WIZARDING WORLD VS CREDENCE BAREBONE
I am going to slam down a lot of fandom meta here so bear with me folks.
Before we can discuss Credence, we first need to look at the enormous discrepancy between the Wizarding World and the Muggle World when it comes to social services. The Wizarding World does not operate the same way the Muggle World does – this much is made exceptionally clear on a lot of fronts, ranging from but not limited to:
- The fact that wizards live exceptionally long lives, yet canonically hold enormously powerful positions in government at very young ages. One can be the head of the entire legal department in one’s thirties while having the full potential to live to be one hundred to one hundred and fifty years old. Considering in the Muggle World you need four to seven years additional education before even getting into the field, let alone making a name for yourself and fully understanding due processes, my gosh that seems a bit strange.
- Absolutely no evidence of secondary education anywhere. Severus Snape did not have to attend any courses to become a professor at an extremely vaulted magical learning institution, and the rough equivalent of high school examinations qualify you for any job you want, while entry-level university tests can put you in line for hospitals and government jobs. The only canonical reference to apprenticeship is in wand-making, which is a craft trade so obviously that makes sense.
- Absolutely no evidence of government approved ( or otherwise ) social welfare programming. There’s mention of werewolf rights lobbyists and House Elf rights lobbyists, but there’s no mention of what to do about squibs and witches and wizards in Muggle homes; canonically we know that someone shows up and drops the bomb but there’s no mention of anything like a Wizard Studies Program or a workshop to help families integrate into a new society. There’s no mention of what to do about magical orphans, which canonically stay in Muggle orphanages. There’s absolutely NOTHING RESEMBLING FAMILY SERVICES in the Wizarding World.
And this is very important to understand, because as a Muggle I look at Gellert’s lack of interference in the abuse going on between Mary Lou and her charges and scream how horrible while Gellert sits here in my brainspace and goes – and under what fucking authority am I meant to do a goddamn thing, exactly?
And while I could dismiss this as my muse being his typically salty ass self justifying doing terrible shit – I have to still draw out the point, because how Gellert thinks, and justifies those thoughts and consequent actions, stems very much from the culture he comes from.
So then, Gellert, walking into Credence’s life, knows the following things upon meeting him:
- He will gain the trust of the obscurial and this is why Credence was sought out to begin with.
- This young man literally embodies the very reasons Gellert is fighting a war against the Statute. He carries latent magical talent in the most oppressive environment imaginable and this is what makes Credence IMPORTANT TO GELLERT ON A PERSONAL LEVEL.
Gellert’s focus was the obscurial, absolutely. Gaining Credence’s trust was important to achieving that end, but being kind to him was not. Gellert is very skilled at getting what he wants through intimidation and terror – he is literally the most powerful wizard of the age next to Dumbledore himself, he could have used Imperio. He could have used magic, he could have done a lot of things.
Instead, he chose to be kind. Credence embodied everything he was fighting for. It made sense to go the long way and earn Credence’s trust as a person, as a friend, because someone like Credence is exactly what Gellert needed to remember his own cause. But it never occurred to him to take Credence out of danger. It never occurred to him to report Mary Lou, or to step in, or to do something more proactive.
This was not deliberate cruelty; it simply didn’t occur to Gellert because that’s not how wizards culturally behave or think. They don’t interfere directly with Muggles. They don’t report abuse(An entire school was writing in blood and nobody told their parents. Other teachers healed this privately and didn’t report it. A student almost gets killed by a werewolf and is literally gag ordered by the Headmaster. Draco Malfoy reports an animal attack he personally provoked, but neither he nor his teachers inform his parents after he is illegally transfigured and SLAMMED AGAINST THE FLOOR REPEATEDLY while in a tiny squishy furry body that can easily bust under that kind of violence. Wizards canonically silence themselves against abuse. This is canonical culture. ) They don’t take children from homes or even orphanages, no matter how horrible ( Tom ) They do not respond to abuse the way that we do – that doesn’t mean they aren’t aware that it happens, it just means they do not interfere. Not because they are assholes, but because that’s simply not how things are done under the current government and Statute.
That thing Gellert is literally raising an army against is responsible (by his logic) for the fact Credence life is what it is. For the fact that Muggles fear magic to the point they hurt children over it. For the fact wizards degrade other human beings for not having it or for having a lesser amount. And Credence is a beacon to keep fighting that fight, to get hold of that obscurial and sever the obscurus, to make use of that devastating power and save a child in the process.
Credence is very important to Gellert. Extremely so. But that doesn’t mean Gellert won’t hurt him.
Gellert – for all his ideals – is a horrible man when his temper is flared. Did he go into this with the intention of hurting Credence, or with the belief that Credence was a lesser human being? HELL NO. Did he willfully manipulate a desperate boy into trusting him because he needed something? Yes. Was all of his kindness manipulation? Yes and no – there was true care in Gellert’s actions, he meant it when he told Credence he trusted him ( the significance of that Hallows necklace, Gellert’s personal creed and calling card, is enormous ) but there was also his goal. His goal of the obscurial, which never left his mind either.
Gellert was always aware that what he was doing with Credence wasn’t right on a whole, but he did it anyway. His actions of kindness were not altruistic – he meant them, but they were still self serving. I wholly believe things could have gone very differently ( and with my Gellert they very likely will ) but I also acknowledge Gellert is genuinely faulted enough to burn that bridge regardless of how much Credence means to him.
When it comes to cutting people out of his life, Gellert has been an expert since he was sixteen years old. No amount of love will stop him if it gets in the way of his goals. But that’s a rant for another time.
TL;DR: Gellert Grindelwald is a manipulative asshole who has mentally justified his manipulations completely. He comes from a culture where interference on abuse victims is simply Not Done. He meant it when he said he trusted Credence. Credence is important to him. But he’s still a douchecanoe.







