The Untold Truth Of Fantastic Beasts' Grindelwald

While Gellert Grindelwald took center stage in the "Fantastic Beasts" series, he was first brought to the attention of fans in the original "Harry Potter" novels. There, Grindelwald was referred to as the only Dark Wizard capable of rivaling the might of Lord Voldemort in his prime, and also being an unexpected ally of Albus Dumbledore in their youth.

The relationship between Grindelwald and Dumbledore provided a shock to "Harry Potter" fans when J.K. Rowling revealed that Dumbledore was gay and in love with Grindelwald in his younger days. Back then, Rowling implied that the relationship had been one-sided, because while Dumbledore had genuinely been in love with Grindelwald, the latter had only been manipulating Dumbledore's feelings for him to help in his search for the Deathly Hallows. "I think [Grindelwald] was a user and a narcissist and I think someone like that would use it, would use the infatuation," Rowling said in an interview with Melissa Anelli. "I don't think that he would reciprocate [Dumbledore's feelings] in that way."

This particular narrative was changed by the time the "Fantastic Beasts" franchise was being written. Here, we see that both Dumbledore and Grindelwald had genuinely been in love with each other in the past and continue to have feelings for each other. Another major change was the introduction of the magical "blood pact" that prevents Dumbledore and Grindelwald from fighting each other directly, which found no mention in the original "Harry Potter" storyline.