Gellert Grindelwald

"A law that has us scuttling like rats in the gutter. A law that demands that we conceal our true nature. A law that directs those under its dominion to cower in fear, lest we risk discovery. I ask you, Madam President, I ask all of you — who does this law protect? Us, or them? I refuse to bow down any longer."

- Gellert Grindelwald

Gellert Grindelwald (c. 1883 – March 1998) was a pure or half-blood wizard who was considered to be one of the most powerful and dangerous Dark Wizards of all time, considered to be surpassed only by Tom Riddle. A student at Durmstrang Institute, Grindelwald was expelled for twisted, dark experiments and near-fatal attacks on his fellow students.

He later fostered a friendship with a young Albus Dumbledore, making plans to find the Deathly Hallows and lead a Wizarding revolution to end the International Statute of Secrecy, creating a benevolent global hierarchical order led by wise and powerful witches and wizards that dominated Muggles. Their partnership fell apart after the two were involved in a three-way duel with Dumbledore's brother Aberforth that resulted in the death of Dumbledore's sister Ariana. Grindelwald left Britain and later stole the Elder Wand from Mykew Gregorovitch, proceeding alone with the revolution he and Dumbledore had planned.

Grindelwald was a complex figure, highly idealistic and talented, dedicated to achieve his ends at any cost. A revolutionary operating outside the law, he and his followers committed numerous crimes, including several murders. With violent acts in both the United States and Europe, Grindelwald ultimately established a power base at Nurmengard Castle in Austria. In 1945, at the height of Grindelwald's power, Dumbledore confronted and defeated him in a legendary duel. He was subsequently imprisoned in his own fortress for decades and was slain there by Lord Voldemort in 1998 when he refused to give up information on the location of the Elder Wand.

Early life
"Educated at Durmstrang, a school famous even then for its unfortunate tolerance of the Dark Arts, Grindelwald showed himself quite as precociously brilliant as Dumbledore. Rather than channel his abilities into the attainment of awards and prizes, however, Gellert Grindelwald devoted himself to other pursuits. When Grindelwald was sixteen years old, even Durmstrang felt it could no longer turn a blind eye to his twisted experiments and he was expelled."

- The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore describing Grindelwald's school days



Gellert Grindelwald was born around 1883. He was educated at Durmstrang Institute, where he excelled in various fields of magic and absorbed much of the school's strength-obsessed, Dark Magic-oriented culture. He was an extremely talented wizard, who possessed an attractive and winsome personality, which was coupled with a "merry, wild" disposition. Grindelwald instantly felt the attraction of the Dark Arts.

Keenly interested in history, lore, and the powerful mystique of magical artefacts, Grindelwald became fascinated with the Deathly Hallows. He became fascinated to the point of appropriating their runic symbol as his own personal emblem and engraving it on the walls of Durmstrang prior to his departure. These engravings persisted for many generations. Albus Dumbledore noted to Harry Potter that 'twisted experiments' had been the reason for his expulsion at 16 years old from Durmstrang before he could graduate. This was an ominous and troubling sign, as it meant that Grindelwald performed experiments that were too disturbing even for a school with notably high tolerance of the Dark Arts.

Friendship with Dumbledore
"Grindelwald. You cannot imagine how his ideas caught me, Harry, inflamed me. Muggles forced into subservience. We wizards triumphant. Grindelwald and I, the glorious young leaders of the revolution. Oh, I had a few scruples. I assuaged my conscience with empty words. It would all be for the greater good, and any harm done would be repaid a hundredfold in benefits for wizards. Did I know, in my heart of hearts, what Gellert Grindelwald was? I think I did, but I closed my eyes."

- Dumbledore recounting his relationship with Gellert

After his expulsion from Durmstrang, Grindelwald's quest for power and information about the Hallows led him to Godric's Hollow, England, where Ignotus Peverell, said to have been the first owner of Death's Cloak of Invisibility, had been laid to rest. Conveniently, his great-aunt, acclaimed wizarding historian Bathilda Bagshot, lived there and provided a place for him to stay, complete with a treasure trove of books and documents and a minimum of supervision. It was in Godric's Hollow in the summer of 1899 that Grindelwald met and befriended Dumbledore. The two teenagers had a lot in common: they were intellectuals and talented young wizards, who were also idealistic and ambitious. It is clear that the pair were very close and the friendship was genuine on both sides. The young Dumbledore harboured deep romantic feelings for Grindelwald, although it is unknown if the feelings were mutual. They shaped one another's ideas, powers, as well as destinies from that day forth and became intertwined with each other.



The pair shared two preoccupations: The search for the Deathly Hallows held their fascination with the goal of acquiring all three and wield the power as Master of Death, which they believed to mean immortality and invincibility. They also dreamed of overturning the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy and creating a new order in which wise and powerful wizards and witches were the benevolent overlords of their world, including Muggles. Dumbledore coined the phrase "For the Greater Good" that would be used to justify the necessary use of force required to achieve their goals, and Grindelwald would later adopt as his slogan.

However, Dumbledore's motivations and intentions were different from Grindelwald's: as a young man, he had been powerless to stop a group of Muggle boys tormenting his younger sister, Ariana, to the point that the sweet-natured girl suffered an emotional breakdown and her repressed magic became dangerously unstable. Dumbledore's father was sent to Azkaban for taking revenge on the boys and his mother was killed in one of Ariana's accidents. Dumbledore wanted the power to protect his loved ones (and by extension the whole world) against cruelty and xenophobia like that shown by the Muggles. He viewed the Resurrection Stone as a way of returning his parents to life and relieving him of his new familial obligations, while Grindelwald mistakenly viewed it as a tool to amass an army of inferi. The friends' plans to leave Godric's Hollow, acquire power, and begin their revolution turned serious in the summer of 1899. When Dumbledore's brother Aberforth became aware of this, he was both concerned about and disgusted with Albus's ambition, knowing that he and Ariana would need to be brought along as she would not receive the care and attention she needed to keep her stable. The tense situation boiled over into a confrontation and Grindelwald, enraged, inflicted the Cruciatus Curse on Aberforth. Albus moved to defend his brother, igniting a vicious three-way duel in which Ariana was killed. Grindelwald fled the country and received putative blame for Ariana's death, thus confirming his place on the wrong side of the law and touching off his career as a Dark revolutionary, which would last until 1945.

Rise to power
"It was stolen from me... it was a boy, it was he who took it. I never saw it again."

- Gregorovitch to Lord Voldemort on Grindelwald's theft



Grindelwald delved into his research on the Deathly Hallows and uncovered the location of the Elder Wand. Rumours had been circulating that the renowned wandmaker Mykew Gregorovitch was in possession of the wand and was trying to duplicate its properties. Grindelwald broke into Gregorovitch's workshop, lay in wait for the wandmaker, stunned him, and stole the wand, thereby becoming its new master. Grindelwald's research may have uncovered this unconventional path to ownership of the wand as the common interpretation was that ownership passed only by murder.

International wizardhunt
"I will not be lectured by the man who let Gellert Grindelwald slip through his fingers!"

- Seraphina Picquery to Heinrich Eberstadt

Following his acquisition of the Elder Wand, Grindelwald began amassing an army of followers. Eventually, he and his legions of "fanatics" launched several devastating attacks across Europe, committing mass-slaughter, and garnering international attention from wizarding authorities. Several of the attacks also drew the attention of the Muggle world, risking exposure and war. In response to Grindelwald's actions, an international wizardhunt ensued and was reported on in periodicals such as the Daily Prophet and the The New York Ghost.

At some point, Grindelwald was almost captured but was able to evade his pursuers and disappear. President Seraphina Picquery of the Magical Congress of the United States of America (MACUSA) would later lay the blame for Grindelwald's escape on Heinrich Eberstadt, claiming that he had let the dark wizard "slip through his fingers". He also established a prison in Austria, Nurmengard, to serve as a form of containment for his enemies. During this period, he was also known to have murdered numerous people, including Viktor Krum's grandfather.

As Grindelwald's power grew, he began to make plans for the confrontation he knew would happen one day; a confrontation with his old friend and the only wizard in the world believed to be powerful enough to defeat him: Albus Dumbledore. Unknown to the rest of the wizarding community, neither Dumbledore nor Grindelwald could fight each other directly, which was the result of a Blood pact they had formed in their youth swearing never to fight each other. However, Grindelwald knew that Dumbledore was powerful enough to compromise his plans without fighting him directly, a threat he made clear to all his followers. Seeking a means to defeat Dumbledore without having to fight him personally, Grindelwald saw visions of an Obscurus terrorising New York. Knowing that an Obscurus could be powerful enough to confront and destroy Dumbledore, the Dark wizard left Europe for America to find and recruit the child to his cause.

Grindelwald's disappearance was noted by many newspapers around the wizarding world, who were concerned at the absence of news about the Dark wizard.

