allies) over everyone else. Also, a super weapon being introduced in this phase of the novels would (seemingly) cheapen the experience of the ultimate showdown coming down to a ticking clock before Voldemort pushes the button (a magical button, though).

No, Voldemort is better left as the master manipulator (of the weak) and cunning planner than the mad wizard with the world’s largest wand in his backyard.