WAIT CREDENCE IS WHOSE SON?! HOW THE FUCK?! EXPLAIN?!
You alright with spoilers?
READ ON!
So, in the Secrets of Dumbledore, we find out in the Credence v Albus duel that yes, Credence IS a Dumbledore. But it isn't said how....yet.
Throughout the movie, we see Aberforth wiping off a mirror that keeps having messages appear on it in the...moisture? Breath? You know when you breathe on the glass and it fogs up? Yeah that.
And in one scene with Credence, we see this happened with his own mirror.
Then later on, we accompany Newt to where he overhears Albus and Aberforth talking - and Albus says the a 'he' needs you, and that this 'he' is Aberforth's son.
Albus then explains to Newt that when he and Grindawald fell in love, Aberforth did to - but his love had to leave, and there were rumors of a child, but it was never confirmed.
AND THEN at the end, Albus and Aberforth save Credence's life - and we get a little scene of Aberforth and Credence by each other.🥰
Of course, I'm a little worried about Credence - his Obcurial is killing him.
Newt paused to see if he would get an answer, but Credence just stared, still shivering violently. Ever so slowly, he approached, hands outstretched in what he hoped was a non-threatening manner. If this was one of his creatures, he would know exactly what to do, but dealing with people? Give him a dragon any day.
Newt’s foot accidently tapped a rock into one of the train tracks, making a high clank sound, and Credence flinched back. Newt stopped in place.
“Sorry, Credence,” he spoke softly. “I really don’t mean you any harm. My name is Newt Scamander and I’m-I’m a friend of Tina’s. Do you remember her, Credence?”
He was still looking at Newt with wariness and fear and Newt couldn’t tell what he was thinking at all. Newt wasn’t great at keeping eye contact, but he didn’t want to waver here. Tina told him to save the boy and he was going to do exactly that.
“She was the one who tried to help you, Credence. Save you, I mean. Um,” Newt really wasn’t sure what to do, but Credence perhaps looked a little less wary. “She…she really cares a-and so do I.”
“Yes,” Credence rasped out, a short response, but Newt knew it was a start. Problem was, what did that mean?
“Uh, yes?”
“I know her,” Credence was still curled in a corner, but he seemed a little more…solid. “Doesn’t she work with Mr. Graves?”
Newt chanced it and made his way a little closer, inching forward step by step, still crouched low. “Well, technically, she does, but well. Not anymore? Sort of on the lam, I suppose, and really, she’s probably fighting him right now. And he tried to kill us, so that’s. That’s probably grounds to quit a job, yes? I mean, if she even has the job anymore.”
And now he was past the tracks and right in front of Credence. He didn’t mean to ramble and he really, really didn’t mean to talk mostly nonsense. He meant to- get Credence to trust him.
Seriously, dragons. Way easier.
But…Credence allowed him this close. And, Newt was fairly sure, looked less fearful and more…bemused. Sort of like Newt was one of his strange creatures.
Newt trailed off and gently, so very gently, place his fingers on Credence’s arm. “Mr. Graves…. was not very nice to you either, was he, Credence?”
Credence flinched a little at Newt’s light touch, but otherwise didn’t move away. Good. That was a good sign.
When he spoke, he sounded…shattered? “I trusted him. I thought- I thought he would-” He couldn’t seem to get the words out, shuddering.
Newt pressed his hand further so his whole hand touched Credence’s arm, and started to rub up and down in a hopefully soothing manner. “I-I’m so sorry. I’m so very, very sorry. You don’t deserve this, Credence.”
Credence held back a sob in his throat and managed to stutter out, “It’s not that he was mean, or dismissed me, or just…used me. It was the fact that he was-was kind first.” His hands clenched and he started looking a little hazy around the edges. Shit. “If he just never pretended to care. It wouldn’t have hurt so bad. But he-” And here Credence eyes went white and he practically wailed, “He lied! Why did he have to be kind!”
“Oh, Credence…. I don’t know…I’m sorry…I’m…” Here Newt brought both hands up and put them on his shoulders. “Let me help you. Please. I-I want to help. And I know Tina does too. We can help you.”
Credence’s eyes went back to normal, but they were red and he was crying and shaking and Newt’s heart stuttered along with him. But then Credence, instead of exploding violently outwards, seemed to crumble in on himself. Suddenly, the only thing holding him upright were Newt’s hands, so Newt gently brought him closer. Credence followed easily, and that is how Newt found him with his arms full and a face mushed into his shoulder.
