#it’s basically just grindeldore/grindeldore

[wistfulenchantress]

the moment when you realize that you want the couple to be happy, but also you don’t because actual romance is gross, tense opposite sides of a war romance is poetic and gripping. so if they make it work and end up happy, that ruins everything. but that’s what you want?

[animefanboy48]

Honestly fuck that whole: I'd die for you I'd kill for you thing

deqdpoolThe REAL ShlT iS: I'd die for you / I'd live for you

[quillkiller]

saw you posting about grindeldore and immediately went and stalked almost all your posts LMAOOOO. love them to pieces, they are so- literally my fav ship ever

i have been so severely mentally unwell about them lately… like they’re on my mind constantly. i recently read this fic and oh my god its SOOOOO. so fucking sick and twisted. me and kara kept sending screenshots to each other while reading it and then we made a grindeldore pinterest board … 🤍

^ from the fic i linked. my heart was in my fucking throat. in my THROAT.

AND THIS FROM THE BOOKS. FROM CANON. PERHAPS THAT LIE TO VOLDEMORT WAS HIS ATTEMPT TO MAKE AMENDS… TO PREVENT VOLDEMORT FROM TAKING THE HALLOW….

… OR MAYBE FROM BREAKING INTO YOUR TOMB?

oh i feel SICK!!!!!!!!!!! OR FROM BREAKING INTO YOUR TOMB? ARE YOU JOKING. THAT’S THE MOST ROMANTIC THING ANYONE HAS EVER SAID AND DONE. im going to throw up.

here’s my live reaction to the canon bits and pieces i was researching while texting kara.. 🤍

like. how are they not more of a big deal. just the canon material alone is fucking insane. it’s summer of 1899 and you spend two (2!!!) months together and it ends in absolute tragedy and haunts you for the rest of your lives. albus was basically raising his siblings by himself and allows himself one selfish thing and it gets so out of hand because he’s a teenager and he’s power hungry and greedy and wants to change the world. HE WAS JUST A BOY !!! HE WANTED OUT !!!! and it ends with your sisters death and your brother who can barely stand to look at you anymore but still dedicates his life to fighting by your side. who lives close to you your whole lives but doesnt want to see you. you end up becoming a synonym with ’good’ and you’re NOT. you’re not good. only knows grindeldore has to be stopped. and dumbledore keeps putting people in danger so that Evil wont win, even if it means sacrificing good and/or innocent people (re: first war, harry, draco, etc). HES IDOLIZED AND WORSHIPPED AND ADORED BY PEOPLE HE WOULD SACRIFICE IN A HEARTBRAT FOR THE ’GREATER GOOD’ THINKING IT GIVES HIM MORAL HIGH GROUND I FEEL SICKKKKCKKGKCKCK. IS ACTIVELY STAYING OUT OF POSITIONS OF POWER BECAUSE HE KNOWS HE CANT BE TRUSTED !!!!!! and the only person who really and honestly knows your heart and greed and rot and how goodness doesn’t come naturally for you is the boy you shared a passionate intense and world ending two months with. who has to be stopped. who wants so badly for you to join him. who’s heartbroken because you wouldn’t. who’s trying to do what you were supposed to do together. i feel sick.

[kazuza-art]

THE GRINDLEDORE REC LIST!

I love Grindledore! But I'm very VERY specific in my Grindledore love XD In this rec list, you won't find fluffy idyllic Grindledore summer fic or nice Grindelwald turning good by the power of love so be prepared!

so here is some of my favorite fic on the fandom! I hope you will give it all a try <3

One of my very fav characterisation of Albus but also of their couple; It insert itself perfectly into canon and feel so real. They never met in person during the fic and yet it's all about their shared love and messy divorce and poor Graves is the chest piece caught in between. Albus in particular is amazing there, charismatic, manipulative yet benevolent and playful, his arrogance, his grief, his desire to be forgiven, to do GOOD... It's beautiful

This fic really doesn't have the popularity it deserve so please guy give it a try!

A very good old Grindledore in love, reconnecting with each other in Numengard prison. They are old, hurt and traumatized and recovering. But it's beautifully written and full of little moment that feels so real. I love the idea of unrequited love taking away magic, it would be very interesting explore further.

Another one of the best long fic that doesn't have enough recognition. Albus freed Gellert from Numengard to fight a revolution against the corrupt ministry in the second war. Albus is slipping into the dark side while Gellert is trying so hard to refrain from falling back into his old travers. Old Grindeldore in love is always such a treat.

it is such a great GREAT AU, I have no words to describe how good it is.

Please give it a try guys!

