Characters / Fantastic Beasts: Grindelwald's Army

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Note that any spoilers regarding Foregone Conclusions from the Harry Potter books will be unmarked. Also, beware of unmarked spoilers for this series.

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General

"For the Greater Good."

The main antagonists in the Fantastic Beasts film series: the Dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald and his followers.

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• Colour-Coded for Your Convenience: Even before the plot of Grindelwald running for office in the third movie really solidified it, the Acolytes were associated with a dark shade of green. They are all seen wearing the color almost exclusively, with Vinda being the most prominent example. The boss man himself wore dark blues and black for his brief cameo in the first and throughout the second but post-recast, his wardrobe shifted to greens as well. His main costume of the third is an olive green suit.
• Continuity Nod:
  • Grindelwald chose the Deathly Hallows as symbol for himself and his followers (he already owns one, the Elder Wand). They would play an important role decades later in the Harry Potter book and movies of the same name.
  • In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Viktor Krum confronts Xenophilius Lovegood owing to the latter wearing a necklace with the Deathly Hallows symbol, stating that it was Grindelwald's mark. Hermione doubts this, as Grindelwald was not known to use any sort of identifying symbol. Krum turns out to be at least partly correct, though, as sure enough, Grindelwald did indeed use the symbol with the Elder Wand emphasized to identify himself and his followers.
  • Several members are named after already established characters such as Carrow, Rosier and Zabini. The implication being that they’re ancestors of the characters.
• Fantastic Racism: Although Grindelwald insists Muggles are not inferior but different, they still wish to rise up against them and rule the world without needing The Masquerade. However, unlike the Death Eaters who would come later, they had nothing against Muggleborns, seeing all wizards, regardless of blood purity, as superior to Muggles.
• Generation Xerox: Some wizard families who were followers of Grindelwald, such as the Rosiers, later became Death Eaters — followers of Voldemort.
• Motif Merger: The sigil on the right picture is the image of Deathly Hallows added and twisted with vaguely swastika-esque shapes to look more sinister. Notably, the Elder Wand looks more like the actual wand than the vertical line in Deathly Hallows symbol to emphasize Grindelwald's ownership of the wand.
• A Nazi by Any Other Name: Less fanatically racist that their successors the Death Eaters, but still present. They believed wizardkind to be the superior race, sought to conquer the world, were active at the same time as the Third Reich, were finally defeated in 1945, and their symbol even has a vaguely swastika design.
• Predecessor Villain: Just as Grindelwald is one to Voldemort, they are this to the Death Eaters.
• Secret Circle of Secrets: They are a secret society, the major gathering of which in Paris in 1927 ticks many boxes of the trope.
• Secret Underground Passage: Grindelwald gathers followers and would-be followers in a secret amphitheater underneath the Lestrange vault at the Père Lachaise cemetery in the climax of Crimes of Grindelwald.
• Totalitarian Utilitarian: They believe in "mass slaughter for the greater good", in Newt's words.
• White Man's Burden: A fantasy variant. They believe that Muggles are too savage and destructive to rule themselves so they must be conquered and benevolently ruled by wizards.

Gellert Grindelwald

Gellert Grindelwald

"With or without you, I'll burn down their world."

^{Click here to see Johnny Depp's version of the character.}
"I say the Muggles are not lesser, but other. Not worthless, but of other value. Not disposable, but of a different disposition."

^{Click here to see his younger self.}
Gregorovitch: It was a boy. It was he who took it.

^{Click here to see his older self.}
"Hello, Tom. I knew you would come one day... but surely you must know I no longer have what you seek."

Portrayed by: Johnny Depp (first two Fantastic Beasts films), Mads Mikkelsen (third Fantastic Beasts film onwards), Colin Farrell (Percival Graves impersonation), Jamie Campbell Bower (young), Michael Byrne (old)
Voiced by: Hiroaki Hirata (Japanese, Johnny Depp's version in the Fantastic Beasts films), Kazuhiko Inoue (Japanese, Mads Mikkelsen's version in the Fantastic Beasts films), Bruno Choël (French, Johnny Depp version), Luis Posada (European Spanish, Fantastic Beasts), Enrique Cazorla (European Spanish, Deathly Hallows), Ricardo Tejedo (Latin American Spanish, Fantastic Beasts and Crimes of Grindelwald), Gerardo Reyero (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), Mário Monjardim (Brazilian Portuguese, Deathly Hallows Part 1)
Appears in: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them | Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald | Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore | Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

"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 ... Kill me, then! You will not win, you cannot win! That wand will never, ever be yours—."

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.

