I think (been a while since I checked the canon material) that Grindlewald was.

 

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'Mastery' would probably indicate extensive knowledge of dark magic, rituals, etc. Knowledge of horcrux creation doesn't hurt. In general, I would take it to mean extensive knowledge and use of magical practices that 'corrupt the soul'.

Yeah, the unforgivable this was a joke pointing out canon and some fanon's tendencies to make Voldemort look like a one trick pony, given that he uses Crucio and Avada Kedavra for everything.

Grindlewald was indeed referred to as a Dark Lord multiple times.

 

Does anyone have the books on hand to confirm whether or not Grindelwald was a Dark Lord? I have unfortunately given up my books to a charitable cause. I did perform a relatively extensive Google search, but nothing truly relevant came up. I did happen upon a strange fic entitled New Robes, and a brief reference (might have been an ezine article) that said Voldemort's followers gave him the moniker Dark Lord because his real name was so terrifying. It is possibly a simple continuation of a logical thought process beginning with Voldemort enjoying being a Lord and referring to himself as such.

However, if Grindlewald is a Dark Lord then the sketchy information I gathered is probably incorrect; although it is possible that Voldemort took up the title of Dark Lord, the title became public knowledge, and then passed into being as a title for any sufficiently dark wizard.

 

Hmm...this is what I've found using a search:

(PS).

Guess it's either implied that he was a Dark Lord, or Voldemort was given/took that title himself.

I'm unsure if he's called a Dark Lord by JKR herself in an interview (as she's given out a lot of additional canon information in such interviews that wasn't mentioned/seen/written within the books).

I guess that fan fiction liberty/creativity could include him as a 'Dark Lord'.

 

What other people consider monsters, beings of unrivaled magical knowledge and power, terrifying and threatening the country at large. That's what I think, anyhow.

 

IIRC Isn't it only Trelawney (via prediction) and Death Eaters that ever actually call him 'The Dark Lord'? I assumed that as he chose to use the anagram 'I am Lord Voldemort' and the Death Eaters didn't particularly want to walk around saying 'He-who-must-not-be-named' so they called him that. I don't think it's a title or something to aspire to, as such.

 

I always assumed that it was more ceremonial than anything else. You cast a lot of dark spells and torture a few muggles. You also happen to run an organization or have vassals. Ergo, Dark Lord. Voldemort just really liked the title, maybe. Appeals to his ideas of ubercool dramatic villainy.

 

He also called himself Lord Voldemort, whenever he changed to third-person arrogant.

To be a dark wizard of elite strength you must be very good at making people fear you by using magic. If the magic you choose to use is the tickling charm, and a huge mass of the Wizarding World still fears you, then you are a dark wizard who uses dark magic and that's horrible.

 

In my opinion, it's not a title given by society to a dark wizard of great power and evilness, but rather a title that Voldemort gave himself to feed his own ego.

What I mean is that it's not as if one morning the Daily Prophet's headline said "He-who-must-not-be-named reaches Dark Lord status", because there are no pecific characteristics of a 'Dark Lord'.

Of course, the dark wizard who claims to be a Dark Lord must at least have some characteristics that make the title believable, such as:

I think any dark wizard could call himself Dark Lord and be taken seriously if they have those characteristics.

 

All you need to become a "Dark Lord" is the desire to have such a title and the power to make everyone fear you enough to use that term when refering to you.

 

You need to read this.

Aside from that ,he needs an evil Henchmen(or girl):awesome

 

Puchuu.... :3


Well, I stand corrected. Cute pets are in the eye of the Dark Lord's opinion. (Good rec- thanks.)

 

I think it is as basic as a Dark Lord has followers making him a Lord.

 

So much this.

As was posted above, not even Grindelwald was called a Dark Lord. Just a Dark wizard.

The question is retarded, sorry. Saying "what are the requirements of being a Dark Lord" implies that "Dark Lord" is some kind of position or title which exists in some way and then people come along and take it up.

This is not so. The only "requirement" of being called "Dark Lord" is getting people to call you it.

 

It's true, in canon the 'Dark Lord' title means shit. Only the Death Eaters called him that, and only so as not to say You-Know-Who or He-Who-Must-Not-Be-named. Those two honorifics would probably cost them darkness points, for being too retarded.

In fanon the term was mostly used to name imbecilic sounding imaginary books, such as, "Dark Lords throughout the 20th century" and "The Rise and Fall of the Dark Lords".

There were, however, two instances of the title being used in an interesting and/or original way;

In the Sacrifices Arc a Dark Lord would be a lord-level wizard (meaning a wizard with a shitload of magic) who declared for the Dark (meaning ritually dedicating himself to a set of principles corresponding with the Dark itself: wildness,compulsion,solidarity,war,chaos).
The declaration would also provide perks to the lord in question, such as immunity to compulsion and full control of one's magic (which would not be guaranteed if undeclared).

In A Black Comedy, nonjon hinted that a Dark Lord was a step up from a regular dark wizard. In order to vanquish a Dark Lord, his antagonist had to make a sacrifice and possibly pay additional costs. So to beat Voldemort Harry sacrificed his mother's immortal soul, while to beat Grindelwald, Dumbledore sacrificed his ability to father children. And he couldn't fall in love as an additional cost. So no loving!buttsecks for him.

It always irked me that nonjon didn't expand more on this .. it had quite a bit of potential.
[the dark lord stuff, not the buttsex ]

 

It usually involves the electoral college.

 

As I understood it from canon, Voldemort is only referred to as "Dark Lord" by his followers. That would imply that it is an honorary title of sorts between Dark wizards. i don't think the general public would call him as such.
Fanfiction has beaten the Dark Lord title to death, again and again.

 

These were very informative as to the actual fanon use of Dark Lord. I do recall a lot of books using titles that implied there were multiple Dark Lords, which, apparently, made me assume, quite incorrectly, that Dark Lord was a much more common title than it really is.

My question has been answered along with a couple more that I never knew I had. This has been quite helpful clearing up a few issues I have with my story, and even made me catch a few mistakes that would have been quite embarrassing had they made it to the final draft. Thank you for the help everyone.

 

What defines a Dark Lord? A dictionary.