Gellert Grindelwald

Grindelwald was a driven, charismatic, determined and brilliant individual, even in his youth. Albus Dumbledore himself confessed that Grindelwald was extremely charming, so much so that it had induced the former to fall in love with him, and it was partly the reason Dumbledore had been initially blind to just how dangerous Grindelwald truly was.

During his formative years, Grindelwald also proved himself highly intelligent, magically talented, idealistic, as well as ambitious to the point of ruthlessness, with a ferocious temper; when Aberforth Dumbledore challenged his and Albus's plans and tried to convince his brother to abandon them, Grindelwald "lost control" and used the Cruciatus Curse on Aberforth, showing his willingness to cause pain to people who challenged him.[18] Grindelwald resorted to physically striking Credence Barebone when he grew impatient with the boy, briefly shedding the soft and comforting facade that he adopted earlier. Later on, when Grindelwald duelled Newt Scamander, he swiftly overpowered his opponent but in his rage of Newt's interference, he fiercely unleashed bolts of lightning upon the Magizoologist in order to first incapacitate him in a painful manner. After his skull-hookah was destroyed, Grindelwald's rage prompted him to try to destroy all of Paris, remarking that he hated that city.

He also showed a sadistic streak, as during his battle against the Aurors in Paris, Grindelwald called after them "Play by the rules. No cheating, children", shedding his charming nature entirely. Dumbledore himself expressed horror in what Grindelwald truly was, stating that he had always (unconsciously) sensed something dangerous in him. He was also not above killing Muggle infants, although he seemingly didn't like to do it, such as after arriving in Paris, Grindelwald heard the cries of a Muggle toddler, and after a brief moment of consideration, walked out of the room and left him to be murdered by one of his acolytes.

As a revolutionary operating outside the law, Gellert Grindelwald was man who lived in service to his ideals and, as he saw it, in humanity. Fully convinced that his revolution to bring wizardkind out of hiding and "rise up and take [their] rightful place in the world" above the non-magical population was truly For the Greater Good, he tirelessly endeavoured to fulfil this vision.[31] Clever and composed, as well as an extremely persuasive orator, Grindelwald had a phenomenal command of the art of public speaking, allowing him to mystify and terrify his audiences, allies and enemies alike; inspiring fanatical loyalty with each word, and gaining widespread following for his cause, followers whom he affectionately referred to as his as "brothers and sisters" and "friends". When appearing in front of an audience at a rally, Grindelwald was treated as a revered celebrity, as was expected of someone with his charisma.

By the 1930s, Grindelwald had become much more serious, ruthless, harsh, reserved and aggressive, becoming more adamant than ever with his extremist ideas about the supremacy of Wizards over Muggles, to the point of killing newborn living beings just to achieve his goals, as is the case with the Qilin that he resurrected via necromancy and used to rig the Supreme Mugwump election in his favour.

He did recognise, however, that while a brilliant wizard, he was not infallible, and thus Grindelwald openly confided in a carefully selected group of Acolytes that constituted the innermost circle of the army of Dark witches and wizards that he marshalled to his side. Additionally, while escaping his Incarceration Carriage and killing all of the accompanying Aurors, Grindelwald went out of his way to let Rudolph Spielman live, seemingly in order for the frightened Head of Incarceration to tell the International Confederation of Wizards how great of a threat he truly was.

Grindelwald could also work very independently when he had to, however, such as when he seemingly single-handedly infiltrated the MACUSA, and was able to mimic the personality of Percival Graves for an extended period time without arousing suspicion — even when having his followers denounced as fanatics by Newton Scamander, Grindelwald was mostly unfazed and only chuckled the only time he truly aroused anyone's suspicion was when he interrogated Newt Scamander and labelled the hostless Obscurus as "useless", which roused Newt to angry disbelief, and appeared to baffle former Auror Tina Goldstein. Thus, Grindelwald either momentarily lapsed in his façade at this point, or incorporated his own ruthlessness and calculative nature into that of Percival Graves. Still, Grindelwald was quick enough to quell their realisation by sentencing them both to death, before the conversation could go any further.

Grindelwald showed himself to be immensely charismatic — he effortlessly exploited Credence Barebone by appealing to the boy in a way nobody else tried to and offering to accept the boy into his ranks. Even after it became clear that Credence, as an Obscurial, was extremely powerful and phenomenally dangerous, Grindelwald calmly continued to try and exploit him, and was outraged when the MACUSA President opted to have her Aurors seemingly destroy him. Grindelwald was idealistic to an extreme,[32] having absolutely no complaints about the murder of hundreds of innocent people as long as that accomplished his long-term goals. Indeed, Grindelwald's idealism even prompted him to truly break his disguise in New York, expressing his disgust for being forced to hide from Muggles, and then proceeding to attack the MACUSA Aurors who had seemingly killed Credence.

Even then, however, his anger was not expressed on his own behalf, but rather on that of the cause he was fighting for, which more or less spurred his life and deeds. Grindelwald spoke scornfully towards President Picquery when she insisted the Obscurial's destruction was on her orders, mocking the fact that history would note this, and that it wasn't right. Grindelwald noticeably paused before engaging the Aurors, indicating that he couldn't see any other way out of it. Throughout all of this, Grindelwald maintained a stern pride in his own skill: even as he was unexpectedly apprehended by the Aurors after Newt Scamander had attacked and subdued him from behind, Grindelwald was unfazed, and simply questioned President Picquery's ability to contain a wizard of his reputation and power. He did not even blink when faced with the President, fixing her with a fierce stare until she was out of his sight, showing his unwillingness to show fear to his enemies.

