In 1635 Pál Pálffy — later palatine of Hungary — redeemed Devín out of pledge, that is, paid off the loan the castle had been put up as security for. His family kept it for nearly three hundred years. During the anti-Habsburg uprisings of Thököly and Rákóczi the imperial army deliberately wrecked dozens of Slovak castles so that rebels could never use them again — a practice called slighting. Devín escaped both fates: it was not blown up on imperial orders, and it was not stormed and burned by the Turks either, which is what people usually assume about a Slovak ruin. What flattened Devín came later, and from an entirely different army.V roku 1635 vyplatil Pavol Pálfi — neskorší uhorský palatín — Devín zo zálohu, teda splatil pôžičku, za ktorú bol hrad daný do zástavy. Jeho rod ho potom držal takmer tristo rokov. Počas protihabsburských povstaní Thökölyho a Rákócziho dal cisár desiatky slovenských hradov cieľavedome zbúrať, aby ich povstalci už nikdy nemohli použiť — hovorí sa tomu zbúranie na cisársky rozkaz. Devín unikol obidvom osudom: nedali ho odstreliť cisárski a nedobyli a nevypálili ho ani Turci, hoci práve to si o slovenských zrúcaninách ľudia zvyknú myslieť. To, čo Devín zrovnalo, prišlo neskôr a od celkom iného vojska.
