History Characters / FantasticBeastsGrindelwaldsArmy

** In the third film when they meet in the restaurant, he is the one who makes their meeting more overtly romantic. He opens with a flirty smile and an overt pick-up line, asking if the resteraunt is one of his "regular haunts" with the clear implication he's asking if he's sleeping with someone else. He straightens up and smiles and then they banter back and forth for a bit with lots of flirting to go around and the conversation only really takes a downturn when Albus mentions they could be free of the pact. There was even an alternative take where he kissed him on the neck as he left. By the end, he's almost crying as he realizes things are over for good between them and can only lash out with, "Who will love you now, Dumbledore? You're all alone!" which is the only time he's ever verbalized the love to the audience.

* SparedByTheAdaptation: Voldemort just teleports away as opposed to killing him in the movie adaption of ''Deathly Hallows''.

** Voldemort is incapable of loving anyone, with Nagini being the closest thing he has to someone he cares about, but Grindelwald is very deeply in love with Dumbledore and was for about a century. He eventually gives his life to protect his tomb. While on the surface level his telling Voldemort that there are things he will never understand is about the Elder Wand specifically and magic more broadly, he's also saying that Voldemort would never understand love in a way that would drive a person to die for someone else. Although his love has matured into something purer and healthier as of the time of ''Deathly Hallows'' since in ''Fantastic Beasts'', it is still toxic and has devolved into bitterness with a side of an abandonment complex. Voldemort also never had a romantic or sexual relationship with anyone, unless you count ''Cursed Child'' as canon.

* NotGoodWithRejection: He very clearly took his break up really badly. When he and Dumbledore meet up at the restaurant, things are going well for a while. They're flirting and bantering back and forth like no time has passed but as soon as Dumbledore mentions that they could be free of the blood pact, he tenses up, becomes defensive, and the conversation goes downhill. He clearly cherishes the pact and sees it as the last remnant of their relationship. By the end of the movie, Dumbledore is ready to let him go and literally and metaphorically turns his back on him once the pact breaks. He becomes more desperate by the second and lashes out with a ,"Who will love you now, Dumbledore? You're all alone!" While he's technically saying his later statement of ,"I was never your enemy. Not now, not then" to the whole crowd, he's really saying it to just one person.

* TheArchmage: Regarded by Rita Skeeter as the second only to Voldemort as the most dangerous dark wizard of all time. It was Dumbledore's defeat of Grindelwald in the epic duel of 1945, which is considered to be so full of extraordinary magic that to this day it remains the greatest duel ever to be fought and witnesses are still terrified and awed of the power and skill they showed, that sealed his status as the most powerful wizard in the world and Dumbledore goes as far as to admit that in terms of power, with the Elder Wand, Grindelwald was equal to him and Dumbledore was only ever a "shade more skillful". Grindelwald demonstrates abilities during the ''Film/FantasticBeasts'' series that are sometimes more visually impressive than Voldemort's, capable of outclassing even some of the best wizards and witches of the time in multiple numbers like it's nothing and performing spells of massive power that can go as far as to destroy an entire city completely.

* AxCrazy: His temper can make him unstable, indiscriminate and violent if pushed, the most glaring example of this being when Leta destroys his skull-hookah, he proceeds to murder her with Protego Diabolica and then try to use it to burn Paris to the ground. He crucio-s Jacob for no reason in the third movie and then later tries to kill Credence in front of everyone.

* BitchInSheepsClothing: He seems very adept at using apparent affection to manipulate others, and is capable of acting like he has more benevolent intentions than he does, though unlike [[VillainWithGoodPublicity Lord Voldemort during his teen years]], does not always seem to have the patience or inclination to hide his true nature after a certain point.

* TheDreaded: He's a fantasy version of a fascist and was the most feared Dark Wizard of the first half of the twentieth century. ''Fantastic Beasts'' demonstrates that he is so feared that a mission to capture him requires up to 50 Aurors and led by the war veteran Theseus Scamander, who stated openly he would be no match for Grindelwald, and Tina practically shat herself when she realized Grindelwald has arrived on Paris, while Newt outright tries his best to avoid fighting Grindelwald and is clearly quite uneasy when he is finally forced to tangle with him along with Theseus. Even Dumbledore feared him, albeit due to entirely unconventional reasons.

