Did everyone forget about the part where Grindelwald is still alive? I could see Harry freeing him.... Maybe in order for him to help him kill Voldemort, after he killed Nathan or something like that. Or to create an alternative front to Voldemort and The OotP.

 

Since Harry's best friend hates Grindelwald with a passion, I can't see that happening at all.

 

Thank you Baise, but i did not ask you to fix my post, so in the future i would be thankful if you didn't, so PISS***

 

Did you read the description of Grindelwald in DH? The man is over a hundred years old and nothing but a sack of bones, that hasn't touched a wand in almost fifty years at this time. I doubt he can walk, never mind fight. At best he could be an intellectual support, if he's still lucid enough. Even that's a stretch.

And that's not even mentioning the fact that the man's locked up in one of the most secure prisons in the world.

Why would you want Grindelwald anyway, when you've already got Dumbledore?

 

Did you not read the description of Grindelwald in this fic? His body may be weak, but his mind and magic are as powerful as ever.

But I agree that right now there is absolute no reason for Harry to seek Gellert, let alone plan his release and something massive would need to happen to change that.

 

I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that it is 4th year now. People have been speculating about this for a long time, and it is only natural that they would really get excited about right now.

Also, infamous does not equal evil. You can be infamous for things that you didn't even do. Guys convicted of crimes that DNA later overturned have spent most of their lives being infamous without ever actually having committed a crime.

My personal theory is that Harry will be the one to kill Dumbledore instead of Snape. Durmstrang gets out early enough where he would have time to pull it off, and he has a very good relationship with Dumbledore even if most of it occurs off camera. I could see Albus thinking that Harry would be a worthy successor to such a wand.

Either that or we will see something similar to what happened in DH that book about Dumbledore. The whole world knows there is this insanely gifted wizard who can do things with a wand that most people didn't even know was possible and instead of fighting he is studying or traveling the world.

 

Well, to be fair, Dumbledore didn't really rise in prominence until he took down Grindelwald. Nobody cared that he was a prodigy in school. The only people who care about Harry Potter's scholastic achievements, are, well, scholars. The general public doesn't give two shits, probably.

 

Infamous means being famous for something bad, so either he does something really bad, or something does something that is seen as bad.
SO what if he becomes really capable at the dark arts, not only find useful alternative uses, but usage. SO find ways of reversing, enhancing, defending and returning dark arts. Any thing tom can do, Harry can do better.
Voldemort is famed for exploring the dark arts, furthering them beyond any one else. HE must have research and notes, who would have looked after his research, an elder supporter who they themselves have plenty of resources.

Please one day in the future, say in santi's own 19 years later epilogue, HArry is the Dark Arts or DADA professor.

 

Regarding the entire 'was Grindelwald a Dark Lord or just a dark wizard' thing... while the frog card may have called him a dark wizard in canon, in Santi's fic, he gets called a Dark Lord several times.

Krum refers to him as being one, so does the magazine article, so do Rosemburg & Kosarev, and the interlude chapter references him as a former dark lord as well.

There are also several instances where Dark Lords are mentioned (specifically how Harry isn't being trained as one despite the rumours, how Durmstrang isn't cranking them out, ect), so they must be a semi-regular occurrence in the magical world... though we don't know what defines one. My own theory is that it's because they've taken on a particular leadership role - the entire 'Lord' thing. But it may well be because of a particular level of power/skill (ie. Sith Lord), or perhaps a combination...

 

I think your conclusion doesn't quite follow from your observations. There are plenty of other things that could explain the use of "Dark Lord". For instance, it could be an anachronistic usage when used to refer to Grindelwald, following from Voldemort's use of the title. Similarly, people saying Harry is not "a Dark Lord" could be Voldemort-inspired.

 

It may be that I'm inferring it in backwards-chronological order, but since Santi doesn't provide any pre-Voldemort references, it's just conjecture. I'm basing my conclusion on how it's phrased in the various spots in the fic. What you're suggesting is that Grindelwald wasn't considered a dark lord until 20+ years after his defeat?


This suggests there have been some in other countries:

These are in the narrative, not dialog:

So are these two and it's being recollected by someone who was there in the 40's:

 

Yes, those are precisely the passages I mean when I say it can be explained as an anachronism.

The point is that there is no way to tell from the passage alone whether Grindelwald was described as a Dark Lord in his own time or if it's a label that's been applied to him since Voldemort popularised the term. Both cases would look exactly the same from our perspective.

 

So dark lords didn't exist until Voldemort came around & claimed the title; then historians went back and assigned the title to various dark wizards from the past?

 

That is more or less what I'm suggesting. Though I didn't mean it quite so systematically. It doesn't have to have been done by historians, nor does there have to have been some systematic sorting through of history to apply the term. It could simply be a matter of natural language changing with time. New uses develop, usually without a guiding force. This could be one of them.

Of course, it could be some sort of official/legal title that has been handed down the ages.

I do prefer my explanation though.

 

I've got to admit that seems unlikely.

 

Which part? If mine, well, it happens all the time.

For example, to use a similar real-world case: Julius Caesar is often described as a dictator. And it's true, he was a dictator. But the Roman sense of dictator was very different to what we consider the term to mean today. People take the modern category and impose it on the past.

 

I suppose Voldemort could have been the definitive Dark Lord, that influenced vocabulary in such a way that people attribute the title to others - there isn't anything specifically saying that isn't the case (though I respectfully disagree). I still wonder what set of attributes people assign these 'dark lords' to differ them from 'dark wizards', since I doubt anyone would refer to Barty Crouch or Lucius Malfoy as a dark lord.

I did find this though, which I think supports your point (unless my logic is off); on the chocolate cards no one is referenced as a Dark Lord - not even Voldemort. Maybe all it means is that the chocolate card argument can't be trusted in the first place to tell us whether Grindelwald is a DL or not.

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So he could have been a Dark Conquer rather than a Dark Lord? Or Der Dunkle Herr Grindelwald, which is virtually identical to a Dark Lord, but doesn't employ terrorist tactics?

We're only talking 30-40 years difference, across a fairly homogenous (European) Wizarding World. Not 2000+ years and very different social/political conditions, and a different/dead language. They're speaking German (Grindelwald's tongue), so why wouldn't they refer to him as they did 30-40 years ago. I doubt people called him 'that Grindelwald chap' back then.

is it bit of a chicken & egg argument... What came first, Der Dunkle Herr (german 'Dark Lord') or 'Dark Lord'... It's just as likely that Voldemort co-opted the title and took the Lord in 'I am Lord Voldemort' from someone else.

 

As I was reading your previous post Caesar was the exact example that first sprung straight to my mind as well.