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• The Ace: He is a certifiable genius, a master manipulator charismatic enough to win the hearts and minds of an army of followers, and an excellent strategist who can easily stay ahead of his enemies and trick them into traps. His magical abilities make some in Britain, like Rita Skeeter, consider him to be the second most dangerous Dark Wizard of all time after Voldemort. Indeed, Mads Mikkelsen even describes him as being of comparable level to Dumbledore, and the producers confirm he and Dumbledore are the most brilliant and powerful wizards.
• Actor Swap: 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.
• Adaptation Dye-Job: He is mentioned as having golden blonde hair as a teenager but Campbell Bower is the only actor to have had hair like that. He had bleached hair when Depp was playing the character and Mikkelsen keeps his normal light brown/dark blonde hair.
• Adaptational Villainy: Within Deathly Hallows. In the book, Grindelwald goes to his death keeping the secret of who has the Elder Wand despite being tortured by Voldemort. Harry and Dumbledore speculate that he may have come to regret his crimes later in life. In the movie, he gleefully and willingly tells the Dark Lord where to find the Wand.
• Admiring the Abomination: How he seems to feel about Obscurials. Granted, it's because he wants to use them, or one in particular, to tear down the Statute of Secrecy and start a war between wizards and Muggles so that wizards have an excuse to oppress Muggles, but he seems to be fascinated and maybe a little awed by their sheer destructive power as well.
• All Gays are Promiscuous: Subverted. Despite being extremely attractive, charismatic, having No Sense of Personal Space, and having hordes of followers who would likely do anything for him, he never shows interest in anyone but Dumbledore. Although he doesn't seem to be truly interested in anyone else, that doesn't necessarily stop him from flirting with others if it suits his interests. He very clearly flirts with Vogel in a deleted scene who seems quite flustered by it.
• Alliterative Name: Gellert Grindelwald.
• Ambiguously Evil: While he's definitely gone off the deep end and committed horrible atrocities, whether or not he is a Well-Intentioned Extremist who genuinely believes that subjugating Muggles is justified because they're forcing wizards into hiding and then takes that belief too far or if that belief is just a front for gaining power for power's sake is ultimately left open to interpretation. If he truly came to regret what he'd done as an old man or if he was just miserable after being locked in a prison for half a century is also left open to interpretation, though the former is heavily implied.
• Anguished Declaration of Love: He basically screams, "Who will love you now?" to Dumbledore after the blood troth is broken. This is notably the only time he's ever voiced that thought out loud.
• Arch-Enemy:
  • To Albus Dumbledore. Their famous battle in 1945 is forever etched in history as the greatest duel between two wizards. That being said, until recently, the history books had no idea how complicated their relationship truly was. Dumbledore used to be madly in love with Grindelwald, and Grindelwald's last act before his death — refusing to tell Voldemort the location of the Elder Wand — suggests that he still cared for and/or respected Dumbledore to some degree. For his part, he (at least at the end of the third movie) doesn't consider themselves enemies and explicitly tells Dumbledore that before he jumps off the cliff in Bhutan.
  • While not as much as Dumbledore, Newt and Theseus Scamander can also be considered personal enemies. For their part, Grindelwald had killed Leta, someone who they cared very much for, and even before then, Theseus is already personally engaging against Grindelwald while Newt makes it clear he is very much against Grindelwald and would not hesitate to oppose him if necessary, so things only get more personal for them with Leta's sacrifice. For Grindelwald's part, it's clear that he acknowledges Newt at the very least after he defeats him the first time: The creators confirm Grindelwald's words of "will we die, just a little?" was meant to be that he has accepted Newt will be a good hinderance to him in the future and outright challenges him to face him. Out of the many enemies he faces in the second film, he refers to Newt and Theseus alone, mocking them for Dumbledore's care for them, making it clear he is not happy with them and it's personal.
• The Archmage: 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 Fantastic Beasts series that are sometimes more visually impressive than Voldemort, 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, as well as duelling Dumbledore in his prime on even footing. In the books, by contrast, Voldemort duelled an elderly Dumbledore exactly once and got bounced around the Ministry Atrium with relative ease - and even the more even film fight resulted in Voldemort's retreat.
• The Atoner: In his later years, imprisoned alone in Nurmengard, Dumbledore stated that there were rumors that Grindelwald showed remorse for his actions after years of contemplating the horrors he had unleashed upon the wizarding world. Both he and Harry believed that Grindelwald lied to Voldemort in a last attempt to make amends and prevent him from acquiring the Elder Wand and perhaps also to prevent Dumbledore's tomb from being desecrated. Averted in the movies where he is totally unrepentant and gleefully tells Voldemort what he wants to hear.
• Ax-Crazy: 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 crucios Jacob for no reason in the third movie and then later tries to kill Credence in front of everyone.
• Bad People Abuse Animals: 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. He also slaughters the baby Qilin when she deems him unworthy.
• Badass Boast: Upon his reveal, he only has one thing to say to President Picquery...
  Grindelwald: [smirking maliciously] Do you think you can hold me?
• Badass in a Nice Suit: Post-recast, Grindlewald wears sharp three piece suits.
• Badass Longcoat: In both his guise as Percival Graves and his true appearance, pre-recast Grindelwald favours long, flowing coats.
• Bait the Dog: Upon letting his underlings kill the original occupants of a house in Paris, he finds a little boy still alive inside one of the rooms. He curiously examines the boy as if contemplating whether he should let him live. He doesn't. After he wordlessly leaves the room, his underling killed the boy with the Killing Curse, and Grindelwald looks uncomfortable, but lets it go.
• Beneath the Mask: While posing as Percival Graves he seems at first to be the most reasonable of Tina's superiors. As the movie progresses and both the audience and the heroes start to become aware that there is something seriously wrong with Graves, he still puts on a charming front most of the time so that while his behaviour can be concerning and disturbing, you don't get much more than a glimpse of his true nature at first. That is, until he slaps Credence and makes it clear that he sees him as completely worthless, despite trying to convince him otherwise during the entire movie. Watching him torture Newt repeatedly with lightning at the end is a bit of an eye-opener concerning his true nature, as well.
• Benevolent Boss: Unlike Voldemort, he appears to genuinely value and respect his underlings. In his escape from MACUSA, he goes out of his way to save Abernathy and restore his tongue - something that Voldemort would never have done. In fact, the scene we call Grindelwald's escape is really Grindelwald's rescue of Abernathy. Grindelwald himself had already taken Abernathy's appearance and could have just Apparated to safety without attacking the carriage. Not only that, he treats his closest followers as if they are real partners and willingly shows trust in them by delegating important tasks to them, like sending Vinda to recruit Queenie in the second movie. In fact, he even extends this quickly to newcomers: He offers Queenie a chance to join him by making it clear he will allow her to be with Jacob and takes her opinions to heart when it comes to Credence. Only some time passes after recruiting Grimmson, a former enemy of his as a hired hit man of the Ministry and Grindelwald is already speaking to him like he is a trusted general, tolerating his displeasure that his reputation would be ruined and opting to gently encourage him that their cause would triumph and it won't be long before Grimmson will get his just acknowledgement. He only really abuses the disloyal Krall, and even with him, he still puts up with Krall's clear uneasiness towards the future and is solemn when he ends up dying due to his inadequate loyalty. Even with Vinda failing to protect his skull-hookah, he still allows her to leave and there was no mention of her being punished afterwards. This makes him much more effective than Voldemort as his underlings are truly loyal to him; unlike the Death Eaters whose primarily motivation in serving Voldemort was fear with the knowledge they would be discarded if they screwed up.
• Big Bad: He is this in the Fantastic Beasts films. He's enough of a threat for both the British Ministry of Magic and MACUSA to dread him, his goal is to establish wizard supremacy over Muggles, and he is the archenemy of Albus Dumbledore.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: 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 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. On the other hand, even when the mask slips, for the most part he's a genuinely Benevolent Boss, which earns him a great deal of loyalty.
• Breakout Character: Grindelwald himself. He received a somewhat minor role in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, but he's the undisputed main antagonist of the Fantastic Beasts film series.
• Broken Ace: He's a brilliant and charismatic man and one of the most naturally powerful and gifted wizards in the setting, but besides his ideological extremism and disastrous temper, he also never recovered from Dumbledore rejecting him, which contributed to his callousness.
• Broken Pedestal: To Albus Dumbledore. Grindelwald was the first person to ever match Dumbledore's intellect and magical ability. Combined with his charisma and good looks, Dumbledore was absolutely smitten with him, to the point that he was willing to abandon his family to join him on searching for the Deathly Hallows and, eventually, championing wizard domination over Muggles by bringing down the Statute of Secrecy. It took Grindelwald attacking Aberforth and the death of Ariana in the ensuing chaos for Dumbledore to finally see the man for what he truly was and the sheer insanity of what Grindelwald was suggesting.
• Casting Gag: This is not the first time Mads Mikkelsen plays a sorcerer dabbling in dark magic for a greater good.
• The Charmer: He's very charismatic and skilled at gaining followers and may be the only person in the whole series to be better at it than Voldemort as he is also able to keep followers and have them remain fanatically loyal to him through genuine belief and devotion as opposed to Voldemort whose followers mainly stuck with him out of fear.
• Chekhov's Gunman: Twice in the series, first in the books and then in this film:
  • He's one of the oldest examples in the books as well as the one that takes the longest to pay off. He's first mentioned on Dumbledore's Chocolate Frog Card about a third of the way through the first book, then never directly mentioned or referenced again ^note There are several vague statements that could be interpreted as being about him such as the boy Dumbledore mentions that made all the wrong choices until the final book, where he plays a major role in the Backstory subplot.
  • In the first film, he's mentioned as a distant, serious danger and the cause of much of the worry about relations between wizards and No-Majs early in the film, only to be revealed at the very end as the Big Bad.
• Chupacabra: He had a baby Chupacabra named Antonio. Chupacabras have many spines and teeth, and are affiliated with dark arts. Plus, Antonio helped Gellert escape prison. Also, Chupacabras are said to prey on goats, and Gellert hates Aberforth who loves goats.
• Closet Key: To Dumbledore. He's implied in-text and by Rowlinginvoked to have been the first and last person Dumbledore ever fell in love with.
• Consummate Liar: He lied to Credence left and right in the first film and spoke in half-truth and hypocrisy in the second. Which made his revelation to Credence at the end of that film all the more questionable. Although it ended up not being an outright lie, rather just an exaggeration or half-truth.
• Contrasting Sequel Antagonist: Well, contrasting prequel antagonist in this case but he and Voldemort are about as different villains as can be. In essence, he's a much more skillful wizard and human character who truly believes that he's doing the right thing whereas Voldemort is a purported Boomerang Bigot who's really just taking his mommy issues out on the world:
  • Although both are described as handsome in their younger years, Voldemort is Tall, Dark, and Handsome while Grindelwald is blonde. Voldemort's forays into dark magic twists his appearance into something akin to a snake or a living corpse but Grindelwald keeps his normal human features and remains quite handsome into middle age, although pre-recast his design had bleached skin and hair, though never to the extent of making him look inhuman. The Mikkelsen version of the character has Mikkelsen's rugged good looks and suave, charismatic appearance, which makes him all the more dangerous as a way to manipulate people into believing his benevolence. Even in his final years, Grindelwald looked like an emaciated but still human old man in contrast to Voldemort. Similarly, while Voldemort dresses in flowing black robes, Grindelwald always wears a nice three piece suit and coat.
  • Both are very arrogant and have God complexes but Voldemort's arrogance (and belief that no one is nearly as clever as him) is the cause of his ultimate downfall but Grindeldwald's tendency to blow up in anger is his. From his attacking Aberforth in a rage, exposing himself to MACUSA in his anger when he believes Credence has been killed, killing Leta because she stood up to him, and crucio-ing Jacob and trying to kill Credence in the climax of the third when he's upset he lost ultimately force him on the run and ends his relationship with Dumbledore for good.
  • 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 was a self-proclaimed blood purist but really just used that as a front to gain followers in his quest for immortality. 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. One could call Voldemort a magical serial killer while he's a textbook example of a terrorist, albeit one in a fantasy setting.
  • Although both very gifted students, Riddle was better at hiding his true nature during his school days with all his teachers thinking highly of him and only Dumbledore really knowing there was more to him and even he was never able to prove anything. He charmed both Dippet and Slughorn, so much that Dippet had to be talked out of giving him a job at Hogwarts. Grindelwald was less inclined to stay on the right side of authority and was expelled from Durmstrang (a school which was much more tolerant of the Dark Arts than Hogwarts) when he took an experiment too far.
  • 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 which Voldemort would have never trusted Bellatrix to do. 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 Bad Boss 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.
  • Furthermore, Voldemort had to infiltrate the Ministry with moles and in his second grab at power, outright murder the Minister and put his puppet in charge, with no one being fooled as to who was really in charge, and the lack of resistance mostly being out of fear. Grindelwald's charisma, meanwhile, is sufficient that despite all his terrorist acts, including almost destroying Paris, he's got the political and popular support to run for head of the ICW and when he fakes the support of the Qilin as someone who is pure of heart, a lot of wizards and witches worldwide believe it and are willing to follow him - he comes within a hairs' breadth of legally taking over the magical world.