Grindelwald Vinda Abernathy Grindelwald's followers regarded him as a man of great power As shown at his Paris rally, Grindelwald inspired great loyalty in attendees by praising wizardkind for being "rare souls", and only labelled tyrannical Muggles as the true enemy, claiming that what he and his For the Greater Good revolution were actually opposing was the future Second World War that the Muggles would start, and that it was the Aurors, rather than his Acolytes who were the truly violent wizards. Indeed, Grindelwald even persuaded the peaceful, kind, and compassionate Queenie Goldstein to join his cause by promising to abolish such laws as Rappaport's Law, thus promising to bring Queenie and others a newfound freedom to love whomever they please. Grindelwald also showed a great trust in his followers, as seen by his trusting Alliance to "spread the word" of his ideology across the wizarding world. Grindelwald was extremely persuasive even in his time in prison, where he kept convincing his jailers to join his side, forcing the MACUSA to change his guards three times, and to cut out Grindelwald's tongue.

Grindelwald wanted poster A wanted poster bearing Grindelwald's likeness Grindelwald was a bigoted man, who viewed Muggles as disposable creatures, fit to be nothing more than thralls in the new world he sought to create. He also placed greate value in the so-called "purity" of magical blood, denouncing relationships with Muggles as a threat to wizarding lineages.[27] This proved he was a hypocrite, as he'd previously claimed part of his revolution was to allow wizards and witches to love whomever they chose, which seemingly included Muggles (and is how he originally won over Queenie Goldstein), but later showed his true colours in mocking and torturing Jacob Kowalski for loving a witch, and thus proving his depraved bigotry and wizarding supremacy, and that his earlier claims that he did not hate Muggles and did not regard them as lesser but other and of a different disposition to be more lies, and that he ultimately sought to oppress Muggles and likely enslave them under wizarding rule.

He demonstrated his manipulative skills and the willingness to use them for his own purposes. Judging by Aberforth Dumbledore's testimony, Grindelwald had little interest in, or patience with, those he considered beneath him. He considered Albus Dumbledore an equal, and praised the tremendous potential of the Obscurial Credence Barebone, for instance, but was dismissive of the less talented and intelligent Aberforth, the permanently damaged Ariana, and also, initially, Credence, whom Grindelwald initially callously discarded when he seemingly became no longer useful, mistakenly believing Credence to be a Squib, whom it would be impossible to magically train. In addition, while disguised as Percival Graves, Grindelwald questioned Newt Scamander, who he seemingly found to be an average wizard, in an interrogation as to why Dumbledore would have such faith in Newt, indicating an interest in further understanding both Dumbledore and Newt's abilities. Grindelwald's dismissal of Credence as a Squib suggested that Grindelwald, in his (somewhat arrogant) awareness of his own brilliance, was so secure in his own Seer judgement as to having grown a weakness for jumping to conclusions. Grindelwald was also criticised by Newt for deeming magical creatures too simple to raise his interest, being only turned towards more complex forms of magic, unaware that one such creature, a Niffler, actually stole his blood pact vial.

However, Grindelwald was ultimately not a complete amoral man, as shown by how he was capable of feeling remorse for past wrongdoings and the fact that his lengths he was willing to go to reach his goals were fuelled by ambition and a fanatical sense of self-purpose, rather than evil intent. Grindelwald's decision to stun, not kill Gregorovitch, when he acquired the Elder Wand from the latter, and also not bother finishing off Porpentina Goldstein even though he could have easily done so, hints at a willingness not to kill simply as a matter of course. However, this might have been a calculated decision, perhaps considering that people were more likely to give credence to Gregorovitch's claims that he'd had the Elder Wand if he was murdered, as that was the traditional method of passing it on,[33] while his sparing of Tina was likely because Grindelwald didn't view her worth the time he could instead have used to try to persuade Credence.

After all, Grindelwald killed his own pet Chupacabra Antonio after deeming him "too needy", he killed numerous Aurors while escaping the MACUSA, he ruthlessly killed many people who did not display enough loyalty to him to enter his circle of blue fire (disintegrating his own inadequately loyal Acolyte Krall, although while he did not spare Krall, he sombrely closed his eyes, indicating some regret and remorse, at seeing Krall painfully die as he tried to reach out to him as he reached out to Grindelwald, in addition to also offering the Aurors who attacked him a chance to join his army rather than just simply immediately massacring all of them and when Leta Lestrange asked him to stop, Grindelwald seemed rather willing to spare Newt and Theseus had Leta joined him, having stopped his attempts to burn them alive and only having the black flames thwart them instead of killing them), and Grindelwald even had no objections to Vinda Rosier and Carrow murdering a family of Non-Magiques, including their infant son, to secure a temporary headquarters for the Acolytes in Paris, although he seemed a bit reluctant in killing the baby and chose not to witness his acolytes kill him.