A very long serie of AU fic that basically reconcile Grindledore from the fb3 following. It's very political, very well crafted and believable! Gellert doesn't turn magically a nice guy and THERE IS ANTON!! I'm dying for some anton/gellert/albus love triangle XD

this one is an ovni in the Grindledore sphere and I can tell I read every damn fic on this tag, even the Chinese one XD

It's good! I'm not a fan of her Dumbledore but somehow she sold me on it! It's an Au, modern AU type but within the HP world of magic. There is no war so ALbus pursue his career in the ministry and Gellert is an exchange student in politics. This fic is VERY VERY good. Very compelling. Another gem not very well known please take a look guys!

it's a wip that will never be finished I think but it was promising. It's basically what I want from grindledore, not that eternal summer of them but the greedy love-hate relationship in the middle of the war, enemi lover! oh I mourn this fic ç_ç

a super compelling AU where Ariana lives and Grindledore are left to navigate their complicated relationship and to reunite the hollow and conquered the world! Every side character is a gem, Ariana, Vinda, Abe! I just LOVE IT

(author has other very very good grindledore fic by the way)

I love Kierkegarden grindledore fic the best in general but this one is so dark and sad and terrible! Ah such a masterpiece! I wish canon Albus had truly seemed mind healer help and live an happy life, but would gellert let him

IM A HUGE FAN of Grindlewald trying to seduce ALbus as Graves! I wish more people would write that trop! This one is the best I ever read so far! so creepy XD

a twist of the Gellert win and attic wife albus trope! Gellert is the one being attic wife and it's DELICIOUS, I like all Kyrilu fics on Grindledore but this one was really fresh!

Please let me know if you have any good Grindledore recs and why you like them guys <3

[hollowed-theory-hall]

What are your favourite Harry Potter ships? 🙃

Honestly, I'm like, super picky about my Harry ships, and then with everyone else, it's like: "🤷‍♀️ yeah, you can get with whoever,"

As with all shipping discussions, these are just my personal opinions about various ships and they do change and evolve over time as I accidentally convince myself of more ships.... so, yeah.

For Harry:

Nottpott (Harry Potter x Theo Nott) is my number one (even if I wrote basically everything I read about them).

Tomarry/Harrymort is a pairing I do enjoy but it isn't my top pick for either of them (most of the HP fics I used to read were Tomarry/Harrymort).

Rarry — I like them as a concept, though I've never read fics for them and I don't want them together in canon.

For other characters, I have ships I have read fics about them:

Prongsfoot (I honestly believe one-sided prongsfoot is canon, I think Sirius was in love with James. Some of the evidence is mentioned here)

Jillypad

Snilly

Snirius

Then, I have the bizarre rarepairs I somehow landed on, but are near and dear to my heart:

Ron x Luna — I honestly don't know why, but it works in my head.

Sirius x Barty Crouch Jr — this one makes sense in my head, I don't think they have fics, but I have reasons for this, namely this post and its sequel. (I ship them post Azkaban, btw)

Tom Riddle/Voldemort x Alphard Black — I blame @iamnmbr3.

Sirius x Rabastan Lestrange — another ship I have no idea how I got into, but I'm here.

Ron x Susan Bones — yet another ship I somehow stumbled into that I don't think has a fanbase at all.

And then ships I like in canon well enough, but I never looked for fics about them:

Bill x Fleur

Romione

Remadora 

Jilly

Grindeldore (Just for the hot summer romance to tragedy pipeline)

Ginny x Dean (I think they were better together than Hinny, but that's probably just me)

Lucius x Narcissa

Bellatrix x Rodolphus

Molly x Arthur

Neville x Hannah Abbott

And ships I like well enough, but not enough to read fics about them that aren't canon:

Seamus x Dean (I was so close to place it in the canon ships)

Susan Bones x Hannah Abbott

Ginny x Blaise Zabini

Hermione x Terry Boot

I'm fine with most ships, honestly, like, there are very few ships I truly dislike, but these are the ones I like better off the top of my head, as I'm sure I'm missing some with my multishipper tendencies. (As you can see, I love the NPCs)

[ourgreatergood]

4 for the ask game

a story idea you haven’t written yet?

Too many lol. No, but I think the biggest one I have actually started and that’s kind of a grindeldore archeologist AU (?) - so hear me out, basically it’s just an excuse to have them travel the world, especially the Mediterranean together cause, you guessed it, I’m a classical archeologist BUT I make it magical.

Albus is on the Grand Tour with Elphias and in Poseidonia-Paestum he meets Gellert who is in a magical archeology program there. They meet by the temple of Hera and they talk all night about the etruscan runes and the ghosts of the temple and all. They meet again in Rome for the Saturnalia and really hit it off and like their backstory is still the same, Gellert was expelled from Durmstrang etc. and Ariana is still sick at home, but ofc Kendra didn’t die - hence Albus was able to go on the Tour.

I’m honestly not 100% sure where I’m going to go with it, whether Kendra will die or they’ll meet another Obscurial somewhere on the way and how the whole Greater Good thing will come into play, but I’ve written the first 3 chapters, so maybe one day…

Thank you so much for asking! <3

[lavenderqilin]

Part 3 of...