** The extended cut of "Crimes of Grindelwald" reveals that his obsession with recruiting Credence is because he had vision of an Obscurial killing the man he fears most -- Dumbledore.
** In the second film, he shares with his gathered followers his visions of the future, specifically those of the [[spoiler:Second World War and the atomic bombings in Japan, in order to further convince his followers that his cause is in the right, and that if they don't act against the non-magic world, the Muggles will turn their weapons against them.]]

** He is visibly shocked when Vinda callously states she wants the annihilation of all the non-magical humans and quickly calls her out for it, stating that while he considers them beasts of burden, he believes they are necessary.

* EvilSorcerer: Though he's well past his prime by his appearance in ''Deathly Hallows'', in the past, he was considered the second darkest wizard in history behind Voldemort and his duel with Dumbledore was etched in wizarding history as the greatest duel of all time. Though Dumbledore refers to Voldemort as "the most dangerous Dark Wizard of all time," he considers Grindelwald a roughly equal match for himself.

* HumiliationConga: After so effectively manipulating the events of the first two movies to his favor, it’s his turn in the third to lose hard when Albus finally gets to act against him. Dumbledore’s use of ConfusionFu works masterfully (with the only hiccup being Theseus getting arrested), even if he manages to get Vogel to pardon him of his crimes, get him on the ballot, and brings him into the plot to have the zombified Qilin bow to him. However, Dumbledore yet again uses a BatmanGambit to outsmart him: Anticipating his arrogance would make him think the Scamanders, Lally, and Dumbledore would be guarding the Qilin, Albus unorthodoxly instead gives the Qilin to Bunty. Just as Newt and Credence confront him in front of everyone to expose the plot and he rebuffs them and calls them liars, Bunty walks up with Newt’s case with the living Qilin, much to his shock and horror as he realizes he never considered her. The Qilin bows to Albus who refuses, effectively depriving him of any hope he could influence Albus into supporting him and then to Santos who becomes the Supreme Mugwump after the second vote. Then he and Dumbledore fight to a draw as the pact breaks and as he reaches for Dumbledore, he turns his back on him, literally and metaphorically severing their bond forever as his cruel and ruthless actions at the election sealed Albus's decision to leave him. Exposed as a terrorist, all he can do is apparate away, visibly very upset and having effectively lost the good image he once had, a portion of his followers and any chance he may have had to get Albus back, with the crushing realization that he brought it all upon himself.

* ItAmusedMe: How he fights and kills, he's very theatrical with his magic, clearly likes showing off and chooses to spare people seemingly at random and on a whim. Best exemplified with the wizard who comes to collect him from MACUSA, whom he spares by slowing down his fall (and without using a wand at that, much like Dumbledore did with Harry in Prisoner of Azkaban) seemingly only because he could.
* TheJuggernaut: Grindelwald's more this than Voldemort ever was. He waged a 25 years war on the ''entire world'', while Voldemort only lasted hardly more than 10 years when warring against Britain alone and before Dumbledore defeated him, he was winning so much that literally everyone was begging for Dumbledore to intervene, even those who disliked Dumbledore, as Grindelwald has proven himself to be unstoppable to anyone but Dumbledore. Dumbledore even confirms his status as this during his prime, as ultimately the only way to truly put him down was by fighting him himself.

** The second movie showed off his oral skills, manipulating disgruntled witches and wizards with fear of Muggle takeover and a promise of a free future.

* MasterOfAll: Unlike Voldemort, who relied on straightforward Killing Curses, Grindelwald demonstrates an impressively diverse array of powerful abilities (including healing, of all things), much of it done with his bare hands instead of using a wand, [[spoiler: while in his guise as Graves. Per [[https://twitter.com/jk_rowling/status/810753569808875520 Word of God]], he also has the power of prophecy, an extremely rare wizarding talent, and unlike Trelawney, who has the gift but doesn't have the skills to make good use of it, Grindelwald is quite the expert in using it.]]
* MeaningfulEcho: His face-off with Voldemort, right down to him noting "I welcome death", echoes the "The Tale of the Three Brothers" story, which, considering Grindelwald's interest in the hallows and Voldemort's interest in the wand being based on the same thing, was likely an invoked trope on his part. His line to Voldemort in the same scene, "there is so much you do not understand," is almost certainly a callback to Dumbledore's statement in ''Literature/HarryPotterAndThePhilosophersStone'' that "if there is one thing Voldemort cannot understand, it is love," given that Grindelwald then [[spoiler:proceeds to die trying to protect his lover's tomb from being desecrated.]]

