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At the Battle at the Ministry of Magic, Dumbledore and Voldemort's wands connect (Priori Incantatem) but as far as I'm aware, the Priori Incantatem only happens when two wands share the same core

Voldemort's wand has phoenix core and Dumbledore (the Elder wand) has a Thestral core.

Can someone explain to me why the wands connected?

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    Are you sure they connect? Do you have the part of the text that says that? – Deleteman Aug 19 '15 at 19:54
  • Per the wiki "As both spells collided and produced a heating dripping magma effect and the two wands connect in a manner similar to Priori Incantatem (though not truly Priori Incantatem because one wand did not force the other to relive its most recent spells, this only happened if both Wands had shared the same Core), Harry backed away to a wall behind Dumbledore." – Valorum Aug 19 '15 at 19:57
  • As i just watched a part of Deathly hallows part 1. Voldemorts ( malfoy's wand ) and harry did connect again? – Roel Aug 19 '15 at 19:59
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    @Roel Dumbledore says: "So your wand recognized him when he pursued you, recognized a man who was both kin and mortal enemy, and it regurgitated some of his own magic against him, magic much more powerful than anything Lucius’s wand had ever performed. Your wand now contained the power of your enormous courage and of Voldemort’s own deadly skill: What chance did that poor stick of Lucius Malfoy’s stand?” – ThruGog Aug 19 '15 at 20:12
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    Because the movies are nonsense? – ibid Mar 20 '17 at 6:15
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In the books, Priori Incantatem only happens once, when Harry and Voldemort's wands connect during their duel in the graveyard at the end of Goblet of Fire. This happens because their wands both contain a feather from the same phoenix (Fawkes).

The Goblet of Fire movie includes this scene and explanation, but subsequent films show this same effect on numerous other occasions when the duelling wizards' wands share no such link. No explanation is given, the filmmakers probably just really liked the effect and kept recycling it.

This is particularly confusing as the Deathly Hallows movies do stick with the storyline of Voldemort looking for a new wand so that Priori Incantatem won't prevent him from killing Harry this time, yet after several wand changes the films show it occurring between them anyway.

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  • Even in the movie, it happened only once.. Priori Incantatem's one of the attributes is cage made out of light which didn't happen in the movie. – Baby Yoda Nov 27 '17 at 7:03
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Another explanation may be that Priori Incantatem, at least according to Harry Potter Wiki, is a situation in which "two wands with cores taken from the same animal, duelling each other; the winner's wand forces the loser's wand to reproduce in reverse order 'echoes' of the most recent spells performed." So the other situations in which the spells connect doesn't necessarily go against lore, as in these situations the wands do not reproduce echoes of previously used spells.

Here's the page I was looking at: http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/Reverse_Spell

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    This doesn’t quite answer the question. – Bellatrix Nov 27 '17 at 4:58
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Perhaps there is more to priori incantantem than we know? Possibly less to do with the wand and its wielder? There are also unexplained effects that occur due to great emotions in the stories such as how Harry's mother saved him from Voldemort giving him somewhat of an immunity to the dark lord. Maybe these instances are similar in that the people taking part believe in their cause and are acting out of courage, love, and at times desperation

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  • Hi, welcome to SF&F. Is this theory something you can provide evidence for, or is it just something that feels right to you? Please read How to Answer; answers should be based on material from known sources. – DavidW May 25 at 19:43

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