  • Grindelwald is also much more of a magical renaissance man with a wide variety of skills and interests whereas Voldemort was always enamored with the macabre and never bothered to broaden his horizons due to his arrogance leading him to dismiss anything he couldn't understand as useless.
  • 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 understandably wanted nothing to do with him. And while Voldemort built his support through hatred of muggleborns despite being halfblood himself, Grindelwald is a pureblood wizard who doesn't care at all about such things.
  • Grindelwald also has a very different dynamic with Newt compared to Voldemort and Harry. While Voldemort and Harry were mortal enemies who absolutely hated one another and have a dark past, Newt and Grindelwald have no real relationship with one another and only met by pure chance because Newt happened to be in New York on an unrelated matter when Grindelwald escaped. And other than some fairly petty and misplaced jealousy about his relationship with Dumbledore, Grindelwald has no personal animosity towards Newt in sharp contrast to Voldemort insisting that he be the one to kill Harry.
  • Even their names are a striking contrast. Voldemort used a scary sounding alias with the lofty "lord" in front of it to appease his sense of grandiosity and refused to be addressed as anything else while Grindelwald uses his own name which is impressive but doesn't stand out that much in the wizarding world. Similarly, to readers, Tom Riddle is a fairly normal sounding name, a fact Voldemort absolutely hated and why he abandoned it, while Gellert Grindelwald is much more fantastical and fitting for a magical supervillain.
• Condescending Compassion: He says he doesn't hate muggles, seeing them simply as different and sincerely believes they would be better off under the rule of wizards.
• Crazy Jealous Guy: A rare homosexual example. His jealousy over others being close to Dumbledore and possessiveness over him drive him to violence. In the first movie, he basically spits in Newt's face when asking why Dumbledore is so fond of him and is clearly angered after sizing Newt up by the fact that Dumbledore broke up with him and doesn't speak to him, his equal, but chooses to be close to the "inferior" and socially awkward Newt. During the climax of the second, he goes out of his way to ask Newt if Dumbledore will mourn for him and then proceeds to attack him.
• Dating Catwoman: He and Dumbledore had a brief relationship as teenagers and are engaged in a proxy war in the present of the movies. Although it's been about thirty years since they've been together in the first two movies, there's clearly still lingering feelings on both ends. In the scene that they share in the third one in the restaurant, he's bitter and nostalgic over what happened as well. Mikkelsen also plays the character with a melancholy and sadness because even though he's done horrible things, he also lost the one person whom he'd ever find to be his equal and partner.
• Death Seeker: Implied. By the time Voldemort shows up, Grindelwald was an emaciated shell of his former self with absolutely nothing to his name, imprisoned in Nurmengard for fifty years to wallow in his regrets over his many crimes. Plus, the only person whom he ever really cared about had been dead for months. Thus, he sounds almost elated when Voldemort is about to kill him, because death was really the only comfort he had left.
• Defiant to the End: Even while defenceless and confronted by Voldemort, Grindelwald showed no fear, and even mocked the former's desire to obtain the Elder Wand with his last words.
• Desperately Craves Affection: He's very touch starved, so much that he melts and looses all sense of control when he and Dumbledore touch each others' chests at the end of the third movie.
• The Determinator: He's a very single minded and driven person. Nothing will stop him from achieving his goals, even if that means throwing away a relationship with the only person he ever loved. Dumbledore spends most of the restaurant scene in the third movie trying to get him to back down, causing him to retort, "I'll burn down their world, with or without you."
• Die Laughing: More specifically, laughing in Voldemort's face in the books, telling him he's Not Afraid to Die (keep in mind that Voldemort can't comprehend a Fate Worse than Death) and that the Elder Wand won't ever bow to him.
• Double Entendre: How does this man greet his ex for the first time in probably thirty years? A pick-up line that is. He asks him if the restaurant they're meeting at is one of his "regular haunts" which is clearly him asking if he's sleeping with someone else as a take on the classic "Come here often?" joke. The way he straightens up and smiles when told no further hammers the point that it was a sexual innuendo.
• The Dreaded: 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 - and in their first duel, he arguably runs Dumbledore, who's in his prime, closer than Voldemort ever did.
• Dreaming of Things to Come:
  • What initially brought him to America and into contact with Credence was a vision of a creature with immense power. Word of Godinvoked confirms that he is a Seer, though also points out that he is a Consummate Liar and thus, implicitly, he is inclined to misrepresent his visions when it suits his interests.
  • The extended cut of "Crimes of Grindelwald" reveals that his obsession with recruiting Credence is because he had a 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 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.
• Driven to Suicide: His letting Voldemort kill him is portrayed as Suicide by Cop, with him even saying he welcomes death. With Dumbledore gone, he lost any emotional reason to keep living and took the first opportunity he had to die.
• Early Installment Character-Design Difference: In Deathly Hallows, the character has Campbell Bower's natural blue eyes, which is what he's described as having in the books too. When Depp started playing the character, he was given heterochromia, with on very light blue contact and one eye being Depp's normal brown. When Campbell Bower came back for the second movie, he wore contacts to match Depp's. When Mikkelsen was cast, the blue contact became much more subtle. The Depp version of the character was also very pale and had bleached blonde hair. Mikkelsen kept his normal complexion and dark blonde hair but this time with a dyed white streak.
• Establishing Character Moment: We see Grindelwald completely obliterate five Aurors with a single spell in the first ten seconds of the first film, establishing his One-Man Army credibility.
• Even Evil Can Be Loved: It is clear that even after all that happened between them, Dumbledore never stopped loving Grindelwald. The second movie shows Grindelwald as his greatest desire, while the third film makes it clear that even though they are now fighting each other, Albus still loves him. Decades after his defeat, Albus notably appears comforted when Harry stated Grindelwald loved him and died redeeming himself because of it.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: As toxic and possessive as it was, Grindelwald did genuinely love Albus and still did even after they became enemies. He shows genuine lament and sadness whenever he has to try to kill Albus during the films and truly tries to convince him to return, making it clear the idea of disposing his ex sincerely hurts him. Even after having been defeated and imprisoned for years by Albus, his final act is to defy Voldemort trying to protect Albus's grave, showing that to the end, he still loved Albus, an act that ultimately redeems him and may well have allowed him to reunite with Albus in the afterlife.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Even though he's an absolute lunatic preaching genocide, he does show some moments of having some semblance of a moral code-
  • He is visibly outraged with MACUSA when it appears to kill Credence, not just because it meant losing such a powerful potential follower, but also because he truly felt the act was unjust and cruel, going as far as to expose himself in his anger, showing that his ideology and talks of freedom for the wizardkind and equality wasn't exactly all talk. He later on spoke of how poorly Credence was treated both by his adopted mother and by other wizards and witches with actual sympathy. This is arguably the only time he’s shown real empathy for anyone else's suffering.
  • He seems to hold no stock into the idea of blood supremacy. Sure, he wants to subjugate Muggles, but he sees Muggleborn wizards as no different than purebloods. "Magic blooms in rare souls" is the way he puts it.
  • 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 - and while he's willing to invoke blood supremacy, he's got no problem with the idea of Queenie marrying Jacob.
  • Later in life, he also shows nothing but contempt for his fellow magical supremacist Voldemort and his goals, telling Voldemort that there's so much he doesn't understand. As dark as Grindelwald may have been, he never shows any inclination or interest in creating a Horcrux, the darkest of dark magic. Whereas Voldemort created seven, showing that Grindelwald, given that he laughs in Voldemort's face, doesn't fear death.
  • Grindelwald also seems to be against desecrating someone's tomb, if Harry and Dumbledore's words are right. And apparently repented for what he did in the past.
  • 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 to.
  • 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 ultimately commits suicide which is the opposite of how Voldemort dies.
  • He's also on the receiving end: his old school, Durmstrang, is notorious for teaching their students the Dark Arts and refusing to admit Muggle-borns, but even they found his forays into black magic to be "twisted". So much so that, despite arguably being the most brilliant student Durmstrang ever had, they expelled him for it.
  • A very, very subtle example. Upon discovering a little Muggle boy in the apartment they've taken over, Grindelwald ultimately allows his followers to kill the child, but he still appears quite uncomfortable as it happens.
• Evil Former Boyfriend: Just out of school, Grindelwald became romantically attached to Dumbledore, who actively supported Grindelwald's call for a "benevolent" dictatorship over Mugglekind. They became estranged after he ran off back home in the direct aftermath of Ariana's death which further radicalized and embittered him.
• Evil Is Petty: Crucios Jacob at the climax of the third film solely because he can.
• Evil Makes You Ugly: Prior to the recast, Grindelwald's forays into dark magic seemed to have prematurely aged him, even though Dumbledore remains very handsome in middle age. Mikkelsen's appearance as the character makes him more of a conventional Silver Fox.
• Evil Sorcerer: 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 - and while Voldemort is perhaps the more powerful of the two, the more dangerous in terms of dark magic, Grindelwald's broader intelligence and charisma arguably make him the greater threat.
• Evil Versus Evil: When Voldemort questions him about the Elder Wand, he mocks him and is killed for it. In the film adaptation, Grindelwald greets Voldemort as a fellow dark wizard and happily tells him where the wand is.
• Evil Virtues: 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, the ability to love, and genuine belief in his cause.
• Face Death with Dignity: How his death in the books is presented. He chooses to be killed by Voldemort rather than reveal the location of the Elder Wand.
• Face of an Angel, Mind of a Demon: He's always mentioned as being handsome in Deathly Hallows with Harry noting that he had blonde curls and a merry disposition, going so far as to compare him to Fred and George. Although the Depp version of the character had a more overtly villainous design, Depp is still Depp. When Mikkelsen took over, the design went back to being more of a conventionally handsome middle-aged man with his sharp and rugged features. However, under that handsome face lurks a manipulative extremist with a ferocious temper who's capable of incredible cruelty and violence when pushed and who will stop at nothing to achieve his goals.
• False Friend: He acts very differently to different people depending on what they need emotionally, only to stab them in the back when he no longer needs them. Credence wants a family so he acts paternal. He heals his bruises from his mother, hugs him, and tries to guide him with the promise of knowing his identity^note  although it’s unclear if Credence knows Grindelwald and Graves are the same person, etc. He acts kindly to Tina in the first movie over the loss of her job, presumably to get either her or Queenie on his side, but sentences her to death the moment he slips up and says too much. He convinces Queenie in the second movie that he's on her side and wants her to be free to be with Jacob but as soon as any need for pretense is ended, he tells the crowd in Bhutan what he truly thinks of their relationship and then tortures Jacob. Until the very end, there is only one person whom he truly cares about and everyone else is just a pawn in his game.
• Fantastic Terrorists: He's a terrorist who believes in doing whatever it takes to overthrow the International Statue of Secrecy so Wizards can rule over Muggles.
• Fantastic Racism: He dislikes that wizards have to live in secret due to Muggles, and works to achieve wizard dominance. However, unlike Voldemort and the Death Eaters, he shows no obsession with blood purity.
• Fatal Flaw:
  • Anger or strong feelings of emotions in general. For someone who claims to be a stoic revolutionary, he feels things very strongly and this often gets him into trouble. His tendency to blow up in anger at inopportune times in particular is his biggest issue. For example, attacking Aberforth in a rage inadvertently led to the death of Ariana, which would cause his partner Dumbledore, the one person in the world capable of matching him, to reject him and his ideals, eventually leading to his defeat in 1945. Had he managed to keep a lid on his anger, Dumbledore would've never seen his true nature and most likely would've stayed by his side. Although while his rant about what happened to Credence at the end of the first movie is one of the times he’s show genuine empathy for someone else, his blowing up in anger is what gives the Newt the opening to get the better of him. In the third film during his fight with Dumbledore, he gets too caught up in his emotions to really fight him and is almost crying when he turns him back on him and doesn't take the opportunity to kill him.
  • In a similarity to Voldemort, dismissal of things and people he believes to be beneath him which has been noted by both Aberforth and Newt. His inability to understand that Albus loved his siblings despite the fact they’re not as talented as them blinds him to the fact that he’s going to defend them when he attacked Aberforth. He also mistakes Newt’s meekness and awkwardness for weakness and stupidity. Newt is able to catch onto the impersonation arguably as early as the scene where he gets arrested and puts two and two together to get the better of him at the climax. His dismissal of something as “simple” as the niffler is why the blood pact gets stolen in the second movie. This is also used to get the better of him in the climax of the third when Bunty and not the more talented Lally or Theseus is the one who is given the Qilin.
