Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Characters/Gellert Grindelwald
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| Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter - Character | |
| Gellert Grindelwald | |
|---|---|
| Gender | Male |
| Hair color | Blonde |
| Eye color | Unknown |
| Related Family | Nephew of Bathilda Bagshot |
| Loyalty | Unknown |
Contents |
[edit] Overview
Gellert Grindelwald was the most terrible Dark Wizard to exist before Lord Voldemort came to prominence.
[edit] Role in the Books
[edit] Philosopher's Stone
Grindelwald is mentioned briefly on the back of Albus Dumbledore's Chocolate Frog card as the Dark Wizard Dumbledore defeated in 1945.
[edit] Deathly Hallows
Viktor Krum tells Harry that the line within a circle within a triangle symbol that Xenophilius Lovegood wore as a pendant at Bill and Fleur's wedding was the symbol of Gellert Grindelwald.
Rita Skeeter's tell-all book about Albus Dumbledore reveals that when young Albus was about 17 years of age, Gellert Grindelwald, also about 17, came to Godric's Hollow to live with his great-aunt Bathilda Bagshot. He was expelled from Durmstrang for near-fatal attacks on other students. Dumbledore and Grindelwald become close friends, and were apparently plotting to enforce wizard rule over Muggles, always for their own good, of course. Harry Potter, seeing Voldemort's memory of the wand maker Gregorovitch and finding Grindelwald's picture in Skeeter's book, realizes that he is the thief who stole The Elder Wand from Gregorovitch. It is learned that Grindelwald was still alive, though imprisoned in the highest tower in Nurmengard, the prison Grindelwald himself built to hold those who opposed him. Voldemort successfully hunted him down there, although Grindelwald lied to Voldemort, claiming never to have had the Elder Wand. Voldemort casts the Killing Curse in rage.
We find out later that both Dumbledore and Grindelwald were seeking the Deathly Hallows, which would have made them masters of death, and in fact Grindelwald adopted the symbol of the Deathly Hallows for his organization. When their plan was derailed by Aberforth Dumbledore, a fight broke out, resulting in the death of Aberforth and Albus' sister, Ariana. Grindelwald immediately left Godric's Hollow, possibly fearing that this tragedy would also be laid at his feet. After stealing the Elder Wand from Gregorovitch, he used its power to begin his conquest of Europe. He was defeated by Dumbledore, in Dumbledore's words, "only when it would have been too shameful for him to delay taking action any longer."
[edit] Strengths
Comparable magical skill to Albus Dumbledore, who was considered by many to be the most powerful wizard to have ever lived.
[edit] Weaknesses
Grindelwald had an obsessive desire to possess the Deathly Hallows, especially the Elder Wand.
[edit] Relationships with Other Characters
Best friends with Albus Dumbledore when the two were teenagers.
Grindelwald had been expelled from Durmstrang, apparently for Dark magic. It is possible that he had followers at Durmstrang, much as Tom Riddle had at Hogwarts, but apart from his relationship with Dumbledore it is uncertain if he had any friends at all.
Though he lived with Bathilda Bagshot while he was visiting there, her memories as published in Rita Skeeter's book lead us to believe that Bathilda was not in his confidence. She seems to have had no idea what he was planning with Dumbledore.
[edit] Analysis
There is a resort town in Switzerland, just north of the Eiger, named Grindelwald. It is unknown whether this town was the inspiration for the name of this character.
It is necessary for Dumbledore to do something that has major repercussions in the Wizarding world, in order to have the sort of fame that is accorded to him. Otherwise, why would there be any note of this headmaster of this Wizarding school, even granted that it is the only major one in England? Headmasters, like teachers, generally have limited direct influence, no matter how much their students do; and yet Dumbledore has apparently been offered the post of Minister for Magic, and has any number of other honours, not least of which (in his opinion) is that he has been selected to be one of the wizards that appear on Chocolate Frog cards. A typical headmaster does not get singled out as "possibly the best wizard in our lifetime. Granted, Dumbledore had always been academically very sharp, as we hear in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, but we get the feeling that it was his defeat of Grindelwald that crystallized his ascendancy in the minds of the Wizarding public. Thus Grindelwald provides a necessary foil to Dumbledore in his younger days. At the time of their battle in 1945, Dumbledore would have been 64 years old and in the prime of his powers. Grindelwald was, possibly, a little younger; he had been expelled from Durmstrang and come to visit his aunt in the summer after Dumbledore's graduation.
[edit] Questions
[edit] Greater Picture
The young Dumbledore was blinded to Grindelwald's power-hungry aims to become a dictator. Dumbledore believed that the ultimate goal was to make the world safe for people like his sister Ariana to exist; he believed that Muggles living under benevolent Wizard rule would have made it possible for wizard offspring and Muggle children to co-exist. A simple test of one's personality is which specific Hallow they think is the most valuable, and why. Grindelwald clearly believed the Elder Wand, unbeatable in a duel, was superior, with the Resurrection Stone running second. Albus thought the Resurrection Stone was more important. To Grindelwald, the Resurrection Stone was a means to raise an army of Inferi; to Albus, it would have returned his lost family. Neither had much interest in the Invisibility Cloak. Why did Dumbledore fail to see that Grindelwald was choosing the evil path to power? Dumbledore's deep attraction for Grindelwald may have caused him to overlook his friend's faults. Also, his own pride in his superior intellect and extraordinary magical abilities may also have deluded him into believing that he and Grindelwald knew what was best for the Wizarding world. With the foolishness of youth, he perhaps thought he could change Grindelwald to his own, somewhat more gentle ends.
It was this episode with Grindelwald, and the resulting death of his sister Ariana, that led Dumbledore to believe that he could not be trusted with power, that he would misuse the sort of power that came from being Minister for Magic. Surprisingly, this is a key plot point in the story. Would Dumbledore have had the nerve to stand up to the Minister for Magic, as he did to Cornelius Fudge at the end of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, had he not been a strong enough wizard to take that post himself? And if he was that strong, what conceivable reason would there be for his not becoming Minister? Harry needs someone this strong to train him, and to defend him from the Ministry, and it would be impossible for Harry to be trained by a Minister for Magic.