Proof of his lesser dark nature, when compared to that of Lord Voldemort, was how that while Voldemort was completely without empathy and unable to feel remorse, Grindelwald seemed to genuinely pity Credence for the greatly unjust treatment he was exposed to not only by his own mother, but also by the magical community, as displayed by his rage of Credence being destroyed by MACUSA. He later expressed sympathy for how Mary Lou Barebone had nearly destroyed her own adopted son. After many years of imprisonment in Nurmengard, as he sat alone in his former fortress, Grindelwald was reportedly known for having contemplated his past misdeeds and felt remorse and shame for the horrifying things he had committed during his attempted rise to power over the magical and non-magical worlds. This clearly influenced his decision to hide the location of the Elder Wand from Voldemort, despite being confronted and certainly about to die at the hands of the only Dark wizard more powerful and dangerous than himself, which Dumbledore acknowledged to be out of a desire to achieve a shred of redemption. This remorse and redemption is in stark contrast to Voldemort, who showed not an ounce of remorse for the countless atrocities he committed.

Grindelwald was also proven to be capable of fear, judging from the fact that he fled in fear of his life after the intense duel between himself, Dumbledore, and Aberforth that resulted in Ariana's death, and how he resorted to being more cautious around Credence upon realising that he was the Obscurial (in the knowledge of how dangerous and volatile Obscurials were). He never attempted to extend his power to Britain for fear of facing Dumbledore (most likely due to the circumstances of their last encounter, and the fact that he recognised how powerful Dumbledore was), but notably also due to their blood pact making Grindelwald unable to directly confront Dumbledore.

Not only does this suggest that Grindelwald was actually capable of contemplating Dumbledore being equivalently powerful or dangerous as himself, but that he was also capable of respecting Dumbledore. It would seem that despite Dumbledore being the cause of his downfall, Grindelwald still genuinely considered Dumbledore his friend in the end to an extent, as Harry Potter noted Grindelwald had also intended to prevent Dumbledore's tomb from being desecrated when he lied on the Elder Wand. It should also be noted that despite his claims of wanting to unleash Credence upon Dumbledore, Grindelwald was never known to attack Britain even after he had Credence, as Britain was always acknowledged as the only place safe from Grindelwald, which seemed to imply Grindelwald, even at his worst, did not want Albus dead unless he had interfered in his plans.

When trapped and unarmed in Nurmengard, facing certain death at the hands of the dark wizard Lord Voldemort, Grindelwald was openly defiant towards him, even mocking, goading Voldemort into killing him by saying that he welcomed death, but that it would not "bring him what [he] sought", saying there is so much he "doesn't understand". Indeed, he seemed to exhibit a grotesque remnant of the "merry, wild" temperament of his youth. Grindelwald's last words consisted of the dressing-down of Voldemort, and a rather enthusiastic outlook on "the next great adventure", all of which seems clear in its connection to his old flame, Albus Dumbledore.

Grindelwald was an outstandingly talented wizard even in his youth while still a student. As an adult, Grindelwald became a very powerful and accomplished wizard and was admired and feared by many others of outstanding magical talent. Indeed, it is not without good reason that Grindelwald went down in history as among the most dangerous Dark wizards of all time, maintaining the top spot for a long period of time until the arrival of Lord Voldemort, who earned the top title on the list a generation later. Indeed, even Albus Dumbledore, who was considered by many to be the greatest wizard of all time and whose past friendship with him meant that he knew Grindelwald better than arguably any living person, acknowledged Grindelwald to be evenly matched, with Dumbledore describing himself as perhaps a shade more skilful. As a former master of the Elder Wand, Grindelwald's already formidable abilities were further enhanced by the artefact's legendary powers, allowing him to perform spells that would be more powerful than otherwise magically possible.