* PlayAlongPrisoner: He could've easily escaped MACUSA pretty much whenever he wanted, as displayed by how he literally combusted a fly just with a bored look while magically restrained to his cell, clearly showing the magical spells used on him weren't affecting him at all, but he decided to be smart about it by waiting until the International Confederation arrived to extradite him to Europe.
* PlayingWithFire: Like Dumbledore, he's extremely gifted with using magical fire. His appearance in ''The Crimes of Grindelwald'' sees him conjuring a ring of blue flames around him capable of easily incinerating anything it comes in contact with, and using it to roast an entire squad of aurors to ashes in seconds (two of them even being in the middle of disapparating). [[spoiler: His Protego Diabolica spell is so strong that it would have burned down the ''entirety of Paris'' were it not for the combined efforts of several wizards barely being able to contain it with a ''Finite Incantatum'' spell.]]
* PragmaticVillainy: He chides Vinda Rosier for thinking that his aim is to slaughter all Muggles. Grindelwald doesn't want to kill ''all'' of them; after all, society will always need beasts of burden.

* {{Rank Scales With Asskicking}}: Grindelwald is the leader of his own army and confirmed the second most powerful wizard of all time. Even Britain, despite never experiencing him, feared him enough to classify him as being second only to their own Dark Lord while admitting such mention may not be accurate.

* StrongAndSkilled: In contrast with the UnskilledButStrong Credence, Grindelwald demonstrates both a wide variety of magical skills along with incredible raw power. Indeed, he can even use basic spells to great effect while fighting.

** While he comes off as a controlled, logical and {{Affably Evil}} opponent at first, [[spoiler:by the end of'' Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them'', he seems to become fed up with the heroes' interference in his plans, and [[RageBreakingPoint snaps while duelling Newt]], [[ColdBloodedTorture releasing lightning spells over and over again]] [[KickTheDog after having already overpowered him,]] even though it would have been more pragmatic to [[WhyDontYouJustShootHim just kill him at that point]] so he could no longer interfere in his plans.]]

** To elaborate, Grindelwald's grim effectiveness with this trope compared to the rather ineffectual methods of Voldemort's brute-force ways are fully demonstrated in the third film and also demonstrates the complete difference between them that makes Grindelwald a far more terrifying villain. While Voldemort wanted to dominate Britain through sheer force, Grindelwald only makes the terrorist attacks look like he's fighting the unjust powers of the world and actively seeks to be diplomatic. Not to mention he is no pure-blood supremacist and accepts anyone while Voldemort was selective at best and completely bigoted at worst. And while Voldemort and Grindelwald are both arrogant, Grindelwald is much better at appearing humble and simply seeking a revolution because unlike Voldemort, he is not a psychopath as much as he is detached towards his enemies and willing to do whatever it takes to crush them and regularly portrays himself as a valiant revolutionary with immense power, which Voldemort can never be because he was a DirtyCoward. All this combined means that Grindelwald is significantly better at attracting subordinates and devotees everywhere, and as he is attacking the whole world and not just Britain, there was simply too many people who support him and too little evidence to charge him with. In the end, even though the magical governments are all desperately trying to paint him as a criminal, they ultimately have to bow down as he has won the public and charging him any further would lead to violence. It takes Dumbledore, an equally brilliant individual who has none of Grindelwald's arrogance, in order to expose him and truly encourage resistance against him.