Grindeldore Facts/Things that live in my head rent free🌷🐝✨️

This one pops up in my head from time to time and I always just have the urge to crawl into a corner and cry uncontrollably...💀😭

It's the fact that the last thing Gellert did, was to sacrifice his life for Albus. :')

And the saddest part is that the last thing Gellert thought of was probably Albus. And I'm sure he also thought that Albus' grave was safe from being broken into by Voldemort, but he still got to it at some point. So he basically sacrificed himself for nothing. 🥲

I'm also pretty sure that Gellert was the last thing Albus thought of as well. Because a few minutes before his death he said to Draco: "Years ago, I knew a boy, who made all the wrong choices."

And ofc he could've been talking about Tom Riddle/ Voldemort, but I'm pretty sure he would've just used his name then. Because he was never afraid of saying Voldemort's name. So yeah... thanks for coming to my ted talk. :'D

[arale2126]

Cherik 「Jean-acquisition」 fic list

Went over my Pocket List and here is the list of dads!Cherik and Jean as their daughter.

For those who want to skip my personal ramblings: my absolute top top top favorites [one] [two] [three] [four]

— turning tables

I didn't even mean to search for Cherik fics at the time as I don't even ship them. The ship was huge so I had always knew of them and enjoyed watching people going crazy over them for more than a decade but I didn't get deep into the fandom or anything. Until that very fateful night. I was knee deep in Grindeldore feels for unknown reasons (still am, btw) and got a huge urge to read Dumbledore using legilimency to soothe his crying daughter. Being not the top ship as Grindeldore was, there simply wasn't any fic that fit the criteria. And what did I do? Searched the Cherik tag, obviously. It was just a logical shortcut: what telepath with kids wouldn't do that? Stayed up until 2am to finish the entire thing and the rest was history. The idea of Cherik with wee!Jean had taken root like the most normal thing on Earth.

— An Earlier Heaven

Pre-DOFP so Erik is characterized as only borderline-abusive instead of, you know, full blown, Charles-need-to-file-a-restraining-order-against-his-ex-who-is-incapable-of-being-anything-but-angry kind of abusiveness.

— Red Riding Hood | 5 times Jean said something embarrassing + 1 she didn't

pure chaos wee!Jean crack and two very embarrassed and exasperated dads

— Looking Forwards (Backwards)

grown-up!Jean reminisces about growing up with Charles and Erik as she fills in for all the history that Logan has missed after DOFP. I wish it was longer because it's so sweet and warms my heart.

— Four times Erik was called dad and one time he was called husband

fluff domestic ASMR basically

— Rest of their Lives

Prompt from Mnemo_ink: After Jean destroys Vuk by letting the Phoenix force free, the light descends back on Earth and envelops Charles. When the light fades away, Charles has a baby in his arms: it's Jean. I can't describe how much I love this idea. It's a cultural thing, I think. There is a notion that if the bond between people are strong enough, it would continue lives after lives. Whatever you incarnates into in the next life, in one way or another, you would find a way to be back together again and again. This prompt reflects that idea really well. Of billions others on Earth, once again, Charles is chosen. He is forgiven. He gets a chance at redemption, to be a father again. It is just indescribably beautiful to me.

— To Love and Be Loved

👌🏼👏🏼😫 have to use emojis because i'm lost for words at how *chef kiss this is. It's domestic fluff on steroid strapped to a rocket. 「 of course erik would give the kids little metal tokens so he could always sense them--and there is some COMPLICATED meta to be written here about how charles's wheelchair binds them together too 」

— For I Mean to Conquer Troy

This fic purifies my heart and ascends me. It's like I'm wrapped around by warm comfort and soothing lullabies. You know how in First Class Charles tells Erik "There is good, too. I felt it." That is the Erik in this fic, the characterization that is grossly overlooked, I dare say. And the author predicts who he could be in Apocalypse in 2011 as well. 👏🏼

[judgmentalfishnun]

what do you think about the rest of the fb movies being cancelled? i'm torn bc i don't want jkr to get anymore money but i wanted to see the final duel...

Many mixed feelings, friend. Hope you don't mind if I ramble (a lot).

I'll start off with noting that the statement didn’t say that Fantastic Beasts was cancelled, only that no wizarding world movies are currently in active development. Active development is an industry term that can be nebulous, but usually means a writer has been engaged and is working on early drafts of the project, or that the producer is actively attaching talent. So “not in active development” basically means that no movement is currently being made toward putting the next film into production, which we already knew. Yes, it's bleak, but WB is being very poorly managed right now and some decisions may not stick. It could be a while before the series is picked up again, and TSOD could still turn out to be the end, but take that for what it's worth.

Re: JKR: I very much agree that not giving her any additional cash is a good thing. It's important for her and the film execs to see that her actions have real consequences for the value of the IP. So, all the fans who wanted to send a message by boycotting these movies have definitely succeeded. I only hope WB realizes what the message was and doesn’t blame the series’ failure on something else, like centering a queer love story.