"Now, it pains me to say it, because — well, I don't like you. But... you are the only wizard who is his equal. I need you to fight him." — Torquil Travers regarding Grindelwald's skill to Albus Dumbledore[src] Gellert Grindelwald points his wand SODM Grindelwald with his wand Magical mastery: Grindelwald was noted to be very talented and skilled while still a student of Durmstrang Institute, and acknowledged later in life to be nearly evenly matched with Albus Dumbledore, having been every bit as brilliant as his former friend in their youth, albeit a shade less skilled. In fact, their magical and intellectual prowess were so complimentary to one another that it induced the two young men to quickly befriend each other in their youth. By the mid-1920s, the immensity of Grindelwald's power were already clearly evident, having proven himself to be easily capable of overcoming any obstacle presented to him by witches and wizards trying to end his reign of terror, to the point where even Torquil Travers of the Ministry of Magic in London, despite his personal dislike of the man, reluctantly had to acknowledge that Albus Dumbledore was the only wizard alive who could stand any chance of defeating Grindelwald. By the time of what unbeknownst to Grindelwald himself would soon become the dawn of the Global wizarding war, much of the international wizarding communities had come to concur with him, pleading for Dumbledore to take action. At the time, the evolutionary leader in question had successfully terrorised much of the wizarding world and had a huge number of followers at his command. Indeed, Dumbledore himself recalled that the height of Grindelwald's power was such that it would have been "too shameful to resist any longer. People were dying and he seemed unstoppable", which ultimately prompted Professor Dumbledore to finally put aside his personal feelings and fears, and to finally seek out his old friend and to put an end to his reign of terror once and for all. Grindelwald was ultimately defeated by Albus, though it must be noted that according to contemporary accounts, their displays of power and skill was of a standard that few had ever seen before in the history of wizardkind, and their famous duel in 1945 went down in history as one of the greatest duels ever fought between two wizards. Dark Arts: Grindelwald was incredibly proficient and talented in the Dark Arts, and became the most dangerous Dark wizard of the early 20th century. Even as a student, Grindelwald's talents were already great enough that, coupled with his passion for the Dark Arts, his exploration and practice of such magic were already very dangerous, even nearly fatal to the fellow Durmstrang students, and eventually, his "twisted experiments" became too dangerous for even Dumstrang's tolerant outlook on the Dark Arts, resulting in his expulsion.[33]​​ While seventeen, Grindelwald was already adept at casting the extremely powerful Cruciatus Curse, notably using it against Aberforth Dumbledore.[34] Grindelwald again used the Cruciatus Curse on Jacob Kowalski in 1932 in Bhutan, which hurt him rather badly.[27] While impersonating Percival Graves and duelling Newt Scamander, Grindelwald used an unknown dark spell that unleashed fissures of force and another that emitted a bolt of lightning to torture him. During Battle in the Lestrange Mausoleum of 1927, Grindelwald conjured an incredibly powerful protective ring of dark fire, which he was able to manipulate to an extraordinary degree, effectively turning the defensive spell into a devastating weapon, killing many enemy Aurors present. He also nearly killed Newt and Theseus with a concentrated tendril of the flames. In addition to his use of the black fire to obliterate the bodies of his enemies by burning them to ash, said flames also served as a magical protection of sorts, as it was a variant of the Shield Charm, easily repelling Theseus's attempts to stop Grindelwald from killing his fiancée and Tina's curse after Queenie joined him. Grindelwald was even able to shape it into a huge winged fiery demon of such potency that it was capable of potentially destroying all of Paris, requiring the combined efforts of Nicolas Flamel, Newt and Theseus Scamander, Tina Goldstein and Yusuf Kama to dispel it. Grindelwald also attempted to kill Credence Barebone in 1932 with a green spell (which was possibly the Killing Curse).[27] Necromancy: Grindelwald appeared to have some knowledge of necromancy, being that in his youth, he believed he could create an army of Inferi with the Resurrection Stone. As an adult, Grindelwald was able to wandlessly reanimate a Qilin and bend it to his will, making the Qilin bow to him, which it never would have done under its own free will. However, this reanimation appeared to be only temporary as the Qilin body turned limp and then lifeless shortly after Grindelwald's deception was exposed. Intellectual genius: Grindelwald was not only a great wizard, but also possessed a tremendous level of intellect, considered by most to be just as brilliant as Albus Dumbledore. Indeed, Grindelwald and Dumbledore's intellects were so complementary to one another that according to Bathilda Bagshot, even after spending an entire day in intellectually stimulating discussions with Grindelwald, Dumbledore would still unexpectedly send Grindelwald messages by owl right after sudden ideas struck him, with him having to let Grindelwald know of them immediately.[33]​​ As an adult, Grindelwald became an exceptional strategist and tactician, whose expertise was perhaps best shown by his ability to start a massive revolution on his own, gathering a large amount of followers to establish a new wizarding world order, and strategically overwhelming much of the wizarding world to the point that Dumbledore's tactical advice ultimately proved fruitless, requiring Dumbledore's direct intervention to finally put an end to his For the Greater Good revolution. For instance, Grindelwald was highly adept at taking advantage of the discontent of those members of the wizarding world that harboured anti-Muggle sentiments: In fact, when European Aurors began to target and kill his followers, and Torquil Travers employed the same policy of suppression and violence against Grindelwald as Bartemius Crouch would later use against Lord Voldemort and his Death Eaters decades later, rather than yielding measurable results like Crouch did, their efforts instead backfired in spectacular fashion, as Grindelwald was able to frame the narrative of his rise to power in such a way that said tactics only served to further stoke a hatred against Aurors and sow further division between his followers and the opposition, both to garner sympathy for his cause and to turn the steadily growing Alliance against