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PORTRAYAL CLIFFNOTES – VERSION II

Basic Pages:

  • Shipping & Gellert VS JK’s Idea Of The Gay
    The second link is a rant in the form of a headcanon, however for anyone interested in shipping, both of these are enormously important notes to read, because seriously, two middle fingers way, way up to canon. And also, Gellert is a lizard.

Important Portrayal Details:

  • Concerning Mathematics & Portrayal Notes
    These pieces outline the most important historical events in Gellert’s timeline, ranging from expulsion from Durmstrang and Ariana’s death, obtaining the Elder Wand,marriage and children, building Nurmengard and finally, imprisonment.Also a firm reminder that Gellert is not a racist and would never insult someone based on magic or lack thereof. Friendly reminder his eldest child is a squib herself.
  • The Greater Good
    There are consistent references to “The Manifesto” and this is a breakdown of precisely what Gellert’s idea of the Greater Good happens to be.

  • What Makes Gellert ‘The Darkest Of All Time’ (Until Voldemort!)
    Why despite being an idealist with good intentions who does bad things on occasion, Gellert is considered unforgivably evil and what his actual crimes happen to be. Also a bit on his moral stances on Things People Should Never Damn Well Do.

  • Prejudice
    Gellert has prejudices, despite his Greater Good ideals. Here’s a list on How To Make Gellert Hate You.

  • Personas
    THIS IS CRITICAL TO UNDERSTAND: Gellert is not a good actor. He is a phenomenal costume designer and took three tries to get this shit right in Tristan Hollow. The personas are non-people. This is critical in understanding ‘what’ – notwho– Percival Graves is on this blog.

  • Credence & The Wizarding World vs. Credence
    This is important shit if you happen to play Credence; please give these a glance if you play him. TL;DR though:

    MOVIE GELLERT: ‘You’re a squib and unteachable and will never have power, your mother is dead, that is your reward.’

    THIS GELLERT: ‘She was right under your nose this entire time and you didn’t tell me? Did you think you were protecting her? Well now your mother’s dead, there’s your reward for your cleverness’

    Very different, equally shitty tactics. My Gellert will actively fault Credence with the assumption that Credence knew all along who the obscurial was and was keeping it from him (surprise, he’s technically not wrong.) He will pin the fault of Mary Lou’s death on Credence to guilt him into silence while he thinks and tries to unearth Modesty, but at no point will he insinuate a lack of magic therefore makes Credence less of a human being.That’s not how my Gellert thinks. As it is clear the films seem to be angling for unapologetically racist Gelllert, chances are not a lot of what comes next will be affecting this blog at all.

BELOW THE SURFACE EVERYONE IS PRETTY COMPLICATED. BASED ON YOUR ANSWERS, WE THINK THE FOLLOWING THREE TRAITS ARE IMPORTANT STRANDS IN YOUR PERSONALITY

AMBITION

You have a strong sense of potential and an intense drive to accomplish difficult things. The core of this is your ability to hold together the big goals and the daily efforts. Where other people’s hopes collapse when they encounter the tedium of the journey, you keep coming back. Oddly, it is actually your ability to endure feeling unheroic that counts. You know the power of working away solidly on what’s in front of you.

RATIONALITY

You like clarity and intelligent simplicity and you get frustrated at messy thinking. This can make you seem unreasonably pushy to some, but it is actually a virtue: you are motivated by a horror at pointless effort and a longing for precision and insight into how things and people work. Your ability to synthesise and bring order is essential in producing thinking which is truly helpful.

SENSITIVITY

You have delicate, sensitive perceptions; you can be deeply moved by appearances – the right light in a room, or good food, or the texture of a piece of clothing. Expressive, intelligent language has a powerful hold on you; your mind works better when it is inspired and provoked by vivid imagery. It can be sad to live in a world which is often so ugly and not properly looked after. But you know that things can be otherwise, and you have the ability to appreciate the world at its best.

☁ : DESCRIBE HOW THEY WOULD SPEND A STORMY, OVERCAST/RAINY DAY

Ideally, he would spend it working on paperwork, legislation or reading. When Anita was five she had a fascination for rain that found him playing outside with his daughter while his wife managed things in the house or at work, which has lead to a sense of warmth on rainy days that was never there before. It’s not uncommon to catch him gazing over a mug of something warm and observing the raindrops, a faraway look on his face and a minute, almost hidden smile on his features.