As far as the ship goes, FB has been a mixed blessing. After fifteen years of shipping, I and many others have deeply-held headcanons and feelings about the ship, and FB vindicated some of these. Most importantly, it established that Gellert returned Albus' feelings, that the two of them did in fact have a romantic and sexual relationship, and that they never stopped loving each other. This was an extremely welcome change from the author's stance on the ship fifteen years ago.

Unfortunately, FB also played fast and loose with HP canon in general, and made quite a few other, less comprehensible changes to Albus & Gellert's backstory without any explanation that the films ever got around to giving us. This was aggravating and made the series feel disconnected from the wizarding world I've loved for so long. I dislike that they went in the direction of making Gellert a blood purist Voldemort-knockoff, instead of exploring the fascinating ways in which his character actually contrasts significantly with Voldemort. As a result of all these changes (including changed character designs!) and missing backstory, a lot of grindeldore shippers who came to the fandom from FB ship a version of the pairing that’s almost unrecognizable to me.

All in all, I think FB had a lot of great raw material and the writers just didn’t know what to do with it. Whether it ever gets picked up again or not, I’m going to choose to remember the good that came out of it, namely that grindeldore sails strong. :)

[girl-with-goats]

Prim's NaNoWriMo 2022

It's NaNoWriMo time, so I'm announcing it here too! Instead of just one, I'll be working on two WIPs I already have, Quiet in blue and Young Rivers (in your hands). What they are about?

You have seen me screaming over Quiet in Blue already– it's a grindeldore story, very precious and close to my heart because it tackles the hearing disability. And I try to keep it fluffy (I might have failed arleady tho) and with feeling-good-vibes, but we shall see how it goes. 💙

Link: click here

And Young Rivers (in your hands) is a recent project of mine, and some of you might have seen the snippets of it in the room where it happens – the story itself is basically a development of that small scene. Basically, I wrote it for Kinktober and uh decided that I'm going to turn it into a full WIP. So I did. Sue me. So, it's going to tell a story of Narcissa falling in love with Lucius and also being entangled into political scheming because it's partially inspired by Hamilton. Also, there's going to be smut and kink because yes.

Link: no link so far because it's not published. I will announce the story's arrival later tho. 🌿

[thestrangestriddle]

I got SO many fic ideas floating around these days

Summer of 1899 timeloop where Albus relives the day when Ariana died

Triwizard Championship AU set in Beauxbatons where Albus and Gellert are their school's respective champions

A one-shot based on one of the song lyrics I heavily associate with them

Gellert hooks up with a sympathizer to his cause in [insert a German city that is not Berlin simply because I radically oppose Berlin supremacy lol) solely bc he reminds him of Albus

AU where they never parted ways and reign supreme over humanity as High Protector and Grand Judiciary

[dobranocka]

So I've had quite a few conversations about writing fics and ideas for fics, and I've been talking at @the-marron about fandom and general fannish activities, which are (I think) much more enjoyable when you can share it with others. I know grindeldore fandom has grown a bit lately - and I know I am a newbie here - but it got me thinking: would anyone be interested in some sort of fandom activity centered on writing, like a week dedicated to a certain theme, or filling prompts, or even just a discord server as a place to talk? What do you think? I know there have have been grindeldore gift exchanges, but obviously I am not aware of everything that has been or is going on, so you can also just point me in the right direction.

[sofoulandfairaday]

Fantastic Beasts - The Secrets of Dumbledore semi-rant

I saw this movie yesterday and I have to say I'm very disappointed. It wasn't as bad as Crimes of Grindelwald, but it wasn't good either. Already the fact that I saw it only yesterday and not in theatres should be a bad sign. There was a time when I would have gone to the ends of the earth to see a movie set in the Harry Potter universe at the cinema. This time, I tried, found out they weren't showing it that night and said "oh, alright then, I'll do something else".

Also, I'm already forgetting half of what happened. It wasn't boring, but it wasn't gripping either. I paused it twice (TWICE! A HP movie!) to do other stuff. I'm reblogging and reposting the most visually pleasing parts of the film (which is a marvel to see, but that's probably its best quality), and that's it. Usually, I'm obsessed with the movies I've just watched, I look up theories, reviews, posts, reblogs, etc. For months if they're set in the harry potter universe.

There will be spoilers ahead.

Let's start with the good things:

the beasts. they are so beautiful and well done. cgi is mostly good, the way newt interacts with the animals he cares for is, as always, one of the best parts of the movie.

jacob's lines, which are always a delight

grindelwald - probably the best thing about the whole movie. i liked johnny depp, but i loved mads mikkelsen in the role. he and jude law have incredible chemistry.

on this note, grindeldore. oh, it was so good, and FINALLY warner brothers had the balls to call them for what they were. gay men in love. of course, it's too little too late, but at least it's a win.

the fighting scenes. there were many, and all wonderfully choreographed. too bad they were confusing af. what is that double, mirror dimension of sorts? no clue, it was never explained, it was a cheap attempt at making sure that the fights hurt no muggles or wizards and i hated it. it was never explained in harry potter, i think (maybe i'm wrong, but i'm pretty sure) and while it looks great, i dislike it.

the parallel between the duel that killed ariana and when gellert tries to kill credence.

grindelwald as a seer.

the final scene.

that's basically it.

oh, everything and anything visual was great. except for maybe costumes but i'll talk about that later.

