Voldemort and Grindelwald (WAS: What year was Voldemort born?)

[Tom Wall <thomasmwall@yahoo.com>]

No: HPFGUIDX 50772

This discussion on Voldemort's age has brought something to mind, 
however, before I can get to the meat of the post, I've got a few 
quotes to lay down first: 

1)From this thread, Tanya wrote: "That makes Tom 16 in 1943 and born 
in 1927."

2) From canon: "Dumbledore is particularly famous for his defeat of 
the dark wizard Grindelwald in 1945." (PS/SS 103) 

3) From an older thread ("How old is Voldemort - two different ages 
given!"), Sushi wrote: "Tom would have left school about the time 
Grindelwald was defeated, in 1945." 

4) From canon: Then [Riddle] waved the wand once, and the letters of 
his name rearranged themselves: I AM LORD VOLDEMORT "You see?" 
[Riddle] whispered. "It was a name I was already using at Hogwarts, 
to my most intimate friends only, of course... <snip> ...a name I 
knew wizards everywhere would one day fear to speak... " (CoS 314) 

5) And from canon again: "He [Riddle] disappeared after leaving the 
school... traveled far and wide... sank so deeply into the Dark Arts, 
consorted with the very worst of our kind, underwent so many 
dangerous, magical transformations, that when he resurfaced as Lord 
Voldemort, he was barely recognizable. Hardly anyone connected 
Voldemort with the clever, handsome boy who was once Head Boy here." 
(CoS 329)

Okay. That's all of the quotations, for now, and I think that they 
paint an interesting picture. I'll take them out of order, though: 

>From quote 4 we know that Riddle was already using the 
name "Voldemort" to his most intimate friends. And we know that the 
reason he had selected this name is because he had ambitions to one 
day be "the greatest sorceror in the world (ibid quote 4.)

We also know from canon that Dumbledore mistrusted Riddle while he 
was a student. In the Chamber of Secrets, Riddle says to Harry: "Yes, 
I think Dumbledore might have guessed... Dumbledore never seemed to 
like me as much as the other teachers did..." (CoS 312) 

So, if Riddle was already using the name "Voldemort" to his close 
buddies, does it stand to reason that Dumbledore might have somehow 
stumbled across that bit of information? I mean, we know how students 
talk. Granted, some students were able to maintain secrets from 
Dumbledore (i.e., the Marauders and their animagical transformations) 
for quite a while. But still...

Now, okay, he leaves Hogwarts, having left the Chamber of Secrets 
closed for his remaining years.  Let's go to quote 5. "He disappeared 
after leaving the school..." I'm okay with that, except: how does 
Dumbledore know what somes next? The whole "traveled far and wide... 
sank so deeply into the Dark Arts, consorted with the very worst of 
our kind..." bit. 

How does Dumbledore know what Tom Riddle was doing, if 
Riddle "disappeared?"

Quote 3: "Tom would have left school about the time Grindelwald was 
defeated, in 1945." -Sushi

Exactly.

Does it stand to reason that Dumbledore would know this stuff 
*because* he defeated Grindelwald? 

Was Riddle/Voldemort perhaps connected with Grindelwald?

In other words, did Dumbledore encounter Riddle/Voldemort somehow in 
connection with his battle with Grindelwald? I mean, where exactly 
does someone learn the Dark Arts, anyways? One would presume that 
someone should be taught. So, who does the teaching? Dumbledore did 
say that Riddle "consorted with the very worst of our kind."  Perhaps 
he means that Grindelwald was among that number.

I think that there must be a connection between Voldemort and 
Grindelwald that we haven't been made privy to, as of yet. 

I'll submit that Voldemort must be the inheritor of Grindelwald's 
legacy and work, that he left Hogwarts and searched for Grindelwald, 
who must've had enough of a name in order for Dumbledore to search 
him out.  Riddle ultimately found him, if only for a brief period of 
time before Dumbledore defeated him (Grindelwald.)  

At that point, I'll submit that Voldemort, using Grindelwald's, uhh, 
resources, went further in his study and research until he re-emerged 
circa 1970.  We know that he emerged around then because in PS/SS, 
Dumbledore says that they've had "precious little to celebrate for 11 
years," (PS/SS 10) and that is when they're dropping Harry off at the 
Dursley's on November 1st, 1981.  

So, around 1970, Voldemort resurfaced and proceeded to acquire power 
and followers, until his untimely demise during his attempt on 
Harry's life.

Still, I'd like to know more about Grindelwald.  The timeline is too 
convenient. AND, as I pointed out in an earlier post, the 
name "Riddle" can be found in the name "Grindlewald," which seemed 
suspicious before, and seems doubly so now, after taking a closer 
look at the chronography.

-Tom