I have a couple of ideas that I thought of, however, I wanted to see what everyone else thought.

I wanted to know what the alternatives were to breaking him out of prison. The idea I am leaning towards is having some of the dark pureblood families in the Wizengamot voting to have him sent to Azkaban. During the transfer one of them would masquerade as a guard and get him a wand.

Thoughts?

 

He's not under British jurisdiction in canon.

 

You really ought to look into Numengard and Grindelwald. Like T3t said, he's not under British jurisdiction. In fact, Numengard isn't even a functioning prison outside of imprisoning Grindelwald in its highest tower. IIRC, there aren't even guards, but wards and other forms of magic keeping Grindelwald from escaping, or from others breaking him out.

 

It wouldn't really be surprising if the Malfoys and Blacks knew Grindelwald sympathizers in the German govt would it? They could plan with them to to do the same thing, no?

 

What possible reason could they have for breaking Grindelwald out?

 

Yes, I suppose so, but why do something now, after almost forty years of doing nothing?

If they did know Grindelwald sympathizers, you'd think that those sympathizers would have tried to get Grindelwald out already, which means that they already tried and failed. What would be different this time?

I really don't know much about the Grindelwald plot in HP, as it was a mere blip in my reading, but those are questions that need to be answered.

 

Albus Dumbledore is many things. An idiot is certainly not what he is. If breaking out Grindelwald was that easy, it really is an insult to Dumbledore's magical skill.

As for you query @Vandy, I sense that you are searching for a believable way to break out Gellert for your story. Just because JKR wrote the entire HP series depicting Britain does not mean that Britain is the only country with wizards. Gellert Grindelwald is a continental Dark Lord unlike Voldemort whose decades of campaign only resulted in having pseudo control of the ministry for like 1 year.

I can't see other ministries agreeing to move Grindelwald. The best idea for you is to introduce another wizard with the near equal amount of skill and magical power as Albus Dumbledore in the Dark Wizard community. That still would have holes as he would declare himself to be the next Dark Lord if he existed.


Another idea is a HUGE distraction like the near collapse of the ICW. The ministries would be busy dealing with the mess to bother with an imprisoned old man who is probably half-insane.

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Clearly you haven't read Vandy's story Heir of Regulus T3t. Personally, I think the story needs a title change. The current one sounds a little retarded seeing that there isn't going to be a blood-adoption or anything of that sort.

 

You can basically do whatever you want with Nurmengard, the blank slate that it is. However, a prisoner transfer stretches my disbelief a little far. You would need to fill the magical governments of Europe with massive amounts of Grindelwald supporters to get the plan passed. The status quo is too nice, and the alternative too terrifying, for the common bureaucrat to get within ten feet of this plan.

But you can still do something like that plan. You just have to get rid of the voting. Instead, have some Grindelwald supporters on the inside (or perhaps the British wizards in disguise) find a legal loophole of some kind with whoever is watching over the prison (there has to be someone who keeps an eye on it to make sure Grindelwald hasn't left, even if the prison is run entirely on magic), and have that loophole get Grindelwald outside of the prison. The hard part is finding out how you make such a loophole believable, but that's for you to figure out.

 

No matter how you orchestrate the Grindelwald break out, it needs to be believable. Breaking out Grindelwald in The Black Heir was the the best I've run across.

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If I were Grindelwald, I would put Abraxus and Arcturus under the 'cruciatus' for not breaking me out earlier. While prison affected Grindelwald, I am sure he could produce a decent enough 'crucio'.

 

If you're going to describe a prison break in a story, you owe it to readers to make it worth reading about. Either it's complex, difficult, heroic, and inspiring (think Count of Monte Cristo, Shawshank Redemption, Papillion, The Great Escape, etc.), or skip the specifics and leave the means by which he escaped ambiguous.

 

After doing a little bit of research I have come to two conclusions.

1) There is no mention anywhere regarding which country possessed jurisdiction over Grindelwald. We can assume, however, that it was not England since he was placed in the prison he built - residing in Germany (which is still speculative as some say Bulgaria). Since his reign of terror spread over all of Europe, a reasonable assumption would be that he was in custody of the ICW and not a particular country. The ICW would also make sense because Dumbledore heads the ICW as supreme mugwump, which would have likely given him the authority to place him in Nurmengard.

