The Tale of the Three Brothers

• Type: Wizarding Fairy Tale, Legend
• Owners: N/A; the story is contained within the book, The Tales of Beedle the Bard.
• Maker: Attributed to Beedle the Bard (15th century).

“The Tale of the Three Brothers” is a famous wizarding fairy tale told to children to teach a moral lesson about the folly of trying to cheat Death. The story recounts the journey of three wizard brothers, later identified as Antioch Peverell, Cadmus Peverell, and Ignotus Peverell. The tale begins with the three brothers traveling along a road at twilight. They come to a river too deep and dangerous to cross. Being proficient in Magic, they conjure a bridge with their wands. As they cross, they are met by a hooded figure: Death personified, who is angry at being cheated of three new victims. Cunningly, Death pretends to congratulate them and offers each brother a reward for his cleverness.

• The eldest brother, Antioch Peverell, a combative man, asks for the most powerful wand in existence. Death breaks a branch from a nearby elder tree and fashions it into the Elder Wand.
• The middle brother, Cadmus Peverell, an arrogant man who wished to humiliate Death further, asks for the power to recall the dead. Death picks up a stone from the riverbank and gives it to him, creating the Resurrection Stone.
• The youngest brother, Ignotus Peverell, a humble and wise man, does not trust Death. He asks for something that will allow him to leave that place without being followed by Death. Reluctantly, Death hands over a piece of his own Invisibility Cloak.

The brothers then part ways. The eldest brother travels to a village, seeks out a wizard with whom he had quarrelled, and kills him with the Elder Wand. He boasts of his unbeatable wand, but that night, a thief steals the wand and slits his throat. Death thus claims Antioch. The middle brother returns home and uses the Resurrection Stone to bring back the woman he had hoped to marry before her untimely death. However, she is but a shade of her former self—sad, cold, and separated from him by a veil, as she does not truly belong in the mortal world. Driven mad with hopeless longing, Cadmus kills himself to properly join her. Death thus claims him. The youngest brother, however, is not found by Death for many years, as he hides beneath the Invisibility Cloak. When he reaches a great age, Ignotus Peverell takes off the cloak, gives it to his son, and greets Death as an old friend, departing this life as an equal.

The tale is the origin story for the three legendary magical objects known as the Deathly Hallows. According to legend, possessing all three simultaneously makes one the “Master of Death”.

• The Elder Wand: An unbeatable wand made of elder wood with a Thestral tail-hair core. Its allegiance is not won through inheritance but by conquering its previous master, leading to a long and bloody history.
• The Resurrection Stone: A stone that can bring back an “echo” or “shade” of a deceased person from beyond the veil. The recalled person is not truly alive and cannot find peace in the mortal world, often leading the user to despair.
• The Invisibility Cloak: A true cloak of invisibility that grants its wearer perfect and constant concealment. Unlike lesser cloaks enchanted with Disillusionment Charms or woven from Demiguise hair, its power never fades or falters with age.

Written by Beedle the Bard in the 15th century, “The Tale of the Three Brothers” was included in his classic collection of wizarding children's stories, The Tales of Beedle the Bard. For centuries, most wizards and witches, including Ron Weasley, regarded it as a simple morality tale. However, a minority, such as Xenophilius Lovegood, believed the story was rooted in truth and that the Deathly Hallows were real artifacts. Believers in the Hallows adopted a symbol representing the three objects: a triangle for the Cloak, a circle for the Stone, and a vertical line for the Wand. Albus Dumbledore, who in his youth searched for the Hallows with Gellert Grindelwald, later came to see the wisdom in the tale. He bequeathed his personal copy of The Tales of Beedle the Bard, which was written in ancient runes, to Hermione Granger. Hermione Granger reads the story aloud to Harry Potter and Xenophilius Lovegood at the Lovegood home, finally connecting the mysterious symbol they had seen to the legendary Deathly Hallows. This revelation explains Lord Voldemort's quest for the Elder Wand and confirms that Harry Potter's own Invisibility Cloak is the fabled Hallow passed down from Ignotus Peverell.

The tale is a pivotal element in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. It serves as the primary exposition for the Deathly Hallows, shifting the central focus of the final book from the destruction of Horcruxes to understanding these three powerful objects. The story presents Harry Potter with a profound moral choice: whether to seek power over Death like Lord Voldemort or to accept mortality with wisdom and humility like Ignotus Peverell. Ultimately, Harry proves himself a worthy “Master of Death” not by seeking to conquer it, but by accepting it. He chooses to use the Resurrection Stone not to hold onto the dead, but to find the strength to walk to his own death. He becomes the master of the Elder Wand but chooses to relinquish its power. His journey mirrors that of the third brother, demonstrating that true mastery comes from acceptance, not dominance. The tale also confirms Harry's direct lineage to the Peverell family, solidifying his rightful ownership of the Invisibility Cloak.

• J.K. Rowling published a real-world edition of The Tales of Beedle the Bard for charity in 2008, including “The Tale of the Three Brothers” and Albus Dumbledore's notes on it.
• In her notes, Dumbledore posits that the Peverell brothers were most likely simply powerful and ingenious wizards who succeeded in creating the Hallows, and that the story of them meeting Death is a legend that sprang up around their creations.
• In the film adaptation, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1, the tale is narrated by Hermione Granger and depicted through a highly stylised and critically acclaimed animated sequence created by Ben Hibon (film).