Impersonating Percival Graves
"We've lived in the shadows for far too long."

- Gellert Grindelwald to Credence Barebone



In December of 1926, unbeknownst to Picquery, Grindelwald had already infiltrated MACUSA by assuming the identity of her right-hand man Percival Graves, whom Grindelwald managed to subdue. Grindelwald believed mysterious attacks occurring in New York City to be the work of a powerful Obscurial, which he felt would be a great asset for his plans of world domination. Using his disguise as Graves, Grindelwald came into regular contact with Credence Barebone, believing him to be connected to the Obscurial due to a vision he received. Thinking Credence was an orphaned Squib, Grindelwald emotionally manipulated him into helping him find the Obscurial with the promise of protecting him from his abusive adoptive mother and teaching him magic.



During this time, Grindelwald (as Graves) arrested Newt Scamander, whose escaped beasts were believed by MACUSA to be the cause of the Obscurial's attacks. During his interrogation, Grindelwald discovered the Obscurus within Newt's suitcase, and in an effort to hide his tracks, had him and Tina Goldstein sentenced to death. Afterwards, he approached Credence after Mary Lou Barebone was killed by the Obscurial and had him track down his adoptive sister Modesty, believing her to be the source of the Obscurus. Once they found Modesty, Grindelwald cruelly rejected Credence, as he had no further use of him. This angered Credence, who then revealed that he was the Obscurial, much to Grindelwald's surprise, as no Obscurial had survived to Credence's age before.

Grindelwald wanted to use him to expose the North American wizarding community, and create a weapon against Dumbledore. He attempted to convince Credence that he had nothing to fear anymore and to join his ranks, but this further angered Credence, who began rampaging through the city. Grindelwald was not easily deterred, however, and continued to try to recruit Credence, clashing with Tina and later Newt, both of whom he easily overpowered. When Grindelwald, Newt, and Tina were finally close to calming down Credence, Picquery and her Aurors appeared on the scene and immediately attacked the Obscurus.

With Credence being seemingly destroyed at the Aurors' hands, Grindelwald was so beside himself with rage that he, led by his extreme idealism, began to break his disguise while expressing his utter disgust for being forced to hide from the Muggles. Picquery subsequently ordered the other Aurors to bring "Graves" in, but Grindelwald, no longer suppressing his tremendous magical prowess, soon started to overwhelm them despite being outnumbered at least twenty to one, until Newt finally managed to catch him off-guard with his Swooping Evil and restrained Grindelwald's hands from behind, while Tina used a Summoning Charm to take Graves' wand. Newt then casted the Revelio Charm, making Grindelwald's disguise fade away while revealing his identity. Even apprehended, Grindelwald was unfazed, arrogantly questioning Picquery's ability to contain a wizard of his reputation and power. As he was led away, Grindelwald met Newt's gaze and mysteriously asked him: "Will we die, just a little?"

Escape from MACUSA and search for Credence
"You came today because of a craving and a knowledge that the old ways serve us no longer...you come today because you crave something new, something different. It is said that I hate Les Non-Magiques. The Muggles. The No-Maj. The Can't-Spells. I do not hate them. I do not. For I do not fight out of hatred. I say the Muggles are not lesser, but other. Not worthless, but of other value. Not disposable, but of a different disposition. Magic blooms only in rare souls. It is granted to those who live for higher things. Oh, and what a world we could make, for all of humanity. We who live for freedom, for truth and for love..."

- Grindelwald's speech to his followers Six months after Grindelwald was captured by Newton Scamander, he was supposed to be transported from MACUSA's prison to Europe by Rudolph Spielman and Aurors to answer for crimes he committed. Because of his gift of persuasion, he had his tongue cut out, as several guards had sided with him. Unbeknownst to Picquery, Spielman and several others, Abernathy, MACUSA's employee, was one of Grindelwald's Acolytes. A few moments before escorting the dark wizard, Abernathy went to Grindelwald's cell and they both assumed each other's identity. When the flying Incarceration Carriage with Abernathy (as Grindelwald) set off, Grindelwald (as Abernathy) apparated onto the carriage and killed the Aurors escorting the carriage. Later, he entered the carriage and threw Spielman into New York's waters, before flying to Europe with his lieutenant. Three months later Grindelwald, alongside his Acolytes, travelled to Paris to search again for Credence Barebone, who had survived the battle in New York, in order to utilise his abilities to kill Albus Dumbledore. He ordered his subordinates to kill the unknown couple and their small child in order to take over their apartment as a temporary headquarters. During this time, Grindelwald urged Queenie Goldstein and Gunnar Grimmson, the bounty hunter, to join his cause, which worked on Queenie due to her relationship with No-Maj Jacob Kowalski. Grindelwald ordered Grimmson to kill Irma Dugard in order to keep Credence's identity a secret from him. Grindelwald himself later found Credence and offered him a chance to find out his true parentage, then gave him a map to the cemetery of Pere Lachaise. On that same day, Grindelwald called a meeting for his followers in the Lestrange family Mausoleum. There, he gave a rousing speech, in which he shared his idealist perspective of Muggles, as well as his vision of the future, which holds another great and terrible war, with images of the London Blitz and Hiroshima punctuating his rhetoric. Openly recognising the battalion of Aurors that had infiltrated the rally, Grindelwald invited them into the circle. Noticing a young witch staring contemptuously at an Auror, he describes how the Aurors have fought him so mercilessly, killing his followers simply for believing. When the girl went for her wand, the Auror killed her in response. Grindelwald martyred the girl, before commanding his followers to Disapparate from the scene while he faced off against the Aurors.

When Theseus Scamander set his men on Grindelwald, he conjured a circle of protective fire around himself, and added an enchantment designed to test the loyalty of his followers: those who entered with complete fidelity and believed in his cause would survive; those who did not, would be engulfed and perish. Abernathy, Vinda Rosier, Credence, and Queenie joined Grindelwald into the circle and Apparated, while many of the Aurors died either fleeing or fighting when Grindelwald manipulated the fire to work as a weapon as well, sending balls and bursts of black fire towards his enemies, thereby killing them. Ultimately, about half a dozen of the fifty Aurors Theseus had brought along accepted his offer and joined him in the circle as well. Then Grindelwald, mocking Newt by asking whether he thought Dumbledore would mourn for him, battled him and Theseus Scamander. Leta Lestrange screamed to him to stop, which he did and, in response, offered her to join his ranks. She refused, however, and cast a curse that blasted to pieces his skull hookah and attacked him, only to be killed by the Dark wizard in retaliation. Having struck down Leta, Grindelwald let out his fury over losing such a valuable tool by unleashing the deadly blue fire, and letting it run rampant, with the intent on destroying the entirety of Paris, and all of those present along with it, before he departed the scene.

Sometime later, at Nurmengard Castle in Austria, Grindelwald spoke with Queenie about Credence. Then he revealed to Credence that the baby bird he has been caring for is actually a Phoenix. According to legend, a phoenix will appear to anyone of a certain wizarding family in dire need. Grindelwald then presented him with a wand, as well as his birth name: Aurelius Dumbledore.

Fall from power and imprisonment
"...while I busied myself with the training of young wizards, Grindelwald was raising an army. They say he feared me, and perhaps he did, but less, I think, than I feared him... It was the truth I feared. You see, I never knew which of us, in that last, horrific fight, had actually cast the curse that killed my sister... I think he knew it, I think he knew what frightened me. I delayed meeting him until finally, it would have been too shameful to resist any longer. People were dying and he seemed unstoppable, and I had to do what I could."

- Description of Gellert's reign



Grindelwald and his followers continued their reign of terror for many years. Dumbledore hesitated to confront Grindelwald, despite the belief held by many, including quite possibly both men themselves, that he was the only wizard skilful enough to stop his former friend. The reason Dumbledore himself gave Harry was that he was afraid Grindelwald knew better than he did who exactly was responsible for killing Ariana and he didn't want to find out. But Dumbledore, at this point about 63 years old and Head of Transfiguration at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, was finally convinced by people who suffered from his former friend's actions to move against him and so, he tracked down Grindelwald.

In 1945, upon being found by Dumbledore, they engaged in a duel of such legendary proportions that eyewitnesses stated that it was the greatest duel ever fought between wizards. Despite Grindelwald's mastery of the Elder Wand, Dumbledore had ultimately triumphed over Grindelwald due to being, in his own admission, a "shade more skillful", thus becoming the master of the Elder Wand in the process, and brought him to the authorities of the magical world, resulting in Grindelwald ironically being imprisoned in the topmost cell of Nurmengard, which would serve as his residence for the remainder of his life.

Death
"Kill me, then. Voldemort, I welcome death! But my death will not bring you what you seek… that wand will never, ever be yours!"