2) As Callagan stated, Nurmengard is a blank slate. All we know is that it is either located in Germany or Bulgaria, it was used for political prisoners during Grindelwald's reign, it had anti apparition wards, high walls, the motto "for the greater good" posted outside the prison, and that it was abandoned once Grindelwald was captured - being placed in the highest tower. HP wiki actually assumes that there were probably at least a few guards and several other magical protections.

I will work on a reasonable idea regarding Grindelwald's release based on this knowledge and the logical assumptions that can be derived from the given information. If anyone has any general ideas I can work off of, let me know.

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I certainly do intend on making it difficult, somewhat complex, and possibly heroic/inspiring (depending on which characters are used).

I am not going to be ambiguous. I am going to take steps that would seem plausible/"realistic" in the wizarding world. That would lend credibility to the premise and the heroic, complex, and difficult elements of the break out (if it is a break out).

I was hoping to find some way in which the ministry would actually release Grindelwald, but there seems to be no political actions that could possibly be taken to render that a plausible scenario. I am now assuming that there are probably a few guards under watch, heavy magical protections, and that Grindelwald is in custody of the ICW. I would like for their to be some political pretext, but its proving to be difficult. I will keep working, if you or anyone else has any general ideas I can work off of let me know.

 

For breaking out of a magical prison, there is always the Codex Alera. I believe it's Academ's Fury.

Also, drawing from real life, the Stasi prison Hohenschonhausen is in the middle of a residential district in East Germany. It has walls that are 15 feet tall and towers a bit taller, but honestly from three blocks away you'd never see it.

It is pretty much the epitome of "hiding in plain sight". Also the tortures there were impressive. Might want to consider reading up on it.

 

Well, kmfrank, you wrote Escape to Darkness. It's been a while, but I think it's the only Grindelwald breakout I've ever really seen. You should update.

Damn, now I wanna read a "Somebody-breaks-out-of-jail" fic. Prison Break style.

 

In terms of mechanics, having GG free himself by fashioning a wand would seem to do the trick, at least starting things in the right direction for a prison break scene. Here's one way to play it:

As a precautionary measure, suppose Dumbledore insisted that the contents of the cell be stone and steel, no wood (wood can be used to fashion a wand, after all, and steel/iron may be considered among the most magically inert substances). In canon, it's left ambiguous whether the Nurmengard prison is entirely automated, with no human or creature guards. Suppose it is. After decades of trying, GG manages (by <insert creative means>) to lure a fairy into the cell. It's technically feasible for magical beings to fly to the cell--Voldemort flew up to his cell in canon, after all. He slays the fairy and tears off its wings, which have magical properties in canon. He then applies a tourniquet to his left arm just above the elbow and severs his limb, implanting the fairy wings within the radial bone.

C'est voila, a wand. Not a great one, mind, but adequate to facilitate an escape in a manner few would anticipate. After that, you can do the whole tension thing with evading guards/clockwork golems, getting past additional magical protections Dumbledore placed after his capture, etc.

 

It'll be the next thing I update. I've got some great scenes in mind for the next chapter.

 

I will certainly look into that, thank you. I read your story and it was quite good. I am approaching his release from a different angle though - breaking out himself vs being broken out by somebody else

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One thing to consider is if he ever got a trial. At least under the Wizengamot Charter of Rights, everyone is entitled to a trial and a witness (though it didn't stop them from throwing Sirius in Azkaban)

ICW might be different, but there is no list of laws, rules, or regulations of the ICW anywhere.

 

Dumbledore obviously had a hand in Grindy's capture and was likely the one to say, "I shall place my beloved Gellert in the tallest tower of our former love castle and he shall have the finest enchantments watching over him night and day until the end of time!"

 

Arcturus Black and Abraxas Malfoy cannot break Grindelwald out by themselves, or by bribing people or any other method. The best they can achieve is making sure that Grindelwald receives a wand or the materials needed to construct a wand. Grindelwald being the big bad Dark Lord he is, might have some working knowledge over wand construction.

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Or sending a wand to the cell of Gellert Grindelwald using a rat animagus, bird animagus or a snake animagus for that matter.

 

If all fails, there is always the Deux Machina family spells of Blacks or Malfoys which can bypass the wards of Nurmengard. :fire

This is a discussion thread CheddarTrek. Put forth your ideas.