the established order of things. Other examples of Grindelwald's uncanny ability to create complex and carefully-woven plans to achieve his goals was shown, among others, when he managed to think his way out of his blood pact with Dumbledore by formulating a master plan to investigate the Obscurial attack on New York unhindered, with the intent of using the Obscurial in question as a lethal weapon again his former friend. This he accomplished when he removed President Picquery's right-hand man, Percival Graves, from the playing field, and infiltrated the MACUSA by assuming his identity. Grindelwald also proved to be a consummate actor, multitasker and investigator, as during his time disguised as Graves, Grindelwald was able to perfectly mimic his personality and American accent, and limit his magical abilities to be only on par with Gravesæ own, as well as convincingly and effectively carry out Graves' many duties, while also gradually managing to locate the rampaging Obscurial, all without arousing suspicion. Grindelwald demonstrated his brilliance yet again when he orchestrated an escape plan cunning enough to outwit even the experience of Rudolph Spielman, whose position as Head of Incarceration meant he was accustomed to dealing with highly dangerous criminals. During his Paris rally, Grindelwald succeeded in convincing almost all of the many attendees to join his cause, who immediately went to spread his propaganda, as well as the continued use of unnecessary force by Aurors, across the wizarding world after Cassius Bell, one of the Aurors in Theseus Scamander's squad, killed one of their numbers. Charisma: Even as a young man, Grindelwald was highly talented in manipulating and inspiring others, such that he was able to manipulate the extremely intelligent and perceptive Albus Dumbledore into agreeing to accompany him as he embarked on his revolutionary endeavour to overthrow the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy, halted only by Aberforth's timely intervention. As an adult, Grindelwald's skills in manipulating others grew even further, with Theseus Scamander describing him as a "charismatic blighter", and Grindelwald successfully convincing numerous wizards and witches to join his cause during rallies, to the point where he would receive a standing ovation at his Paris rally for simply making a "public" appearance, being hailed as a hero by his fanatical followers. What was more, Grindelwald was effortlessly able to manipulate Credence Barebone into trusting him, doing so by playing the role of a kind mentor to Credence after assuming the identity of Percival Graves, to the point that Credence was completely unaware that Grindelwald was merely using him. He was also shown to be confident that he could eventually get Credence in his Obscurus form to listen to him, which made him enraged when he was seemingly destroyed by MACUSA Aurors. Indeed, Grindelwald was ultimately even able to manipulate the young man to his side by presenting himself as the only one who could give him the answers he wanted, and finally gifting Credence with a proper wand, thus finally succeeding in earning his full confidence. Grindelwald was even able to persuade the kind-hearted and compassionate Queenie Goldstein to join his ranks, by promising to provide Queenie with the freedom to love and marry Jacob Kowalski, as well as to provide that freedom to others. An outstanding orator, Grindelwald could charm a fanatical following in hundreds of people at once, to the point that he trusted his new followers to "spread the word" of his ideology across the wizarding world. During his time in prison, the MACUSA was forced to cut out Grindelwald's tongue, as he kept convincing his jailers to join his side, notably thus swaying the formerly loyal MACUSA employee Abernathy. Indeed, only people with truly incorruptible moral codes, or with a full acceptance of their past sins, were able to resist Grindelwald's charisma. Grindelwald calling followers Grindelwald calling his supporters Leadership skills: Confident in his own abilities and secure in his own judgement, Grindelwald was a very self-assured individual, and his considerable abilities and brilliant mind both allowed Grindelwald to become a greatly inspiring revolutionary leader. ​​During his younger days, he felt certain that together, he and Dumbledore could start his revolution to conquer the wizarding and non-wizarding worlds. As an adult, Grindelwald proved his leadership by raising and leading a vast army of followers during his For the Greater Good revolution to establish a new wizarding order. So effectively, in fact, that Grindelwald successfully sparked the Global wizarding war across much of the wizarding world, and very nearly conquered the magical community, to the point that Albus Dumbledore ultimately saw the need to personally confront him. While disguised as Percival Graves, Grindelwald demonstrated his leadership again by taking over the latter's high-ranking positions in the MACUSA as the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, and the Director of Magical Security, doing so for an extended period of time without even President Picquery suspecting anything. Duelling: Gellert Grindelwald was a duellist of extraordinary skill, with only Albus Dumbledore and Lord Voldemort surpassing his level of ability. Even as a teenager, Grindelwald was already highly proficient in magical combat, having been trained in duelling and all manner of martial magic at Durmstrang Institute. Able to hone his skills to match his exceptionally high potential, Grindelwald became a fully confident, focused, disciplined and versatile practitioner of combative spellwork. In his late teens, he held his own against Albus and Aberforth Dumbledore simultaneously during their three-way duel at Godric's Hallow, and later ​​​​​effortlessly won the Elder Wand from its previous master, Mykew Gregorovitch, with a single stunning spell when he stole it from his workshop. As an adult, he earned a fearful reputation having killed many witches and wizards during his reign of terror in the wizarding world. Though quite capable of performing magic of great destructive power, as seen in the Battle in the Lestrange Mausoleum, he would sometimes prefer to engage his adversaries in a more traditional and formal manner of combat. When he did this, he could display a surprisingly defensive duelling style, deflecting his opponents' efforts with perfect ease and slowly advancing upon them before delivering the crushing blow, in order to take in the awe with which they observed the immensity of his power, but when duelling Newt Scamander, Grindelwald also used an aggressive duelling style, only once defending and constantly attacking his opponent. He also presumably