Why would Voldemort break Lucius' wand if he wanted to borrow it?

Question

In the movie HP7 Part 1, Voldemort takes Lucius' wand in the dining room scene at the beginning of the movie. He then breaks it and asks about the core.

Voldemort: Do I detect Elm?

Lucius: Yes, my lord

Voldemort: (breaks wand) And, the core...

If he intended to use it, why would he break it? From The Chamber of Secrets, we know that a wand that's been broken is never the same. Only with the Elder wand was Harry able to repair his. Surely Voldemort knows a broken wand is useless. Why would he have broken it, and how did he fix it?

I realize there is a difference between the books and the movies, and that this never happened in the books, so I know the books are useless to answer this, and the movies don't. So that leaves us with JKR quotes. Was this ever addressed?

Answer 1

In the film he doesn't appear to break the wand. It looks like he separates it from the cane handle that Lucius had attached to the base of the wand.

Answer 2

harmingcola is correct -- Voldemort detached Lucius's wand from the snake's head handle Lucius had affixed to it. He didn't break the wand; if he had, the wand wouldn't have worked correctly, which it did until Voldemort tried to kill Harry during the Seven Potters scene, at which point it shattered from the force of the magic from Harry's wand.

I have some images that support harmingcola's answer.

You can see the silver base of the snake's head handle, holding Lucius's wand in place.

The base is visible as Voldemort prepares to break Lucius's wand.

And, finally, the detached wand with the base still visible.

These images match harmingcola's answer, so any upvotes should go to harmingcola.

Answer 3

I know this has been answered already, but I just wanted to add what I think Voldemort's reason for breaking off the wand handle is.

At this point, Lucius Malfoy has lost all favour with Voldemort, having failed him time and again, not to mention unintentionally and indirectly bringing about the destruction of the diary Horcrux. As punishment, Voldemort gave Draco Malfoy the job of killing Dumbledore, hoping that he would die in the attempt. In Hallows, Voldemort has taken over Malfoy Manor (seemingly using it as a Death Eater HQ), and Lucius is visibly a wreck. So snapping the grandiose snake's head off the wand handle is a way of emasculating Lucius even further.

Answer 4

The book goes into a great level of discussion about the twin cores and connection between Voldemort's wand and Harry's, and V's search for a wand that would not suffer from this weakness (first, a borrowed Lucius's wand and more importantly, the Death Stick).

This was a movie-dramatization way of showing that Voldemort required a wand with a core that was NOT paired with Harry's - and was willing to go to great lengths - without 5 minutes of dialogues and internal monologues that the book can afford.

Answer 5

The wand isn't actually broken when Voldemort snaps it, he's just taking off the silly looking handle. As for asking about the core, he wants to make sure he has a wand that can beat Harry's, unlike what happened in the Goblet of Fire. :)

Answer 6

Voldemort didn't need extravagant design or any extra grandeur. He needed an efficient wand that would counter the twin cores effect. He also wanted to humiliate Lucius for his terrible performance as a Death Eater. Thus, he separated the wand from its handle, which is also the handle of Lucius' cane, and used it as a regular wand, without the grip.