thinking about theseus and leta.
1) how he was the first person she told the full story about corvus. this is a headcanon - I’ll explain.
going by the deleted ballroom scene with thesleta, we know that by 1927, society at large is rife with rumours that leta’s brother is alive. my theory is that the death of her brother is public knowledge given the status of their family, but Leta’s role in it isn’t. when she sees the bedsheet falling as the dancer spins, Theseus is the only one who looked concerned/worried. in COG, she asks Theseus “how many times” they’ll have to talk about Corvus and Theseus promises “the records will prove” that Corvus really is dead.
I think that Leta therefore told Theseus about Corvus before the reveal in the mausoleum. I think that she and Leta saw the darkness in one another (his as a veteran and with his other struggles he usually hides, hers as a self-professed murderer) and as mature adults discussed and shared them with one another.
Newt also knows by the end of the film, but I think his first knowledge is more generally that her brother has returned as by the prophecy (and also presumably that he died in the first place) as per the rumours going around (and judging by what he tells Albus) and his expression in the mausoleum confession scene is of quiet revelation and acceptance.
I think how quickly he tells her “it wasn’t your fault” might show that he had his suspicions and is now joining the final dots, but I think Theseus and Leta possibly talked about it in more depth. partly because when Newt and Leta were friends, I think leta really treasured someone “good” being “good” to her, and I think at that age she would have been afraid to make the confession, while given Theseus has been through a war and also killed people, she might have been more comfortable sharing it with him. not because she loves one more than the other but just the timing and life stages they’re in.
(also, if newt had known the full story, wouldn’t it have changed the investigation and everything with Kama? as leta sharing her story to that group of people is what leads to the revelation Corvus isn’t credence. so newt couldn’t have known everything if they needed that confession to join the dots — but Theseus wasn’t involved in that subplot of the movie, hence if he’d known the full story, newt, Tina, and Kama would still have needed leta to tell them specifically).
2) how he was the only person who tried to fight the flames to get to her. everyone made an effort to defend themselves but I think Theseus was the only one who tried to go further into the flames or cut across them rather than only dodging them. to the extent that newt, who previously was frozen in shock when Theseus was trying to duel the flames (not saying newt didn’t love her, just their different personalities) had to pull him back to save his life. and I love the parallel of Theseus then pulling newt into the alcove as they escape and saving his life in return. like he promised leta he’d be careful and he’s literally ready to die for her.
3) how he screamed in the graveyard as they sealed in grindelwald's spell. we saw him as so composed, turner describes Theseus as “stoic”, but he cracks here to put everything he has into the spell because he’s so angry and distressed and heartbroken about losing Leta. like, he doesn’t even have a body to see. no closure at all.
4) and then, in SOD, the only memory we see hinting at Theseus’s grief, how even five years later he still remembers the faces of everyone at that rally when he sees them again in berlin. how he asks newt to confirm but is already getting ready to follow them because he knows. how he heads off without changing paths even as the election news is enough to give newt pause because Theseus is just too focused on Vinda as having been right there at the rally. how he tries to take on multiple of them and keeps his voice calm because this is his chance to get justice for leta.
leta and theseus I love you leta and theseus