overpowered Percival Graves, so he could disguise himself as him and infiltrate MACUSA. While impersonating Graves, Grindelwald still displayed considerable skill. Upon being unmasked, Grindelwald not only fended off many MACUSA Aurors simultaneously, seamlessly switching between offence and defence to both repel and attack his opponents, but he also quickly started to overwhelm them, until Newt intervened and restrained him from behind. Grindelwald later escaped from captivity, defeating many broomstick-mounted Aurors, and took control of the Incarceration Carriage. Later, he overcame the combined might of Theseus himself, as well as the highly skilled Tina Goldstein, Newt Scamander and Leta Lestrange, the latter of whom he killed. During his reign of terror, Albus Dumbledore was considered by the British Ministry of Magic to be the only duellist capable of overpowering and capturing Grindelwald alone and, at the height of his power, the only one who could defeat him, with much of the wizarding world pleading with Dumbledore to confront him. Indeed, although he was ultimately defeated by him, he was notably able to end their first duel in a stalemate, and their final duel went down in history as among the greatest ever fought between two wizards. Defence Against the Dark Arts: While he seldom employed his skills in this field, usually instead employing the Dark Arts themselves, Grindelwald proved exceptionally knowledgeable and adept in how to defend against them as well. This was demonstrated when Grindelwald posed as Percival Graves, who was an extremely skilled Auror and the Director of Magical Security with therefore undeniably great skills in safeguarding the North American wizarding community against the Dark Arts and perfectly imitated Graves's defensive expertise without arousing the suspicion of even President Picquery. Moreover, Grindelwald proved quite capable of using non-dark martial magic to devastating effect, as shown by how he could cast Stunning Spells strong enough to instantly knock out targets and also use Shield Charms of massive size capable of repelling a coordinated attacks from about thirty seasoned Aurors with relative ease. GrindelPower Grindelwald decimating Theseus Scamander's men Charms: Grindelwald was extremely skilled in charm-work. Albus Dumbledore noted that both he and Grindelwald could already effectively render themselves invisible without needing to use an Invisibility Cloak during their late teens, possibly with the Disillusionment Charm, which is a tremendous feat. This made the Cloak of Invisibility the Hallow that Grindelwald was least interested in, though he continued his search for it only because the Cloak completed the trio of legendary artefacts. Grindelwald also enchanted a necklace with the symbol of Deathly Hallows, a necklace that he gave to Credence, so that the latter could summon him by touching it. Later, Grindelwald used the Elder Wand to project images of Credence and the Obscurus. Grindelwald skill was such that he could cast several minor spells both non-verbally and wandlessly to a great effect: disarming Newt and Tina and summoning their wands, as well as Newt's case to him, before levitating them alongside Jacob, and slamming them down; summoning the magical orb containing the Obscurus from Newt's case; levitating Credence away and even levitating and throwing a car, all with mere gestures. Grindelwald later instantly made the wands of the Aurors inside his Incarceration Carriage reverse direction and hover dangerously in front of their owners throats. He took down several Aurors following him with the Tempest Jinx, and effortlessly unlocked the door to the Incarceration Carriage. Grindelwald also displayed phenomenal mastery over the Shield Charm, capable of instantly conjuring up massive magical shields with ease. Indeed, Grindelwald's Shield Charm was powerful enough to repel a barrage of spells fired at him by around thirty trained Aurors simultaneously without fail. After his rally, Grindelwald also drew up an incredibly powerful protective ring of fire around himself, which he proceeded to bewitch so that only those truly loyal to him and his cause could pass through it unscathed, with those insufficiently loyal to him, such as Krall, instead disintegrating from the fire. After his failed efforts to conceal the fact that he killed and revived the Qilin to fraudulently be sworn as Supreme Mugwump, Grindelwald proved fully capable of deflecting spells even from Albus, blocking a powerful jet of red energy while also advancing on him and casually deflecting a blue spell from him, and he also used a variant of the Shield Charm to create a spherical barrier around himself that was able to block multiple spells launched by several powerful wizards and Aurors simultaneously, including the likes of Theseus, Yusuf, and Liu Tao, albeit with some damage. While disguised as Graves, Grindelwald locked the door to his office with a powerful charm that Queenie was not able to break. In addition, he was able to brand Dumstrang with his symbol and enchant it to make it forever irremovable, even after his death. He could also at least conjure a non-corporeal Patronus,[12] despite being a dark wizard. Grindelwald also could extract memories, as he removed Yusuf's memories of Leta's death. Elemental magic mastery: Much like his former friend Albus Dumbledore, Grindelwald was extremely accomplished with the manipulation of the elements, particularly fire, lightning, and water. When fighting off five European Aurors, Grindelwald unleashed a huge white fiery blast that incinerated them in an instant. Moreover, following his rally, Grindelwald was able to conjure an incredibly powerful ring of black fire that he was able to manipulate to cast columns of fire fast enough to reach Aurors in mid-Apparition, and the animated fire could shape itself into a fiery winged demon capable which nearly destroyed the Mausoleum. In his brief duel with Newt Scamander, Grindelwald generated shock-waves of blue lightning that quickly knocked down Newt, before using the same spell to torture him. While escaping his flying Incarceration Carriage, Grindelwald blasted massive lightning bolts to dispatch the handful of broomstick-mounted Aurors tasked with escorting it, and then easily manipulated the waters of the Hudson River to flood the carriage, nearly drowning all those inside. Care of Magical Creatures: Grindelwald was fairly knowledgeable and adept on handling magical creatures, particularly dark ones, having managed to tame the baby Chupacabra placed in his cell to guard him by the Magical Congress of the United States of America and had even named it. In fact, the affection and loyalty Grindelwald had inspired in said creature was such that it attacked