Profile
Gellert Grindelwald was the wildly brilliant Dark Wizard that Dumbledore was famous for defeating. But he was also Dumbledore�s friend. The two teens met in 1899 just after Dumbledore finished Hogwarts.
Book appearances
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Important years
Year of Birth: 1883 (two years younger than Albus Dumbledore)
Year of Defeat: 1945 (defeated by Dumbledore)
Year of Death: 1998 (killed by Lord Voldemort)
Appearance and family
Hair: Blond, curly, shoulder-length
Characteristics: A wild, gleeful look about him
Ancestry: Most likely pureblood
Great-aunt: Bathilda Bagshot (the author of A History of Magic)
Friend: Albus Dumbledore
Miscellaneous
Wand: The Elder Wand (one of the three Deathly Hallows)
School: Durmstrang (expelled in 1899)
Ideas
Interest: The Deathly Hallows
Plan: To establish wizarding supremacy over Muggles
Slogan: For the Greater Good
Imprisonment: 1945-1998 at Nurmengard
In-Depth
Gellert Grindelwald is a Dark wizard that, according to Rita Skeeter's book The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore, in a list of
Most Dangerous Dark Wizards of All Time, he would be second only to Lord Voldemort. Grindelwald's name is fairly well known in the
wizarding world. His name is first mentioned on Albus Dumbledore's Chocolate Frog card, which notes that Dumbledore defeated
Grindelwald in 1945, the final year of World War Two (and the year that Voldemort finished Hogwarts).
Grindelwald attended the wizarding school Durmstrang from which he was expelled in his sixth year for his dangerous and evil
experiments, that nearly resulted in the deaths of some of his fellow students. He left the symbol of the Deathly Hallows on one of the
walls in Durmstrang before departing. After Durmstrang, he went to live with his great-aunt Bathilda Bagshot in Godric's Hollow.
There he befriended then 18-year-old Albus Dumbledore and the two of them planned to establish a new world order,
where wizards would rule over Muggles "for the greater good". Another one of their goals was to seek out the three fabled Deathly
Hallows. However, Aberforth Dumbledore, Albus's younger brother, argued against these plans, because he feared their grand ambitions
would leave his disabled, traumatised sister, Ariana, abandoned. The argument culminated in a three-way battle between Albus,
Aberforth, and Grindelwald. Ariana was inadvertently killed by one of them. Grindelwald fled, fearing retribution. Henceforth, Albus
ended his relationship with him.
Grindelwald successfully obtained one of the Deathly Hallows, the Elder Wand. He became master of the legendary wand by stealing it
and assaulting the previous owner, the wandmaker Gregorovitch. Gaining the Elder Wand's immense power, he subsequently
many terrible acts, although these seem to have been restricted to central and eastern Europe. It is revealed that Grindelwald's actions
have caused many deaths that have greatly affected the students of Durmstrang, including Viktor Krum. As a result, Grindelwald and
anything associated with him (including the symbol of the Deathly Hallows) is universally hated at that school. After Grindelwald's rise
to power, Dumbledore delayed meeting him again for several years due to his fear of being confronted with his sister's death and the
fact he himself might have been the one to have accidentally killed her. Both wizards were highly intelligent and skilled in battle, and
those who witnessed the battle say that no wizarding duel ever matched that of Dumbledore and Grindelwald. Grindelwald, who at the
time possessed the supposedly unbeatable Elder Wand, lost to Dumbledore.
After Dumbledore triumphed over Grindelwald, the defeated dark wizard was imprisoned in the top-most cell of Nurmengard, a prison
Grindelwald himself had built for his opponents. He remained there until the year of 1998 when Voldemort arrived, seeking the Elder
Wand. Grindelwald, showing no fear of Voldemort, lied and told him that he never owned the wand. Voldemort killed him in rage.
In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Harry suggests to Dumbledore that Grindelwald lied to Voldemort in order to prevent him
from breaking into Dumbledore's tomb, where he knew the Elder Wand lay. Dumbledore suggested that in his later years Grindelwald had
felt remorse for his evil actions.
Sources:
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by JK Rowling,
HP Lexicon and
Wikipedia