  • Not leaving Dumbledore's family alone. It all started when he brought a gun to a knife fight, so to speak, when he crucio-ed Aberforth (who wouldn't really be a true threat against him) for daring to try to stop Ariana from being dragged around the world in her state for a year. This set into motion their initial estrangement which left him with an abandonment complex and pushed him further down the path of radicalism. One could also argue that his entire manipulation of Credence was in fact an elaborate plan to get back at Aberforth, whom he probably blames for everything. This refusal to stop is what ends their relationship for good when Albus exposes him as a terrorist in front of the world at the end of the third movie.
• Fate Worse than Death: Being imprisoned in Nurmengard for decades. When Voldemort is about to kill him, Grindelwald tells him that he welcomes death.
• Faux Affably Evil:
  • 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 flirtatiously before he then gets serious and coldly declares that he's going to set the Muggle world on fire. 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.
• The First Cut Is the Deepest: He was Albus Dumbledore's First Love. Subsequently, he ended up being Dumbledore's only love, as after what happened with Grindelwald, Dumbledore restrained himself from further romantic entanglements for fear of ever being manipulated like that again. He himself seems to have done the same.
• First-Name Basis: When he meets Dumbledore at the restaurant, he calls him Albus, as is fitting for a romantic partner. After the blood troth breaks, he switches to calling him Dumbledore, signifying the rift in their relationship.
• Flashback with the Other Darrin: In Harry Potter: Magic Awakened, his design is based on Mikkelsen and not Depp even in scenes that take place in the first two movies.
• Foe Romantic Subtext:
  • His friendship with Dumbledore was not standard Ho Yayinvoked — per Rowling, Dumbledore was genuinely in love with him, retroactively casting a new light on any Homoerotic Subtext readers might have seen in their relationship in Deathly Hallows. However, while Grindelwald was aware of and certainly manipulated those feelings it was at that point unclear if he actually returned them or not. However, given how in the books he'd rather die than give information that would lead to someone stealing from Dumbledore's tomb would imply at least some sort of reciprocation.
  • This is taken to higher levels in Fantastic Beasts, where Rowling finally confirms herself Grindelwald and Dumbledore were lovers in the past. Grindelwald also makes it clear that despite his claims and desire to kill Dumbledore, deep down he does still have unresolved feelings for him. He remains interested enough in Dumbledore to ask Newt about him while disguised as Percival Graves and when he learns for sure Dumbledore and Newt are on good terms, the one line he spoke to Newt during the second film where he spitefully asks if Dumbledore will mourn for him makes it apparent he is jealous of the inferior Newt being on good terms with Dumbledore while Grindelwald himself was rejected after what happened in the past. The third film makes it clear that he doesn't actually want him dead, no matter how much he may act like he does. He's the first to drop his wand when they're fighting and is about to cry when he realizes that things are really done between them for good.
  • 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?" which is the only time he's ever verbalized the love to the audience.
• Foregone Conclusion: Being much of his story is a prequel before the Harry Potter series, his plans for domination over Muggles will be thwarted and he himself will be thrown into Nurmengard for decades before Voldemort kills him. At the same time, while he is fought numerous times through the Fantastic Beasts series, he cannot be defeated for good until at least the fifth film, which is confirmed to be in 1945, as the second film has him escaping prison and outright winning.
• Fourth-Date Marriage: Well, as much as two men could have been married in the late 19th century. He and Dumbledore only dated for about two months but made a blood troth that stopped them from fighting each other and would kill either of them if they stopped loving the other. The term "troth" also has marital implications. He wears the pendant at all times over his heart even though it would have been more prudent to stash it somewhere (since Teddy steals it), making it sort of a wedding ring stand in.
• Greater-Scope Villain: The fact that he is out there plays a bit into the first Fantastic Beasts film's backstory. Turns out he was actually the main villain of this film—with Graves being an identity of his and the Obscurus being the monster.
• Green and Mean: His primary color palette post recast is shades of olive green. Colleen Atwood mentions in one of the tie-in books that it was deliberate on her part.
• Green-Eyed Monster: The way in which he asks Newt in the first film why Dumbledore is so fond of him and in the second if he'll mourn his death makes it clear that he's jealous that someone he views as inferior as Newt is in Dumbledore's good books and he's not.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: His explosive temper often gets him into trouble and is one of the first thing Aberforth mentions about him personally. One could argue it's his Fatal Flaw.
• Heartbroken Badass: Much like how Dumbledore cut himself off from romantic attachments after their breakup, Grindlewald is still hurting from Dumbledore's rejection.
• Hidden Disdain Reveal: His last words before leaving Paris to its destruction with Protego Diabolica.
  "I hate Paris."
• Hiding Behind the Language Barrier: Part of his successful manipulation of Queenie is that she can't understand his thoughts to see his ulterior motives because he's not a native English speaker.
• Hoist by His Own Petard:
  • Attacking Aberforth in a fit of rage set in motion the events of his eventual downfall half a century later.
  • Also Laser-Guided Karma. He was eventually imprisoned in the same prison he built to hold his enemies.
  • Literately everything he does in the third film ends up setting the stage for his defeat many years later. First, he zombifies a Qilin rather than using a more practical method like the Imperius Curse in his impatience and anger at being deemed unworthy. Then he gets angry at Credence and sheds his charming persona because he was upset that Credence failed to kill Dumbledore and didn't find the second Qilin. Finally, he attacks Jacob with the Cruciatus Curse. All this ends up being a severe misjudgment as he fatally underestimated Dumbledore's own intelligence and charisma, Newt's bravery, and Queenie's love for Jacob. All of this accumulated turns Credence and Queenie, who then saw him as the dark man he truly was, against him for real and they help Newt expose his charade. Finally, he attacks Credence after his plans fall to ruin, but that makes the blood pact break and Albus finally turns his back completely on him with the realization he is too far gone, much to his heartbroken fury and sadness. This final act also truly and completely exposes him as a truly dangerous dark wizard unworthy to be Supreme Mugwump, causing everyone there to immediately attack him after Dumbledore leaves him to his fate, effectively closing any and all chance he had to unite the world and forcing him to declare a war with the whole world. It's heavily indicated at least some, if not a decent amount of his disciples have turned against him, meaning he's lost both the good publicity that was so crucial in his successes and a degree of the massive military power he had. All this allows Dumbledore and the world to finally and rightfully turn the wizarding world against him, which will eventually lead to them gaining the support needed to defeat him for good.
• Hopeless Boss Fight: Grindelwald, being very nearly on par with Dumbledore, is so powerful and skilled that during the Fantastic Beasts series, his duels against almost anyone can't even be considered a fight, more of just casually toying with and pushing them to the extreme just to survive.
  • He is so far above Tina and Newt that he just easily deflects her attacks without even bothering to launch a counter attack until he has enough and throws a car at her to incapacitate her, and his duel with Newt has him entirely push him into the defensive before knocking him down with just a wave of his hand and torturing him with lightning spells that steadily wore down on Newt's magical defenses. He would have killed Newt had Credence not attacked him. When he finally can reveal more of his abilities, he summarily wipes the floor with several Aurors and it's only due to Newt's surprise attack that he is defeated.
  • Crimes of Grindelwald makes him firmly this. Using just simple and straight-forward magical spells carried out in style but clearly nothing too impressive for his and Dumbledore's standards, he takes down anyone who tries to stop his escape in a matter of moments. In the finale, Grindelwald uses the hellishly powerful Protego Diabolica and without using any other spell, just by manipulating the fires he conjured, kills all the Aurors summarily and Newt, Theseus, and Tina don't even get to launch a single offensive spell on him, too busy struggling to just survive the streams of fire he launched at them. The only reason they survive is because Leta sacrifices herself to save them and it takes just a single gesture for him to kill her while Newt and Theseus can only run away after realizing there really was no chance for them to take him down.
  • In Secrets of Dumbledore, when surrounded by his enemies, including Dumbledore, he easily deflects most attacks against him and runs away unharmed.
• Hotblooded: He’s prone to doing rash things in the heat of the moment. Even little things like getting defensive and storming out of the restaurant just at the mention of the blood troth getting destroyed (which he sees as a breakup) since he believed it was supposed to be a friendly meeting.
• Humiliation Conga: 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 Confusion Fu 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 Batman Gambit to outsmart him: Anticipating his arrogance would make him think the Scamanders, Lally, and Dumbledore would be guarding the Qilin, Albus makes the unorthodox choice of giving 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.
• Hypocrite:
  • For all his claims of not wanting to exterminate non-magical people, Grindelwald is chillingly callous about their deaths, allowing his followers to murder a Muggle family in Paris to use their apartment as a base (and in the same scene only arguing against one of his follower's notions that he is going to kill "all" non magical people, clarifying that he intends to keep some alive as slaves). At the climax of The Crimes of Grindelwald, he disapparates away, not caring if his Protego Diabolica destroys Paris (in fact, his parting words of "I hate Paris" imply that he may be hoping that it does).
  • Grindelwald convinces people of his benevolence by manipulating his enemies into acts of violence. After an Auror inadvertently kills an onlooker during his rally in Paris, Grindelwald claims this as proof that it's the Aurors who are violent, not he and his followers. As soon as the onlookers and newly swayed followers are gone, Grindelwald uses the Protego Diabolica he summoned to massacre the Aurors as they try to flee and coldly murders Leta when she attacks him.
  • He says several times in the third movie that Albus abandoned him, and Queenie says it another, but Grindelwald himself ran away after Ariana's death when Albus needed him the most just so he wouldn't get in trouble.
  • He tells Yusuf that when people get consumed by anger, the only people they hurt are themselves. This is coming from the man whose explosive temper has dogged him his entire life starting with ruining his relationship as a teen and the misfortune he experiences when he loses in the third movie.
• Icy Blue Eyes: In the Deathly Hallows film, Grindelwald has the natural blue eyes of Jamie Campbell-Bower and Michael Byrne. However, in Fantastic Beasts, as played by Johnny Depp, he has two heterochromatic eyes (right blue, left black). Whether it is an artistic decision made by the films' creators or an in-universe stylistic choice by Grindelwald himself, it is left unknown. Post recast, the blue eye was kept but with a much more subtle contact.
• If I Can't Have You…: Heavily implied in both the books and Fantastic Beasts that he resents anyone having any relationship with Dumbledore, even friendly or familial, with anyone from him which is a major component of his loathing of Newt.
• Imaginary Love Triangle: He seems to have suspected that Dumbledore and Newt were a couple when they meet in the first movie but that is certainly not the case.
• Intelligence Equals Isolation: Gellert Grindelwald was nearly as brilliant as Albus Dumbledore, a well-known sufferer of this, and by extension equally alone. It wasn't that he lacked social skills—he was fully capable of interacting and ingratiating himself with others. However, he had a hard time forming attachments. David Heyman has noted that after what happened between him and Dumbledore, he was never able to find anyone else to replace Albus. Leaving him melancholic that he had lost his only equal, indicating that everyone else who experiences Grindelwald's "kindness" and "partnership" ultimately never can be placed at the same level at him. While Albus is willing to surround himself with geniuses and form genuine friendships with them, even if his superior genius means he can't fully be honest with them, Grindelwald clearly chose the opposite, closing himself off in any partnerships and being more than willing to discard people when they're no longer useful.
• Ironic Echo: His slogan, "For The Greater Good," becomes this when he's locked away in the prison he built for his enemies—where "For The Greater Good" is carved above the gate.
• It Amused Me: 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. The one exception to this is Dumbledore, who he fights in a much more controlled and no nonsense fashion, no holds barred, because he knows he can't afford to make the slightest mistake.
• The Juggernaut: Grindelwald was arguably more this than Voldemort ever was. While Voldemort may have had more raw power, Grindelwald's skill, charisma, and intellect allowed him to wage a 25 year long 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 so dangerous that literally everyone was begging for Dumbledore to intervene, as Grindelwald had proven himself to be unstoppable by 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.
• Kick the Dog: Using the Cruciatus curse on a sixteen year old Aberforth, torturing him for trying to interfere with Grindelwald's plans. This act of cruelty wound up opening Albus's eyes to what kind of man his new best friend really was. He also kills his loyal pet chupacabra because it was "needy". He also crucio-s Jacob and tries to kill Credence in the climax of the third movie.
• Knight Templar: Truly believes Muggles would be best to be subservient to Wizards.
• Lack of Empathy: He puts on a good show of compassion when the situation calls for it, and he does showcase some rare moments of genuine empathy, but when it comes to oppositions, Grindelwald's concern for innocent life is decidedly lacking. Even as a teenager, he had no problem torturing Aberforth and may have killed Ariana. At the climax of The Crimes of Grindelwald, he abandons Paris to what he believes will be its destruction with a sneer. His care only extends to one person.
• A Lighter Shade of Black: Unlike Voldemort, who sought power for its own sake and never felt the merest shred of remorse for his crimes, Grindelwald believed in his mission with all of his heart (although not for the better), and in his final years, did see the error of his ways, even if it was too late to do anything about it. In the biggest indicator of this trope this franchise has, he's also capable of love in a way Voldemort never was, even if he only really loved one person and in a very toxic and controlling way.
