#gellert grindelwald

[wwemcumuscleslover]

Mads Mikkelsen and his incredible experience on playing hypnotic evil guys...

[wisteria-lodge]

From a Watsonian standpoint, who do you think fell in love first between Grindelwald and Dumbledore? What about each other do you believe made them gravitate towards one another?

I think Dumbledore fell first, and Grindelwald fell harder.

Eighteen year old Albus is… lonely. It’s a loneliness coming from a few places. One is his own brilliance: Nicholas Flamel is maybe at his level, he’s a mentor slowly becoming a professional peer... but he’s all the way over in Italy. Elphias Doge? Half in love with Albus, half in hero-worship. That’s a problem Albus will have his entire life. He’s got people who worship him, and people work for him. But very few people who actually consider themselves to be his equal. 

Albus’ other problem is the way he’s hiding a pretty brutal home life. Ariana is dangerous and unstable (the rumors are that his sister's a squib, but he can’t confirm or deny that.) The only reason people don’t think of Albus as the son of Percival Dumbledore the Muggle killer is because Albus’ own accomplishments really are that extreme. He is the shining golden child so people don’t look too closely at what's going on within his family. No part of Albus wants to be at home with them - he wants to be away at school, he wants to be on a European tour with Elphias Dosge (and don’t tell me Elphias wasn’t low-key footing most of the bill for that trip…) 

But then his mother dies/is killed by Ariana, Albus becomes responsible for his brother and sister. Because Ariana can’t be moved, that means he’s also effectively tied to Godric’s Hollow. It’s stressful. It’s boring. Albus has no one to talk to.

And then Gellert moves in. It must’ve felt like the sun breaking through clouds. He’s beautiful. He’s fascinating. He’s on Albus’ intellectual level. And he’s not suck like Abus is. No, he’s driven, he has plans, he has incredibly grand hopes for the future. Albus would take one look at him and be - this is it. You are the answer. We are going to discover the secrets of the universe together.

Now Gellert has recently been kicked out of school for dark magic related activities, and is effectively lying low in Godric’s Hollow. But honestly, he kind of wiggled out of any serious consequences. If anything, his mindset is probably more “I’ve already learned everything Drumstrang had to teach me. Good riddance. Now I just have to wait, and think about my next move.” 

Seeing Albus for the first time probably wouldn’t have blown his socks off. Gellert (as Harry tells us, multiple timee) is very handsome, while Albus is probably more… interesting looking. Good looking in an unconventional way. But Albus is clever, and would have found out who exactly his new neighbor was very quickly. He’d hear about the dark magic and… not care. Probably just be more intrigued. Albus is desperate for someone to talk to, and whatever dark magic Gellert was up to, I’m sure it had to at least been interesting. 

So Albus tracks down Gellert, and he’s asking all of these questions. All these really good questions. At first Gellert is flattered (also, he can tell that Albus has a crush on him. That’s not especially unusual, if you’re Gellert Grindlewald.)  

But once he spends a little more time with him, I think he starts getting a little awed by Albus. This isn’t like Elphias Dodges’ hero worship, this is 'I want to put Albus Dumbledore in a jar and study him.' How can he be this good? How can his well of knowledge be so deep? How does he pick up everything I show him so fast…and immediately start adding improvements. How is he able to solve these magical problems and conundrums that I’ve been struggling with so easily?

Albus starts trusting him a little bit more. He doesn’t tell anyone about the details surrounding his father attacking the muggles, or what’s going on with Ariana. But he tells Gellert. He tells him about the pressure he feels, being responsible for them. How he can’t help resenting the way his family ties him down. He wants things to be different so badly but doesn’t know what he's supposed to do.

I think that getting to see Albus’ vulnerability this way, his darkness, his cracks - things which he doesn’t show anyone - is what gets Gellert properly falling in love with him. Albus saw his darkness and didn’t back off, and now Gellert gets to return the favor. He probably starts getting a little romantic about all this, starts attributing the fact that they met to fate, thinks of Albus as this wonderful gift the universe is giving to him… but then Gellert’s perspective kind of shifts, and he starts believing that really he’s Albus‘ gift. He’s meant to save Albus, because it’s a crime that anyone this extraordinary should truly think that they’re trapped, and that their life needs to stay so small. 

He convinces Albus to leave, and that they can take Ariana with them. I bet Gellert believes it too. He and Albus are so powerful, so talented, so knowledgeable, so off the charts in every way - what could Ariana possibly do that the two of them wouldn't be able to handle? 

But then, of course, the duel happens. Ariana dies (and I do think it was probably Albus who accidentally killed her.) We know that Gellert ran right after this. But I think  this is a situation where Albus is in shock, Gellert is grabbing his arm, dragging him towards the door, saying - we’ve got to get out of here. Don’t worry, it’ll be fine, I can fix this.