- Grindelwald shortly before his death



Towards the later years of his life, Grindelwald re-evaluated his actions and his revolution and expressed deep shame and remorse for the horrors he and his followers had inflicted on the magical and non magical worlds. Fifty-three years after his defeat, Grindelwald woke to find he was not alone in his prison cell; the prison had been infiltrated by Lord Voldemort, who was searching for the Elder Wand for himself. The Dark Lord, expecting fear and surprise, was himself startled to find Grindelwald was not only unafraid but had been expecting him for some time. Despite being unarmed and defenseless against perhaps the most evil and powerful Dark Wizard to have ever existed and the only Dark Wizard ever considered to be more powerful than himself, Grindelwald refused to give up the location of the Elder Wand while taunting Voldemort by his name and laughing at his desire for the wand. Growing more and more furious, Voldemort's fury exploded uncontrollably when he felt his Death Eaters summoning him in tandem with Grindelwald's final taunts that he could kill him if he wanted but the Elder Wand would never ever truly belong to him and thus Voldemort ended Grindelwald's life with the Killing Curse.

Physical appearance


As a young man, Grindelwald had golden-blond hair and a "merry, wild" and “handsome” face. Harry Potter thought he had "a Fred and George-ish air of triumphant trickery about him".

By the time he was middle aged, Grindelwald's hair was light blond, and he had heterochromia, with his right eye having a whitish colour and the left a black colour. He also had a thin white moustache.

Near the end of his life, when Voldemort found him at the top of Nurmengard, Grindelwald was severely emaciated - a frail skeletal figure with a skull-like face, great sunken eyes, wrinkled cheeks, and most of his teeth were gone.

Personality and traits
"They say he showed remorse in later years, alone in his cell at Nurmengard. I hope that is true. I would like to think that he did feel the horror and shame of what he had done. Perhaps that lie to Voldemort was his attempt to make amends... to prevent Voldemort from taking the Hallow..."

- Dumbledore discussing Grindelwald after his death

Grindelwald was a driven, charismatic, determined and brilliant individual, even in his youth. Albus Dumbledore himself confessed that Grindelwald was extremely charming, so much that it had induced him to fall in love with him, and it was partly the reason Dumbledore had been initially blind to just how dangerous Grindelwald truly was. His attraction to the Dark Arts was not necessarily malevolent in its initial stages, but was more of a personal interest that swelled over time in Durmstrang, a school that was rather notorious for its acceptance and study of the Dark Arts. During his formative years, Grindelwald also proved himself highly intelligent, magically talented, idealistic, as well as ambitious to the point of ruthlessness, with a ferocious temper; when Aberforth Dumbledore challenged his and Albus's plans and tried to convince his brother to abandon them, Grindelwald "lost control" and used the Cruciatus Curse on Aberforth, showing his willingness to cause pain to people who challenged him. Grindelwald resorted to physically striking Credence Barebone when he grew impatient with the boy, briefly shedding the soft and comforting façade that he adopted earlier. Later when Grindelwald duelled Newt Scamander, he swiftly overpowered his opponent but opted to incapacitate him through bolts of lightning from the tip of his wand as a manner of torture as opposed to killing him outright. Dumbledore himself expressed horror in what Grindelwald truly was, stating that he had always (unconsciously) sensed something dangerous in him.

As a revolutionary operating outside the law, Gellert Grindelwald grew to become a man who lived in service to his ideals and, as he saw it, in humanity, and was fully convinced that his revolution to bring wizardkind out of hiding and "rise up and take [their] rightful place in the world", above the non-magical population, was truly For the Greater Good, and would bring order, purpose, and direction to the world while providing benefits for mankind in the long run, and tirelessly endeavoured to fulfill this vision. While both willing and capable of achieving his own ends by force, he also knew better than to presume, for all his power, that he could take on the whole world by himself and possibly come out on top. As such, he relied equally much on his genius-level intellect and undeniable flair for tactics and strategy. Aside from his ability to create carefully-woven plans to achieve his goals, Grindelwald was clever and composed, as well as an extremely persuasive orator; he had a phenomenal command of the art of public speaking, allowing him to mystify and terrify his audiences, allies and enemies alike, inspiring fanatical loyalty with each word, and gaining widespread following for his cause, followers whom he affectionately referred to as his as "brothers and sisters" and called "friends". When appearing in front of an audience at a rally, Grindelwald was treated as a revered celebrity, as was expected of someone with his charisma. He also recognized that while a brilliant wizard, he was not infallible, and thus Grindelwald openly confided in a carefully selected group of six Acolytes that constituted the innermost circle of the army of Dark witches and wizards that he marshalled to his side. Additionally, while escaping his Incarceration Carriage and killing all of the accompanying Aurors, Grindelwald went out of his way to let Rudolph Spielman live, seemingly in order for the frightened Head of Incarceration to tell the International Confederation of Wizards how great of a threat Grindelwald truly was.

He could also work very independently when he had to, however, such as when Grindelwald seemingly single-handedly infiltrated the MACUSA, and was able to mimic the personality of Percival Graves for some time without arousing suspicion — the only time he truly aroused anyone's suspicion was when he interrogated Newt Scamander and labelled the hostless Obscurus as "useless", which roused Newt to angry disbelief, and appeared to baffle former Auror Porpentina Goldstein. Thus, Grindelwald either momentarily lapsed in his facade at this point, or incorporated his own ruthlessness and calculative nature into that of Percival Graves; he was quick enough to quell Newt's realization by sentencing both him and Tina to death, before the conversation could go any further. However, other than this, Grindelwald showed himself to be a master manipulator — he effortlessly exploited Credence Barebone by appealing to the boy in a way nobody else tried to and offering to accept the boy into his ranks. Even after it became clear that Credence, as an Obscurial, was extremely powerful and phenomenally dangerous, Grindelwald calmly continued to try and exploit him, and was outraged when the MACUSA President opted to have her Aurors seemingly destroy him. Grindelwald was idealistic to an extreme, having absolutely no complaints about the murder of hundreds of innocent people as long as that accomplished his long-term goals. Indeed, Grindelwald's idealism even prompted him to truly break his disguise in New York, expressing his disgust for being forced to hide from Muggles, and then proceeding to attack the MACUSA Aurors who had seemingly killed Credence. Even then, however, his anger was not expressed on his own behalf, but rather on that of the cause he was fighting for, which more or less spurred his life and deeds. Grindelwald spoke scornfully towards President Picquery when she insisted the Obscurial's destruction was on her orders, mocking the fact that history would note this, and that it wasn't right. Grindelwald noticeably paused before engaging the Aurors, indicating that he couldn't see any other way out of it. Throughout all of this, Grindelwald maintained a stern pride in his own skill: even as he was unexpectedly apprehended by the Aurors after Newt Scamander had attacked and subdued him from behind, Grindelwald was unfazed, and simply questioned President Picquery's ability to contain a wizard of his reputation and power. He did not even blink when faced with the President, fixing her with a fierce stare until she was out of his sight, showing Grindelwald's unwillingness to show fear to his enemies. As shown in Grindelwald's Paris rally, he inspired fanatical loyalty in attendees by praising Wizardkind for being "rare souls", but seemingly not being a pure-blood supremacist, as Grindelwald showed a level acceptance of Muggles (such as Jacob Kowalski, the No-Maj boyfriend of his new Acolyte Queenie Goldstein), and only labelled tyrannical Muggles as the true enemy, claiming that what he and his For the Greater Good revolution were actually opposing was the future Second World War that the Muggles would start, and that it was the Aurors, rather than his Acolytes who were the truly violent wizards. Indeed, Grindelwald even persuaded the peaceful, kind, and compassionate Queenie Goldstein to join his cause by promising to abolish such laws as Rappaport's Law, thus promising to bring Queenie and others a newfound freedom to love whomever they please. Grindelwald also showed a great trust in his followers, as seen by his trusting Vinda Rosier and his other Acolytes to "spread the word" of his ideology across the Wizarding World. Grindelwald was extremely persuasive even in his time in prison, where he kept convincing his jailers to join his side, forcing the MACUSA to change his guards three times, and to cut out Grindelwald's tongue.

He demonstrated manipulative skills and the willingness to use them for his own purposes. Judging by Aberforth Dumbledore's testimony, Grindelwald had little interest in, or patience with, those he considered beneath him. He considered Albus Dumbledore an equal, and praised the tremendous potential of the Obscurial Credence Barebone, for instance, but was dismissive of the less talented and intelligent Aberforth, the permanently damaged Ariana, and also, initially, Credence, whom Grindelwald initially callously discarded when he seemingly became no longer useful, mistakenly believing Credence to be a Squib, whom it would be impossible to magically train. In addition, while disguised as Percival Graves, Grindelwald questioned Newt Scamander in an interrogation as to why Dumbledore would have such faith in Newt, indicating an interest in further understanding both Dumbledore and Newt's abilities. Grindelwald's dismissal of Credence as a Squib suggested that Grindelwald, in his (somewhat arrogant) awareness of his own brilliance, was so secure in his own Seer judgement as to having grown a weakness for jumping to conclusions. Grindelwald was also criticized by Newt for deeming magical creatures too simple to raise his interest, being only turned towards more complex forms of magic, unaware that one such creature, a Niffler, actually stole his Blood pact vial.

