Did Voldemort Kill Grindelwald?

When talking about franchises with memorable villains many will immediately think of the Harry Potter franchise and its noseless big bad. Until the recent addition to the franchise in the form of Fantastic Beasts movies, many fans were only vaguely aware of Gellert Grindelwald, who is the original dark lord of the wizarding world. Luckily, for all curious fans, we actually get to see did Voldemort really kill Grindelwald.

Voldemort kills Grindelwald sometime before the Battle of Hogwarts. He sought out the legendary wizard amidst his search for the Elder Wand. Once they are face to face and Grindelwald refuses to help him and all but mocks him, Voldemort unleashes a curse and kills him.

At the first glance, this may seem like an out character decision for Lord Voldemort. Wouldn’t he be better of keeping Grindelwald alive and as an ally? After all, two dark lords will definitely be better than one. If you would like to know more about this interesting unfolding of the plot, keep reading.

Does Voldemort kill Grindelwald?

As it was already stated, Voldemort did in fact kill Grindelwald. In March 1998, Voldemort visited Grindelwald in the tallest tower in Nurmengard, where he was imprisoned after his defeat by the hand of Dumbledore.

Nurmengard was a prison Grindelwald built to imprison his opponents. The castle is located in the Austrian Alps and after his defeat, the castle served only as Grindelwald’s prison. He was located in a small cell in the highest tower of the castle.

Voldemort visited him because he believed Grindelwald will reveal the location of the Elder Wand to him. Voldemort deeply desired the Elder Wand as he believed the wand would aid him in destroying Harry Potter.

Throughout the time Voldemort established himself as the most powerful wizard that not even Dumbledore had the means to stop. Considering this it’s understandable why Voldemort was angered by Harry’s constant ability to dodge all his attempts to destroy him.

Voldemort couldn’t quite figure out what was it that helped Harry achieve this. The only thing that made sense to Voldemort was that Harry’s wand was the only thing that could enable him to consistently overpower him.

To combat this Voldemort tried many different things but ultimately decided that the only way that would help him kill Harry is the wand that has no match.

Grindelwald was known for his obsession with the Deadly Hallows in general and as the previous owner of the Elder Wand.

 Grindelwald became fascinated by the Deadly Hallows sometime before he met Dumbledore. After researching them more, Grindelwald concluded that they will aid in achieving his goal of ruling over the muggles and the wizarding world.

The Elder Wand came into his possession after he stole it from the famous wandmaker Gregorovitch, who was trying to replicate it to create a wand with similar properties. He used it until he got defeated by Dumbledore who possessed it from that point on.

Once he arrived Grindelwald told him that he was waiting for his arrival as he suspected Voldemort would seek him out. After he refused to give away the location of the wand Voldemort struck him with the Killing Curse.

Why did Voldemort kill Grindelwald? 

Voldemort believed that Grindelwald will give him all the necessary information, but that is not how their meeting played out. Grindelwald would not reveal any information and he even resisted Voldemort’s torture. As time went on Voldemort grew more frustrated and after Grindelwald proclaimed that he will never truly have the wand which caused Voldemort to kill him.

To many, this act may seem out of character, since Voldemort would undeniably benefit from having him on his side. However, there are a few reasons why Voldemort did not want to keep him alive.

The most obvious one is that Lord Voldemort did not want a follower that could potentially be more powerful than him. After all, it’s a well-known fact that Voldemort was afraid of Dumbledore and Grindelwald was at the very least as powerful as Dumbledore. This means that Grindelwald was surely more powerful than Voldemort. If you would like to read more about how Voldemort and Grindelwald rank against each other check out our other article.

This can be further proven by the fact that despite the fact that Grindelwald was separated from the rest of the world for more than fifty years, he still knew who Voldemort was and exactly why he came, due to his extensive seer power.

Another reason is the fact that Grindelwald started mocking Voldemort based on the information he got from his visions and his lack of wand lore knowledge. His lack of knowledge was apparent to Grindelwald since he could conclude from his questions that Voldemort did not know how the ownership of the Elder wand worked.

Voldemort also did not know about the legendary duel between Grindelwald and Dumbledor, a story which at that time everyone knew. The knowledge of this story could have helped him in his quest.

Another reason and perhaps the most important one is their fundamental difference in ideological views. While it is true that both wizards strived for power that would allow them to rule over the wizarding and muggle world, there are a few very important differences in their agendas.

For starters, they had different motivations for achieving their ideas. Grindelwald wanted to achieve wizarding supremacy and a world in which wise and powerful witches and wizards would rule over both wizarding and the muggle world. Voldemort on the other hand wanted to establish an order in which pureblood wizards would be at the top.

Their views on the appropriate way of achieving this goal were also quite different. While Grindelwald didn’t seek out destruction and; if possible; spared lives, Voldemort ultimately stopped at nothing while trying to achieve his goal. 

This is best illustrated through the difference in the way these wizards acquired The Elder wand. Grindelwald simply stunned Gregorovitch and then stole the wand while Voldemort killed Snape, who he believed to be one of his most loyal servants.

Finally, by the time these two met Grindelwald was a changed man who let go of many beliefs he had before his imprisonment.

Who is Grindelwald to Voldemort? 

Although it was speculated Grindelwald and Voldemort are not related in any way, at least it is not stated anywhere, but given the fact that J.K. Rowling seems to be rewriting her work these days, anything is possible.

Voldemort was born to a muggle father and a witch mother. His mother came from the Gaunt family which is famous for being descendants of Salazar Slytherin himself.

We do not know much about Grindelwald’s origin, except the fact that he was either Russian or German. The only thing we know for sure is that he was pureblood since he attended Durmstrang, a wizarding school that did not admit mugglborns.

The only thing that ties these two wizards together is that they existed in the same. Grindelwald was born in the early 1880s and Voldemort was born in 1926, right in the middle of Grindelwald’s rise to power. Grindelwald died in 1998 shortly before Who is Grindelwald to Voldemort? Voldemort’s defeat.

The only thing that truly binds them together is the fact that people viewed them as the two most powerful dark wizards in the history of the wizarding community. 

For the most part, wizards viewed Voldemort’s work as a continuation of what Grindelwald was trying to achieve a few years prior. This is also visible from the fact that confrontations in the wizarding world during Grindelwald’s rain are referred to as the Global wizarding war and the ones led by Lord Voldemort as the First and the Second Wizarding war.

Although their ideologies differed from one another their planes were based on pretty similar actions. Both wizards wanted to overturn the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy. The state is a wizarding law put in place officially in 1692 to protect the wizarding world from the muggles by concealing the existence of the wizarding community.

Both wizards also wanted to rule over muggles, the only difference between the two is the light they in which viewed muggles. While Grindelwald believed in wizarding supremacy he did not look down on muggles the way Voldemort did. Voldemort wanted to bring muggles to their original purpose of serving wizards.