If the situation is not ideal, one can expect to find him in the field, working – be it for the MLE of Britain or America, for his work as an apothecary or his work during the war. If rain does not permit him to be idle then he will not be; Gellert rarely affords progress to be halted simply because weather proves unfavorable, unless said weather could cause greater danger to those involved in the work at the time.

♥ : NAME ONE THING ABOUT THE WAY THEIR EMOTIONS WORK THAT THEY DESPISE.

Gellert’s temper displays itself in feats of raw magic – and while this is something age does help him learn to manage, the fact remains his magic becomes extremely temperamental when he is in a high state of anxiety. He is an exceptionally powerful wizard and his control grants him potency; however on a raw and base level his magic is actually rather difficult to tame by conventional methods.  

This is something that deeply horrifies Gellert, not simply because of the fact it is cripplingly embarrassing to be a fully grown man and experience a lapse in magical control, but because he is such an incredibly powerful wizard these displays are nearly always devastating and have, on one occasion, proven fatal.

It is not until Gellert is in his early thirties that he can control these outbursts of energy enough to clear an area before they are released, ensuring that any and all damage taken is absorbed by inanimate objects and property only. It is in fact the advent of his children that is what fully affords him this much control; by the time he is in his fifties, he no longer experiences raw magical outbursts.

💘 What are the ways my muse says ‘I love you’ without actually saying it?

The biggest one is his observance and willingness to tend to your needs upon his own initiative. Gellert is a man who believes that actions speak louder than words, which in turn results in a lot of physical manifestations of care as opposed to verbal ones.

He’s the guy who takes his jacket off and wraps you up in it when he notices you seem cold, who brings you a hot cup of your favored warm beverage when it’s late and you’re still working, who reaches out and tucks a tag or even a bra strap out of sight in the event it peeks out when you’re busy and haven’t had time to notice.

Over the course of his marriage, Gellert was consistently doing small things like this, and he made a habit of bringing his wife a bouquet every week – but never on the same day, in order to keep some surprise to it. More often than not these bouquets held hidden messages as well.

While he was very vocal with the children, ensuring that they knew they were loved because he understood from his own experience the importance of hearing it while they were young, with his wife love was exchanged in touches and gestures, and only ever spoken in times of duress, usually in a whisper against skin.

ONE DAY, A FRIEND ASKED, “WHAT WOULD YOU HAVE DONE IF MODESTY HAD ACTUALLY BEEN THE OBSCURIAL?”

What would he have done? Was that not painfully obvious? “I would have put my research to the test and attempted to sever her from the obscurus without taking her life in the process.” Then, he would have taken the creature to Albus, though the greycloak hardly needed to know that.

“After which, I would have ensured she understood Credence’s role and ensured the two of them were settled together in more appropriate housing, where they could be helped. I myself am hardly equipped to raise a little girl or help a young man overcome years of abuse, but I do know many good people and would have ensured them an understanding home before taking my leave of America.”

Once the obscurus was obtained and the loose ends wrapped up, he had no true reason to stay, after all.

A prison guard asked, “What are your top 5 biggest regrets?”

“The death of Ariana,” That first, fateful event that changed the course of all things for him, falls from his lips without a second thought.

“Refusing to heed Mehmed and simply leave Gellert Grindelwald behind.” The second, a far more convoluted situation. The man who took in his daughter frequently insisted that Gellert kill himself as he had killed the persona of Kay Hunter, and spend a life under a new name and face. This was always rejected, because Gellert didn’t want to have to go so far, didn’t wish to don a mask for the rest of his life if he could just clear his name.

“Losing Credence,” Had he been more patient, had he taken more care, perhaps that boy could have been saved – and perhaps, his own name cleared and new hope and possibility in place for obscurials and potential obscurials.

“Allowing my name to fall into synonym with Dark Wizardry and blood fascism,” had he jut allowed himself to be arrested after Ariana’s death and testified – perhaps he would have lived a very different life, one where changes could have been brought forth, without them being colored distastefully by radical fools who misinterpreted his message.