His actions did have limits, however - Grindelwald's decision to stun, not kill Gregorovitch, when he acquired the Elder Wand from the latter, hints at a willingness not to kill simply as a matter of course. However, this might have been a calculated decision, perhaps considering that people were more likely to give credence to Gregorovitch's claims that he'd had the Elder Wand if he was murdered, as that was the traditional method of passing it on. After all, Grindelwald killed his own pet Chupacabra Antonio after deeming him "too needy", he killed numerous Aurors while escaping the MACUSA, he ruthlessly killed many people who did not display enough loyalty to him to enter his circle of blue fire (disintegrating his own inadequately loyal Acolyte Krall), and Grindelwald even had no objections to Vinda Rosier and Carrow murdering a family of Non-Magiques, including their infant son, to secure a temporary headquarters for the Acolytes in Paris. Also, part of Grindelwald's motivation for refusing to give Lord Voldemort any information about the Elder Wand may have been a desire to prevent Albus Dumbledore's tomb from being desecrated, or even out of remorse for his own crimes. Alternatively, Grindelwald may have merely wanted to taunt Voldemort, though Harry Potter and Dumbledore himself both suspect the former two reasons to be more likely. Nonetheless, Grindelwald preached a less extreme ideology than that of Voldemort - while he considered his own wizarding kind superior, Grindelwald seemed to lack true Pure-blood supremacy beliefs, as he was accepting of Muggles to an extent, and Grindelwald's intended new world order only seemed to oppose tyrannical and hateful Muggles, such as the Muggle Second Salemers, and the Muggle executors of the future atrocities of the Second World War. Additionally, Grindelwald avoided reacting violently when an Auror subordinate of Theseus Scamander killed one of his rally attendees, since he intended to demonstrate to the other attendees that it was the Aurors who were the violent wizards in the Global Wizarding War, not his Acolytes.

Grindelwald is also proven to be capable of fear, judging from the fact that he fled in fear of his life after the intense duel between himself, Dumbledore, and Aberforth that resulted in Ariana's death, and how he resorted to being more cautious around Credence upon realizing that he was the Obscurial (in the knowledge of how dangerous and volatile Obscurials were), and never attempting to extend his power to Britain for fear of facing Dumbledore (most likely due to the circumstances of their last encounter, and the fact that he recognized how powerful Dumbledore was, but notably also due to their Blood pact making Grindelwald unable to directly confront Dumbledore). Not only does this suggest that Grindelwald was actually capable of contemplating somebody being equivalently powerful or dangerous as himself, but that he was also capable of respecting Dumbledore. Near the end of his life, however, Grindelwald had reportedly taken the time to reflect on his past misdeeds as he sat alone in the wizarding prison of Nurmengard, and apparently expressing remorse for his crimes he had committed during his attempted rise to power over the magical and non-magical worlds.

When trapped and unarmed in Nurmengard, facing certain death at the hands of the only Dark Wizard to ever be considered possibly more dangerous than himself, Grindelwald was openly defiant and even mocking, goading Voldemort into killing him by saying that he welcomed death, but that it would not "bring him what [he] seek" and saying there is so much he "doesn't understand". Indeed, he seemed to exhibit a grotesque remnant of the "merry, wild" temperament of his youth. Grindelwald's last words consisted of the dressing-down of Voldemort, and a rather enthusiastic outlook on "the next great adventure", all of which seems clear in its connection to his old friend, Albus Dumbledore.

Magical abilities and skills
"In a list of Most Dangerous Dark Wizards of All Time, he'd miss out on the top spot only because You-Know-Who arrived, a generation later, to steal his crown."

- The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore on Gellert's reputation and power