• Lonely Among People: Despite being very outgoing and being surrounded by followers, he shows no genuine attachment or bonding with any of them. Any time he feels lonely, he heads out and does things to feel some sort of high to feel among others such as getting out of the car in the third movie to Vinda's chagrin.
• Lonely at the Top: He's a deeply lonely and sad man, having pushed away the only person he ever loved's companionship due to his own cruelty and warped views. Although Albus also suffers from this as well, he at least has family (though his relationship with Aberforth is strained) and friends who love him while he seemingly has no one. When Vinda tells him in the third movie that he’s a free man and people are chanting his name, all he can do is be sad and melancholic over what he's lost.
• Loners Are Freaks: He was portrayed as being a loner even as a teen and even in middle age seemingly has no one in his life that could be called a friend. He only really cares about one person and has trouble connecting with others due to his intellect, arrogance, and cruelty. Even though this also extends to Albus some, he at least has his brother, nephew, and a group of friends in his life.
• Long-Lived: Lived to be about 115 and even then he didn't die of ill health but rather by committing suicide by proxy.
• Love Hurts: While this doesn't really become evident until the third movie, his pain and anguish at his failed relationship is quite palpable. For all the wrong he's done, in his mind the only person he ever loved and could ever be his equal turned his back on him. He almost screams, "Who will love you now?" at Dumbledore when the blood pact breaks.
• Love Redeems: He ultimately dies for love which cements his being A Lighter Shade of Black than Voldemort.
• Love Will Lead You Back: He doesn't give up on the idea of Dumbledore taking him back until the climax of the third film and takes the realization that it's over for good between them quite badly.
• Manipulative Bastard:
  • Explicitly described by Word of Godinvoked as a "user" who plays Dumbledore's attraction to him and his feelings of wasting away as Ariana's caretaker to make him The Dragon. In a final confrontation with Aberforth Dumbledore, he subjects him to a Cruciatus curse, forcing Albus's Heel Realization. In the films this is also seen by how he later manipulates Credence in order to harness his power and attempts to use this to start a war between the American No-Majs and MACUSA to destroy The Masquerade.
  • The act that he manipulated Dumbledore into? Signing the non-aggression Blood pact that makes Dumbledore incapable of acting against him.
  • The second movie showed off his rhetorical skills, manipulating disgruntled witches and wizards with fear of Muggle takeover, images of the devastation of the Second World War, and a promise of a free future.
  • The entire plot of the second film revolves around him manipulating Credence into his arms. He lays out the steps to make sure Credence is at the rally by separating him from the people who want to help him while holding the knowledge of his (supposed) birth family over his head. He wins.
• Masculine–Feminine Gay Couple: Although both of them probably fall into the Straight Gay category, he's the more overtly stereotypically masculine one. His Fatal Flaw of anger is usually more of a masculine coded personality trait and he tends lash out when hurt whereas Albus keeps in bottled up which is a more feminine coded way of acting. He's also not eccentric in the way Albus is and isn't nurturing in the way he is which is also a more feminine coded trait. He's the taller of the two and tends to dress in a darker, more masculine color palate. Mikkelsen is also more ruggedly handsome with his sharp cheekbones whereas Law is more of a Pretty Boy.
• Mask of Sanity: He is capable of presenting himself as a noble revolutionary when the situation calls for it. However, whenever he doesn’t need to or whenever he gets worked up he drops the act and shows the violence and cruelty lingering just beneath the surface. The only people who’d ever seen him at his worst before the climax of the third film are Albus, Aberforth, Newt, Tina, and the dozen or so people from the rally at the end of the second. Even in the third he’s careful not to start spouting his true feelings until he wins the first vote.
• Master Actor: Manages to disguise himself as the top Auror in MACUSA with no one (including a room of foreign dignitaries directly discussing him) catching onto his real identity until the very end.
• Master of All: Unlike Voldemort, who relied on straightforward Killing Curses on everyone except Dumbledore, 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, while in his guise as Graves. Per 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.
• Meaningful Echo: 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 Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone that "if there is one thing Voldemort cannot understand, it is love," given that Grindelwald then proceeds to die trying to protect his lover's tomb from being desecrated.
• Mind over Matter: Another magical ability Grindelwald is shown to be highly skilled in includes telekinetic spells. His skill with this was such that he can use it with just his bare hands to levitate 3 people at once and summon multiple objects to him and can even pull cars. Grindelwald also levitated and made the wands of the aurors guarding Abernathy stab their owners.
• Moment of Silence: Grindelwald gives one to Krall after the latter is incinerated by Protego Diabolica due to his inadequate loyalty, acknowledging that he was a valuable servant and taking no pleasure in killing him.
• Morphic Resonance: Pre-recast Grindelwald has a distinctive undercut (a hairstyle later appropriated by the Nazis and other fascists) that he shares with Percival Graves, foreshadowing his later reveal.
• Mysterious Past: A book and three movies in, we still don't know much about his background. Bathilda is his only known relative and she was his great aunt. He's never mentioned his parents or any possible siblings so it's unclear what his more immediate family situation is. We also don't know what specific country he's from but it seems to be a German speaking one since Voldemort murders a German speaking family in his quest to find the Elder Wand while looking for Gregovitch, the writing on the skull in the second movie is in it, and Nurmengard is in Austria.
• A Nazi by Any Other Name: Begins his gathering power in the 1920's, much like the Nazi party and ends up briefly imprisoned, much like Hitler. He was also defeated in 1945, of all years (Word of Godinvoked has confirmed that this is no coincidence), and holed up in a prison called Nurmengard (which sounds like Nuremberg, and has the very "Arbeit macht frei"-like slogan, "For the Greater Good", carved over the gate). Also, the last inmate of an incredibly guarded prison? That sounds like Rudolf Hess.
• The Needs of the Many: "For the Greater Good" was his slogan (so much so that he etched it on the gate of his personal prison). Unlike Voldemort, who ultimately seeks power for power's sake, Grindelwald genuinely believes what he is doing is best for humanity and uses this reasoning to justify his many atrocities.
• Never My Fault: He's still bitter towards Albus for "abandoning" him all those years ago, refusing the acknowledge that, not only was he at least indirectly responsible for Ariana's death (if not directly) but he was the one who ran away from the scene of the fight just because he didn't want to get in trouble.
• No-Sell: As the creators confirm, he is an extremely powerful occlumens meaning he can easily protect his mind from Legilimens. Even Voldemort can't read his mind, and this helps him with Queenie, as he essentially nulifies the single skill Queenie has that makes her a Story-Breaker Power and can thus easily trick her.
• No Sense of Personal Space: He tends to stand really close to someone he threatens or sways, as he did to Credence, Krall, and Queenie. He also pulls Spielman awfully close and does a little turn with him before throwing him out of the flying carriage during his prison break. In the third, he basically strokes Yusuf’s face.
• Noodle Incident: Whatever "twisted" experiments he carried out at Durmstrang are never specified, but whatever he did, it was too extreme even for a school infamous for teaching the Dark Arts, and they expelled him. Aberforth also says he was in trouble with the law back in his own country when Ariana died but never elaborates on what he did.
• Not Good with Rejection: 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. Then or now." to the whole crowd, he's really saying it to just one person.
• "Not So Different" Remark: Invoked by Grindelwald in "The Secrets of Dumbledore" by Lampshade Hanging that most of Grindelwald's goals were Dumbledore's ideas. Dumbledore immediately dismisses them as youthful delusions.
• Obviously Evil: When Depp was playing the character, he came off as much more of a Voldemort-eque "I'm so evil" villain. For starters, his design with the bleached hair and skin stand out among this series' more down to earth costuming and make-up, highlighting him as the villain. Depp also came off as more cruel in his acting. Compare Depp throwing Antonio the chupacabra off the carriage calling him needy with a sneer and almost delighting in the animal cruelty. When Mikkelsen's version slits the Qilin's throat, he only does it after she deems him unworthy after he tries to guide her to bowing to him several times and he's pained to have to do it. Depp was also more overtly manipulative than either Mikkelsen or Farrell, with the two of them being a softer touch.
• One-Man Army: Grindelwald quickly proves exactly why he is considered to be a wizard who is close to Dumbledore in terms of skill and equal to him in power by repeatedly taking on and defeating multiple wizards with ease during the Fantastic Beasts series. Unlike Voldemort, Grindelwald achieves these feats in a traditional way rather than having to resort to destructive spells and he also makes use of stylish form when he does employ more powerful magic. At the climax of the first Fantastic Beasts movie, he takes on multiple aurors at once without seeming to break too much of a sweat, and is only subdued thanks to a very carefully timed Swooping Evil. Even upon capture, he confidently taunts MACUSA that they won't be able to hold him for long and when he finally escapes from MACUSA after six months in the second film, he makes it clear that not only can't they hold him, but he would have actually been able to escape on his own even without help. During the second film, he also utterly annihilates an entire squadron of Aurors and would have killed Newt, Theseus, and Tina had Leta not saved them, which cost her her life.
• Play-Along Prisoner: He could've easily escaped MACUSA pretty much whenever he wanted, and had already talked Abernathy into serving him and disguising himself as him, to the point of allowing his tongue to be cut out, but he decided to be smart about it by waiting until the International Confederation arrived to extradite him to Europe - and rescuing Abernathy and replacing his tongue in the process.
• Playing with Fire: 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). 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 very powerful wizards barely being able to contain it with a Finite Incantatum spell.
• Pragmatic Villainy: 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. Given his comments that suggest he has no issue with Muggleborn wizards, remarking that "magic blooms in rare souls", he's possibly also got a pragmatic eye on maintaining the number of wizards.
• Predecessor Villain:
  • To Voldemort, given he began his true pi In fact, prior to Voldemort, Grindelwald was considered the most evil Dark Wizard of all time.
  • He's essentially the Voldemort to Dumbledore's Harry Potter. For better or for worse, he was arguably the most significant figure in Albus Dumbledore's life. Their brief relationship and the tragedy from the ensuing fallout helped shape Dumbledore into the man he was during the original series. It isn't all that different from how Voldemort's murder of Harry's parents helped shape Harry, as it forced him to live an abusive childhood with the Dursleys.
• Psycho Ex-Girlfriend: While a lot of what he does is left open to interpretation, the breakup and its fallout in no small part seem to have turned him from a radicalized teenager to outright terrorist. He resents Dumbledore for leaving him alone to do what they wanted to do all by himself, abandoning him and leaving him without an equal and partner, thinking he's crazy, and in his eyes picking Aberforth over him.
• Queer Establishing Moment: Outside of what he tells Voldemort about how there are things he doesn't understand which is fairly ambiguous, the first explicit confirmation of his sexuality would be when he basically spits in Newt's face with jealousy when he arrests him. If you pay attention earlier in the wand permit office scene, he also looks Newt up and down and rolls his eyes in a jealous way.
• Queer Flowers: He's almost always wearing some sort of floral, which stands out among the other men in the franchise. In the second movie, he wears a white carnation on his lapel which has been a symbol for being gay since the late 19th century. Post recast, his main costume has a purple and green flowered tie. There is also a vest made of the same pattern that he's wearing in the flashbacks in CoG.
• 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 - and all the indications based on their respective showings are that while Voldemort may have had a bit more raw power and knowledge of the deepest dark art, Grindelwald was a more skilled combatant and much more dangerous.
• Red Right Hand: In his prime, Grindelwald suffers from Heterochromia of the eyes (one eye being a sickly green rimmed with red and the other being Johnny Depp's natural brown). In The Crimes of Grindelwald, his younger self possesses this trait as well. When Mikkelsen (whose eyes are also brown) took over the role, the blue eye was kept but became much more natural looking.
• Religious and Mythological Theme Naming: Gellert (anglicized Gerard of Csanád) is the name of one of the the patron saints of Hungary. That Gellert lived in the 11th century and was martyred on a hill (now named after him) outside of Budapest and then thrown into the Danube during a pagan uprising. He wrote the earliest surviving Christian theological text in the Hungarian language.
• Revision: Rowling seems to have changed her opinion about his feelings for Dumbledore since the books ended and as she’s gotten to know the character better during Fantastic Beasts. While there are hints in Deathly Hallows that could be interpreted as it being a genuine relationship on both parts, she’d always implied personally she saw it as somewhat one-sided on Albus’s end. She knew he loved Grindelwald but wasn’t sure if Grindelwald wasn’t just manipulating his feelings to keep him on his side. Nowadays she’s on the side that they both genuinely loved each other and Grindelwald is still clearly not over their failed relationship either. When they meet in the restaurant in the third movie, there is flirting and innuendo on his end. The end of the movie gives his first vocalization that he did really love him back.
• Ruritania: He is vaguely from Central Europe but his exact background is uncertain. "Gellert" is the Hungarian version of "Gerard" which was made famous by an 11th century saint, who in turn is the namesake of a famous hill outside of Budapest. His name may also be a nod to Christian Fürchtegott Gellert, an 18th century German poet who was a forefather of the Golden Age of German Literature. Grindelwald is a German name, the name of a town in a German speaking part of Switzerland, and Nuremgard is in Austria. However, he does have at least one relative in the UK, Bathilda, whose name is also German.
• Saved by Canon: 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 half a century until Voldemort seeks him out.