And now the bad stuff:

the writing. which is probably the worst thing ever to get wrong. the acting is good (except for eddie mumbling every single one of his lines which becomes annoying after a while), even great at times. but the writing is so bad.

i mean, jkr and steve kloves were the writers. and i know jkr has questionable views but she was never a bad writer. or better, she was never a bad novelist. i'm starting to think she sucks at screenplays.

the whole first part of the movie is useless. it's even explicitly stated inside the movie. well, that's bad writing my friends. if it was all for nothing, and no lessons/additional information that couldn't be read in a newspaper (i.e., grindelwald being allowed to run), then it's bad writing. it wasn't for the characters. it wasn't for the plot. so WHY DID YOU SHOW IT TO ME? when you could have saved time for more important things?

the movie is two hours and a half. after thirty minutes the wheels of the plot aren't even in motion. you would think that if the movie took its time it was to include meaningful dialogue and character development. but NOPE. it's for shenanigans like bunty and the trunks.

and i get their struggle, i do: fans want good duels and fighting scenes (and those are very good, especially the ones with Lalie and Gellert v. Albus). but fans also want the magical creatures. they want the beasts to have their space, and they need to show new ones. but then they also want grindeldore. alright, okay. let's show it. but what about good dialogues and high stakes? what about complex bidimensional characters? NOPE. no time for those.

this happens, of course, because there are TOO. MANY. USELESS. CHARACTERS. so many that, since they all need screen time, none of them gets explored in the right way. except maybe gellert.

nagini is gone. they don't even mention her. not even credence. not even when he talks with queenie, who can READ MINDS, so there was the perfect excuse to bring her up even if credence doesn't want to.

queenie is useless. i still don't understand why she joined grindelwald since she knows he hates muggles. while in his service she does NOTHING. she's not a double agent, she's not useful to either grindelwald or dumbledore. she's just there. of course i know they did this because they had to wrap things up in the end since there probably won't be a fourth movie, but couldn't they do it a little better?

maybe give her yusuf's screen time. since he's the worst character in terms of how he's written and he has no weight on the plot whatsoever. he doesn't have a mission, only has two scenes, isn't useful for the whole luggage subplot ... why is he even in this movie?

but at least, AT LEAST, they show him grieving for his sister (even though he just accepts to have his memories of her erased?? why was this done?? to show that gellert is bad? i mean, i think it's pretty obvious from the scene where he kills bambi...)

THESEUS you dick. why is he so happy? why is he not incoherent with grief? why does he not seethe with rage at the thought of leta, who he was going to marry? and not in the "ohi, you're under arrest "way. nono, in the blowing avada kedavras at vinda and grindelwald like a madman way. why doesn't he look sad and sombre?

they killed my leta FOR WHAT exactly? she was hands down the most complex character aside from grindeldore (which coincidentally are the only two whose story is actually told in the original saga). and maybe the single best performance on screen in all three movies. i don't get it. i hate it when female characters are killed off just to give male characters an origin story, but at least it gives them purpose. leta died just because. her death adds nothing to the story.

her replacement is lalie. now, i know that in this day and age god forbid you have a cast that is too white (you know, made up of witches and wizards from 1930 britain) and you need the token diversity character. it's irritating, but i get why they do it. i can forgive it. what i cannot forgive is how useless to the plot she is.

she was probably my favourite character of the whole movie, i enjoyed her sassiness and the way she used magic, but she is so. useless. why is she, or theseus, or yusuf, or jacob even, required for this mission? don't they all have jobs?? dumbledore needs to find a substitute teacher for his classes, porpentina is busy with work (AND SHE HAS THE SAME JOB TITLE AS THESEUS) so why are they all strolling about? i get newt and bounty, and maybe jacob since his bakery is in ruins, but what about the others?

more than that, what compels them to fight grindelwald? "Oh, it's the right thing to do!" NO YOU FOOLS, that's not enough. It's not compelling, it's BORING. especially when some of them have good reasons, in theory. theseus (and yusuf) lost leta. jacob lost queenie.

no idea why an american schoolteacher feels so touched by a german despot, but okay. i guess. she's nice but so bi-dimensional.

why do they need these people in particular? give me an "ocean's eleven" type of segment where you explain why these people and not 5 trained aurors.

dumbledore needs to send his own men because the ministry takes no stance like fudge did years later? because grindelwald has supporters in the british ministry that don't want this to happen? give me a scene where vinda goes to talk with her british cousins and gets them to support gellert and we see baby druella every reason is fine but there must be one.