* WorldsBestWarrior: Grindelwald was once regarded as the greatest dark wizard of all time until Voldemort arrived and performs feats in the films never performed by Voldemort. Albus Dumbledore, himself the undisputed strongest and best wizard, admits that magically they were very nearly equals, as Grindelwald was just as powerful as he is and he was only a "shade more skillful", so much so that their duel was considered to be the greatest ever and people even believe that Grindelwald's defeat equaled the International Statute of Secrecy! Fantastic Beasts backs this up as he can easily curb stomp groups of powerful wizards and witches, casually casting extremely powerful spells that tends to either one-shot them or push them to the extremes just to survive, and one particular powerful spell in particular had the ability to destroy all of Paris and took five accomplished wizards and witches to successfully contain it. Notably, he's the only character who has ever managed to break even with Albus, doing so in their second fight. Even in the end of the third movie when the whole crowd is turning on him, he blocks all their spells pretty easily and apparates away, even while being completely emotionally overloaded and close to tears.

* GenerationXerox: A follower of Grindelwald whose descendants, Alecto and Amycus, would become Death Eaters. Seems following wizard Hitlers runs in the family.

* AllGaysArePromiscuous: Subverted. Despite being extremely attractive, charismatic, a flirt, having NoSenseOfPersonalSpace, and having hordes of followers who would likely do anything for him, he never shows interest in anyone but Dumbledore.

A Dark wizard defeated by Dumbledore in 1945, decades before Harry Potter's birth. He was briefly mentioned in the first book but pops back up in the backstory of ''The Deathly Hallows''. It is revealed in that book that he and Dumbledore had met each other as teenagers when he was expelled from school and sent to the UK to stay with his great aunt, Bathilda Baghshot, who was the Dumbledores' neighbor.

The two of them took together immediately and even began a romantic relationship, with plans to go find the Hallows and subjugate Muggles "for the greater good". However, before they left Aberforth confronted them over their plans to take Ariana with them. A fight ensued between the three of them when he attacked Aberforth and Ariana was killed in the chaos, though none of them know who actually killed her. He went back home to not get in trouble and started looking for the Hallows himself, eventually gaining the Elder Wand from Gregorovitch.


He is the main antagonist of the prequel ''Fantastic Beasts'' film series.


In the 1920s, he began wage his campaign to overthrow the statue in earnest. A seer, he eventually finds his way to New York City in search of an Obscurial to kill Dumbledore which is the plot of the first film. In the second, he escapes prison in New York to go to Paris to attempt to manipulate both Credence Barebone and Queenie Goldstein into coming to his rally and joining his side. After a time skip into the third, he attempts to get elected the head of the International Confederation of Wizards by zombifying a magical creature known as Qilin, which can recognize a pure hearted leader.


He was eventually defeated by his older partner in 1945 and remained a prisoner in his own castle, Nuremgard, for a little over half of a century. He dies about 2/3 of the way through ''Deathly Hallows'' when Voldemort comes to his cell looking for the Elder Wand and in a final act of love, refuses to tell him where the wand is so Dumbledore's tomb wouldn't be desecrated.

* ActorSwap: The role was recast from Depp to Mikkelsen between the second and third films when Depp was found civilly responsible for spousal abuse and rape in the British court system in late 2020. [[note]] The judge in the case found it was legally permissible to call him a "wife beater" based on having found 12 instances of alleged domestic more likely than not to have happened. [[/note]]

** Grindelwald treats his underlings with more respect and trust than Voldemort ever did, relying on his charm, charisma and showing them kindness in contrast to Voldemort ruling only through fear. He will even trust them with important tasks to do without him such as letting Vinda run offense to recruit Queenie by herself. He only ever punishes people for their disloyalty and never for earnest screw ups like Voldemort did. This makes him a more effective villain and leader because his minions respect and trust him back whereas Voldemort's BadBoss tendencies always ended up biting him in the ass and lead to his downfall at the hands of three teenagers after not even a year in power. And while many of Voldemort's followers stuck largely due to fear of being in his path, Grindelwald's supporters are genuinely loyal to him and believe in his cause.

** Grindelwald was born into a respectable wizarding family, knew of magic and his nature from birth and was a lover of Dumbledore's during their teen years. Voldemort was born to a wizard and a Muggle, raised in a Muggle orphanage, was unaware of magic until well into his childhood and was a child when Dumbledore was already into middle-age, their relationship being that of a student/teacher rather than peers or romantic. And while Grindelwald came from an upper class but ordinary wizard family and had a privileged upbringing, Voldemort was descended from Salazar Slythering and grew up poor in a muggle orphanage and his biological family were once noble but had long descending into poverty and his muggle family were wealthy but wanted nothing to do with him. And while Voldemort built his support through hatred of mugglwborns despite being one himself, Grindelwald is a pure blood wizard who doesn't care at all about such things.

