Gellert Grindelwald
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Gellert Grindelwald was the wildly brilliant Dark Wizard that Dumbledore was famous for defeating, but also Dumbledore’s erstwhile friend. The two teens met in 1899 just after Dumbledore finished Hogwarts.
DATES & NAME ORIGINS :
Birthdate: c.1883 (two years younger than Dumbledore) (DH18).
Deathdate: 1998; killed while in Nurmengard
Prison by Voldemort (DH23). Grindelwald's fate
in Deathly Hallows directly
contradicts a statement by J.K. Rowling in 2005 that Grindelwald died
in 1945 (
TLC
pt. 3).
First name meaning: May refer to
Bishop Gellért
of Budapest (980-1046) who was martyred in a pagan Magyar revolt against
Christianity. A hill, cave and four-star hotel in Budapest are named
for him.
Last name meaning: 'Grindelwald' is a small village
in the Alps of Switzerland. The name could also refer to Grendel, the
troll-like monster of the Anglo-Saxon epic Beowulf. Jo
pronounces Grindelwald's name “GRIN dell vald” (TLC
pt. 3).
FAMILY
Ancestry: Probably pureblood.
Great-aunt: Bathilda Bagshot,
the author of A History of Magic (DH).
Relationships: Albus Dumbledore fell
in love with Gellert when Albus was 17, but was “terribly let down
by him” when he realized what Gellert was capable of (CH2).
APPEARANCE
Hair: Blonde, curly shoulder-length hair (DH13).
Characteristics: A wild, gleeful look about him (DH13).
WAND, ETC.
Wand: The Elder Wand, one of the three Deathly
Hallows, which
he stole from the wandmaker Gregorovitch.
School: Brilliant student at Durmstrang, but expelled
c. 1899 (DH18).
Career: Attempted to establish wizard supremacy over Muggles,
but was defeated and imprisoned for the rest of his life.
Incarceration: From 1945-1998 at Nurmengard, prison he
had built for his own political enemies (DH18).
PROFILE by Michele
Worley and Lisa Bunker
Two years younger than Albus Dumbledore (DH18),
as a teenager Gellert was blond, wore his curly hair shoulder-length, and
had a wild, gleeful look about him (DH13).
Grindelwald was a brilliant student at Durmstrang Institute, but was expelled at the age of 16, at which point he chose to go abroad for a few months, moving in with his great-aunt Bathilda Bagshot in Godric's Hollow (DH18) because he was fascinated by the legend of the Deathly Hallows and wanted to explore the place where Ignotus Peverell had died and was buried (DH35). During his stay in Godric's Hollow, Gellert became very close with then 18-year-old Albus Dumbledore, and drew the latter into his plans for world domination. Together they theorized about Wizard supremacy “For the Greater Good” of the world, and how to find the three Deathly Hallows: The Elder Wand, the Cloak of Invisibility, and the Resurrection Stone. However, their relationship lasted mere months; Grindelwald fled when he killed Albus’s unstable sister Ariana during a quarrel, and Dumbledore realized his folly (DH18, DH28).
During his subsequent rise to power as a Dark wizard, Gellert built a prison, Nurmengard, to hold his opponents, over the door of which the slogan “For the Greater Good” was carved (DH18).
The spectacular final battle between Dumbledore and Grindelwald took place in 1945, the final year of World War Two, and the year that Voldemort finished Hogwarts. In the end, Dumbledore won the duel and took Grindelwald’s wand, the Elder Wand of Deathly Hallows fame. This battle was such a notable event that it is featured on Dumbledore's Chocolate Frog card as one of the three things Dumbledore is particularly famous for (PS6). Grindelwald was imprisoned in Nurmengard (DH18), where he remained until his murder by Voldemort in 1998 (DH23).