the minerva mcgonagal cameo is useless. also, they didn't retcon what is clearly a mistake so... i hate it :)

vinda rosier gets 5 lines and no characterization whatsoever apart from being "pretty and evil". if she was less striking we probably wouldn't care about her as much. this woman has no motivations of her own, apparently. we don't even know what her relationship with grindelwald actually is.

and do not get me started on the other useless henchmen.

why do they force jacob to come along? why do they insist on putting a muggle in danger? albus is no seer but COME ON. we already saw grindelwald use people as scapegoats in the last movie, and it's clear he would do the same with jacob. "oh but he's a good man with courage" WHO CARES? are there no good men in 1930 england? where are all the brave gryffindors ffs?

it does NOT work. you know what would? JACOB wanting to go. JACOB demanding to go, because he hasn't given up on queenie and he wants to "save" her.

was it to confuse grindelwald? it doesn't work, because there isn't one (1) scene where he looks shocked, or even perplexed at the sight of a muggle with a wand.

and what about the whole thing with the tie? how could dumbledore know that theseus was going to get captured? even if he could predict that, you seriously want me to believe he was basing his rescue plan off the niffler??

also, we never see newt activate the portkey in that moment and that is not how portkeys work.

the whole subplot with bunty and the luggage was stupid. we know that there's a spell that literally duplicates objects by creating perfect copies, so it's a useless waste of time. also, why doesn't she use the switch that sets it to "muggle mode"? we've seen newt do it before.

the two candidates for supreme mugwump are absolutely the same. they have no personality and are just namesakes.

the german minister of magic contradicts himself more than once in the film. i watched his scenes twice and i still don't understand his motives. there must be a cut scene or something because one minute he implies that he doesn't like grindelwald and the next he's chilling with him and his men. he openly says that he thinks GG will lose just as he sees him arriving by means of crowd-surfing. it's not like he turns a blind eye and that is why gellert wins. no, the man actively enables him and helps him. WHY?! have vinda or even yusuf put him under the imperius curse ffs!

how do credence and aberforth have communicating mirrors? no idea. it's never explained.

why is the phoenix dying because credence is dying? phoenixes have their own independent cycle of life and rebirth. we see this with fawkes. otherwise, why isn't fawkes dying when dumbledore is in book 6? it's never explained.

This all comes down to the main problem of the movie: this movie has no dialogues. seriously, all they do is duel and say vague things like "the plan is no plan". fuck off. they don't even state clearly why the plan is no plan, they say vague stuff, the characters acknowledge it's confusing and then they laugh about it.

SPOILER: even if you acknowledge your mistakes in the story itself ("oh, we don't know what to do against grindelwald" or "oh, we're back where we started ahaha") it DOESN'T MAKE IT GOOD. actually, it makes it worse. it's just lazy writing.

Nothing is explained to the audience because the movie uses "show not tell" to the extreme. fine, don't tell, but please at least give a name to what we're seeing. good stories are character-driven. this one is not.

seriously, none of them has one good dialogue, that isn't full of clichés.

finally, one last thing that really bothered me. why why why are they all dressed like muggles? the costumes look amazing - my personal favourite was eulalie's gold evening gown - but WHY are they all dressed like muggles? yes, there is a little outfit change for eulalie when she goes to pick up jacob that maybe should underline the differences between wizard and muggle clothing - there are none.

albus dumbledore and gellert grindelwald should all be donning the most campy over-the-top wizard robes. why would grindelwald ever be dressed like a muggle? it doesn't make sense, especially since albus is described more than once as being ignorant of muggle clothing rules. alright, he's younger here, but how is it that he and gellert don't look even a little out of place at the beginning of the movie?

don't get me wrong, i think the costumes are absolutely beautiful and i would kill to have them in any other film BUT THIS ONE. because they don't fit the characters at all. all of these wizards dressed like muggles, i don't get it.

the worst offender of all, imo is pureblood dark witch vinda rosier who dresses in a suit to a fancy wizard party. her outfit is amazing and high fashion and exactly my style... i adore it. i, a muggle, would definitely wear it. the question is- why would she?

This is what I strive to look like at social gatherings. I want this to be me and my future husband. I just don't think it's the right look for them.

[dumbledore-and-grindelwald]

Dumbledore’s account of the fight in TSoD VS Deathly Hallows [SPOILERS]

They should just give us the flashbacks from grindeldore's time at the Hollow and put us out of our misery. Nothing will settle until then.

Dumbledore says that Aberforth had pulled out his wand and he pulled out his, while Grindelwald just laughed, and that he can't recalled whose spell killed her. Unless he is just mentioning Gellert's initial behaviour and chooses to not recount the events that traumatized him, it doesn't make sense.

The description in DH is very specific: 

"And there was an argument . . . and I pulled my wand, and he pulled out his, and I had the Cruciatus Curse used onme by my brother's best friend - and Albus was trying to stop him, and then all three of us were dueling, and the flashing lights and the bangs set her off, she couldn't stand it - "

The HP movies retconned things too, so it's not like I'd be surprised if they wrote it this way to avoid a possibility of 'he attacked, I defended' and therefore an untimely breaking of the blood troth. I would accept the change.