Rudolph Spielman, whom it recognised as Grindelwald's enemy, while leaving Grindelwald's follower, Abernathy, alone. Grindelwald was also able to recognise a baby bird as a Phoenix, and, with his awareness of the legend of a Phoenix coming to the aid of a Dumbledore in need, Grindelwald managed to persuade Credence Barebone that the latter was actually Aurelius Dumbledore, somehow quickly accelerating the Phoenix's growth in the process. Grindelwald also had no problems mounting the Thestrals of his Incarceration Carriage, directing them, while simultaneously defeating many broomstick-mounted Aurors. However, as expert Magizoologist Newt Scamander noted, Grindelwald did not bother to train himself to be an expert in handling simple magical creatures due to being more tuned towards complex forms of magic, which is how Newt was able to use his Niffler to steal Grindelwald's blood pact vial without him noticing. Grindelwald heals Credence's hand Grindelwald healing cuts on Credence Barebone's hands Healing magic: Grindelwald had an immense understanding of healing charms, being able to heal the cuts on Credence Barebone's hands wandlessly and non-verbally, by simply touching them. Indeed, Grindelwald's mastery and knowledge was so great that with the Elder Wand, he was capable of restoring Abernathy's cut-off tongue, returning his ability to speak. He also healed the physical injuries he had inflicted on a then recently of deceased Qilin to coneal the fact that it was no longer alive before reanimating it to make it bow to him to rig the selection of the new Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards so he would win the election.[27] Transfiguration: Grindelwald was incredibly proficient in this field, and his ability and knowledge on the complex area of Human Transfiguration was sufficient to transform himself into an exact replica of Percival Graves for an extended period of time without his disguise fading, without him needing any Polyjuice Potion.[35] He easily transfigured the reigns of his Incarceration Carriage into living snakes, vanished Rudolph Spielman's wand, and was able to non-verbally conjure a new forked tongue for Abernathy after his escape. Grindelwald disapparates Grindelwald Disapparating from Lestrange Mausoleum Apparition: Grindelwald was extremely skilled in Apparition, capable of Apparating with pin-point precision and speed, even while in a quickly moving frame of reference, as shown by how Grindelwald had little trouble dodging the violent attacks of Credence's huge Obscurus by rapidly Apparating, how he easily Apparated to the bottom of his speedily flying Incarceration Carriage (while disguised as Abernathy), and then to the top of the carriage from the bottom. Occlumency: Grindelwald was an incredibly accomplished Occlumens, being able to fully conceal his thoughts from the exceptionally talented Legilimens Queenie Goldstein while under the guise of Percival Graves.[36] He also was capable of using a convincing form of Occlumency that would made a Legilimens attempting to read his mind see faux thoughts, as shown while turning Queenie to his side, he concealed his ulterior motives from her regarding the subjugation of the non-magical population, with promises of granting her the freedom to marry and be with the No-Maj Jacob Kowalski. Even in his older days, and having been imprisoned for fifty-three years in Nurmengard, Grindelwald remained very proficient in the art, as even Lord Voldemort himself, who was the most accomplished and powerful Legilimens alive, was unable to penetrate Grindelwald's mind to gain information in his search of the Elder Wand, having to resort to verbal interrogation in an attempt to learn more of the Elder Wand's current whereabouts. History of Magic: Grindelwald was highly knowledgeable in magical history and lore, with particular specialisation in the portions of it that pertained to powerful magical artefacts, such as the Deathly Hallows and Wandlore. For example, Grindelwald knew that Ignotus Peverell, owner of the Cloak of Invisibility, had been laid to rest in Godric's Hollow. Grindelwald was also aware that in order to become the master of the Elder Wand, he needed to not only steal it, but he also had to defeat it's previous owner. Seemingly from his knowledge of Wandlore, Grindelwald was able to create a unique wand for Credence that allowed him to channel the extraordinary power of his Obscurus. Moreover, Grindelwald was highly knowledgeable of both past and current histories of the Sacred Twenty-Eight families, as he knew about the ancient abandoned Lestrange Mausoleum in Paris, and was aware of Leta Lestrange's backstory, and was possibly even able to uncover the identity of Credence Barebone before Albus Dumbledore did, despite the latter's extensive network of international contacts. Study of Ancient Runes: Grindewald was also very knowledgeable and well-versed in the magical study of Runology. He was capable of translating and understanding the meanings of complex runic scriptures, alphabets and symbols, often using the help of a highly useful and practical Rune Dictionary.[12] Grindelwald sharing his vision Grindelwald sharing his vision in the Lestrange Mausoleum Divination: Grindelwald was a Seer[37] and thus had a naturally excellent level of expertise and knowledge on Divination. He could retain awareness when seeing his visions in order to be able to know what he saw and was able to craft a skull-hookah capable of enhancing his visions and using it to allow him to share them with others. The sheer strength of his gift was displayed by how while still twelve years prior to the beginning of the Second World War, he already predicted it in detail and thus used his Skull-hookah to project fearsome images of the future Blitzkrieg, Holocaust, and nuclear bombings, for attendees of his rally to see. However, when he had a vision about the existence of a powerful Obscurial linked to Credence Barebone, Grindelwald initially misinterpreted his vision, believing that Credence would lead him to the Obscurial child while in fact, Credence was the Obscurial himself. However, it should be noted that he had not anticipated such a miraculous thing happening as Credence is the only known Obscurial ever to have survived past the age of ten. He would also rely on Astrology, and use the relative positions of celestial bodies to try and gain further insight into future events, possibly in an effort to pinpoint at what point in time his predictions would be taking place, and kept a copy of the Atlas of Celestial Anomalies at Nurmengard Castle to help him interpret his findings.