Grindelwald was an outstandingly talented wizard beginning in his youth while still a student at Durmstrang, where he excelled in various fields of magic and was a dedicated and immensely skilled user of the Dark Arts and was marked as the best student in the school's history. As an adult, Grindelwald was a phenomenally powerful and accomplished sorcerer of near unrivaled skill and was feared by much of the Wizarding World during his reign of terror in the Global Wizarding War and was considered to be the most powerful Dark Wizard to have ever lived until the arrival of the far more evil and tremendously powerful Dark Lord Lord Voldemort a generation later. Indeed, even his former friend Albus Dumbledore, who was considered by many to be the greatest wizard to ever live, considered Grindelwald to be just as powerful as himself and only "a shade" less skilled. As a former master of the Elder Wand, Grindelwald's already immensely formidable magic was further enhanced by the artifact's legendary powers, allowing him to perform spells that would be more powerful than otherwise magically possible.
 * Magical Mastery: Grindelwald was noted to be extremely talented and prodigiously skilled while still a student of Durmstrang Institute, being acknowledged as the best student the school ever had, and his magical mastery was considered to match that of Albus Dumbledore, which induced the two young men to quickly befriend one another in their youth. During the Global Wizarding War, the immensity of Grindelwald's profound mastery of magic and powers were quickly made highly evident, defeating many wizards and witches of great power and skill as he succesfully terrorized much of the wizarding world and being admired by his followers while feared by most of his enemies to the point he was quickly deemed the most powerful dark wizard ever at the time up until the arrival of Voldemort and Albus Dumbledore was quickly deemed the only wizard who could possibly stand any chance of defeating him, something that by the 1920s, even Torquil Travers of the British Ministry of Magic, despite his personal dislike of Dumbledore, had to admit. At the height of his power, Grindelwald seemed unstoppable and the pleading for Dumbledore to take him on had gotten so far that Dumbledore had to finally put his personal feelings aside and seek out his old flame to put an end to his reign of terror once and for all. Although Grindelwald was ultimately defeated by Albus, it must be noted that Grindelwald, while dueling Dumbledore, had displayed such phenomenal mastery of magic and power that the duel remains to this day the greatest wizarding battle and Dumbledore himself later admitted he was only as powerful as and a "shade more skillful" than Grindelwald.
 * Intellectual genius: Grindelwald was not only a great wizard, but also possessed a tremendous level of intellect, as he was considered to be equally brilliant to Albus Dumbledore. Indeed, Grindelwald and Dumbledore's intellects were so complementary to one another, that, according to Bathilda Bagshot, even after spending an entire day in intellectually stimulating discussions with Grindelwald, Dumbledore would still unexpectedly send Grindelwald messages by owl right after sudden ideas struck him, with him having to let Grindelwald know of them immediately. ​​ As an adult, Grindelwald became an exceptional strategist and tactician, whose expertise was perhaps best shown by his ability to start a massive revolution on his own, gathering a large amount of followers to establish a new (wizarding) world order and strategically overwhelming much of the wizarding world to the point that Dumbledore's tactical advices ultimately proved fruitless, requiring Dumbledore's direct intervention to finally put an end to his revolution. Examples of his uncanny ability to create complex and carefully-woven plans to achieve his goals was shown, among others, when he managed to think his way out of his blood pact with Dumbledore by formulating a master plan to investigate the Obscurial attack on New York of 1926 unhindered, with the intent of using the obscurus in question as a weapon again his former friend. This he accomplished when he removed President Picquery's right-hand man, Percival Graves, from the playing field and infiltrated the MACUSA by assuming his identity. Grindelwald also proved to be a consummate actor, multitasker and investigator, as during his time disguised as Graves, Grindelwald was able to perfectly mimic his personality and American accent and limit his magical abilities to be only on par with him as well as convincingly and effectively carry out his many duties, while also gradually managing to locate the rampaging Obscurial, all without arousing suspicion. Grindelwald demonstrated his brilliance yet again when he orchestrated an escape plan cunning enough to outwit even the experience of Rudolph Spielman, whose position as Head of Incarceration meant he was accustomed to dealing with dangerous criminals. Grindelwald was also aware and knew how to take advantages of the discontent of those members of the wizarding world that harbored anti-Muggle sentiments, presenting a strong case for his cause and did so in a way that was not only seemed very appealing to the target audience, but also simultaneously succeeded in inspiring an "us versus them" mentality in those inclined to support him towards the Aurors of the world that fought against him, whom he presented as something akin to psychopathic soldiers of the current ruling class, employed by its underlings to suppress them if they dared disagreed with the status quo, and did so in a way that made any Auror trying to attack him or one of his supporters appear to confirm his claims to the rest of them. During his Paris rally, Grindelwald succeeded in convincing almost all of the many attendees to join his cause, who immediately went to spread his propaganda when he asked them to after a young British Auror killed one of them.
 * Charisma:  Even as a young man, Grindelwald was highly talented in manipulating others, such that he was able to manipulate the extremely intelligent and perceptive Albus Dumbledore into agreeing to accompany him as he embarked on his revolutionary endeavour to overthrow the Statute of Serecy, and only Aberforth's timely intervention stopped Albus. As an adult, Grindelwald's skills in manipulating others grew even further, with Theseus Scamander describing him as a "charismatic blighter" and Grindelwald successfully convincing numerous wizards and witches to join his cause during rallies, to the point where he would receive a standing ovation at his Paris rally for simply making a "public" appearance, being hailed as a hero by his fanatical followers. He was also able to effortlessly manipulate Credence Barebone into trusting him by looking like a kind mentor to him after he assumed the identity of Percival Graves, to the point that Credence was completely unaware that Grindelwald was merely using him. He was also shown to be confident that he could eventually get Credence in his Obscurus form to listen to him, which made him enraged when he was seemingly destroyed by MACUSA Aurors. Indeed, Grindelwald was able to ultimately manipulate the young man to his side by presenting himself as the only one who could give him the answers he wanted, and finally gifting Credence with a proper wand, thus finally succeeding in earning his full confidence. Grindelwald was even able to persuade the kind-hearted and compassionate Queenie Goldstein to join his ranks, by promising to provide Queenie with the freedom to love and marry Jacob Kowalski, as well as to provide that freedom to others. An outstanding orator, inducing a fanatical following in numerous people at once, to the point that he trusted his new followers to "spread the word" of his ideology across the Wizarding World. During his time in prison, the MACUSA was forced to cut out Grindelwald's tongue, as he kept convincing his jailers to join his side, notably thus swaying the formerly loyal MACUSA employee Abernathy. Indeed, only people with truly incorruptible moral codes, or with a full acceptance of their past sins, were able to resist Grindelwald's charisma.
 * Leadership skills: Confident in his own abilities and secure in his own judgement, Grindelwald was a very self-assured individual, and his considerable ability and brilliant mind both allowed him to become a greatly inspiring revolutionary leader. ​​During his younger days, he felt certain that together, he and Dumbledore could start his revolution to conquer the wizarding and Muggle worlds. As an adult, Grindelwald proved his leadership expertise by raising and leading a vast army of followers during his revolution to establish a new wizarding order. So effectively, in fact, that he successfully sparked the Global Wizarding War across much of the Wizarding World, and very nearly conquered the magical community, to the point that Albus Dumbledore ultimately saw the need to personally confront Grindelwald. While disguised as Percival Graves, Grindelwald demonstrated his leadership expertise again by taking over the latter's high-ranking positions in the MACUSA as an Auror, the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, and the Director of Magical Security, doing so for an extended period of time without even President Picquery suspecting anything.
 * Dark Arts: Grindelwald was incredibly skilled in the Dark Arts, being world-widely considered to be the greatest dark wizard of all time in his reign of terror and many years after until the arrival of the British Dark Lord Lord Voldemort. Even as a student, Grindelwald's talents were already great enough that coupled with his passion for the Dark Arts, his exploration and practice of dark magic were already very dangerous, even nearly fatal to the fellow Durmstrang students, and eventually, his "twisted experiments" became too dangerous for even Dumstrang's tolerant outlook on the Dark Arts, resulting in his expulsion. ​​ While seventeen, Grindelwald was already adept at casting the extremely powerful Cruciatus Curse, notably using it against Aberforth Dumbledore. He was capable of casting dark spells of great offensuve power, as shown while impersonating Percival Graves, when Grindelwald used a curse that emitted a bolt of lightning, which inflicted immense pain on those hit by it, which he used to torture Newt Scamander, and also during his defeat of the aurors chasing after him, when Grindelwald used an unknown curse that unleashed a white blast of energy that instantly eliminated them all. Grindelwald was also capable of casting a phenomenally powerful dark spell that conjured a circle of blue fire that he was able to manipulate to an extraordinary degree to easily kill many aurors, even in mid Apparation, and even the likes of Newt, Theseus, Leta and Tina proved incapable of holding it off for long. Upon unleashing it's full power, it was of such potency that it was capable of potentially destroying all of Paris, requring the combined might of Nicholas Flamel, Newt and Theseus Scamander, Tina Goldstein and Yusuf Kama to dispel it.
 * Elemental Magic Mastery: Much like his former friend Albus Dumbledore, Grindelwald was extremely accomplished with the manipulation of the elements. Apart from the aforementioned fire. In his brief duel with Newt Scamander, Grindelwald repeatedly used lightning-based spells to quickly overwhelm and torture him. While escaping his flying Incarceration Carriage, Grindelwald blasted massive lightning bolts to dispatch the handful of broomstick-mounted Aurors tasked with escorting it, and then easily manipulated the waters of the Hudson River to flood the carriage, nearly drowning all those inside.
 * Duelling: Gellert Grindelwald was a duelist of tremendous, almost unrivalled skill. Even as a teenager, Grindelwald was already highly proficient in magical combat. Having received thorough training in duelling and all manner of martial magic during his schooling at Durmstrang Institute, Grindelwald was able to hone his skills to match his extraordinary high potential, becoming a fully confident, focused, disciplined and versatile master of combative sorcery, his reactions "marvelous, astounding". In his late teens, he held his own against Albus and Aberforth Dumbledore simultaneously during their three-way duel at Godric's Hallow, and later ​​​​​effortlessly won the Elder Wand from its previous master, Mykew Gregorovitch, with a single stunning spell when stealing it from his workshop. As an adult, he defeated and killed many powerful witches and wizards during his reign of terror in wizarding world. Though quite capable of performing magic of great destructive power, as seen in Battle in Lestrange Family Mausoleum, he would sometimes prefer to engage his adversaries in a more traditional and formal manner, and thereby defeating his foes in a more "fair fight". When he did this, he could display a surprisingly defensive duelling style, deflecting his opponents' efforts with perfect ease and slowly advancing upon them before delivering the crushing blow, in order to take in the awe with which they observe the immensity of his power. He also presumably easily overpowered the extremely accomplished Percival Graves, so he could disguise himself as him and infiltrate MACUSA. While impersonating Graves, Grindelwald still displayed considerable skill, winning every single one-on-one duel (swiftly besting and torturing Newt Scamander, and easily fending off former Auror Tina Goldstein), and upon being unmasked, Grindelwald not only fended off more than twenty highly-trained MACUSA Aurors simultaneously, seamlessly switching between offence and defence to both repel and attack his opponents, both of which he apparently did with relative ease, but he also quickly started to overwhelm them, until Newt restrained him from behind. Grindelwald later single-handed escaped from captivity, effortlessly defeating many broomstick-mounted Aurors, and took control of the Incarceration Carriage. After the abrupt end to his rally, Grindelwald swiftly defeated and killed most of the uninvited visitors and even the combined might of the highly capable Theseus Scamander and Porpentina Goldstein, Newt Scamander and Leta Lestrange proved to be no match for him, the latter whose spell he deflected with his back turned, and then swiftly burned her to ash. During his reign of terror, Albus Dumbledore was considered Grindelwald's only equal, which prompted much of the wizarding world demand Dumbledore fight him. Indeed, although he was ultimately defeated in their final confrontation, their duel went down in history as the greatest battle ever fought between two wizards, their magic being of a standard the likes of which none of the the witnesses had ever seen before.
