The Scamander Brothers
I’m hella tired so no citations but real quick just hear me out I want to put it out there that I see great potential for comparison between Fantastic Beasts wizards and possible muggle counterparts as follows:
Theseus Scamander, elder brother war hero, and T.E.Lawrence- early 1900s British adventurer-icon (to put it incredibly succinctly and entirely unfairly.) Here’s the man himself:
fun fact he changed his last name to Shaw in 1923 and the more you learn about him the more you’ll realize you’ve done nothing with your life. He’s an incredibly interesting person who I could not hope to summarize.
Next we have
Newt Scamander, younger brother, and David (FREAKIN’) Attenborough, well-traveled British naturalist dedicated to conservation and the education of an otherwise ignorant public. Here he is back in the day:
...but mostly because I really love this story of his childhood:
“He also spent a considerable amount of his time in the grounds of the university and aged 11 he heard that the zoology department needed a large supply of newts which he offered via his father to supply for 3d a newt. The source, which wasn't revealed at the time, was a pond less than 5 metres from the department.”
If that isn’t THE CUTEST THING.
Finally I also submit for comparison T.H.White, author of (among other things) The Once and Future King. Read that freaking caption, mortals:
but this may be incredible personal bias because he’s one of my falconry heroes and reading his book The Goshawk last Summer while napping in my hammock was one of the most intimate, mutually-understanding experiences I’ve ever had with an author.
He strikes me as very Newt-ish; when he was a teacher at a boys’ school, he would often keep woodland animals in his office and the children loved to learn about them. I also submit White as a Newt literary influence because J.K.Rowling has specifically fondly said that his writings greatly influenced her own.
(On a sadder note, both T.E.Lawrence and T.H.White suffered childhood beatings, were masochists as adults, and were vilified for rumored homosexuality in their time. Despite this kind of drama they were hella famous authors and widely respected. I...really have a soft spot for these two.)
Anyway THOSE’RE MY THOUGHTS please cry with me gab about other possible historical sources for the Scamander Bros. or tell me stories about how Theseus read about T.E.Lawrence in the papers during the war or how Newt keeps T.H.White’s books close at hand.