• Seers: He's established in the second movie as a Seer. He shows the rally attendees visions of Word War II to manipulate them into believing his benevolence during the climax. In the third, the plan to stop him from getting elected as the ICW Head is to confuse him as much possible to try to negate it. Although like Trelawney, his visions aren’t infallible and he’s inclined to misinterpret them to reinforce what he already believes.
• Shadow Archetype: He's meant to represent everything that Dumbledore doesn't like about himself. They're both intelligent, charismatic, and manipulative people who won't stop until they've achieved their goals but he chooses to use his skills to try to take over the world whereas Dumbledore chooses to do the right thing. This is represented by the Qilin twins in the third movie.
• Sharp-Dressed Man: He's always impeccably dressed with nice suits and a cool dark coat for good measure.
• Shock and Awe: In addition to his skill with fire, another element Grindelwald is shown to be proficient with is lightning. He used lightning spells to beat down Newt and torture him, releasing electric waves and bolts of lightning, and when he escaped from MACUSA, he rained down lightning bolts to knock down the Aurors chasing him.
• Silver Fox: Post-recast, the character has a distinctive grey streak in his fringe but he's still handsome in middle age.
• Silver Tongue: He uses rhetoric and ideals to sway to masses. He's so charismatic that the Magical Congress of the United States of America decided it would be best to simply remove his tongue altogether as he was skilled at getting guards to buy into his ideology. Too bad it wasn't Grindelwald.
• Single-Target Sexuality: There’s only one person for whom he ever shows any interest in, even after a century.
• Sliding Scale of Antagonist Vileness: He's meant to be a lot less vile and more sympathetic than Voldemort. Voldemort is essentially a magical serial killer who does the things he does to take his mommy issues out on the world and never feels any remorse or love for anything or anyone else. Grindelwald is a man who believes deeply in his own cause, truly and desperately loves at least one person, Voldemort also is afraid of death but Grindelwald willingly dies for love and to stop him from getting the Elder Wand.
• Soft-Spoken Sadist: Despite being very cruel and having a nasty temper, he remains polite and rarely raises his voice.
• Spared by the Adaptation: Voldemort just teleports away as opposed to killing him in the movie adaption of Deathly Hallows. Justified in that the movie version of Grindelwald happily told him were the elder wand was with no need for persuasion.
• Story-Breaker Power: During the course of the story Fantastic Beasts, Grindelwald's full capabilities are clearly dampened, being that he is the second greatest wizard in history and bar none the most powerful dark wizard, only barely surpassed by Dumbledore himself. With Dumbledore unable to fight him, he is so overwhelmingly more powerful than anyone who isn't Dumbledore that the producers are forced to limit his fighting scenes so he doesn't immediately secure victory for the evil side. The first film forces him to suppress his abilities and use another wizard's wand to give the protagonists a chance against him, and even that wasn't enough to amount to anything but barely surviving being summarily trounced, and once he removes the gloves and starts fighting seriously, he would have defeated 30 Aurors by himself with ease had Newt not restrained him. In the second film, he is intent on portraying himself as seeking only to make a better world for wizardkind so again he only has minimum fighting scenes. He still thoroughly annihilates his enemies and that's without even using some of the really grand spells, simply using moves that would be rather difficult for normally competent wizards and witches but nothing impressive compared to what he should really be capable of as someone who gave Dumbledore a real fight for his life. While he does use an extremely powerful fire spell in the finale, that's just it. He just manipulates that spell and doesn't use any other particularly destructive spells that would have ended the heroes rather quickly, and said spell still proves to be an absolute nightmare that is only barely stopped because he decides he has had enough and leaves it to destroy Paris but doesn't do anything else apart from shaping it into a colossal fire demon. By the end of it, the heroes have finally acknowledged that Grindelwald's magic is just far too strong for anyone but Dumbledore to beat and go straight to him to bring the only person who can fight him in an attempt to put an end to his status as this, along with bringing the blood pact they had made that prevented them from fighting one another.
• Straight Gay: Doesn't show any stereotypical gay traits (other than perhaps being more than a bit dramatic) or mannerisms even as he spends a lot of time flirting with various men throughout the series.
• Strong and Skilled: In contrast with the Unskilled, but Strong Credence (and, indeed, Voldemort) 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.
• Suicide by Cop:
  • He essentially commits suicide by letting Voldemort kill him.
  • Subverted. After Dumbledore breaks up with him he stands on a ledge overhanging a cliff while the good guys shoot spells at him. He jumps and apparates away right when the spells would have hit him.
• Super Supremacist: He wants to have wizards rule over muggles, and even has Dumbledore in cahoots with him for a while before the latter decides to oppose him.
• Teen Genius: An extraordinary mind even in his youth, a fact that helped bring him and Dumbledore together.
• Teens Are Monsters: His experiments with dark magic as a teen got him expelled from Drumstrang.
• They Look Just Like Everyone Else!: He is man who is described in the books as having been very handsome pre-imprisonment and never turned twisted his appearance the way Voldemort did. Even in the present of the books, he’s described as looking like you’d expect an old man who’s spent half a century in prison to look like. While Depp portrayed the character as having bleached skin and hair and a weird eye, post recast the design swung the pendulum back. He looks like a banker or lawyer, and this makes him all the scarier, especially with a run for office. It’s a means to convince others of his benevolence and hide behind the real extent of his agenda.
• Thrill Seeker: Grindelwald seems to actively seek out opportunities to take risks rather than just plotting from behind the scenes. Most obvious in the opening sequence of The Crimes of Grindelwald, where he performs a death-defying mid-air hijacking and battle to recover a minion and his blood oath pendant. Even though he was already at liberty and could have probably arranged a far less personally-risky recovery of both.
• Tsundere: The only moments of real gentleness we see from him are when he's with Dumbledore but he can also swing back around to being quite angry with him. When they first meet in the restaurant, he's the one who opens with a flirtatious smile and a pickup line. He flirts and is quite happy when Dumbledore says he was in love with him and there was even an alternative take where he leaned down to whisper something in his ear and then kissed him gently on the neck as a goodbye. However, once Dumbledore calls what he's doing "madness" and mentions that they could be free from the pact, he gets quite cold and defensive. When they have their fight at the end, Albus is holding onto his chest pretty lightly but he's gripping him quite tightly. As they part, he's the one that leans forward but Albus turns his back on him and lets him go. He's visibly quite emotional and lashes out with a desperate, "Who will love you now?".
• Toxic Friend Influence: To Dumbledore. He unleashes all of young Dumbledore's worst impulses and caused him to neglect his younger siblings in favour of their plan to subjugate the Muggles. Per Word of Godinvoked, this was deliberate — he knew Dumbledore was in love with him, and manipulated that love to chain Dumbledore by his side.
• Unreliable Expositor: The amount of things he's said 100% truthfully can be counted on one hand. This means anything that comes out of his mouth can't really be trusted, the biggest example of which is his reveal of Credence's "real name" at the end of the second movie which ended up being an exaggeration.
• Uptown Girl: Although we don't know his backstory (yet), he's rich enough to have a castle, not have a day job, and support a group of at least a dozen people. Dumbledore was raised for about half of his childhood by a Struggling Single Mother and was in the process of having to find a job to take care of Aberforth and Ariana when they met. Even as a teen, he had enough money to support the two of them and Ariana as they traveled for the foreseeable future.
• Utopia Justifies the Means: Grindelwald spent his youth plotting to conquer the world of the Muggles to enlighten them with his brilliance. His slogan, after all, is "For The Greater Good."
• Verbal Judo: Grindewald is a master of this, as witnessed when he convinces Queenie to put her wand down and later sways her to his side.
• Villain's Dying Grace: While why his actions right before his death are open to interpretation, Harry personally sees it in this way. He takes it as a sad old man doing what he could to make up for his misdeeds, both to stop Voldemort from getting his hands on the wand and to apologize to Dumbledore in the only way he could. He views it as a noble act.
• Villainous Breakdown:
  • While he comes off as a controlled, logical and Affably Evil opponent at first, 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 snaps while duelling Newt, releasing lightning spells over and over again after having already overpowered him, even though it would have been more pragmatic to just kill him at that point so he could no longer interfere in his plans.
  • He completely flips his lid when his plot to get elected as the ICW head gets foiled in the third movie. He tries to murder Credence in front of the entire crowd and then it escalates from there. As he and Dumbledore fight, it starts to set in for him that he's really lost him. He gets more desperate by the second as Dumbledore turns his back on him and walks away, he almost screams, "Who will love you now, Dumbledore? You're all alone!" and as the blood pact breaks. He then jumps off a cliff, apparating away.
• Villainous Cheekbones: Mikkelsen is no stranger to playing villains due to his distinctive cheekbones and this character is no different.
• Villain Has a Point: While he has definitely gone off the deep end with his whole subjugating Muggles plan, he isn't wrong for wanting a world where wizards don't have to live in hiding or be afraid of who they are because of Muggle persecution. The second movie shows that he is also aware of their arrogance and potential for destruction if not properly guided, as his visions that he received of World War II reveal to a gathering of his followers. Even Jacob is horrified by the visions he shows.
• Villain with Good Publicity: Played with; to the wizarding world at large, Grindelwald is an infamous criminal, but to his sympathisers and followers, he's a righteous revolutionary fighting to free Wizardkind from oppressive and unjust laws. During his rally at the climax of The Crimes of Grindelwald, he presents himself as a noble and sympathetic figure fighting against bloodthirsty Aurors to save Muggles from themselves, presenting compelling arguments in his favour that succeed in swaying the hearts and minds of many, including Queenie and Credence. Keeping up this appearance is crucial to Grindelwald's success; he waits until his sympathisers and new recruits have left before he starts slaughtering Aurors and abandoning Paris to what he believes will be its destruction. However, his true colors are exposed to the wizarding world at the end of the third film.
  • 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 a peaceful solution. Not to mention he is no pure-blood supremacist (to quote him, "magic blooms in rare souls") 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 Dirty Coward. All this combined means that Grindelwald is significantly better at both attracting and keeping 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.
• Visionary Villain: His goal was to overthrow the International Statute of Secrecy and subjugate Muggles, ostensibly for the "greater good".
• Walking Spoiler: It's hard to discuss his role in the plot of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them without giving major story elements away, most notable of which that he's been impersonating Auror Percival Graves throughout the entire movie.
• We Used to Be Friends: As young men, Gellert Grindelwald and Albus Dumbledore were inseparable. As adults, they became bitter enemies, although though they do still love each other quite desperately.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: He fashions himself as this, revealing his true goal is to stop Muggles from killing themselves and wizards in pointless wars for power by enslaving them. How much he truly believes that is open for interpretation, however.
• When She Smiles: While Depp certainly played the character the more stoically than Mikkelsen, the only time in all three of the movies when he's ever genuinely smiled (not smirked) is walking into the restaurant at the beginning of the third where he absolutely beams at seeing Dumbledore for what's probably the first time in at least thirty years.
• White Hair, Black Heart: As portrayed in the first two Fantastic Beasts films, Grindelwald has platinum blond hair, and his cruelty is on full display whenever he doesn't need to keep up appearances. Post re-cast, the character has Mikkelsen’s normal dark blonde hair.
• White Man's Burden: His plan to conquer Muggles justifies itself by claiming to be for their "greater good."
• Wicked Cultured: He looks completely at home in the upscale cafe where he meets with Dumbledore, and comments on his appreciation of a good cup of tea. He also wears a tux extremely well.
• Willfully Weak: It's clear obviously that along with not using the Elder Wand, Grindelwald was also holding back a considerable amount of his power during the first film. Due to having to keep up appearances as Percival Graves, the man who he presumably had little trouble overpowering, Grindelwald had to suppress his abilities to only match that of Graves. Although this does not mean much, as he can still perform incredible feats of magic, even with his bare hands, and he proves to be still more than a match for Newt and Tina, it does prevent him from casting spells that would have probably instantly overwhelmed and killed them. When he finally lets loose, he proves how easily he could have killed those two by taking down dozens of aurors and only being stopped by Newt restraining him from behind. The second film only further proves exactly what happens when challenging Grindelwald when he is not holding back, as he thoroughly decimates any opponent he faces and gives them absolutely no chance to fight back.
• World's Best Warrior: 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.
• Would Hit a Girl: Grindelwald makes it clear that he has no qualms treating woman just like he treats his male opponents. He callously flung a car at Tina to prevent her from hindering him and he takes down groups of aurors that included female ones while making it clear that he would have also killed Picquery had he not been restrained by Newt at the last moment. During the second film, he has a mother of a family killed like her husband and infant child, kills female aurors as mercilessly as he did with the male ones, tries openly to burn Tina to death, and when Leta saved them, he coldly kills her as well.
• Would Hurt a Child: When he believed the pre-teen Modesty was the obscurial, he was fully willing to manipulate her into being his weapon against Dumbledore in their proxy war.