** Voldemort fears Death and made Horcruxes to avoid it. Grindelwald has none and he doesn't seem fear death at all. In the end, Grindelwald realises that ''acknowledging'' death and that it has to come eventually is just a fact of life; he can't (and, more importantly, ''doesn't want'' to) stop that fact - it just ''is''.

** He's handsome, charming, and intelligent and truly believes in his cause and is capable of presenting himself as a noble revolutionary when the situation calls for it. However, the second he doesn't need to, he drops the charming act and any pretense. In the first movie, he treats Credence in a very paternal way but slaps him and tells he's worthless as soon as he thinks the search for the obscurial has come to a dead end. At the climax of the second, he gives a moving speech about how Muggles are destroying the world but once the audience leaves, he starts slaughtering the Aurors, coldly kills Leta for standing up to him, and leaves Paris to what he believes is its destruction. In his meeting with Dumbledore (for whom there needs to be no pretense) in the third in a restaurant, he mixes this with genuine affection, starting by greeting him casually and like a partner (including a pretty overt pickup line) before he then gets serious and coldly declares that he's going to set the Muggle world on fire. [[spoiler: The minute it is clear that Aurelius and Queenie have betrayed him he immediately tortures Jacob in front of Queenie and tries to kill Credence.]]

* FlashbackWithTheOtherDarrin: In ''VideoGame/HarryPotterMagicAwakened'', his design is based on Mikkelsen and not Depp even in scenes that take place in the fist two movies.

* StraightGay: Doesn't show any stereotypical gay traits (other than perhaps being more than a bit dramatic) or mannerisms.

* AllGaysArePromiscuous: Subverted. Despite being extremely attractive and charismatic, having NoSenseOfPersonalSpace, and having hordes of followers who would likely do anything for him, he never shows interest in anyone but Dumbledore.

* BadPeopleAbuseAnimals: After using a pet chupacabra named Antonio in his escape, he pronounces it as too needy and callously tosses it out of a flying carriage.

** Voldemort was a self-proclaimed blood purist but really just used that as a front to gain followers. Grindelwald, on the other hand, truly believes in what he's doing and that he's a noble revolutionary, so much that he throws away a relationship with the one person he loves to do so. This is evidenced by his trying to guide the Qilin to bow to him several times in the third movie, showing that he believes himself a pure heart and righteous leader. Voldemort had no illusions about who he truly was. And while Voldemort hated half-bloods and muggles, Grindelwald has no animosity whatsoever towards the former and doesn't even hate the latter, seeing them simply as misguided and in need of firm leadership and rule from wizards to prevent their worst impulses from going too far.

** Grindelwald was born into a respectable wizarding family, knew of magic and his nature from birth and was a lover of Dumbledore's during their teen years. Voldemort was born to a wizard and a muggle, raised in a muggle orphanage, was unaware of magic until well into his childhood and was a child when Dumbledore was already into middle-age, their relationship being that of a student/teacher rather than peers or romantic. And while Grindelwald came from an upper class but ordinary wizard family and had a privileged upbringing, Voldemort was descended from Salazar Slythering and grew up poor in a muggle orphanage and his biological family were once noble but had long descending into poverty and his muggle family were wealthy but wanted nothing to do with him. And while Voldemort built his support through hatred of muggle borns despite being one himself, Grindelwald is a pure blood wizard who doesn't care at all about such things.

* EvenEvilHasStandards:

** Grindelwald ''could'' have killed Gregorovitch to steal the Elder Wand. He ''chose to stun him instead'' when he stole it, showing he understands that you ''can'' always kill, but you don't always ''have'' too.
** Voldemort fears Death and made Horcruxes to avoid it. Grindelwald has none and he doesn't seem fear death at all. In the end, Grindelwald realises that ''acknowledging'' death and that it has to come eventually is just a fact of life; he can't (and, more importantly, ''doesn't want'' to) stop that fact - it just ''is''.