“There there…it’s going to be okay…shhh…shhh…” Credence was fully sobbing now and Newt rubbed circles into the poor boy’s back. “Let it out…I’m here…mu-” And here Newt cut himself off because he was about to say ‘mummy’s here’ like he would with one of his creatures, but that wouldn’t go so well with Credence in this moment. So, he just sat there hoping that no one would come down, and that Tina was alright, and that no one would ever hurt Credence again. He started to rock slightly back in forth, with Credence in his arms, hoping to comfort him in any way possible. He whispered nonsense into his ear, softly and kindly, and made sure to use phrases a human, not a creature, would find soothing.
After a while, Credence sobs turned into hiccups, little hitches of breath that were still quite heartbreaking. Newt’s legs were getting cramped, but he tried to ignore that and focus on breathing slowly and evenly. He wondered how long they had left to get out of here.
Slowly, Credence calmed down enough that Newt was confident enough to try to move him. “Feeling better now?”
Credence lifted his head away from Newt’s damp shoulder, sniffing a little. He didn’t say anything, but he gave a nod.
“That’s good! What say you and I get out of here? Let’s find Tina, yeah?”
Again, Credence gave a nod. He looked exhausted.
“Yes. Good. Okay. Let’s start with standing up.” Newt untangled himself from Credence a little and stood up. He reached out a hand and, with a little bit of hesitation, Credence took it. He gently hauled the boy to his feet and then they move made their way across the tracks and onto the platform.
Newt was just about to start feeling optimistic about the whole thing when everything went to hell.
Tina came around a corner, shouting, “Newt! Run! He’s here!” And was followed by several nasty looking curses that missed her by inches.
And then from the other side, a slew of aurors burst in the other way, wands at the ready.
And there was Newt and Credence stuck in the middle.
Graves appeared, ready to try to curse Tina again, but stopped at the sight of Credence. Newt put an arm out in front of Credence and got him to slowly back up, so the two groups were more at an angle to them, and the wall was at their back. He then planted himself in front of the boy. Did he have time to draw his wand or would that set everybody off?
Tina was closest to them and already had her wand out. She had a protective glint in her eyes.
The stand off lasted maybe a few seconds, but then Graves, reading the situation, started shouting at the aurors, “Stand down! Anyone who harms the boy answers to me!”
The aurors seemed to ignore him, but did seem to hesitate with the fact that Newt was standing right in front of Credence. Newt knew that probably wouldn’t slow them down for long.
“Credence, come with me. I just want you to be free.” And now Graves was looking in their direction.
Newt couldn’t see Credence from this angle, but Tina could. She spoke up then, countering Graves, “Don’t listen to him! He’s just using you! Newt and I can protect you!” Here she turned to the Aurors, who had them all surrounded by now, except for the one wall. “Please! Please don’t hurt him!”
And then President Picquery stepped out from the crowd of aurors and said, “They are to destroy the Obscurus on my orders.”
Graves seemed to lurch forward at that, a half snarl on his face, but smoothed his expression over. “You’re making a mistake. You’re all fools if you think this is the solution!” The president’s eyebrows shot up, and Graves cleared his throat, and added, “Ahem. Madam President.”
“I do not have time for your arguments, Mr. Graves. We are exposed and the threat of war is high. And that-” here she pointed to Credence, “boy is the cause of it all!”
Here Tina tried to step in, to defend Credence, but Graves spoke over her. “And this is a bad thing? Look at us! Cowering in shadows! All this boy did was bring us into the light!”
“He is a danger to society!”
“Our society? Don’t you mean, their muggle society?” Muggles? Newt had a sudden sinking feeling. Graves, thoroughly fed up, continued on, “Who are we really trying to protect here? Us…or them?”
Newt reached back and found Credence’s hand with his own. He squeezed tight and murmured, “Hold on, it’s going to get loud.” Credence squeezed back, fingers trembling.
President Picquery gestured to the Aurors beside her and said, “Please relieve Mr. Graves of his wand.”
And then things got loud and flashy and Tina had rushed to their side and took Credence’s other hand and Newt had a spark of an idea that involved the Swooping Evil….and then it was over.
And Newt did not move from his spot or let go of Credence, but he did say, out into the room and not to anyone in particular, “Try a revelio.”
