Here’s Everything You Need to Know About Dumbledore & Grindelwald

Disclaimer: There will be Fantastic Beasts spoilers GALORE. 

Second disclaimer: I’m not kidding about this. Seriously, you’ve been warned. 

(If you haven’t seen the movie and you’re still here, I can only assume you’re sussing out spoilers deliberately, and that’s fine. You know what you’re about. I can respect that.)

At the end of Fantastic Beasts, it’s revealed that head Auror Percival Graves is actually the Dark wizard Grindelwald running around New York City in a Colin Farrell man suit. This brings up questions such as “Who is Grindelwald?” and “What’s his deal?” and “Where is the real Percival Graves? Does he even exist?” In roughly 700 years we’ll be getting the next Fantastic Beasts installment, so let’s talk about Grindelwald and everything you need to know about his character going forward.

GRINDELWALD IS LIKE THE OG DARK WIZARD

In Fantastic Beasts, we’re already elbows-deep in Grindelwald’s rise to power. But before he became this sort of proto-Voldemort figure, Grindelwald was just some troubled James Dean-looking interloper who’d gotten himself kicked out of Durmstrang for performing one too many twisted experiments. He was shipped off to live with his great-aunt Bathilda in Godric’s Hollow, which is where he became close friends with none other than Albus Dumbledore, the wizarding world’s resident Gandalf.

DUMBLEDORE WAS 100% IN LOVE WITH GRINDELWALD

There was a Fantastic Beasts press conference a few months ago where someone asked if Dumbledore’s feelings for Grindelwald would be explored or simply glossed over in the coming films, and J.K. Rowling said she didn’t want to give too much away.

Dumbledore is such an iconic character, and Grindelwald is such a significant part of his tragedy, that I can’t imagine it won’t come up. The two were close friends until they parted ways in 1899; Dumbledore didn’t confront Grindelwald, who went on to become the evil dictator he was always meant to be, until 1945. I imagine at some point during the next four movies, someone’s going to have the presence of mind to ask, “Hey, Dumbledore, you’re the most powerful wizard in the whole entire world—why haven’t you gone after that Grindelwald guy yet?” And Dumbledore’s going to have to say, “Well, you see, I was in love with him once, so it’s complicated. Also, he might have killed my sister. It’s a whole thing.”

People made a big fuss when J.K. Rowling announced that Dumbledore was gay. Personally, I feel like his being in love with Grindelwald is the only way this whole deal makes sense. People do stupid things when they’re in love. I once sat through a Charlie Sheen movie marathon for eight hours straight just because I sort of liked the guy who invited me. It’s certainly no “ignoring the increasingly obvious signs that the boy you’re crushing on the wizarding equivalent of Hitler,” but still, I get where he’s coming from.

GRINDELWALD WAS ON A HUNT FOR THE HALLOWS

In the film, Grindelwald gives a Deathly Hallows necklace to Credence Barebone. We know, then, that he was looking for the Hallows in 1926. The question is: did he already have the Elder Wand when he went up against Newt Scamander?

It would seem so. By then, Grindelwald would have been in his early 40s. In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, he’s described as having been a young man when he stole the wand from Gregorovitch. Percival Graves’ wand in the film, however, bore virtually no resemblance to the distinct, knotted shape of the Deathstick with which we’re all familiar. Either he had the wand hidden away somewhere, OR the filmmakers just aren’t concerned with consistency. Whatever the case may be, keep an eye out for it in the coming movies—it’ll be interesting to see how Dumbledore beats the unbeatable wand.

GRINDELWALD HAD A THING FOR OBSCURIALS

Grindelwald wasn’t just looking for Hallows—turns out he was also in the market for Obscurials. An Obscurial is a witch or wizard whose magical powers have been suppressed due to physical or psychological trauma, forcing them to develop an external, havoc-wreaking magical force called an Obscurus. We saw this play out with Credence Barebone (I thought his hair was going to be the most tragic thing that happened in this movie, but alas), but there is another magical child from Harry Potter lore who fits the bill: Dumbledore’s sister, Ariana.

It destroyed her, what they did: She was never right again. She wouldn’t use magic, but she couldn’t get rid of it; it turned inward and drove her mad, it exploded out of her when she couldn’t control it, and at times she was strange and dangerous.

If Ariana was an Obscurial, it would make sense that Grindelwald recognized her potential and sought to harness her power. When she died unexpectedly, he was forced to find a new one. It would also make Dumbledore’s feelings for Grindelwald all the more tragic, if he were using him to get to Ariana. The way Grindelwald manipulated Credence in Fantastic Beasts makes me wonder if he knew how Dumbledore felt and used this to his advantage.

THE H.M.S. GREATER GOOD

Whether Grindelwald was aware of how Dumbledore felt or not, I have a feeling their relationship is going to come up again in a big way (perhaps this is how Dumbledore was able to defeat him; Grindelwald did care for Dumbledore in some capacity, after all. Maybe he couldn’t bring himself to kill him).

To that end, I’ve trawled the very depths of the bottom of the deepest ocean of fandom in search of a ship name for this pairing, because what are we even supposed to call them? Dumblewald? Grindeldore? I’ve learned, as a result of extensive research, that they’re sometimes called “The Greater Good,” a reference to Grindelwald’s slogan. I’ve also learned that there’s not a single Snape pairing portmanteau that isn’t funny. (Snape + Hagrid = Snagrid. Snape + Sirius Black = Snack. Snape + Lockhart = Snart. You’re welcome.)

Image credit: Warner Bros.