Credence Barebone

Credence Barebone

"I'm tired of living with no name and no history."

Played by: Ezra Miller
Voiced by: Masumi Mutsuda (Japanese), Gauthier Battoue (French), Miguel Ángel Leal (Latin American Spanish)
Appears in: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them | Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald | Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore

"Do you know what it's like to have no one? To always be alone?"

The adopted son of Mary Lou Barebone, he turned out to be the most powerful Obscurus ever seen, and the only one known to have survived into adulthood. Grindelwald took great interest in converting him to his cause, and not just because of his tremendous powers...

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• Abusive Parents: It's safe to say Mary Lou Barebone's education and abuse made him grow very insecure. Tina makes a point of mentioning that while Mary Lou abused all of the kids she adopted, Credence typically got the worst of it.
• Ambiguous Situation: It's unclear how long he'd been in contact with Graves at the beginning of the first film and if he'd met the real one or Grindelwald masquerading as him.
• Ambiguously Absent Parent: While Aberforth is his father, who his mother is is never explained. All Albus says is that Aberforth started dating a girl who got sent away before anyone knew of the pregnancy. The woman who drowned on the boat who was listed as "Credence's aunt" was presumably her sister. Although whoever she was, as far as she knows he died in the shipwreck as a baby.
• Anti-Villain: While he (in Obscurus form) does cause a lot of damage, he's been abused all his life by his adoptive mother and when he finally thinks he's found a friend, said friend turns out to have merely been manipulating him all along. Even after all of this, Newt nearly manages to talk him down before Aurors burst in all spells blazing.
• Because You Were Nice to Me: The reason he's helping Graves despite being a part of the Second Salemers while the latter is a wizard. It's also indicated to be why Tina's able to calm him down briefly when he's in his Obscurus form.
• Big Brother Instinct: He seems to have one towards Modesty, given how he quietly accepts the blame for hiding the wand before Modesty reveals it's hers and breaks down when his mother is about to beat her. Judging by their hand holding after he's bullied in the newsroom, it appears they looked out for each other whenever they could. It's likely that he wouldn't have brought Graves to her if he had known about Graves's true nature. Even when he turns into an Obscurus, he never actually harms her, unlike what happened to his other sister Chastity when he lashed out against his mother.
• The Brute: Seems to be shaping up to be this for Grindelwald as an Unskilled, but Strong member of his army who is easily swayed.
• Desperately Craves Affection: It's clear that a huge part of his reason for helping Grindelwald is that he is one of the few people to show him any kindness or paternal affection, especially after a lifetime of abuse. It's quite likely that the hug he gave him was the first Credence had ever received.
• The Dreaded: After what happened in New York, the wizarding governments all so alarmed by his existence that all of the Aurors in the world are given standing orders to kill him on sight; keep in mind they want Grindelwald kept alive to face justice.
• Evil Orphan: Though not entirely by his own fault. The abuse and humiliations he constantly receives from his adoptive mother turned him into one, and her own ideology or Graves' further attempts to manipulate him for his own ends certainly doesn't help matters. Although he is not a biological orphan.
• Expository Hairstyle Change: Credence's hair is much longer in Secrets of Dumbledore after a fairly significant Time Skip.
• Face–Heel Turn: Credence is at worst an Anti-Villain in the first film, directing all of his rage at those who wronged him. At the end of the second film, he's manipulated into joining Grindelwald.
• Family Theme Naming: Mary Lou's adopted children are all named after traditional religious values: Modesty, Credence and Chastity. Doubly so with the reveal that he is a Dumbledore; like Albus and his siblings, Credence's birth name (Aurelius) starts with the letter A.
• Friendless Background: Which is part of what makes him so receptive to Graves' apparent kindness towards him and believe the latter's offer to help him get a better life in exchange for helping him find the Obscurial child. Needless to say when he learns Graves has been lying and using him the entire time like everyone else has he does not react well.
• From a Single Cell: Survives being torn apart by curses from an entire auror squad via a single wisp of smoke from his Obscurus form as shown in an alternate opening for "Crimes of Grindelwald".
• Gene Hunting: In Crimes of Grindelwald, Credence's main goal is to find out about his past. Most of the hints in the movie lead others to believe that Credence is Leta Lestrange's brother Corvus, but the twist is even bigger than that. Eventually, it's "revealed" that he's not a Lestrange, but a Dumbledore. However, at the time, it was ambiguous if it was the truth, an exaggeration (using "brother" liberally to mean relative), or if Grindelwald was just lying to him. Secrets of Dumbledore revealed that Aurelius is indeed a Dumbledore, but he's Aberforth's illegitimate son who was believed to have drowned in a shipwreck as a baby.
• Given Name Reveal: A Double Subversion: it is initially believed that Credence was born Corvus Lestrange, but Leta later removes that possibility, as she knows that the real Corvus is dead. Later, after completing his Face–Heel Turn, Credence is informed of his birth name by Grindelwald: Aurelius Dumbledore.
• Heel–Face Door-Slam: A very tragic case. Tina managed to start talking him down when he was going on a rampage and Newt was preparing to separate the Obscurus from him... when the MACUSA show up and blast him to bits. Later on, he redeems himself by preventing Grindelwald from becoming Supreme Mugwump, but at that point, he’s lived too long with the parasite gnawing away at his body to be cured and will die sooner rather than later.
• Hulking Out: Graves' dismissal of him turns out to be the last straw before he changes form and goes on a rampage.
• The Juggernaut: As an Obscurial, he's extraordinarily powerful and it takes an army of witches and wizards to stop him.
• Long-Lost Relative: He’s Aberforth’s son who was believed to have drowned in a shipwreck as a baby.
• Manchild: Due to how he's been raised by his adoptive mother. He becomes more of a Psychopathic Man Child after Graves brushes him aside and decides enough is enough and as the Obscurus lets the whole city have it.
• Muggle Born of Mages: Graves deduces that Credence has magical ancestry, but none of the powers. This lets Graves entice Credence with magical teaching. Graves is wrong. Credence is the Obscurial he's seeking. He never considered the possibility because no other known Obscurial has lived to be Credence's age.
• Parental Abandonment: Credence was an orphan, adopted in New York City. It's revealed he'd been born out of wedlock to Aberforth Dumbledore and an unnamed woman. He and his aunt were believed to have drowned in the shipwreck (when Leta swapped him for Corvus) so neither of his parents ever knew to go looking for him.
• Religious and Mythological Theme Naming: His birth name, Aurelius, comes from a second century Roman Emperor.
• The Reveal: It was revealed at the end of Crimes of Grindelwald that he's a member of the Dumbledore family. Secrets of Dumbledore reveals that he's actually Albus' nephew, whose birth name is Aurelius.
• Reverse Grip: Throughout the third film, Credence holds his wand in this manner, especially during combat.
• Shrinking Violet: He's very shy and mild-mannered.
• Small Role, Big Impact: Relative to the Potterverse as a whole—he was never mentioned anywhere else, but his presence is apparently hugely influential on the backstory to the Harry Potter books and films. How so, as of before the release of The Crimes of Grindelwald, remains to be seen—especially as he has been revealed to not only have survived the first film, but also is be a Dumbledore by birth and thus kin to Albus Dumbledore
• Superpowerful Genetics: Credence’s survival to adulthood is described as a “miracle” by Grindelwald since no other known Obscurial has made it past ten. This is explained as a product of his immense magical power. It turns out he’s related to the other Obscurial who lived past ten for likely the same reason, his aunt Ariana.
• Switched at Birth: Unbeknownst to the adults, Leta swapped her brother Corvus for Credence on the ship when they were babies. Credence's aunt died trying to save Corvus from drowning.
• Then Let Me Be Evil: He decides to give in to his rage after Graves reneges on his promise to teach him magic by informing him that as a Squib learning magic is impossible, showing him Graves had been lying about seeing any "potential" in him from the very start, and goes on a rampage as a fully unleashed Obscurus.
• Tranquil Fury: Just before he transforms into an Obscurus and goes on his rampage near the end of the film, he states his intention to do so to Graves, who he was manipulated by, with nothing but utter hatred in his voice.
• Tyke Bomb: Well, he's not really a Tyke, but he's a Psychopathic Man Child and his role in Grindelwald's plan is to kill Dumbledore.
• Unskilled, but Strong: Credence's power as an Obscurial is astonishing, but he lacks formal training as a wizard, which means that even though he may be powerful enough to kill Dumbledore, his lack of skill means even normally powerful wizards and witches stand a decent chance against him. An entire army of Aurors easily obliterate him by firing multiple spells simultaneously. Grimmson and Newt are both believed to be capable of killing him. Grindelwald himself also seems assured that he could have defeated Credence if it ever went that far, but ultimately decides to instead peacefully manipulate him into joining his side while keeping his ability to subdue him as a last-resorts he never had to use. He is thus not immediately sent after Dumbledore and instead given a wand and trained first. With a wand, the boy manages to destroy a part of a cliff with a single nonverbal spell. However, even after five years of training, he's simply no match for a wizard of Dumbledore's skill and power, being easily defeated.
• Uncertain Doom: As of the end of the third film, it’s unclear if he’s alive. It’s acknowledged that he’s dying from the effects of the parasite since he has made it twice as long as any other known Obscurial (his Aunt Ariana) and all that can be done is to make the most of the time he’s got left and ease his pain. Aberforth takes him home to die but there’s no confirmation that it’s actually happened yet.
• Unwitting Pawn: Poor Credence is the pawn in a proxy war between two manipulative people who went through a particularly bad breakup:
  • In Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Credence helps Graves to find an Obscurial child, unaware that he's simply being used to further Graves' goals or that Graves is really Gellert Grindelwald.
  • After escaping from the circus in The Crimes of Grindelwald, virtually nothing Credence does is actually of his own volition; pretty much every step of the way, Grindelwald is manipulating him into being present for his rally, where the promise of his true identity sways Credence to Grindelwald's side, giving the terrorist the perfect weapon to use against Albus Dumbledore.
• Vague Age: For a while, it was unclear how old he was supposed to be. He’s portrayed as being the youngest of the main characters in the first movie who are all mid twenties to early thirties. Tina says he’s not a child which would imply he could be in his late teens or early 20s. However, the second film establishes that he was closer to his mid 20s due to the then ambiguous reveal of his real name. The third film puts his birth year at 1900 which would make him only three years younger than Newt and actually older than the Goldstein sisters.
• Walking Spoiler: He is the Obscurial that is terrorizing New York, and not his little sister Modesty. The second movie gives an ambiguous reveal that he might be Albus Dumbledore's “brother” and a more concrete one that Grindelwald has been using him to kill Dumbledore the entire time. The third confirms that the ambiguous reveal, although it was a half-truth. He's not a brother but a nephew.
• Weak-Willed: Percival Graves manipulates him into finding the Obscurial by promising he'll be a wizard like him while actually thinking him an impotent Squib.^note Or, based on the second movie, pretending to think so as part of a greater manipulation. Averted when Credence reveals he is in fact the Obscurial and takes revenge on Graves and the city of New York.
• Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: After being subject to much abuse by the church, and getting his first act of affection by Grindelwald, he joins his side against the heroes.
• The Worf Effect: Despite being believed by Grindelwald to be able to kill Albus Dumbledore, when they fight, he is easily defeated by his uncle. It's however justified as Albus has had many years of experience over Aurelius and as Albus himself admits, Aurelius never reached his full potential, even though he had been trained by Grindelwald for 5 years. It's suggested he did have the potential to exceed Albus but wasn't given enough time to develop, explaining why his uncle was able to rather handily dispatch him. Nevertheless, the fact that he has been defeated by Albus while Grindelwald fights him to a stalemate and will later give him a real fight for his life firmly proves that they are the two most powerful characters in the series.

