GELLERT GRINDELWALD

'Gellert Grindelwald' is a fictional character within the ''Harry Potter'' series written by British author J. K. Rowling. He is a Dark wizard mentioned in ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', but he is unseen until the final book, ''Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows''.

Contents

Early life

Defeat by Albus Dumbledore

Impact on the Wizarding World

References

Early life

Grindelwald attended the wizarding school Durmstrang from which he was expelled in his sixth year for his "twisted experiments," that nearly resulted in the deaths of some of his fellow students. Durmstrang, which is known for its acceptance of the dark arts, found these experiments too dangerous and evil, even for their school. He left the symbol of the Deathly Hallows (a circle with a vertical line in the center enclosed in a triangle) 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. This is when the following events occurred:
In ''Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows'' it was revealed that Grindelwald was an adolescent friend of Albus Dumbledore and that 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, traumatized 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 wand-maker Gregorovitch. Gaining the Elder Wand's immense power, he subsequently committed many terrible acts, although these seem to have been restricted to central and eastern Europe.

Defeat by Albus Dumbledore

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 in 1945. Grindelwald, who at the time possessed the supposedly unbeatable Elder Wand, lost to Dumbledore. Grindelwald had stolen the wand from Gregorovitch, a European wandmaker; however he was recognised by the light of the wand due to his use of a stunning curse on Gregorovitch as he fled. It is necessary that Grindelwald became the master of the wand for it to have passed on through Dumbledore as it does.
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 remains there until the events of ''Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows'' when Voldemort arrives, seeking the Elder Wand. Grindelwald, showing no fear of Voldemort, lies and tells him that he never owned the wand, and Voldemort kills him in rage. In the chapter ''King's Cross'', 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 suggests that in his later years Grindelwald had felt remorse for his evil actions.

Impact on the Wizarding World

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.
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. According to at least one review of the novel, Grindelwald and his symbol of the Deathly Hallows are used by Rowling to present a Nazi Germany-like atmosphere, being similar to Hitler in that they were both Germanic, defeated in 1945 and held prison camps to suppress their enemies. Another similarity is that over the gates of Grindelwald's prison, Nurmengard, are the words "for the greater good" similar to "Arbeit Macht Frei", meaning "work will set you free" at the Nazi concentration camps.^[1] They also both used ancient symbols to represent themselves, which eventually became more associated with them than with their original meaning. Finally, 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.

References

1. http://www.dispatch.com/dispatch/content/life/stories/2007/07/20/potter_review.html