[38] In 1932, he killed a Qilin and saw Dumbledore holding their blood pact at Hog's Head Inn, and Theseus and Newt going to the Hog's Head Inn to see Dumbledore. He also saw visions of Yusuf Kama going to Nurmengard, Dumbledore going to Bhutan. He also saw a vision of Jacob Kowalski pulling out his coreless wand to threaten him, with Vinda next to him. At the end of his life, Grindelwald claimed foreknowledge of Lord Voldemort's arrival to his prison cell, which might be another instance of Grindelwald's power of foresight. In addition, Grindelwald's prediction of Voldemort never fully mastering the Elder Wand proved correct, and would cause Voldemort's own demise during his final duel with Harry Potter. Wandless and nonverbal magic: Grindelwald was extremely skilled in both wandless and nonverbal magic. While posing as Percival Graves, Grindelwald swiftly Summoned Newt Scamander's wand and suitcase over to him, both with a silent wave of his hand. Grindelwald also wandlessly lifted Newt Scamander from the ground from across the room and then made him, Tina Goldstein and Jacob Kowalski simultaneously drop to their knees with their arms locked behind against their backs, all with a silent hand gesture. When he interrogated Newt shortly thereafter, Grindelwald Summoned the protective orb containing an Obscurus by silently gesturing it forth. He later saved the life of Credence Barebone from an oncoming train in the New York City Subway by hurling the young man sideways off the tracks with a wave of his wand-free hand. Grindelwald was even able to send an automobile flying across a street at Tina with a silent wave of his hand. By using only silent hand gestures, Grindelwald generated forceful shock-waves to move and otherwise exert force on people and objects, notably being able to break apart the ground by sending a shock-wave rippling through a street, and later performing this on the train tracks Newt was standing on, to knock him down. Grindelwald later overwhelmed twenty MACUSA Aurors simultaneously without speaking a single incantation. Grindelwald also healed the cuts on Credence's hand by silently running his own over it. While escaping his Incarceration Carriage, Grindelwald simultaneously reversed the direction of Aurors' wands, making them point at their own throats, and disintegrated Spielman's wand. He subsequently defeated all of the remaining Aurors (along with Head of Incarceration Rudolph Spielman) by non-verbally using the Elder Wand. After he threw Spielman out of the carriage, he dropped a wand after him and, just before his captor was about to hit the water, made said wand fly into the latter's hand by doing a clasp-like movement with his hand, while both Spielman and the wand were quickly falling through the air. Grindelwald also used wandless magic to accelerate the growth of a baby Phoenix to adulthood in an instant, as well as to, both wandlessly and nonverbally, show to others his visions of the future Second World War with his skull-hookah. When angered, he manipulated water to attack Credence with just a meagre wave of his hand. Indomitable willpower: Grindelwald had tremendous willpower, as despite the immense task of building a large army by himself after Dumbledore abandoned their plans, Grindelwald remained dedicated, and ended up successfully raising and leading among the most powerful forces of darkness ever fought by the wizarding world, very nearly emerging victorious in the Global wizarding war. Moreover, Grindelwald was capable of remaining steadfast and focused in his tasks. Even after learning Credence Barebone, who he had previously tossed aside coldly, was the Obscurial, which made recruiting him rather difficult, Grindelwald calmly continued to try to recruit Credence to his side, despite also having to chase after him through New York, and also fend off Newt and Tina in the process. When Grindelwald learned that Credence was still alive, he quickly resolved to take advantage of the fact that Credence was unaware that the cruel, verbal mistreatment he got from Percival Graves had actually come from a disguised Grindelwald. As such, he promptly began seeking Credence out again. Grindelwald also showed no fear when the MACUSA successfully imprisoned him, instead mocking Newt Scamander and President Picquery to their faces. His spirit remained unbroken after six months of MACUSA imprisonment, since Grindelwald was so effective at persuading his jailers to join his side, that President Picquery ordered her men to cut out the Dark wizard's tongue. Indeed, Grindelwald's calm, yet unbreakable resolve greatly contributed to how persuasive his international rallies were. This was demonstrated when Grindelwald did not react violently after one of Theseus Scamander's Aurors killed one of his followers, so as to show the rally attendees that it was the Aurors, not the cause he advocated, that were truly violent, and were therefore truly to blame for the Global wizarding war. Grindelwald was even capable of facing up to his fears, as he valiantly fought Dumbledore after the pact was destroyed and during their legendary duel fought him to the end until he was finally defeated by his "shade more skillful" ex-lover. Even after spending fifty-three years in Nurmengard following his defeat, Grindelwald, while the contemplation of his crimes did weigh on him, causing him to supposedly feel remorse for all he had done, he was as confident and fearless as ever when visited by Lord Voldemort. Indeed, despite being defenceless against the greater Dark wizard, who possessed a far greater capability for evil and destruction along with power and skill superior to Grindelwald's own, he was not intimidated and instead sadistically mocked Voldemort's efforts to get information out of him about the Elder Wand, daring the younger and more powerful Dark wizard to kill him, in a last attempt to find redemption for his crimes. Acting skills: Gellert Grindelwald proved to be an extremely consummate actor. Examples of this were when he successfully mimicked Percival Graves's behaviour to the point that he didn't arouse suspicion from even President Picquery, who would've undoubtedly spent a lot of time with the normal Percival Graves, as he was the Head of the MACUSA Department of Aurors. He also successfully mimicked Abernathy without arousing suspicion when he escaped MACUSA after six months in prison. Physical aptitude: Grindelwald, while middle-aged during the For the Greater Good revolution, was remarkably fit and agile, as he was easily capable of keeping his footing and holding his balance on top of the roof of the Incarceration Carriage, despite its very swift flight through heavy rain, and could nonchalantly drag the full adult Rudolph Spielman with a single hand despite Rudolph's struggles. Moreover, despite physical degrading while imprisoned in Nurmengard, Grindelwald still survived in that prison for fifty-three years.