“Never finding a way to relieve Albus of his guilt.” And they come back full circle, to the tragedy that changed everything.

GELLERT & MUSIC

  1. Gellert’s favorite genre of music falls somewhere between neopaganist folk andorchestral; he isn’t fond of much else though the American jazz period did catch him for a brief while during the time he was there. He enjoys music in his native language, as well as traditional Scandinavian songs if he is feeling particularly lively. Otherwise, he prefers orchestral scores and the odd opera.

  2. Gellert enjoys listening to music when he cooks, or as a background noise as he reads. His household was filled with music when his marriage was new and his children young, before things fell apart. He and his wife would often dance in the livingroom together, and he often danced with one of his kids in hand as a means of play during those halcyon days.

MORE ON THE CHILDREN OF GRINDELWALD

  1. Anita Marie was Gellert’s first child, named in subtle reference after Ariana Dumbledore, for his wife knew there was no reason for them to have a child named Ariana, the allusion was one held between the two of them that served as a balm on Gellert’s soul. The first time he held his daughter, Gellert was so overcome with emotion that he wept as he rocked her, unable to speak as Florence watched with a tired smile.

  2. Anita was a year and a half when the twins, Galahad and Solomon, were born. Gellert had not believed he would ever feel a love as great as he did for Florence when Anita had been born into the world, but she proved him wrong entirely in the advent of their boys.

    He often fell asleep in a nest on the floor with one in each arm during the early days when sleeping through the night was beyond their concept, often with Anita in his lap so that Florence could get the most rest.

  3. Anita was six and the boys were four when Gellert desperately hid them among his contemporaries and disappeared from their lives in an effort to protect them. Though he saw them often, it was under the crafted visage of Tristan Hollow, whom they believed was their uncle. The children never came to know their father was Gellert Grindelwald.

  4. Gellert encouraged a bilingual household, so his children grew up speaking English and Swedish, something his contemporaries ensured continued throughout their lives. Anita would eventually speak French as well, while Galahad would pick up German and Norwegian, Solomon would pick up Turkish and Hungarian.

  5. Solomon became a healer and Galahad grew up to be a famous werewolf hunter, as many countries counted such an act as legal if highly dangerous, though the business ultimately lead to his death and Solomon’s decision to distance himself from their adoptive family.

    Anita became a primary school teacher. As a squib despite the power of both her parents, she worked hard to help magical children and parents of them to adjust to the new world when the eleventh year struck.

COOL MOTIVE  –  STILL MURDER

By 1926, Gellert holds himself responsible for the following deaths.

  • ARIANA DUMBLEDORE. Though she was an obscurial by the headcanons going here, Gellert wholeheartedly believes his fight with her brothers exacerbated the situation to the point that she died.

  • TWO GRINDELWALD FANATICS. These men have no names, and Gellert has no intention of learning them. They used his name to cite a riot and caus mayhem against a small Muggle community that was later obliviated. In the subsequent raid on their headquarters, Gellert’s wife was killed. In turn, he killed one of these men while still going as Kay Hunter, and returned as himself after securing his children away in safe holds to kill the other.  

  • KARL BERNHARD. Karl’s death was an accident, and one Gellert will never forget. The two were friends of sorts, though they often argued about the greater good – Karl was not certain a government with wizards and muggles could be feasible and often cited antimuggle rhetoric in his arguments. During one such altercation Gellert became so incensed that his magic lashed out in pure force, slamming Karl against a brick wall with enough force to crush him. It was this incident that forced Gellert to learn greater control over his wild magic when his temper is flared.

  • EMMA PAYNE. A journalist who was intent on speaking with him to get an inside look at the ‘real Gellert Grindelwald’ certain the scoop would make her career if it also led to his subsequent arrest, he botched her trap and pushed her to make his final escape. She tripped on her own heel, which broke, and her head hit the concrete at a terrible angle. Her death was an accident, and he regrets it dearly. Her DNA is one of the ‘ingredients’ in the Percival Graves persona.  

By 1945, Gellert will have killed 15 more fanatics and been responsible in part for the deaths of three other individuals. Among whom he counts Credence and Chastity Barebone, though interestingly, not Mary Lou.