 * Charms: Grindelwald was phenomenally skilled in Charms. Albus Dumbledore noted that Grindelwald's mastery of charms rivaled his own, and both he and Grindelwald could already cast a Disillusionment Charm strong enough to effectively render themselves invisible without needing to use an invisibility cloak at the age of 17, which is a tremendous feat. This made the Cloak of Invisibility the Hallow that Grindelwald was least interested in, and continued his search for it only because the Cloak completed the trio of legendary artefacts. During his time impersonating Graves, Grindelwald was able to effortlessly use the Summoning and Levitation Charms to great effect wandlessly and non-verbally, pulling Newt's suitcase and the magical orb containing an Obscurus from Newt's case to himself and levitating a car all with mere hand gestures without any strain, at one point non-verbally levitating Credence with a wave of his wand and even briefly suspending Newt, Tina and Jacob with wandless magic alone. While escaping his Incarceration Carriage, Grindelwald effortlessly disarmed the aurors of their wands and levitated and controlled said wands to stab each other in the neck and disintegrated Spielman's wand and also easily blasted off the door inside the carriage to knock Spielman off. Grindelwald also enchanted a necklace with the symbol of Deathly Hallows that he gave to Credence. so that he could summon him by touching it. Grindelwald also displayed phenomenal mastery over the Shield Charm, and proved himself capable of repelling a barrage of spells fired at him by around thirty trained Aurors simultaneously. In 1927, he also drew up an incredibly powerful protective ring of fire around himself during the Battle in Lestrange Family Mausoleum, which was bewitched so that only those truly loyal to him and his cause could pass through it unscathed. After he left it rampant, it would have destroyed all of Paris had it not been contained in time by the combined magical might of Nicolas Flamel, Newt Scamander, Theseus Scamander, Tina Goldstein, and Yusuf Kama.
 * Care of Magical Creatures: Grindelwald was considerably knowledgeable and skilled in interacting with at least dark creatures, having managed to tame several monsters that he used during his Global Wizarding War, notably his pet Chupacabra. He was also able to recognize a baby bird as a Phoenix, somehow acclerate it's growth to a full Phoenix, and, with his awareness of the legend of a Phoenix coming to the aid of a Dumbledore in need, Grindelwald managed to persuade Credence Barebone that the latter was actually Aurelius Dumbledore. Grindelwald also had no problems mounting the Thestrals of his Incarceration Carriage, directing them while simultaneously defeating many broomstick-mounted Aurors. However, as expert Magizoologist Newt Scamander noted, Grindelwald was not an expert on other magical creatures, being more turned towards more complex forms of magic, thus making it possible for Newt's Niffler to steal Grindelwald's Blood pact vial.
 * Defence Against the Dark Arts: Although Grindelwald was far more intrested in using the Dark Arts rather than defending against it, he neverthless apparently had considerable ability, as shown by when he took on the identity of Percival Graves, who was known to be an extremely skilled auror and therefore was definitely very capable in the art, and was able to do good enough of a job to effectively fool even President Picquery as well as possibly also others who worked with Graves.
 * Wandlore: Grindelwald had acquired an impressive amount of knowledge on the art of wandlore, enough so that in addition to being aware that to defeat a master of the Elder Wand doesn't neccesiate killing them, he was even capable of designing wands with unique qualities by himself, as he created and gave Credence his wand that was specifically designed to channel the power of his Obscurus.
 * Healing magic: Grindelwald had an immense understanding of healing charms, being able to heal the cuts on Credence Barebone's hands wandlessly and nonverbally, by simply touching them. Indeed, Grindelwald's mastery and knowledge was so great that with the Elder Wand, he was capable of restoring back his cut-off tongue, returning his ability to speak.
 * Transfiguration: Grindelwald was incredibly proficient in the field of Transfiguration, and his ability and knowledge on the complex area of Human Transfiguration was sufficient to transform himself into an exact replica of Percival Graves for an extended period of time without his disguise fading, without him needing any Polyjuice Potion. During his escape, Grindelwald used basic Conjuration skillfully to quickly defeat the aurors controlling the carriage, effortlessly manifesting several snakes with heads on his carriage and ropes without speaking a word. He was even able to non-verbally conjure a new forked tongue for Abernathy.
 * Apparition: Grindelwald was extremely skilled in Apparition, capable of Apparating with pin-point precision and speed, even while in a quickly moving frame of reference, as shown by how Grindelwald had little trouble dodging the violent attacks of Credence's huge Obscurus by rapidly Apparating, how he easily Apparated to the bottom of his speedily flying Incarceration Carriage (while disguised as Abernathy), and then to the top of the carriage from the bottom. Grindelwald's profiency was great enough that just like his former friend Albus Dumbledore, Grindelwald could Apparate silently, something which very few witches and wizards were able do do, notably Apparating away before Credence or Nagini noticed it.
 * Occlumency: Grindelwald was an incredibly accomplished Occlumens, being able to fully conceal his true thoughts from the exceptionally talented Legilimens Queenie Goldstein while in his Percival Graves disguise, and later while turning her to his side. Even in his older days, and having been imprisoned for fifty three years in Nurmengard, Grindelwald remained very proficient in the art, as even Lord Voldemort himself, who was reputed to be the most accomplished Legilimens alive, was unable to penetrate Grindelwald's mind to gain information in his search of the Elder Wand.
 * History of Magic: Grindelwald had a high level of knowledge of magical history and lore, with particular specialisation in the portions of it that pertained to powerful magical artefacts, such as the Deathly Hallows and Wandlore. For example, he knew that Ignotus Peverell, owner of the Cloak of Invisibility, had been laid to rest in Godric's Hollow. Grindelwald was also aware that in order to become the master of the Elder Wand, he needed to not only steal it, but he also had to defeat it's previous owner. Moreover, Grindelwald was highly knowledgeable of both past and current histories of the Sacred Twenty-Eight families, as he knew about the ancient abandoned Lestrange family Mausoleum in Paris and was aware of Leta Lestrange's backstory, and possibly even able to uncover the identity of Credence Barebone before Albus Dumbledore, despite despite the latter's extensive network of international contacts.
 * Divination: Grindelwald was a Seer. He had a vision about the existence of a powerful Obscurial linked to Credence Barebone. However, due to how he held the belief of no Obscurials being capable of surviving more than 10 years, Grindelwald was unable to identify Credence as the Obscurial he was looking for and instead believed Credence would lead him to a child that contained said Obscurus. Despite this, Grindelwald's raw Seer power was phenomenal, to the point that twelve years prior to the Muggles starting the Second World War, Grindelwald predicted it in detail. He also possessed enough knowledge and ability in Divination that he designed his skull-hookah to aid him in his Seer power and was also able to use it to allow others to see his visions, as he used it to allow his followers to see his visions of Credence and his Obscurus and later projected fearsome images of the future Blitzkrieg, Holocaust, and atomic bombings for attendees of his rally to see. At the end of his life, Grindelwald claimed that he knew that Lord Voldemort would come to him in Nurmengard, which might be another instance of Grindelwald's Seer foresight.
 * Wandless and Nonverbal magic: Grindelwald was incredibly skilled in both wandless and nonverbal magic, either of which is advanced and often difficult to perform even individually, making Grindelwald's prowess all the more impressive, as he usually performed both simultaneously. In 1926, Grindelwald swiftly Summoned Newton Scamander's wand and suitcase over to him, both with a silent wave of his hand. Grindelwald also wandlessly lifted Newt Scamander from the ground from across the room and then made him, Porpentina Goldstein and Jacob Kowalski simultaneously drop to their knees with their arms locked behind against their backs, without a silent hand gesture. When he interrogated Newt shortly thereafter, Grindelwald Summoned the protective orb containing an Obscurus by silently gesturing it forth. He later saved the life of Credence Barebone from an oncoming train in the New York City Subway by hurling him sideways off the tracks with a wave of his wand. Grindelwald was even able to send an automobile flying across a street at Tina Goldstein with a silent wave of his hand. By using only silent hand gestures, Grindelwald generated forceful shock-waves to move and otherwise exert force on people and objects, notably being able to break apart the ground by sending a shock-wave rippling through a street, and later performing this on the train tracks Newt Scamander was standing on, to knock him down. Grindelwald later fended off around twenty Aurors simultaneously without speaking a single incantation. Grindelwald also healed the cuts on Credence's hand by silently running his own over it. While escaping his Incarceration Carriage, Grindelwald simultaneously disarmed all of the accompanying Aurors inside the carriage of their wands, and made all of those wands hover in air, while pointing at the Aurors, and then made them stab their owners in the throat, with the exception of Spielman, whose wand disintegrated. He subsequently defeated all of the remaining Aurors (along with Head of Incarceration Rudolph Spielman) by non-verbally using the Elder Wand. After threw Spielman out of the carriage, he dropped a wand after him and, just before his captor was about to hit the water, made it fly into the latter's hand by doing a clasp-like movement with his hand, while both Spielman and the wand were quickly falling through the air.
 * Indomitable Willpower: Grindelwald had tremendous willpower, as despite the daunting task of building a large army by himself after Dumbledore abandoned their plans, Grindelwald remained dedicated and successfully raised and led among the most powerful forces of darkness ever fought by the wizarding world, very nearly emerging victorious. He was capable of remaining steadfast and focused in his tasks. Even after learning Credence Barebone, who he had previously tossed aside coldly, was the Obscurial, which made recruiting him rather difficult, Grindelwald calmly continued to try to recruit him to his side despite also having to chase after him through New York and fend off Newt and Tina in the process. When Grindelwald learned that Credence was still alive, he quickly resolved to take advantage of the fact that Credence was unaware that the curel, verbal mistreatment he got from Percival Graves, actually came from Grindelwald in disguise. As such, he promptly began seeking him out again. He was even capable of facing up to his fears, as he dueled Dumbledore when he had no choice. Grindelwald also showed no fear when the MACUSA successfully imprisoned him, instead mocking Newt Scamander and President Picquery to their faces. His spirit remained unbroken after six months of MACUSA imprisonment, since Grindelwald was so effective at persuading his jailers to join his side, that President Picquery ordered her men to cut out the Dark Wizard's tongue. Indeed, Grindelwald's calm, yet unbreakable resolve greatly contributed to how persuasive his international rallies were. This was shown when Grindelwald didn't react violently after one of Theseus Scamander's Aurors killed one of his followers, so as to show the rally attendees that it was the Aurors, not the cause he advocated, that were to blame for the Global Wizarding War. Even after spending fifty three years in Nurmengard following his defeat, Grindelwald, while the contemplation of his crimes did weigh on him, causing him to feel remorse for all he had done, when visited by Lord Voldemort, Grindelwald, despite being defenseless against the Dark Lord, who was far more evil and considered to be possibly more dangerous than Grindelwald himself, was able to muster the determination to try to achieve a shred of redemption and he fearlessly stood up to the fearsome dark wizard and even mocked Voldemort's efforts to get information out of him about the Elder Wand, daring the younger Dark Wizard to kill him.
 * Physical aptitude: Grindelwald, while middle-aged during the For the Greater Good revolution, was remarkably fit and agile, as he was easily capable of keeping his footing and holding his balance on top of the roof of the Incarceration Carriage, despite its very swift flight through heavy rain. He was also considerably strong, effortlessly physically restraining and dragging Rudolph Spielman with one hand. Despite physical degrading while imprisoned in Nurmengard, Grindelwald still survived in that prison for fifty three years.