Albus can’t do it. He did wrong, and he has to face his punishment (a punishment that I don’t think he ever feels he actually received. The closest he gets is Aberforth breaking his nose at the funeral, which is why he lets it stay broken.) There’s a lot of dark, sticky stuff in Albus Dumbledore's psyche. Stuff I don’t think he’ll ever let anyone see - both because he’s so hyper-competent he can mask it, and because it is his job to protect people (that’s the only thing he thinks he’s good for…)  Showing people his darkness and weakness, the way he showed it to Gellert - that is the opposite of protecting them.

If he’s honest with himself, I do think there’s a part of Albus that wishes he had been weaker, that he had run with Grindelwald that day. Best case scenario - maybe he could’ve influenced him, steered him down a better path (does that mean the blood of Grindelwald‘s victims is on his hands?) but more realistically… I think Albus knows that he and Grindelwald would have eventually had a falling out. Maybe not for a couple of years. Maybe Albus could’ve ignored the red flags that long. Maybe he could have had a few years - running around Europe, being young, powerful, and in love. 

Instead, Albus goes back to Hogwarts to hide. Because he can’t trust himself anymore. He can’t trust his judgment, he can’t trust himself with any kind of power. News of Grindelwald comes every day. He’s running around Europe, he’s becoming more powerful. Dumbledore could stop him - but doesn’t. I think he’s worried that he saw Grindelwald again… (if Grindelwald is still in love with him…) (of course Grindelwald is still in love with him...) If Gellert asked him to leave Hogwarts and come with him, Albus is worried that he might say yes.

But in the end, Dumbledore does face him. Grindelwald fights him with the Elder Wand, but Dumbledore still wins. I like to think it’s because Gellert just cannot bring himself to kill him. Cannot bring himself to imprison him. He loves Albus too much. Albus is a work of art he cannot bring himself to destroy or lock away.

But Albus is prepared to lock Grindelwald up. So the Elder Wand - who always knows who has the power in a dynamic - becomes Albus.’ He defeats Grindelwald, and then uses Grindelwald’s wand the rest of his life. He’s buried with it.  I do think that Albus' intention was to die the wand’s last true master, both as a favor to the world, but also as a kind of romantic gesture. Because what is Voldemort compared to Grindelwald? Voldemort doesn’t deserve that wand. Gellert dies, tortured and killed by Voldemort, refusing to give up Albus, laughing. Because he knows how good Albus is. He knows how brilliant he is. He knows how ice cold he is. And, (if Gellert is honest with himself) that only makes him love Albus more. After all, he was right. Albus really was a force of nature who took over the world without anyone realizing. Voldemort doesn’t stand a chance.

[espikola]

[oldmanbracket]

Sexiest Old Man Tournament: Quarter Finals!

Who is hotter?

[hawkofkrypton]

“Why couldn’t you two break up normally instead of making it everyone’s problem”

[feliks-felicis]

The fact that we were robbed of the neck kiss scene in the fb secrets of dumbledore is villainous..

Like, Warner Bros are you homophobic, allergic to happiness or both?

[moondustinfj]

Harry: You dated the 2nd darkest wizard in history who lead a fanatical revolution aganist muggles???

Dumbledore: Well, he wasn't the 2nd darkest wizard in history who lead a fanatical revolution aganist muggles when I met him!

[apicelladonna]

in another universe, Dumbledore sat timetravelling Harry down in his office and said "I'm a bad example so it's perfectly fine if you're confused about this, but just because I have a bad relationship with a mentally unstable gay cult leader I pretend to still hate but actually love and raw nasty, doesn't mean you have to."

[blackcider]

Tom had taken several deep breaths to calm himself, the increasing volume of the Great Hall entered his ears, as his eyes focused back on the new Daily Prophet. His head snapped to the left as he felt hands curl around his elbow.

"Can you believe this darling?" Bellatrix asked, her tone clearly relaying her disbelief and ire. "It seems being a strong dark wizard doesn't give you taste."

Tom removed her hands but agreed with her sentiments. "Must be a problem with Durmstang's education."

She cackled beside him, "they should have just expelled him instead keeping him to embarrass them like this."

The doors opened and silence descended upon the hall as the main characters of the article made their way in.

Side by side.

Grindelwald leaning down slightly to whisper into Harry's ears.

Whisper something that made Harry's face light up into a smile.

A smile Tom had never seen when they were dating.

[potterharryloves]

[overheard-at-hogwarts]

Grindelwald: You're gay, right? ...I mean, like, openly gay? Dumbledore: Uh, I'm not "openly" anything, and "gay" doesn't begin to cover it.

[justreadinandwritinlol]

HOLD UP- NAGINI (VOLDEMORT'S SNAKE) IS THE CURSED WOMAN NAGINI FROM CRIMES OF GRINDELWALD? HOW DID I NOT NOTICE THIS?!

[bebx]

Johnny Depp invented October and spooky season♡

[that-damn-virgo]

— Dumbledore & Grindelwald.

credits: @ blossomfully // @ oddishblossom

[oldmanbracket]

Sexiest Old Man Tournament: Round 3

Who is hotter?

[latveriasking]

Johnny Depp in Sweeney Todd: the Demon Barber of Fleet Street