Unfortunately their times of planning were short-lived. Albus had an unstable sister, Ariana, and a brother, Aberforth, that hated the attention that his older brother was giving his handsome companion. (In later years he bitterly calls them both “bright and talented” - I’d claim Aberforth as someone who would not in any way try to make Grindelwald look good, since it’s clear that he dislikes him immensely, so any such compliments can be believed.) An argument started resulting in Gellert torturing Aberforth with the Crucio (a curse that causes great pain) and Ariana gets somehow caught between Albus, Aberforth and Gellert’s fighting - one of their spells hitting and killing her. It is never established whose spell did it and none of them seem to want to know the truth - but Gellert leaves in a hurry, back to his homeland. Soon after this he starts on his quest to find and unite the Deathly Hallows, in order to begin his plans for bringing wizards out of hiding and get them into a better position of power - now without Dumbledore.
Sometime within the next ten years Gellert finds the Elder wand and (as mentioned above) steals it from Gregorovitch, which results in the wand's "loyalty" reverting to him, surprisingly without any bloodshed considering many people were murdered to get a claim on this particular wand. He never finds the other Deathly Hallows but within the next forty years he gradually gets himself into a dominant enough position that he is considered a threat, at least in Europe. It is said he avoids Britain due to Dumbledore, reasons unclear. Common thought is that he is scared of the also powerful Dumbledore but knowing his real history with him it's more likely he doesn't want to face him for more personal reasons.
I want to note that even though he does appear youthfully impulsive he must be patient enough not to just jump in and try some sort of instant takeover, even once he has the special wand. He isn’t at full power/any real known threat until he is in his sixties.
Many stories circulate about Grindelwald during the 1940's - horrible stories of torture and murder and "atrocities". Much of this could be propaganda but it's likely that he also did much of what he did in order to bring about his ideal world - for the greater good. This banner was also emblazoned across a prison he built for his enemies (mostly political prisoners and leaders of rebellions against him, I would surmise) - Nurmengard. It's unknown whether this prison saw any actual prisoners at this time.
There were pleas to Dumbledore to try to stop Grindelwald's "reign of terror" - but most people did not know that these two knew each other as teenagers, it was only because Dumbledore was considered a powerful wizard, so considered strong enough to stop the "most dangerous dark wizard" at that time. It took Dumbledore five years to finally, reluctantly, face Grindelwald in a duel. The duel is mentioned a few times though no specifics are given - it was supposed to be legendary and spectacular but, again, knowing their history, it could well be that they merely had a conversation and, with reasoning, Dumbledore had Grindelwald hand over his wand to him - perhaps mind-modifying any witnesses otherwise to make it all more plausible - since it‘s kept a public secret that they used to be friends. The duel itself is all speculation but the result was that Grindelwald ends up in his own prison of Nurmengard - locked in the topmost tower and apparently left there for over fifty years.
Again it's unknown how he was treated day to day but his appearance at age 115 is frail and skeletal. He is then confronted by Voldemort, looking for the Elder wand. Gellert laughs at him and says that there is much he doesn't understand. He is defiant and strangely still vibrant to the last, when he is struck dead with Voldemort's Killing Curse. A welcome relief in some ways. Dumbledore probably would have been kinder to kill Gellert in their own duel, instead of imprisoning such a free spirit for so long. Even so, Gellert appears to have coped remarkably well mentally and emotionally, even if his body has been ravaged by obvious neglect.
Gellert Grindelwald || Harry Potter || Reserved || 3/??
Unfortunately their times of planning were short-lived. Albus had an unstable sister, Ariana, and a brother, Aberforth, that hated the attention that his older brother was giving his handsome companion. (In later years he bitterly calls them both “bright and talented” - I’d claim Aberforth as someone who would not in any way try to make Grindelwald look good, since it’s clear that he dislikes him immensely, so any such compliments can be believed.) An argument started resulting in Gellert torturing Aberforth with the Crucio (a curse that causes great pain) and Ariana gets somehow caught between Albus, Aberforth and Gellert’s fighting - one of their spells hitting and killing her. It is never established whose spell did it and none of them seem to want to know the truth - but Gellert leaves in a hurry, back to his homeland. Soon after this he starts on his quest to find and unite the Deathly Hallows, in order to begin his plans for bringing wizards out of hiding and get them into a better position of power - now without Dumbledore.
Sometime within the next ten years Gellert finds the Elder wand and (as mentioned above) steals it from Gregorovitch, which results in the wand's "loyalty" reverting to him, surprisingly without any bloodshed considering many people were murdered to get a claim on this particular wand. He never finds the other Deathly Hallows but within the next forty years he gradually gets himself into a dominant enough position that he is considered a threat, at least in Europe. It is said he avoids Britain due to Dumbledore, reasons unclear. Common thought is that he is scared of the also powerful Dumbledore but knowing his real history with him it's more likely he doesn't want to face him for more personal reasons.
I want to note that even though he does appear youthfully impulsive he must be patient enough not to just jump in and try some sort of instant takeover, even once he has the special wand. He isn’t at full power/any real known threat until he is in his sixties.
Many stories circulate about Grindelwald during the 1940's - horrible stories of torture and murder and "atrocities". Much of this could be propaganda but it's likely that he also did much of what he did in order to bring about his ideal world - for the greater good. This banner was also emblazoned across a prison he built for his enemies (mostly political prisoners and leaders of rebellions against him, I would surmise) - Nurmengard. It's unknown whether this prison saw any actual prisoners at this time.
There were pleas to Dumbledore to try to stop Grindelwald's "reign of terror" - but most people did not know that these two knew each other as teenagers, it was only because Dumbledore was considered a powerful wizard, so considered strong enough to stop the "most dangerous dark wizard" at that time. It took Dumbledore five years to finally, reluctantly, face Grindelwald in a duel. The duel is mentioned a few times though no specifics are given - it was supposed to be legendary and spectacular but, again, knowing their history, it could well be that they merely had a conversation and, with reasoning, Dumbledore had Grindelwald hand over his wand to him - perhaps mind-modifying any witnesses otherwise to make it all more plausible - since it‘s kept a public secret that they used to be friends. The duel itself is all speculation but the result was that Grindelwald ends up in his own prison of Nurmengard - locked in the topmost tower and apparently left there for over fifty years.
Again it's unknown how he was treated day to day but his appearance at age 115 is frail and skeletal. He is then confronted by Voldemort, looking for the Elder wand. Gellert laughs at him and says that there is much he doesn't understand. He is defiant and strangely still vibrant to the last, when he is struck dead with Voldemort's Killing Curse. A welcome relief in some ways. Dumbledore probably would have been kinder to kill Gellert in their own duel, instead of imprisoning such a free spirit for so long. Even so, Gellert appears to have coped remarkably well mentally and emotionally, even if his body has been ravaged by obvious neglect.