Master of Death

The Master of Death (also known as Conqueror of Death, Vanquisher of Death and others) was the one who had in their possession all three of the legendary Deathly Hallows, which were the Elder Wand, Resurrection Stone, and Cloak of Invisibility. While it was generally assumed that becoming the Master of Death referred to some form of immortality, according to Albus Dumbledore and Harry Potter, the true Master of Death truly accepted the fact that death was inevitable, and that there were other things much worse than death.
== History ==
There were two different beliefs concerning how the Deathly Hallows came to be. According to legend - as noted in The Tales of Beedle the Bard - they were created by Death himself and gifted to the Peverell brothers under the false pretext of being a reward for having evaded him. However, according to Albus Dumbledore, they were probably made by the Peverells themselves.
The legend went that in the 13th century, the Peverell brothers managed to avoid Death by using magic to conjure a bridge to cross a dangerous river. Death appeared before them because most travellers would have drowned. He offered them each a reward, which was secretly a way to corrupt them and lead them to their deaths in another way, as he would not be denied his quarry so easily. This was true in the case of Antioch Peverell, who was the original owner of the Elder Wand, and Cadmus Peverell, who was the original owner of the Resurrection Stone. However, while his older brothers each asked for something which gave them power, Ignotus Peverell, the wisest and most humble of the three, asked for something that would allow him to continue on his way and live out the rest of his days without Death being able to follow or find him, the Cloak of Invisibility. Once he reached a very old age, Ignotus eventually accepted that he must die, so he finally removed the Cloak, passed it down to his son, and greeted Death as an old friend.
Over time, the Hallows fell into legend. Very few knew they truly existed and because of this, very few tried to search for them. Out of this sprung a legend which said that whoever united the Hallows by possessing all three at the same time would become the Master of Death. Many had incorrectly assumed that becoming the "Master of Death" would grant a form of immortality.
== Known searches for the Hallows ==
: Main article: Hallows Quest
In their youth, both Gellert Grindelwald and Albus Dumbledore had been obsessed with the dream of uniting the Hallows and becoming the Masters of Death. Grindelwald managed to lay claim to the Elder Wand by stealing it from its previous master, Mykew Gregorovitch, but never found the other two Hallows. Albus Dumbledore and Harry Potter were the only known people to have held each of the three Hallows, although neither possessed all three simultaneously (the closest was Harry being the Elder Wand's master, though not in physical possession of it, while having both the Stone and the Cloak in his physical possession). Dumbledore regarded Harry as the "true master of death", not because of the fact that he had united the Hallows, but for truly accepting death and not fearing it.
== Known Masters of Death ==
Category:Deathly Hallows
Category:Ranks & Titles