New Recruit - SPOILERS

Queenie Goldstein

See here.

Vinda Rosier

Vinda Rosier

Portrayed by: Poppy Corby-Tuech ^note  Also dubs herself in French
Voiced by: Annie Rojas (Latin American Spanish)
Appears in: Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald | Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore

Queenie: Are you married?
Vinda: Let's say... deeply committed.

A French witch who's Gellert Grindelwald's loyal and dedicated right hand follower.

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• All There in the Manual: Her first name was never stated in the second movie or in the published script but was in a press release that was put out via Pottermore.
• Ax-Crazy: Clearly a lover of violence and killing; she watches Aurors die in flames with a smile.
• Contrasting Sequel Antagonist: As the series's resident villain's right hand woman, she's a much different character than Bellatrix. Vinda is stylish, put together, polite, and can at least pretend to be benevolent. She's not obsessively in love with the boss either like Bellatrix was. She's also a much more trusted and respected lieutenant as Grindelwald is willing to give her important tasks to complete such as recruiting Queenie all on her lonesomeness.
• The Dragon: She is Grindelwald's, to quote Corby-Teuch, "queen woman".
• Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette: She is dark-haired, pale-skinned, and one of the villains.
• Faux Affably Evil: When she finds Queenie sobbing in the streets, Vinda kindly helps her up and brings her in for a cup of tea... then refuses to let her leave and makes it clear that her intent was actually to deliver her to be recruited by Grindelwald. All this goes without saying that Vinda is a sadistic murderer fanatically loyal to the cause of a mass-murdering terrorist.
• Hiding Behind the Language Barrier: She's successful in getting Queenie off the street because Queenie can't understand her thoughts to know she's not helping out of altruism.
• Generation Xerox:
  • She's a follower of a dark wizard, and her family, the Rosiers, would infamously count Death Eaters — followers of a new dark wizard — in its ranks decades later.
  • Rosier is also the family of Bellatrix Lestrange's mother and she indeed looks similar to Bellatrix as a dark-haired and pale-skinned woman who becomes their respective master's Dragon. Rosier is closer to the books' version of Bellatrix, who was tall and more stoic and reserved than the shorter and more exuberant version shown in the films. She, however, does not seem to have an obsessive crush on Grindelwald as Bellatrix did with Voldemort. Grindelwald also seems to trust, respect, and depend on her more than Voldemort ever did with Bellatrix.
• Kick the Dog: Personally murders the qilin mother in the beginning of The Secrets of Dumbledore.
• Lady of Black Magic: A malevolent witch who is adept in the Dark Arts. She gives off a sophisticated air, dressing in an elegant fashion style and acting refined despite her fanatical loyalty to Grindelwald's cause.
• Mistaken for Romance: Queenie assumes she's married to Grindelwald before she knows he's who they're waiting for at the apartment in Paris. However, there's nothing to suggest that their relationship is anything more than platonic and she's not really his type.
• The Sociopath: She happily anticipates slaughtering non-magical people en masse, and cracks a smirk as she watches Grindelwald incinerate Aurors with Protego Diabolica.

Abernathy

Abernathy

Portrayed by: Kevin Guthrie
Voiced by: Miguel Ángel Ruiz (Latin American Spanish)
Appears in: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them | Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald

An American wizard, Tina and Queenie's direct superior at MACUSA. He turns out to be a follower of Gellert Grindelwald.

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• Body Double: For Grindelwald, allowing the real one to engineer his escape from MACUSA custody.
• Butt-Monkey: He gets disguised as Grindelwald, gets his tongue cut off (but gets a replacement a few hours afterwards thanks to Grindelwald and magic medicine), gets magically paralyzed and almost drowns during his escape from America. Later on, he uses a Polyjuice Potion to turn into an old woman to sneak into the French Ministry of Magic.
• Expy: Butt-Monkey? Check. Traitor or The Mole? Check. Amputee who gets a replacement limb made by his master through magic? Check. Yeah, he's Grindelwald's personal Wormtail.
• Face–Heel Turn: In The Crimes of Grindelwald, he is revealed to be one of Grindelwald's followers, taking his place for the evasion scheme. However, it's unknown whether he was The Mole during And Where to Find Them or if he turned during the gap between the films.
• Red Right Hand: He loses his tongue while disguised as Grindelwald. The real Grindelwald gives him a snake-like tongue as a replacement.
• Tongue Trauma: MACUSA cut off his tongue when he was posing as Grindelwald (using a shapeshifting potion or spell) so he wouldn't be able to sway guards with his charisma. As a reward for his loyalty, Grindelwald uses magic to give Abernathy a new (forked) tongue after their escape.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: Kevin Guthrie was 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, rendering his current status unknown.

Gunnar Grimmson

Gunnar Grimmson

"The Ministry won't be happy when I tell them I missed. They know my reputation."

Portrayed by: Ingvar Eggert Sigurðsson
Voiced by: Alfonso Ramírez (Latin American Spanish)
Appears in: Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald

A wizard bounty hunter who the Ministry sends to Paris to find and kill Credence, after Newt rejected the job. Unknown to his employers he's actually in league with Grindelwald.

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• All There in the Manual: His first name is revealed in a behind the scenes book.
• Alliterative Name: Gunnar Grimmson.
• Bounty Hunter: He's this by trade.
• Exactly What I Aimed At: At first, it seems like he killed Irma by accident while aiming for Credence. It later becomes clear that killing Irma is precisely what Grimmson was trying to do.
• Hate Sink: Newts Reaction to seeing him at the Beginning of the Second film gives all you need to know what opinion you should have of him.
• Jerkass: Grimmson has a generally smug, cruel, unpleasant personality. Even his Ministry employers don't look pleased when they have to give him the job of finding and killing Credence.
• "It" Is Dehumanizing: When he joins Newt's ministry hearing and sees a magic recording of his assassination target, Credence, he refers to him as "it", likely to further antagonize and taunt Newt.
• Knight Templar: Grimmson feels justified in his brutality by Grindelwald's creed: For the Greater Good.
• The Mole: Employed by the Ministry, he's secretly loyal to Grindelwald and uses his job to further his evil plans.
• Nerves of Steel: Doesn't so much as flinch while Credence is raging against him in Obscurial form. Grimmson just casts a Shield Charm, watches Credence's onslaught with curiosity, then disapparates at the first opportunity.
• Obviously Evil: Unpleasant character, with a name like "Grimmson"? Yep, definitely not a good guy - his true allegiance is so transparent that a poster has him with the other Grindelwald followers.
• A Real Man Is a Killer: Mocks Newt for his refusal to take a human life.
• Remember the New Guy?: He and Newt seem to be acquainted with each other, and Newt is decidedly not happy to see him.
• Would Harm a Senior: Casts a Killing Curse at the elderly (not to mention unarmed and helpless) Irma Dugard.
• Would Hit a Girl: Attacks Nagini when she discovers him hiding in Irma's wall.

Carrow

Carrow

Portrayed by: Maja Bloom
Appears in: Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald | Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore

Carrow is another member of Grindelwald's inner circle of Acolytes. She's entrusted with important tasks as such as finding them a place to stay in Paris and heading off to China with Vinda and Credence to obtain a Qilin for the boss.

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• Evil Redhead: A follower of Grindelwald with red hair.
• Generation Xerox: A follower of Grindelwald whose possible relations, Alecto and Amycus, would become Death Eaters. Seems following wizard Hitlers runs in the family.
• She Cleans Up Nicely: She's not as fashionable as Vinda in everyday wear but is seen wearing a gorgeous silver dress◊ at the ICW dinner party in the third movie.
• Would Hurt a Child: She's the one that kills the little Muggle boy in Paris.

Krall

Krall

"We know where the boy is, don't we? Why don't we grab him and leave?"

Portrayed by: David Sakurai
Voiced by: Diego Estrada (Latin American Spanish)
Appears in: Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald

"You really think he can kill the Great... Can kill Albus Dumbledore?"

A conflicted follower of Grindelwald.

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• Conflicting Loyalty: A follower of Grindelwald but hesitates when asked if he'd be willing to go kill Albus Dumbledore. He dies when he fails to cross a wall of Protego Diabolica that burns anyone who isn't loyal to Grindelwald.

Helmut

Portrayed by: Aleksandr Kuznetsov
Voiced by:
Appears in: Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore

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• The Mole: Grindelwald's inside man in the German Ministry of Magic.