An Snake Cane

> Lucius Malfoy carries a cane. Black, with a serpent head handle. It's his favourite accessory.
>
> Merula Snyde talking about the walking stick, Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery

The **Snake Cane** was a ***walking stick*** owned by Lucius Malfoy. The cane itself was coated in shiny black lacquer, and at the top of the stick was a silver snake's head which had green crystal eyes. The snake's head was actually the handle of his wand, which was hidden inside the stick.

## Snake Cane

### Owners

* Lucius Malfoy
* Draco Malfoy

### Usage

Walking stick, concealing Lucius Malfoy's wand inside

## History

Throughout his life, Lucius was frequently seen with this walking stick.
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.
The walking stick was returned to Lucius following his ***escape from Azkaban*** ***the following year***. However, Lord Voldemort took 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***. He later replaced his destroyed wand with a new ***second wand***.

## 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 depicted in the ***books***.
* The walking stick seems to have magical abilities of its own, as in *Harry-Potter and 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 (his final words before being murdered), "nice one, James". 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 the wand in his walking stick, Lucius had a new one placed in its stead in the walking stick, since he kept the cane and silver-headed snake handle after losing his wand.
* 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. This is quite appropriate for Lucius, as daisho configuration was typical among the elite samurai class during the rule of the Tokugawa Shogunate, and Lucius' old pure blood beliefs certainly mimic such institutional classism.

## Appearances

* *Harry-Potter and The Chamber-Of Secrets* (film) (First Physical 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, An Part 001*
* *LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4*
* *LEGO Harry Potter: Years 5-7*
* *Harry Potter: The Character Vault*
* *Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery*
* *Harry Potter: Wizards Unite* (First Physical Identified as An Snake Cane Physical)

## Notes and references

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 *Harry Potter: Wizards Unite* "***Registry: Challenges***"
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 *Harry-Potter and The Chamber-Of Secrets* (film)
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 *Harry-Potter and The Half-Blood Prince* (film)
4. ↑ *Harry-Potter and The Deathly Hallows, An Part 001*
5. ↑ *Harry-Potter and The Deathly Hallows, An Part 002*
6. ↑ *Harry-Potter and The Order-Of-The Phoenix* (film)
7. ↑ Vary, Adam B. "'Harry Potter' Villains: Jason Isaacs explains how Alan Rickman and Daniel Radcliffe helped create Lucius Malfoy." Retrieved 9/26/2022 from https://ew.com/article/2010/11/22/jason-isaacs-lucius-malfoy/