Voldemort, Dumbledore, and Grindlewald - OH MY!

[Carol]

No: HPFGUIDX 182033

grindieloe wrote:
>
> Voldemort made a point to visit Grindlewald at Nurmenguard (sp?),
and I really am wondering why...
> 
> Was he like the ONLY person in the Wizarding World who did not hear 
> of Dumbledore's defeat of the Dark Wizard Grindlewald?  What, did 
> Voldie never read a Chocolate Frog card?  Poor deprived child... 
> 
> Shouldn't Voldie have known that he wouldn't get the wand from
Grindlewald since Dumbledore defeated him all those years ago?  

Carol responds:
Dumbledore's Chocolate frog card says nothing about where Grindelwald
is now or even whether he's still alive, only that DD defeated him in
1945. And even if they had Chocolate Frog cards when Tom Riddle was a
child, and even if DD had a card in those days, the card couldn't have
said anything about a duel that hadn't happened yet. 1945 is the year
that Tom left school at age eighteen.

As for knowing that he wouldn't get the wand from Grindelwald, I'm
sure he knew that GG didn't have it. He wanted information, not the
wand itself. He probably expected to invade Grindelwald's mind as he
had Gregorovitch's or torture him to force him to tell him everything
he knew about that wand. I doubt that he expected to learn its
whereabouts, only whether GG was still its master and, if not, whether
DD was. That's assuming that he knew about the famous duel, and I
don't see why he wouldn't.

Nurmengard may have been difficult to find, however. I'll bet that its
location, like that of Durmstrang, was not common knowledge. (It would
certainly have to be hidden from the Muggles!)

grindielow:
> 
> OR...
> 
> Did he just want information?  Proof that Dumbledore did have the 
Elder Wand after winning it from Grindlewald?  I thought he KNEW that
 Grindlewald had it through his legilimency performed on Gregorovich?
<snip>

Carol responds:
I think you've forgotten an important step in the process. He didn't
know who the merry-faced thief in Gregorovitch's memory was until
Harry dropped the photo of young Grindelwald at Godric's Hollow. After
that, he must have found out GG's identity exactly the same way Harry
did, by reading Rita Skeeter's book. Gregorovitch himself had no idea
who the thief was. Grindelwald, knowing the wand's history, wouldn't
brag about being the Elder Wand's master, as Gregorovitch had.

Grindelwald lies and says that he never had the wand. Clearly, it
wasn't common knowledge. In fact, had Harry not dropped that photo, LV
might never have figured out who the thief was.

Carol, wishing that Harry had never gone to Godric's Hollow