Ciarin Hinds appears briefly as the older Aberforth in The Deathly Hallows, Part 2, where he’s revealed to be the barman of the Hog’s Head Inn, and a secret ally to the Order of the Phoenix resistance group. The Secrets of Grindelwald introduces Richard Coyle as the younger version of Aberforth within the Fantastic Beasts timeline. Rowling’s official comments on the matter have been a subject of serious debate over the course of both the novels’ and films’ release Rowling has frequently confirmed that the two were romantically linked, but has been slow to include any actual evidence of their relationship within the text itself.Įither way, The Secrets of Dumbledore re-explains the backstory of how Albus and Grindelwald were split apart by their political differences, and the lasting impact their time together had on Albus’s younger brother, Aberforth. Although the book doesn’t state it outright, it was largely believed among Harry Potter fans that the two were romantically involved. As revealed in the book Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and adapted in both film versions, the two were childhood friends who pursued cutting edge magic together. Dumbledore knows of Grindelwald’s lethal nature from his own personal experiences.