The problem is the ripple-effect.

"And there was an argument . . . and I pulled my wand, and he pulled out his, and I had the Cruciatus Curse used onme by my brother's best friend - and Albus was trying to stop him, and then all three of us were dueling, and the flashing lightsand the bangs set her off, she couldn't stand it - "

If Grindelwald does not lose control, there is nothing against him at that point. He would not have harmed Aberforth, he would not have been liable in any way for Ariana's death and Dumbledore wouldn't have had to acknowledge his cruelty so early. Grindelwald leaving and Dumbledore not going him would not be a convincing reason for the current situation of their relationship.

Basically, I still think that they will add upon this explanation and will throw at us the flashbacks close to the duel of '45 to bring the story full circle (if we get the next two movies).

[notanorigami]

fic recommendations for grindeldore!

i, (un)fortunately have been captured by this ship. i also started rereading a bunch of fics that i bookmarked, so i thought: might as well make a fic recommendation post. please enjoy! :)

I'd Wait For Life by Dreamer1701

starting off with a rather angsty one. albus just gives himself up to gellert because he can't handle the pain and it's just so heartbreaking :(

anyways, it's also part of a series called All This Time, and i encourage you to read the two sequels to the fic. i think they're pretty good, at least in my opinion :)

Aberforth didn't want to see that by FantastyFreak_2

i just think this one's really funny, although the very last part is kinda sad :(

the great work by Laeveteinn

tbh, i've never watched hannibal before. but anyways, i thought this fic was pretty interesting :)

how did you get here, my dear? by captnhowzer

gellert doesn't tell voldemort where the elder wand is and dies thinking that he's saved albus. unfortunately, he finds out that albus was already dead

An Erumpent Encounter by AlbusGellertAlways

albus and gellert go to a zoo to look at erumpents and gellet confesses to albus :)

I Shall Love You Better After Death by CompassToTheEndlessSea

after albus talks to harry in limbo, gellert arrives

kugelmensch by NiciLupin

gellert wishes to be buried with albus. plus, a bunch of sweet moments from albus' life :)

Yours, Albus by Gellerts Lavender Tie (aScandalinCamelot)

gellert reads albus' last letter and is heartbroken

Youth by Asian_Rice

albus dies and then wakes up at the beginning of the summer of 1899. he vows to make up for mistakes by actually caring for his siblings this time around and to avoid becoming friends with gellert. unfortunately(?), he only succeeds in the former.

Whispers of the Past by AlbusGellertAlways

lily goes to bathila bagshot's house and accidentally finds out that dumbledore used to date grindelwald. (honestly speaking, i could see this being canon)

I have never known colour, like this morning reveals to me by Lunarseclipse

ariana is given the role of death and she helps people out + a lot of fluffy grindeldore :)

Reckless Paradise by NightWithoutStars

basically, what if albus chose to replace trelawney with gellert instead?

Dumbledore's Meeting by AlbusGellertAlways

hermione drops divination and albus tells her a little about gellert. (on a different note, i apparently did not know how to spell hermione and had to learn when i was bookmarking the fic :P )

silver memories by Space_Samurai

newt and theseus look at gellert's memories and accidentally find out about his relationship with albus. also, newt is best bro in this, just not to theseus

The end of the World by navvy

basically, earthquakes or something happen and hogwarts is one of the only havens. because of this, gellert and the gang go to hogwarts and gellert makes up with albus. not totally unrelated, fuck travers

Between what is right and what is easy by navvy

this is actually the first of an omegaverse series called The choices we make. albus is an omega and the ministry finds out, so they force albus to marry an alpha. unfortunately for them, gellert snuck into the meeting and marries albus. tbh, i really like this series :)

also, fuck travers again

Excessive Curiosity And Where It Leads You by Bubble_Pomme

rita skeeter is a bitch and visits gellert in prison. unfortunately, things don't quite go as she planned.

I just think this one's really funny :)

The Final Request by SparksAdrift

harry investigates why grindelwald would want to be buried with dumbledore by looking through dumbledore's memories.

Socken by noctis_ibis

aunt bathilda finds about them because of socks

this one's just really sweet :)

That time a boggart wrecked DADA by BellaShouldBeStudying

albus is teaching DADA when his boggart turns into gellert and his class realizes what their relationship is. albus is fired and gellert tries to bring albus to him.

all i want for christmas by yumbledore

albus tries to drown himself, but is saved by gellert

this one is sad and angsty :(

The Mirror of Erised by Jotun_Half_Breed

albus actually tells harry what he sees in the mirror and harry realizes who albus was talking about six years later

The Shard of the Erised by Royal_ColourPencils

harry looks into a shard of the mirror and finds out about that he can see what other people saw. featuring: wolfstar + grindeldore

welp, that's it for now folks! see ya.