Possessions

 * Original wand (Formerly): Grindelwald's original wand, notably used by him to permanently carve the Deathly Hallows symbol into the wall of Durmstrang Institute, and later used in the three-way duel between himself, Albus and Aberforth. Grindelwald's last known use of his wand was to stun Gregorovitch and attain mastery over the legendary Elder Wand.
 * Percival Graves's wand (Formerly): While infiltrating the MACUSA in the guise of Percival Graves, Grindelwald wielded Graves' wand against many MACUSA employees. It is unknown how exactly he acquired it nor if he mastered the wand. He lost the wand when Tina Goldstein used a Summoning Charm to disarm him of it.
 * Elder Wand: Grindelwald wielded this wand, the most powerful wand in existence, known also as the "Wand of Destiny" or the "Deathstick", and one of the Deathly Hallows. He attained mastery of it after stunning Gregorovitch, but Grindelwald ultimately lost it at the end of his legendary duel with Albus Dumbledore.
 * Deathly Hallows necklace: Grindelwald possessed a necklace with a pendant of the Deathly Hallows sign, which Grindelwald gave to Credence Barebone, who could summon Grindelwald by touching it.
 * Skull-hookah (Formerly): Grindelwald used this enchanted water pipe. The hookah, or the drug that is smoked, enhances Grindelwald's visions of the future. It was, however, destroyed by Leta Lestrange, shortly before her death.
 * Blood pact vial: Grindelwald, after making a Blood pact with Albus Dumbledore in his youth, carried this vial containing both of their blood on his body. Grindelwald likely did this to prevent Dumbledore from finding some way to destroy the blood pact, and thus to ensure that Dumbledore would not attack him directly.
 * Antonio (Formerly): Grindelwald possessed a fearsome pet Chupacabra, though he ultimately tossed it out of the window of his flying Incarceration Carriage, deeming the Chupacabra "too needy".

Albus Dumbledore
"Did I know, in my heart of hearts, what Gellert Grindelwald was? I think I did, but I closed my eyes."

- Albus Dumbledore to Harry Potter, about his friendship with Gellert Grindelwald



Albus Dumbledore first met Grindelwald when he was seventeen. They were introduced by Grindelwald's great aunt, Bathilda Bagshot. They got along almost instantly, according to Bagshot. They had much in common, including the quest for the Deathly Hallows and edgy ideals about the structure of a wizard-led society. Dumbledore's romantic feelings towards Grindelwald went most likely unrequited, but their friendship was nonetheless very close. Grindelwald may have sensed that the depth of his friend's affection for him could be used to monopolise his attention and used to achieve his goals. They were very close for two months, making plans to find the Deathly Hallows and lead a wizarding revolution, but Albus neglected his younger siblings, Aberforth and Ariana, as a result. When Aberforth confronted the pair over this, Grindelwald lost his temper and attacked Aberforth. Albus rushed forward to defend his brother, and during the duel Ariana was killed. Grindelwald fled, his friendship with Albus over.

Over the next few decades, Grindelwald caused considerable havoc on behalf of his revolution and Dumbledore refused to face him out of fear that Grindelwald knew who had really killed Ariana. Grindelwald himself also seemed to fear the idea of facing Dumbledore, as he never attacked Britain, likely as he recognised that Dumbledore may defeat him if they duel. Eventually, however, Dumbledore could no longer stand idle with his former friend becoming an increasing source of terror on the continent. In 1945, Grindelwald combated Dumbledore for a second time in a legendary duel, said by eyewitnesses to be the greatest duel ever fought between wizards. Dumbledore ultimately overpowered Grindelwald despite Grindelwald being the master of the Elder Wand during their duel, and imprisoned Grindelwald in his own prison, Nurmengard.

Many years later, in 1998, Grindelwald refused to give any information to Lord Voldemort about the Elder Wand despite the fact that he was imprisoned, wandless, and face-to-face with the only Dark Wizard ever considered more powerful than himself. This seems to indicate that Grindelwald no longer held the views of those who practised the Dark Arts and had felt remorse for his actions. It was speculated by Harry Potter that Grindelwald had given his life to prevent Voldemort from desecrating Dumbledore's tomb, perhaps indicating that despite all that happened, Grindelwald still retained some care and respect for his old friend.

Aberforth Dumbledore
Aberforth disliked Grindelwald immensely, as he was Albus's friend after Hogwarts. While Aberforth was taking care of Ariana, Albus and Grindelwald were planning to enslave the Muggles. As the two boys were planning to travel around the world, they also planned to take Ariana with them. Aberforth opposed them, telling them that he would be able to take care of Ariana once more. Grindelwald became very angry and used the Cruciatus Curse on Aberforth; Albus then defended his brother and the three boys had a duel, in which Ariana was accidentally killed. Grindelwald escaped and left the country. Aberforth retained bitter memories towards Grindelwald for many years after their fateful encounter, and when he recounted the events that led to his sister's death Harry noted the "positively dangerous" look that came over his face when Grindelwald's name was mentioned.

Lord Voldemort
It's unknown if the two had ever met prior, however by the time Voldemort visited Grindelwald in his Nurmengard prison in 1998, Grindelwald seemed to know all about him, and claimed that he knew that Voldemort would one day visit him to seek out the Elder Wand. Despite Grindelwald's past revolution to dominate Muggles, his smugness and status as one of the most powerful Dark Wizards to have ever lived, considered second only to himself, Voldemort seemed to have no praise or respect for him, and likely saw him as an inferior and treated him as merely another person to interrogate in his search for the wand. Grindelwald likewise showed no fear toward the Dark Lord, and laughed, scornfully challenging Voldemort to kill him, much to the latter's fury. Grindelwald refused to tell Voldemort the Elder Wand's location and taunted him by telling him that he would never be able to master the great wand, implying that Grindelwald even viewed Voldemort as being an inferior due to his sheer arrogance. Furious at his inability to gain information from the former master of the Elder Wand, Voldemort murdered Grindelwald with the killing Curse.

Ultimately Grindelwald's prediction of Voldemort never fully mastering the Elder Wand would become reality and would cause his own demise during his final duel with Harry Potter.

Newton Scamander
Grindelwald, while disguised as Percival Graves, met the gifted Magizoologist in New York in 1926. Grindelwald expressed interest in why Dumbledore would be fond of Newt, apparently as he did not held Newt's skills and beliefs in high regard and hence was curious of how he could have attracted the extremely powerful Albus. It appeared that he would have wanted to talk more on it but upon having made a slip up of how he considered the hostless Obscurus useless, he ultimately did everything in his power to have Newt take the blame for the Obscurial deaths and nearly had him executed, albeit reluctantly, although it remained unknown what he would have done to Newt had the conversation continued. Grindelwald also revealed to Tina Goldstein that Newt had been expelled from Hogwarts for nearly killing a student in an incident involving a magical beast. When Newt intervened in Grindelwald's plan to acquire Credence Barebone, Grindelwald dropped all pretence and ferociously attacked Newt, duelling and even torturing him with lightning spells in a rage. Newt managed to capture Grindelwald by use of Swooping Evil and revealed his true identity to MACUSA, but before being carried off Grindelwald turned to Newt and said mysteriously "Will we die, just a little?", possibly as a message for Dumbledore due to his knowing Newt's closeness to Dumbledore. Grindelwald later encountered Newt in Paris and attacked him and his allies, mocking Newt whether Dumbledore would mourn for him. Newt, however, did survive the battle.

