How Did Dumbledore Defeat Grindelwald

Dumbledore Was Just A Man

Valorum and Rand al’Thor have effectively detailed Dumbledore’s accomplishments. I thought I’d deal with his defects, as pointed out in the question. If the criticism is that Dumbledore made strategic or organisational mistakes, the man himself would agree.

But you think youre right? said Harry. Naturally I do, but as I have already proven to you, I make mistakes like the next man. In fact, being – forgive me – rather cleverer than most men, my mistakes tend to be correspondingly huger..

Dumbledore was also all-too-aware of his moral failings and shortcomings of character, as his experiences with the Hallows showed.

Harry, I only feared that you would fail as I had failed. I only dreaded that you would make my mistakes. I crave your pardon, Harry. I have known, for some time now, that you are the better man..

That said, not all the criticisms of Dumbledore in the question are fair.

Things for which Dumbledore was to blame:

• Being involved in the death of Ariana. Dumbledore later admitted that his attachment to Grindelwald meant that he didn’t do enough to protect his sister. He lived in terror of the knowledge that he may have directly caused her death. He was certainly regretful about what happened.
• ‘Supporting’ Grindelwald. Again, Dumbledore came to regret the warmth he had earlier shown Grindelwald when the latter showed his true colours. During their friendship Dumbledore effectively turned a blind eye to Grindelwald’s darker aspects.

Grindelwald Used To Be Best Friends With Dumbledore

Grindelwald was expelled from Durmstrang when he was 16 for “twisted experiments,” according to the tabloid wizard journalist Rita Skeeter. After his expulsion in the late 19th century, he went to live with his great-aunt, the wizarding historian Bathilda Bagshot, in Godric’s Hollow in England.

Bagshot happened to be neighbors with the Dumbledore family. Albus Dumbledore and Gellert Grindelwald both ambitious, talented, and idealistic teenage wizards quickly became friends.

The two also expressed interest in the Hallows, but both teens had different reasons for seeking them out: Grindelwald wanted power, while Dumbledore thought the Ressurection Stone might bring back his dead parents.

When Rowling announced that Dumbledore was gay, after all seven “Harry Potter” books were published, she also said that Dumbledore loved him, but Grindelwald didn’t necessarily love Dumbledore back.

“Dumbledore fell in love with Grindelwald, and that that added to his horror when Grindelwald showed himself to be what he was,” she said. “To an extent, do we say it excused Dumbledore a little more because falling in love can blind us to an extent?”

Duel Between Albus Dumbledore And Gellert Grindelwald

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What We Know About Grindelwald’s Defeat

The dark wizard Grindelwald was first mentioned on Dumbledore’s Chocolate Frog card in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. It was only a brief mention, but it established that Grindelwald will ultimately be defeated in 1945. Dumbledore’s triumph is credited as one of the greatest achievements of his life, alongside his discovery of the twelve uses of dragon’s blood and his work on alchemy with Nicolas Flamel. That was the sole mention of Grindelwald until Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, which saw Rita Skeeter investigate Dumbledore’s history in the wake of his death. Skeeter discovered that Albus Dumbledore and Gellert Grindelwald were once close friends, and that the young Dumbledore even shared Grindelwald’s philosophy for a time. It was ultimately revealed that the two bonded in their shared obsession over the Elder Wand and the Deathly Hallows, but parted ways in a violent altercation that led to the death of Albus’ sister, Ariana.

In a mystical experience, Albus Dumbledore explained to Harry Potter that his past ties to Grindelwald had made him reluctant to intervene as Grindelwald drew all Europe into war. It was only in 1945 that Dumbledore finally agreed to battle against his old friend, leading to that fateful duel. It’s now become clear that this was an oversimplification after all, Dumbledore didn’t mention anything about the Blood Pact that was revealed in Fantastic Beasts 2.

Why Did Voldemort Visit Grindelwald

We know that Voldemort finds out about the Elder Wand by torturing Ollivander when even the borrowed wand fails to kill Harry. We see that Voldemort instantly becomes fascinated by the prospect of possessing the Elder Wand. Ollivander tells Voldemort that he had heard a rumor years ago that Gregorovitch used to have the Elder Wand.

He then tracks down Gregorovitch, and using torture and Legilimency, he finds out that it was stolen by “a thief”. After that, through Harry’s visions, we see him pondering over the identity of the thief which makes it clear that he wants it desperately.

When Harry arrives at Godric’s Hollow, and Voldemort fails to kill him there again, he finally finds a picture of that thief in Bathilda’s house and finds out that the thief is Gellert Grindelwald. Then Voldemort visits Nurmengard to talk to Grindelwald, and at the same time Harry, Ron and Hermione are caught by snatchers and taken to Malfoy Manor. The entire, slightly cryptic conversation between Grindelwald and Voldemort is shown in bits and pieces between the whole Malfoy Manor scene.

Kill me, then. Voldemort, I welcome death! But my death will not bring you what you seek. . . . There is so much you do not understand. . . .

He felt Voldemorts fury, but as Hermione screamed again he shut it out, returning to the cellar and the horror of his own present.

