hey everyone, was looking through my great uncles stuff earlier and i found a ski pin that said Grindelwald on it. I remembered that was the name of the dark lord Dumbldore defeated, so i thought i would look it up on the internet. and what i found out is that Grindelwald is one of the most famous Swiss ski and winter sport resorts. just wondering if anyone else knew of this. i think its kinda cool myself
benwa

 

Interesting. Maybe Rowling's a skiing fan? Or maybe she just made the name up...or perhaps she had a bad experience there, so she made it the name of the Dark Lord

 

Nah, that's how Dumbledore defeated him; by killing him, turning his corpse into a mountain and having Muggles ski on it for all eternity.

 

Many have made Grindlewald German. I guess this shows he was really Swiss, much like Hitler was Austrian

This goes to show there are no really evil Germans :mrgreen:

 

Grindelwald is a small skiing town up in the Alps. Its a beautiful place, I went on holiday a few years back, and has some terrific views of the valley.

Grindelwald probably chose his name because he liked the place, or cause he hid a horcrux or something in one of the mountains

No said he was very subtle

 

Well, I happen to live near Grindelwald, and it is a nice place. It just has lots of tourists... because of the Jungfraujoch (famous mountain)

But on the topic, it happens that the village has burned down already several times, (dry winds coming down the valley) so perhaps Dumbledore was responsible for that;-) when he defeated Grindelwald...

 

David Hasselhoff.

 

Not directly, but it does describe him as the Dark Lord Grindlewald. But the title Dark Lord is fairly vague, could have meant the shadowed side of the ski resort, for all we know.

 

It actually called him a dark wizard, not a Lord. But then, they are really the same thing, calling yourself a Lord is just a way Voldemort came up with to make himself feel more important.

 

Which means they haven't had a really bad Dark Lord for a good long time, or their standards are very low.

Who knows? They might consider Malfoy Sr. a Dark Lord...

 

Grindelwald is the toughest mountain to climb in Europe acording to professional mountain climbers. It was in the news around May of 06, because of a major landslide.

 

Perhaps the wizard Grindlewald came from the village of Grindlewald? After all, the historical Joan d'Arc was called that because she was a girl/woman from the town of Arc, so why not a wizard called after the place he came from, or was first actively dark wizarding?

Or possibility two, his real name was something utterly boring and forgettable, like Johnn Schmitt and he wanted soemthign more memorable.

Or maybe he was a foundling and someone found an unknown infant boy in the town of Grindlewald? or an older amnesic adult?

 

Joan d'Arc is not a good example, since back in those days, people didn't have last names, so they either had none or got a relevant title such as Peter the Miller or Adam the Smith. Or Harry Wizard

d'Arc means of Arc, so Joan d'Arc basically means Joan from Arc.

The foundling thing is quite possible. Or maybe he was an immigrant from somewhere. "Vito Andolini di Grindlewald"

 

He was an illegal Mexican immigrant.......
Wait no way!
I think he was just plain cool guy making dark rituals and kidnapping children for his ways when Albus killed him.

 

Like the cool guy on the street corner that gives the schoolkids candy.