By now most people have seen the new trailer and the news about Nagini being a human. You can read an interview with the actress here. She’s excited about the role, more power to her, but the whole thing bugs the hell out of me because it feels more like JK changing canon in an attempt to make Fantastic Beasts link more with Harry Potter. So, Rant Hat on now.
Voldemort hates people. He doesn’t TRUST people. So if Nagini was a human, he would not have the same relationship with her that is described in the books. He’s closer to Nagini than he is to anyone else because she’s a horcrux. Not because she’s a snake. Dumbledore clearly states this. Nagini is literally linked to Voldemort on a level no one else comes close to, aside from Harry, who retains his own agency because he’s human.
There’s no evidence that Voldemort had Nagini prior to GoF. If she had been in his thrall prior to the night he tried to kill Harry as a baby, it wouldn’t make sense for her to be there with Wormtail in GoF. How would she have gotten there? Are you telling me she randomly hung out in one spot, like Voldemort’s wand, waiting to be picked up later? No, that makes no sense. What DOES make sense is that Voldemort befriended her while hiding in Albania, or picked her up on the way back to England with Wormtail. Albania doesn’t have any large species of python, but whatever, she could be a magical species. This would also explain her venom, as pythons are not venomous, though personally I like to think Voldemort looked at a constrictor species and was like “not scary enough” and magically pimped his serpent, because he’s so fucking extra that HIS snake would have to be BETTER.
The timeline is bonkers. Voldemort is born in 1926. Fantastic Beasts 2 takes place in 1927. The earliest we see Nagini is in Goblet of Fire, in 1994. Claudia Kim, the actress playing “Nagini” in 1927, is age 33. So if Nagini-human was age 33 in 1927, then she would be 100 years old in Goblet of Fire.
My first thought after seeing the new trailer was that they were going to make Nagini an Animagus, perhaps one with total amnesia (or a memory charm) who forgot she was human. That would at least explain how Voldemort could overlook the fact that she’s human (maybe he didn’t know). But in the interview, Claudia states that Nagini is suffering from a “mysterious blood curse…eventually, she’ll become a snake permanently.” Ok, whatever. That still doesn’t change the age issue. If we apply the same rules as for an Animagus, she would be aging the same rate as a normal human. Wormtail is a rat for years and his human form ages at the normal rate. The larger pythons only live 25-30 years. Witches and wizards canonically seem to live longer than muggles, though this is probably due to more advanced medical care. Nagini still wouldn’t be a spry snake OR woman at age 100 (103 by book 7).
In conclusion, none of this makes any sense and I’m getting more and more annoyed with JK’s own disregard for canon. She has an immense universe she’s created with many interesting characters. Give them their own shit to do. Not everything has to tie back to Harry Potter’s personal story. Please stop.
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