[trothplighted]

You bring up a fascinating point. There's scant canon detail about Ariana's personality. We know she had outbursts, had to be coaxed to eat, etc, and that made fandom assume she was childlike and not mentally competent (in the legal sense) due to intense trauma. But it could could also have been severe depression? If she knew she had an incurable condition that kept her from school, helped put her father in prison, made outcasts of her family, and caused her mother's death? That's a heavy load

it is!! and I have a lot to say about that! but before we dig into it, I do want to talk about why I never assumed she was childlike or mentally incompetent, which means (sigh) I have to talk about Aberforth again

there's a conception I've seen floating around that criticism of Aberforth (people assuming he's a homophobe, mostly) is due to shipping, and wanting him to be the bad guy in the Grindeldore story, and I've never felt that way at all, so I want to set that out from the start. Aberforth has always made me profoundly uncomfortable basically since 2007 when I read the book, and it's always been because of how he treated Ariana.

see, I view him as a somewhat unreliable narrator. I think that he accurately recounts the facts of what happened, but his emotional state colors his opinions, and the conclusions he draws don't textually add up. I think that's true of his account of Albus and Gellert's relationship, and I think it's true of his version of events surrounding Ariana.

why?

because JKR plays with unreliable narration in exactly this kind of way, multiple times per book. It's one of the core elements of the series. Harry will always witness something, or overhear a conversation, or come across evidence, and he draws incorrect conclusions from it. the facts get conveyed accurately to the audience, but the assumptions and feelings of the person witnessing those facts are almost always incorrect and stay that way until the end of the story when they're all explained correctly and the truth is revealed. it's not just Harry, either - the whole of wizarding society does this with regard to Sirius Black. this is something she does many times on purpose. I don't think it's unfair to say that Aberforth's version of the story is factually accurate but missing or omitting several important contextual pieces.

okay, so why do I feel he's that way about Ariana? well, the short answer is "because I'm disabled, and the way he talks about her skeeves me out majorly and has for years."

we the readers see absolutely no external proof that she was feeble-minded, or childlike, or that she couldn't take care of herself on a very basic level. Albus never says it in the King's Cross conversation, Bathilda and Muriel and Elphias never mention it, Rita's book never mentions it. the only person who insists this is true is Aberforth. we're supposed to take his word as gospel here... except for the fact that Albus doesn't think she's too sick to travel? Albus never admits in the books that he pushed his sister too far, that he overtaxed her, that he ignored her. And he's very open about his flaws - if he'd failed in this way, he'd own up to it! Plus, disabled people can travel internationally! we can go on vacations! we can have exciting lives! why should Aberforth be the one deciding for his sister what she can or can't do when he's only a year older than her, and Albus is the adult in the house?

plus, if we're meant to assume she's an Obscurial, if we take into account the FB movies? Credence is walking around Europe, and talking to people, and can live safely in a house with strangers, and can go on missions! they can speak in full sentences and feed themself and survive on their own! why is Ariana doomed to be quiet and childlike forever while Credence puts the lie to that assumption?

and the FB movies paint Aberforth in a kinder light than the books do - he's much less resentful and much less bitter - and Albus talks about the duel again, but despite the good guys being more good and the bad guys being more bad? this time there's no mention of Ariana being too sick to be moved. the fight happens because Albus and Gellert want to go away, and Ariana dies because she tries to stop it from happening.

as a result, I have to say that I think the assumption that she was traumatized into helplessness is 100% fanon. yes, I'm aware I'm loud and angry about this, I'm really sorry lmao I get heated when there's ableism on the table.

basically, I'll trust what Aberforth says when I get objective proof that didn't come from his testimony that Ariana actually was as much of an invalid as he insists. and because of that, I think it is much more likely that she had chronic depression and a serious anxiety disorder and cognitive impairments more in line with traditional neurodivergence than anything else. before the attack she seems to be a bright, inquisitive, magically talented little girl - she's doing noticeable wandless magic at six years old! holy shit, that's genuinely prodigious! and unless Ariana had, like, severe lasting brain damage from the attack? that's not someone who was born with the kind of severe intellectual disabilities that a perpetually childlike demeanor and intelligence would suggest. she isn't developmentally delayed in terms of her brainpower, she's ahead of the curve.

but after the attack? everything changed for the worse. she had to fight to control herself at six years old, barely understanding what had happened to her. she had to live for eight years knowing that she was the reason her father went to jail, she was the reason they had to move to a new house, she was the reason her family was sad and broken and depressed, she was the reason her brothers didn't get along, and if she ever let herself feel anything about her attack, or her circumstances? she could kill someone! that's so much for a little girl to have to live with! she can't go to school, she can't make friends, she has to live her life like one of the secret children from Margaret Peterson Haddix's Shadow Children books, forever indoors and unable to show her face. and then she's the reason her mother dies, and she can't even cry at Kendra's funeral, because if she does she might blow the place up.

put simply, I would kill for Ariana Dumbledore. she deserved so much better.