* [[EvilFormerFriend Evil Former Boyfriend]]: Just out of school, Grindelwald became romantically attached to Dumbledore, who actively supported Grindelwald's call for a benevolent dictatorship over {{Muggle}}kind. After the death of Ariana, though, Grindelwald abandons his friend while becoming even more extreme in his magical supremacism.

* EvilVirtues: Despite all the wrong he's done, he's not a complete monster and possess a number of noble character traits including but not limited to dedication, loyalty, kindness to those who serve him and love and genuine belief in his cause.

* FlashbackWithTheOtherDarrin: In ''VideoGame/HarryPotterMagicAwakened'', his design is based on Mikkelsen and not Depp even though the event he starred in is mostly set during the second movie.

* IfICantHaveYou: Heavily implied in both the books and Fantastic Beasts that he resents anyone having any relationship with Dumbledore, even friendly, with anyone from him which is a major component of his loathing of Newt.

* NeverMyFault: He's still bitter towards Albus for "abandoning" him all those years ago, refusing the acknowledge that, not only was he partially or even directly responsible for the death of Albus' sister but ''he'' was the one who ran away from the scene of the fight just because he didn't want to get in trouble.

** To Voldemort, given he was active long before Tom Riddle was born and held similar beliefs of magical supremacism. In fact, prior to Voldemort, Grindelwald was considered the most evil Dark Wizard of all time.

* SavedByCanon: He cannot die nor be defeated during the four ''Fantastic Beasts'' films, since his reign of terror will continue until at least 1945, where the fifth film occurs and he will finally be defeated by his best friend Albus Dumbledore, and left to rot in Nurmengard for decades until [[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows Voldemort seeks him out]].

** A very, '''very''' subtle example. Upon discovering a little Muggle boy in the apartment they've taken over, Grindlewald ultimately allows his followers to kill the child, but he still appears quite uncomfortable as it happens.

** A very '''very''' subtle example. Upon discovering a little Muggle boy in the apartment they take over, Grindlewald ultimately allows his followers to kill the child, but he still appears quite uncomfortable as it happens.

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Kevin Guthrie had been convicted of sexual assault prior to the filming of ''The Secrets of Dumbledore.'' As he wasn't recast, Abernathy is completely absent from the third film, making his fate currently unknown.

* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: Grindelwald is the leader of his own army and confirmed the second most powerful wizard of all time. Even Britain, despite never experiencing him, feared him enough to classify him as being second only to their own Dark Lord while admitting such mention may not be accurate.

* BadassinaNiceSuit: Post-recast, Grindlewald wears sharp three piece suits.

** They also have radically different origins and relationships with Dumbledore. While Grindelwald was born into a respectable wizarding family, knew of magic and his nature from birth and was a lover of Dumbledore's during their teen years, Voldemort was raised in a muggle orphanage, was unaware of magic until well into his childhood and was a child when Dumbledore was already into middle-age, their relationship being that of a student/teacher rather than peers or romantic. And while Grindelwald came from an upper class but ordinary wizard family and had a privileged upbringing, Voldemort was descended from Salazar Slythering and grew up poor in a muggle orphanage and his biological family were once noble but had long descending into poverty and his muggle family were wealthy but wanted nothing to do with him.

'''Voiced by:''' Creator/HiroakiHirata (Japanese, Johnny Depp's version in the ''Fantastic Beasts'' films), Creator/KazuhikoInoue (Japanese, Mads Mikkelsen's version in the ''Fantastic Beasts'' films), Bruno Choël (French, in the ''Fantastic Beasts'' films), Luis Posada (European Spanish, ''Fantastic Beasts''), Enrique Cazorla (European Spanish, ''Deathly Hallows''), Creator/RicardoTejedo (Latin American Spanish, ''Fantastic Beasts'' and ''Crimes of Grindelwald''), Creator/GerardoReyero (Latin American Spanish, ''The Secrets of Dumbledore'') , Ernesto Casillas (Latin American Spanish, ''Deathly Hallows''), Marco Antônio Costa (Brazilian Portuguese, ''Fantastic Beasts''), Jorge Lucas (Brazilian Portuguese, ''Crimes of Grindelwald''), Creator/MarioMonjardim (Brazilian Portuguese, ''Deathly Hallows Part 1'') \\