Grindelward

[Mint]

hmm that is interesting! I totally forgot about Grindelward!!! I want to hear a story about him!!! May be JKR will publish another book of how DD defeated Grindelward....oh oh may be there will be another series "Albus Dumbledore"

[Mistress Siana]

Hm, the name Wilhelmina is definitely german, but it's very, very old-fashioned. Plank could be, but is very rare and Grubbly certainly is not!

the name Grindleward (sp) sounds very germanic...I am not sure if it is or not, since I am not an expert on germanic language, but it seems like it, doesn't it???

I'm not a expert either, but since I'm german, I'd say that Grindelwald is definitely german...wald is even a german word. Somewhere, I read that JKR studied french and german, so I think it's very likely that the connection with germany is intended.

[Mistress Siana]

Hehe, I had this vague feeling it would be in my lexicon. It's indeed someting very, very evil:

Grindelwald is a small town in Switzerland, which is very famous for winter sports!

[pinky p]

in switzerland, eh? could be coincidence, could not be. hmmm. perhaps dd defeated him in a ski race?

if grindelward was hitler, who would dumbledore be? churchill?

...

the wizards must have had some part in world war two... they are so closely tied to the regular humans, and that war affected so many people around the globe...

[Meg Boyd]

Hm, the name Wilhelmina is definitely german, but it's very, very old-fashioned. Plank could be, but is very rare and Grubbly certainly is not!

I am no expert on germanic names, but I the german exchange student at my school's last name is Plank, so it must be a somewhat german name, right? As for Grubbly it could be a married name, like the one of Wilhelmina's non-german husband????

[Mistress Siana]

perhaps dd defeated him in a ski race?

LOL!!! Just imagine that!!

Personally, I think that the fact that Grindelwald is a place in Switzerland, not Germany, (and even a rather famous one, even my mother knows it!) makes a connection between him and Hitler less likely. I don't know...maybe there is something in the history of that place we don't know about, but otherwise, I think a connection between any swiss town and Hitler would be in a pretty bad taste, wouldn't it?

Meg, you're certainly right about Wilhelmina...so, according to her name, she can be either of dutch, german, swiss or austrian origin with a british husband...personally I find the connection between her and the Queen of the Netherlands interesting, especially because she had to flee after the german invasion. If Grindelwald is really in some way connected to Hitler, there might be a sense behind it...but I dunno...I still doubt it.

[jarvan49]

quick question,

was grindlewad (sp?) killed or not. i thought it says that he was defeated, right. could he have taught voldemort about dark arts? he could have if he were alive, just defeated.

something tells me that this character may be important, even if he died, maybe his death is important.

[Mistress Siana]

That's interesting! It really just says he's been defeated, not killed.

It reminds me of a theory I read in another forum some time ago:
In an interview, JKR revealed the fact that the Death Eaters were once called the Nights of Walpurgis. So it the Death Eater circle had already existed long before Voldemort, he just managed to somehow become their leader. Maybe they were the followers of Grindelwald...??

[Meg Boyd]

MS, i agree...if I may go in to WWII allusions, but is it kinda like Nazis from WWII and the Neo-Nazi/Skinhead culture of today? Perhaps Voldemort was learned from Grindleward from afar by means of reading Grindleward's works then reviving his old ideas, including his old circle of followers???

[Mistress Siana]

Or maybe he learned from Grindelwald himself...as jarvan49 said, he isn't necessarily dead.

MS, i agree...if I may go in to WWII allusions, but is it kinda like Nazis from WWII and the Neo-Nazi/Skinhead culture of today?

I think the Death Eaters rather resemble the original Nazis. They have a structure very similar to the SS...some SS members even had the swastica burned into their left arm.