THE Character: Gellert Grindelwald.
Disclaimer: If you're not interested in reading this, maybe don't click expand because this is REALLY REALLY REALLY long and I'm putting more effort into this than my fanfiction. You're gonna be scrolling forever.
Note: Anything written in blue is a headcanon.
Full Name: Gellert Grindelwald
Born: ??? (I headcanon it to be 6/24/1882)
Died: March 1998 (aged 115 which might be weird if you're not familiar with the harry potter universe, but wizards can live much longer than muggles, aka non magic people)
Acted by (throughout FB only): Jamie Campbell Bower, Johnny Depp (he got kicked off for being a jerk), and Mads Mikkelsen (the replacement 🤩)
Who is this dude: A pureblood wizard of German descent with a bad childhood: His mother left and his father was abusive. He was a neglected child prodigy at duelling. At Godric's Hollow, he met and fell in love with Albus Dumbledore (YES, it's the old guy from Harry Potter who's a joke to everyone who hasn't read/seen it!!!), who was a sweet boy and was the first person to ever understand him. Gellert can speak four languages, Bulgarian, French, German, and English. He is charismatic and evil like, even towards Albus, because he is bitter on Albus's betrayal. He secretly has a soft spot for Albus that he never shows. Gellert is more expressive through actions than words, though he is extremely good at getting inside someone's head by his twisted charisma. Gellert also has a rare ability that few wizards possess: He is a Seer, meaning he can see glimpses of the future through reflections and dreams.
His childhood lore throughout Fantastic Beasts:
As a child, Gellert had been exposed to brutal abuse, that has to do with muggles. It sparked resentment and hatred inside of him, leading him to believe muggles were all bad people. At school, he comes across the legend of the Deathly Hallows. When a wizard obtains all three of the Hallows, they become the master of Death (basically they're invincible). He starts to chase the dream of finding the Hallows and overthrowing the international Statue of Secrecy, which is the law that all wizards follow to stay in hiding. At school, he vandalized the entrance with the symbol of the Deathly Hallows, and during his 6th year, he was expelled for using twisted, dark magic experiments on a student.
Gellert then visits his Great-Aunt Bathilda Bagshot in a British Magical Neighborhood named Godric's Hollow, where one of the creators of the Deathly Hallows' grave lies. He wanted to trace back the source of the ancient magic, hoping it would lead him to achieve his dream. 16 (he turns 17 during that summer) year old Gellert meets 17 year old Albus Dumbledore, his first ever friend. Albus and Gellert become very close, and they share great understanding with each other. Eventually during that summer, they fall in love and plan to continue with the dream, which they call the Greater Good, together.
Albus has a brother, Aberforth or just Ab, who hates him, and a sister, Ariana who is ill. His father died in prison and his mom is dead from his sister's uncontrollable magic. Throughout the summer, as the eldest of the three, Albus is forced to take care of his younger siblings. When he meets Gellert, he finally feels understood for the first time in his life.
Albus (left) and Gellert (right) during the summer of 1899. If you look at the Harry Potter Wiki (fandom), it actually says that the one on the right is Albus, but that's not true because Gellert was acted by Jamie Campbell Bower, not just in FB but in Harry Potter as well.
Albus and Gellert decide to make a pact, a Blood Pact, sealing their promise to stay together. (my sister got me the blood troth for my birthday 🥹) Basically, the Blood Troth ensures that they cannot move against each other, cannot fight each other, can not try to stop each other in their plans. If they do, it'll kill them. They also plan to run away together, to travel the world and take over the wizarding world.
The Blood Troth looks like this:
The middle of it is their blood combined together.
During the summer, Albus's brother, Aberforth, hated Gellert and his relationship with Albus (I think he's homophobic). One day, at the end of the summer, Aberforth confronts them. He accuses Albus of being irresponsible and neglecting his sister. Gellert gets extremely angry at this, and you don't want to piss off a fucking prodigy at fighting people, especially since you're insulting his boyfriend who he's super protective about.
Albus, Gellert, and Aberforth end up getting into a three-way duel. Ariana tries to stop them, but because of how mentally and physically unstable she was, she dies, and Gellert, the only one of the three to see it happen, runs away. He takes the Blood Troth with him. He and Albus lose contact.
There's a big time skip that's between the summer of 1899 and the first book/movie of Fantastic Beasts. It's not completely confirmed on what he did, but he gained followers and supporters to help him in his cause. He steals the Elder Wand, one of the Deathly Hallows, which is the all-powerful wand that can perform all kinds of extraordinary magic.
Gellert is definitely bitter about the summer, because Albus had betrayed him. Since Albus didn't necessarily move against him, nothing happened, they just fell apart.
That's where Fantastic Beasts connects with this.
During fantastic beasts, Gellert gets pronounced the most evil Dark Wizard of all time, killing millions of innocent people and wanted throughout all of Europe and the US. People believed he was so powerful (with the Elder Wand), the only person that can stop him is...you guessed it. The ex-boyfriend. Albus.
AFTER FANTASTIC BEASTS: THE SECRETS OF DUMBLEDORE
Again, there is a blank period of time where Gellert builds up his army. It isn't until 1945, where Albus finally confronts Gellert about the cause and tries to stop him. (In Fantastic Beasts 3, they break the unbreakable blood troth) They have what is known as the Legendary Duel, where Gellert ultimately gets defeated. Albus takes the Elder Wand from him, stripping him from a part of his power.
Gellert gets imprisoned in his own base, a prison he built for his enemies: Nurmengard Castle, Austria. He is held there until his death in 1998, when Voldemort killed him because he refused to give the whereabouts of the Elder Wand after Albus's death. This implies that he still loved Albus after all the years, for he is protecting his ex's tomb from being broken into (the Elder Wand was buried with Albus because it was his wand until he died).
So uhh.....my favorite character summarized I guess!
If you actually read all of this, you're a real one. <3