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An Incredibly Intense Relationship

“Harry Potter” series author J.K. Rowling had already previously revealed that she always “thought of Dumbledore as gay” after the release of the final book in the series, and in a film extra in the Blu-ray edition of “Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald,” Rowling detailed more about his and Grindelwald’s “incredibly intense” and “passionate” relationship.

Rowling confirmed that their relationship was one of love and that there was “a sexual dimension to this relationship.” The two young men also became enthralled with each other’s intelligence, ambitions and ideas about their place in the world and the relationships between Muggles and wizards. Despite their falling out after the death of Dumbledore’s sister, the Hogwarts professor continued to see Grindelwald in the Mirror of Erised, a magical object that shows the user’s greatest desire.

While Dumbledore seemingly abandoned these ideas of wizarding world dominance and “freedom” from persecution by the Muggles, Grindelwald went on to amass a veritable army of followers who shared his ideas. It’s during this period the 1920s in the “Fantastic Beasts” movies that Dumbledore and Grindelwald were being pushed to confront each other again.

How Did Dumbledore Beat Grindelwald With The Elder Wand

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quote KrunalStealing wands do work for their masters depending on the manner in which they stole it. Grindelwald stole it in a proper manner so it worked for him. The same can be said for Ron who took Wormtails wand, and it gave him, it’s allegiance.

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Why Did Dumbledore Choose To Use The Elder Wand Rather Than His Previous One

Dumbledore won the Elder wand with his previous wand by defeating Grindelwald. The Elder wand had changed its allegiance to Dumbledore, but that doesn’t mean that the wand with which he defeated turned useless.

So why did Dumbledore chose to use the Elder wand, rather than the one which proved good enough to defeat the most powerful wand?

Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban

At the beginning of the third novel, Dumbledore is forced to accept Dementors onto his school’s grounds for the protection of his students from Sirius Black, a supposed murderer and accessory to murder, who had escaped from Azkaban. After Black’s breach into Hogwarts, Dumbledore issues orders to close every entrance to the school and grounds. After Harry falls off his broomstick during a Quidditch match because of the Dementors, Dumbledore becomes uncharacteristically angry with them and uses his wand to cause Harry to levitate safely to the ground. Later in that book, Dumbledore suggests that Hermione use her Ministry-approved Time-Turner to go back three hours to save Buckbeak the hippogriff and Black from their unjust executions.

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Perhaps Dumbledore Didn’t Defeat Him

To quote Rita Skeeter:

“Oh, now, Iâm glad you mentioned Grindelwald,â says Skeeter with a tantalizing smile. âIâm afraid those who go dewy-eyed over Dumbledoreâs spectacular victory must brace themselves for a bombshell â or perhaps a Dungbomb. Very dirty business indeed. All Iâll say is, donât be so sure that there really was the spectacular duel of legend. After theyâve read my book, people may be forced to conclude that Grindelwald simply conjured a white handkerchief from the end of his wand and came quietly!â

I think Rita is saying the truth here.

Why Did Voldemort Kill Grindelwald

Voldemort believed that Grindelwald will give him all the necessary information, but that is not how their meeting played out. Grindelwald would not reveal any information and he even resisted Voldemorts torture. As time went on Voldemort grew more frustrated and after Grindelwald proclaimed that he will never truly have the wand which caused Voldemort to kill him.

To many, this act may seem out of character, since Voldemort would undeniably benefit from having him on his side. However, there are a few reasons why Voldemort did not want to keep him alive.

The most obvious one is that Lord Voldemort did not want a follower that could potentially be more powerful than him. After all, its a well-known fact that Voldemort was afraid of Dumbledore and Grindelwald was at the very least as powerful as Dumbledore. This means that Grindelwald was surely more powerful than Voldemort. If you would like to read more about how Voldemort and Grindelwald rank against each other check out our other article.

This can be further proven by the fact that despite the fact that Grindelwald was separated from the rest of the world for more than fifty years, he still knew who Voldemort was and exactly why he came, due to his extensive seer power.

Voldemort also did not know about the legendary duel between Grindelwald and Dumbledor, a story which at that time everyone knew. The knowledge of this story could have helped him in his quest.

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The Two Planned A Revolution

In his youth, Dumbledore wasn’t entirely full of good intentions. His portrait told Harry in “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” that he was filled with anger and wanted to shake up the world.

“You cannot imagine how his ideas caught me, Harry, inflamed me,” Dumbledore’s portrait said at the end of the book. “Muggles forced into subservience. We wizards triumphant. Grindelwald and I, the glorious young leaders of the revolution.”

According to Skeeter, who also wrote a not-entirely-accurate biography of Dumbledore shortly after his death, Dumbledore and Grindelwald planned to overturn the Statue of Secrecy, which keeps magical folk secret from non-magical folk, and establish a wizarding ruling class over Muggles.

They had different reasons. For Grindelwald, it was because he was an evil dude. For Dumbledore, it was a reaction to his sister Ariana being tormented by Muggles until she went mad.

The two coined the phrase Grindelwald used on his crusade decades later: “For the greater good.”