Porpentina Goldstein
Grindelwald had interacted with Tina while disguised as Percival Graves, and held a low opinion of her, due to Tina's prim personality. During Newt's interrogation, he sentenced him and Tina as well to death for her participation without hesitation. Grindelwald was later very furious at Tina for distracting him from Credence, telling her angrily she always turned up when he least wanted her, implying she may have intervened with his attempts to find the Obscurus previously, and while he did not bother to finish her, he threw a car at her without hesitation, thus beating her without using lethal force but still endangering her life. A year later, while convincing Queenie to join his ranks, Grindelwald painted Tina in a negative light by telling Queenie that it wasn't the latter's fault for having an Auror as a sister. He then ruthlessly tried to burn her alive with his cursed flames and would have succeeded had Leta not interfered.

Queenie Goldstein
Grindelwald had interacted with Queenie in Paris. When she met him, Queenie was clearly frightened due to his power as the greatest dark wizard of the age, and drew her wand in his direction nervously. Grindelwald, however, calmly manipulated her to join his ranks, taking advantage of Queenie's loving, altruistic, and peaceful personality, by promising her that his For the Greater Good revolution would fight against the future Second World War, and would bring about an era where others would be free to love whomever they pleased. Thus, during the rally in the Lestrange family Mausoleum, Queenie passed through the loyalty-testing circle of blue fire, officially joining Grindelwald. After escape from Paris, Grindelwald took Queenie with him to his Austrian residence of Nurmengard Castle, and asked her advice about how to appeal to Credence's current feelings.

Credence Barebone
Grindelwald was reassuring and tender with Credence, giving him the affection the boy had craved and been denied all his life; however, this was mainly in order to use him to find the Obscurus and he coldly tossed him aside when he thought he had obtained his goal, believing him to be no more than a Squib. Considering Credence unteachable in the ways of magic as a result despite promising to teach him previously, Grindelwald told the boy that the death of his mother was his reward instead. When it was revealed soon after that Credence was in fact the Obscurial, Grindelwald was surprised and tried to recruit him to help expose the North American wizarding community, and create a weapon against Albus Dumbledore.

He continued trying to appeal to Credence, telling him that he wanted him to be free from hiding and repressing his power, until he vanished after being attacked by many Aurors. This resulted in Grindelwald furiously lashing out at MACUSA for what he truly felt was an act of injustice on a fellow magical individual, going so far as to drop his disguise as a faithful Auror in a passionate speech against the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy and Muggles. As such, he showed genuine emotion at the apparent death of Credence because of his magical heritage.

Upon learning that Credence had survived and was searching for his true heritage, Grindelwald sought the young man out, and gave him the freedom to come to his rally at the Lestrange family Mausoleum. At that rally, Grindelwald's persuasive speech induced the desperate Credence to finally choose his side in the Global Wizarding War by passing through the loyalty testing blue fire and joining Gellert Grindelwald's acolytes. Grindelwald was true to his word this time, finally giving Credence a wand, and revealing the young man's birth name: Aurelius Dumbledore.

Etymology

 * Gellert is the Hungarian version of Gerard, which comes from the Germanic ger, "spear", as well as hard, "brave, hardy". Saint Gellert was an Italian-born missionary and martyr who worked in Hungary.
 * is a high hill overlooking the in, Hungary. Gellért Hill was named after  who was thrown to death from the hill. The famous  and the  can be found in  at the foot of the hill. The  is located within the hill, facing toward Hotel Gellért and the Danube River.
 * Grindel is old German for "bolt," and is also similar to the mythic monster who was defeated by Beowulf. This forms a parallel with Albus Dumbledore, whose middle name is "Wulfric". Wald is German for "forest".
 * Grindelwald is also the name of a village and known ski resort in the Bernese Alps of Switzerland.
 * It is of interesting but purely speculative note that the name Gellert is very close to the name Gelert, the name of a legendary dog of cultural, but little historical, significance to Northern Wales. According to local mythology, Gelert was the most faithful companion of Prince Llewelyn, mistaken for the assailant of the prince's infant heir. His "grave" is a site in Beddgelert (literally Gelert's Grave), Gwynedd, as well as the legend is popular in the area.
 * In German, wald is "forest." Grind is a scab, as in the hardened covering over a scar, could also be grinsen, a grin or big smile. The words grindel or grendel appeared in early versions of several Germanic languages, including English. Grindan in Old English meant "to grind," and further "destroyer," someone who grinds up others. In Middle English, grindel meant "angry." In Old Norse, grindill was taken from "storm," and also meant "to bellow," or produce a loud, frightening yell. In Danish legend, the Grendel was a fearsome, murderous monster of humanoid form. He was later defeated by the Scandinavian hero Beowulf in the medieval story of the same name.

Behind the scenes

 * British actor Jamie Campbell Bower portrays a younger Gellert (in his teenage years) in 🇨🇬, having previously portrayed the young Gellert Grindelwald in the film adaptation of.
 * British actor Michael Byrne portrays the character as an old man in.
 * Grindelwald is portrayed by Johnny Depp in the first and second instalment of the Fantastic Beasts film series. Since Grindelwald spends most of the first film disguised as Percival Graves, Colin Farrell portrays him in those scenes.
 * While Grindelwald is described as being blue eyed in the Fantastic Beasts screenplay, the film and merchandise shows him to have Heterochromia iridium, his right eye being light blue or grey, and his left eye being dark, possibly black.
 * This was not seen in the original film series when Grindelwald was shown in his youth or when he was elderly. As such, it is unknown if this is a retcon, or if his eyes changed sometime after his acquirement of the Elder Wand and returned to normal at a later point.
 * In, Grindelwald sports an undercut hairstyle, which was standard for members of the Hitler Youth.
 * Additionally, he was described as being blond-haired and blue-eyed, iconic traits of the "Master Race" of the Nazi Regime.
 * In a 2005 interview around the same time was published, Rowling stated that it was not a coincidence that he was defeated in 1945. hinting at a connection with  and at least the European front of . Grindelwald seems to be the wizarding version of Adolf Hitler. As referenced by Rowling, the date of Grindelwald's duel with Dumbledore coincides with the downfall of . There are other similarities as well. Grindelwald adopted an ancient symbol as his sigil (the symbol of the Deathly Hallows) just as the Nazis adopted the swastika, an ancient symbol, switching its facing to create the Nazi swastika. Furthermore, the prison Nurmengard shares a similar name to the Franconian city of, where war criminal trials of former Nazis were held. Nurmengard's dual role as prison to both the victims and later the perpetrator may be a reference to Nuremberg's dual significance in World War II, which, aside from being the site of the Nuremberg Trials, was also the site of the proposal and adoption of the Nuremberg Laws, infamous discriminatory laws against Jewish people. Nurmengard also bears a sign that reads "For the Greater Good", which may correspond to the infamous "Arbeit Macht Frei" sign (German for "Work Makes [One] Free") which hung above the entrance to Auschwitz. Grindelwald's eventual sole imprisonment in his own prison is possibly a reference to the fate of Rudolf Hess, who from 1966 until his death in 1987 was the sole prisoner of Spandau prison.
 * In a 2005 interview around the same time was published, Rowling stated that Grindelwald was dead. However, it was revealed in  that he was still alive and imprisoned in Nurmengard. This would indicate that Grindelwald's inclusion in the novel was a late decision.
 * It was revealed by J. K. Rowling during a tour in 2007 that Albus Dumbledore was homosexual and harboured romantic feelings for Grindelwald. Although she did not initially comment on Grindelwald's sexuality, Rowling later clarified that although Grindelwald was aware of Dumbledore's feelings, he merely used them to manipulate the other boy and did not reciprocate romantically.
 * In the film adaptation of, Grindelwald's historical significance is not explained in the slightest. Also, it appears that Voldemort doesn't kill Grindelwald, but simply leaves the prison room. It isn't made clear whether he killed him or not in the film.
 * He also willingly tells Voldemort where the Elder Wand is.
 * He also addresses Voldemort by his true name, "Tom", indicating some past history with him or at least knowledge of his origins.
 * Grindelwald was the first known Durmstrang student introduced in canon, although the fact that he attended Durmstrang was only revealed in.
 * Aside from Harry Potter, Grindelwald is the only character who is mentioned by name in a title of the Wizarding World franchise.
 * Along with Albus Dumbledore, Minerva McGonagall and Nagini, Grindelwald is one of four characters who appear in both the Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts film series to date.
 * Gellert Grindelwald claimed that he knew that Voldemort would come to him. It is unknown whether this was a guess or if he foresaw it due to being a Seer.
 * When questioned on Grindelwald compared to Voldemort, the Fantastic Beasts cast believed Voldemort was far more evil than Grindelwald, as Zoe Kravitz noted she thought Grindelwald was more complicated than Voldemort while Alison Sudol stated she thought Grindelwald was more evil and Dan Fogler being unsure. When asked who will win in a duel, while Zoe Kravitz said Voldemort, Callum looked unsure and stated "but Harry took him down." while laughing nervously, and while most of the cast believed Grindelwald would easily win in a fist fight as his body was far more well-built and fit than Voldemort Katherine Waterston said she thinks Voldemort would fight dirty and win.

Appearances

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Notes and references
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