Before he was a name whispered in fear — before Nurmengard, before the Elder Wand, before Dumbledore — there was simply a boy. A brilliant, golden-haired boy, born in Eastern Europe in the late nineteenth century — whose name was Gellert Grindelwald. Little is recorded about Grindelwald’s family or childhood, but what fragments survive describe a wizard of exceptional promise from the very beginning. His ancestry is believed to have been of northern European descent, possibly linked to an old wizarding line with strong magical blood. Whether or not that family shared his views, however, is another question entirely. From a young age, Grindelwald displayed a kind of brilliance that unsettled those around him. He was curious about everything — but especially the boundaries of magic.  Most children who show magical ability experiment with simple enchantments or charms.  Grindelwald experimented with control — the art of bending will, power, and fate to his own design. Even as a boy, he possessed what Dumbledore would later call “a dangerous gift, the power to make others see what he wanted them to see, to make his lies sound like truth.” See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.