Dumbledore and Grindelwald planned to leave Godric’s Hollow to pursue their ambition. Aberforth, Albus’s brother, confronted him, saying he needed to take care of their sister Ariana. Grindelwald, enraged, attacked Aberforth, and Albus defended him. In the three-way duel, Ariana was killed.

After that, Dumbledore stayed home to take care of his brother. Meanwhile, Grindelwald fled from the duel and went on to find at least one of the Hallows on his own.

Here Are Some Ways This Zany Plot Twist Might Work Though Again Its A Huge Stretch

Its always possible that Aurelius is Albuss half-brother, and that Albuss mother had an affair with someone we dont know about. But here, again, we run into the age issue. If Albuss mother, Kendra Dumbledore, had a baby out of wedlock after her husbands death, the youngest that kid could be in 1927 is 28.

Thats because its well-known that Albuss mother, Kendra Dumbledore, died in 1899 in a tragic accident caused by her daughter Ariana, whose own magic had been difficult to control since the Muggle attack that left her debilitated and indirectly sent her father to prison. Ariana herself, we should note, later also died tragically in a standoff between Albus, their brother, and Grindelwald.

There are some other ways this twist could be finagled: For instance, Credence could actually be 10 years older than he thinks he is by virtue of a lot of handwavey magic. But thats a lot of trouble to go to in order to explain the timeline discrepancy.

Another possibility is that Kendra Dumbledore didnt actually die in the 1899 accident, that she could have somehow faked her own death, and gone on to have another kid. But that assumes shed be willing to leave her children parentless for some as-yet-unknown reason, and also opens up the question of why shed do that, and what eventually happened to her and how, again, Dumbledore and a horde of gossip columnists never uncovered this information before.

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Does Voldemort Kill Grindelwald

When talking about franchises with memorable villains many will immediately think of the Harry Potter franchise and its noseless big bad. Until the recent addition to the franchise in the form of Fantastic Beasts movies, many fans were only vaguely aware of Gellert Grindelwald, who is the original dark lord of the wizarding world. Luckily, for all curious fans, we actually see these two meet and know what would happen if they met.

Sometime before the Battle of Hogwarts, Lord Voldemort sought out the legendary wizard amidst his search for the Elder Wand. Once they are face to face and Grindelwald refuses to help him and all but mocks him leads Voldemort to kill him.

At the first glance, this may seem like an out character decision for Lord Voldemort. Wouldnt he be better of keeping Grindelwald alive and as an ally? After all, two dark lords will definitely be better than one. If you would like to know more about this interesting unfolding of the plot, keep reading.

Grindelwald Played A Major Part In The Harry Potter Series

In the “Harry Potter” series, which takes place decades after “Fantastic Beasts,” Grindelwald plays a big role and helped shape the course of world events in the 20th century. He was Albus Dumbledore’s closest friend before turning into a Hitler-like figure who threw the magical world into turmoil in an attempt to dominate non-magical folk.

Grindelwald’s first mention in the “Harry Potter” series is inconspicuous. He’s simply a name dropped on Albus Dumbledore’s chocolate frog card in “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone”: “Dumbledore is particularly famous for his defeat of the Dark wizard Grindelwald in 1945.”

It’s not until several books later in “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” that he plays a bigger role. As Voldemort searches for The Elder Wand, which he believes will make him invincible, he traces its path to Grindelwald. Voldemort finds Grindelwald in Nurmengard, a prison Grindelwald built during his rise to power and was locked in after his fall. But he finds out that Grindelwald doesn’t have the wand anymore, and kills him.

Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger learn about Grindelwald by accident.

Later, Harry and the crew find out Grindelwald’s sign is that of the Deathly Hallows a trio of objects consisting of the Elder Wand, the Resurrection Stone, and the Cloak of Invisibility. If a wizard or witch were to possess all three Hallows, they were said to be the Master of Death.

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Professor Dumbledore’s History With Grindelwald Explained

One of the most famous rivalries in Wizarding World history started out with two young wizards yearning for friendship and acceptance. The relationship between Albus Dumbledore and Gellert Grindelwald eventually grew into a fraught and passionate one, with their histories, secrets and obsessions leading to an infamous duel that changed the course of the magical world’s history.

Harry Potter fans know Dumbledore as the wizened, powerful old headmaster of Hogwarts and one of the most popular characters in the entire “Wizarding World” franchise. Grindelwald is mentioned infrequently in the Harry Potter books and movies, mostly in relation to his duel with Dumbledore and the history of the wielders of the Elder Wand. In the “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” book, Grindelwald is killed by Lord Voldemort in prison after he refuses to tell the dark wizard where the Elder Wand is. But in the movies, Grindelwald is not shown being killed by Voldemort and willingly tells him where to find the wand.

With the release of the “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” movie series, we’re finally seeing more of Dumbledore’s and Grindelwald’s pasts and their relationship to one another as well as how that passionate relationship built on love and trust turned ugly and impacted the whole of the wizarding world and beyond.

Here’s everything to know about Dumbledore’s history with Grindelwald.