Voldemort vs. Grindelwald: Who's More Powerful After All?

One of the Hogwarts Founders, Salazar Slytherin; the ideologue of wizard superiority, Gellert Grindelwald; and, of course, the main antagonist of the series, Lord Voldemort.

The debate of who's stronger — Voldemort or Grindelwald — has been going on for ages. Luckily, everyone admits that the powers of the Founders were far beyond any of the current wizards, so Slytherin is out of the equation; otherwise, these arguments would've become even more complicated. It's not that easy with the other two, though — both Dark wizards have their fair share of defendants.

But the reality is that the answer is not so simple. Let's see what we know about the two wizards from the original series, both books and movies.

Lord Voldemort

Many people in Magical Britain considered Lord Voldemort to be the most powerful dark wizard to have ever lived and were afraid to pronounce his name even ten years after his death.

While he was not around for too long on either of the two times he tried overtaking the power, his approach was so violent that most of the magical families in Britain lost someone during his two reigns of terror.

Methods: fear, violence, terrorism

Traits: sadistic, narcissistic

Area of operation: Great Britain

Defeated by: Harry Potter

Gellert Grindelwald

Grindelwald's name is still remembered far beyond Great Britain; in fact, he mainly operated in continental Europe, where he gained many followers with his charisma and persuasion.

Grindelwald is closely tied to WWII; he likely had a strong connection with the Nazis. The European mages still remember and despise him for the most part; however, his ideas are still alive among some Durmstrang students.

Methods: persuasion, ideology, war

Traits: delusional, narcissistic

Area of operation: continental Europe

Defeated by: Albus Dumbledore

If you take everything into consideration, it's not that easy to compare these two wizards. While at the first glance, they have a lot in common, their methods, areas of operation, and goals are different.

But we do have one rather objective point that helps determine their raw magical abilities.

Albus Dumbledore opposed and dueled both of them, and he can act as a medium to determine whether Voldemort or Grindelwald were more powerful.

Both Grindelwald and Dumbledore were trying to avoid and postpone their direct confrontation for as long as possible.

They saw each other as equals, and Dumbledore himself confirmed it, saying that he might have only been "a shade more skillful." However, when it finally came to a duel, Grindelwald was defeated.

With Voldemort, the situation was different: the Dark Lord feared the Headmaster and didn't want to confront him, while Dumbledore never took him seriously in that regard.

During their duel in the Ministry of Magic, Voldemort fled as he realized his inability to beat the Headmaster. They were not equal in magical power.

It's pretty safe to say that in raw magical power, Grindelwald in his prime was stronger. However, if we consider who's more dangerous, not powerful…

Voldemort has always been known for his explosive and murderous character while Grindelwald was more of a charmer.

So if you're wondering who you were less likely to survive if you come across them, the answer is the opposite: Voldemort is much deadlier.