And Tina responded first and then it wasn’t Mr. Graves in front of them, but Gellert Grindelwald himself.
He grinned as the president and her aurors moved in, a few grabbing a hold of him. Picquery said, “Please escort Mr. Grindelwald away.”
As they marched him passed, he turned and stared at Credence, “Don’t worry, dear. I’ll come for you. And then we will be free.”
Newt, who had practically sandwiched the boy between himself, the wall, and Tina, could feel the shudder that went through Credence at those words. He vowed to himself that if they ever got out of this, then Grindelwald would never lay another finger on him.
As they left the platform, the rest of the aurors formed a tighter circle around them. The president seemed to be choosing her words carefully now. “It seems we owe you a great debt, Mr. Scamander. But that does not excuse what he did. A no-maj is dead and the whole city has been exposed to destruction and magic. He needs to be dealt with. If we have to go through you both to protect what is left of wizardkind, then we will. You cannot shield him anymore.”
Newt opened his mouth, but Credence beat him to it. “Please! Please, don’t hurt them! It’s all my fault! I didn’t mean to…. I was just so angry and scared…” He tried to shove past Newt and Tina, but they both looked at each other and mutually decided to plant their feet. Newt wished he could know what the young man was thinking.
Credence seemed to sense they weren’t going to move so he continued to shout, “Please! If you got to kill me, don’t harm them! They don’t deserve to be punished…I do. My mother…. she knew. She knew what a monster I was. Don’t harm them for something I did.”
Picquery had the most curious expression on her face. Newt couldn’t really interpret it, but she wasn’t giving any further instructions. When she spoke, it was almost…uncertain. “The law is the law, young man. No exceptions. We are exposed because of you.”
And then Newt had a spark of hope and blurted out, “What if we weren’t? If I can make this all go away, would you let Credence go free?”
“And how would you do that?”
Newt was stubborn. “I have a way to make all the muggles up there forget this ever happened. If you all can repair the damage, then our secrecy is still intact! But, Madam President, will you let him go?”
“He is still a danger-”
“He was hurt! He was hurt over and over by those he trusted. His power is vast, but controllable. I can help him with that. Leave him to me, and I can help you keep your secrets.”
There are murmurs among the aurors, but Newt can’t make out what their saying. Picquery pauses and gives Newt an incredulous look. “You would risk your life, and then hold the safety of all wizard society hostage, just to save this boy?” She glances at Tina who hasn’t budged an inch. “Both of you?”
Newt doesn’t even have to look at Tina this time. He knows they both are in agreement. He nods and says, “Oh, yes.” Credence made a noise in the back of his throat, like he wanted to protest.
Picquery expression morphed into something more thoughtful, “…why?”
“Because someone has to. Because, in all his life, he has never been shown true kindness or mercy from anyone in power. Because everyone deserves a second chance. And, Madam President, because it’s what I do. I help lost, lonely creatures. Ones that have been hurt, namely by humans. Because of greed, or fear, or ignorance. Or just because they could. I will protect Credence Barebones with my life because, not only is it the right thing to do, but I cannot imagine the person I would be if I did not.”
And he knew he spoke too much. He was never good with words, or looking people in the eye. He was never good at convincing anyone to do anything. That was all his charismatic brother. Things were quiet for a tense moment. Newt held his breathe.
Picquery said, not giving anything away, “You would claim all responsibility for him then. If he were to lose control and kill someone else, then you will get punished and he will be executed. If he reveals our secrets again, same terms. Do you understand?”
Newt opened his mouth to reply, but Tina beat him to it, “Yes! Yes of course!”
He glanced at her, but she then turned slightly to face him and said, “Don’t you start. We’re in this together.”
He nodded, knowing this wasn’t the time to argue. It…actually felt nice to have Tina on his side.
Picquery let out a sigh and said, “I might live to regret this. What is your memory plan, Mr. Scamander?”
And Newt could have jumped for joy, but he just felt so relieved. He turned to Credence, finally feeling like he could. He could see tear tracks on his face and he could feel tremors in his hand. The young man looked completely overwhelmed. But…maybe something light in his eyes, finally. Something like…hope. Newt gently pulled him into a hug and said, “We’re going to get through this. Let me just deal with making the city forget, and then we can find somewhere safe, okay?” Tina was sure to sneak them into her home again. He felt Credence nod against his shoulder.
“Mr. Scamander?”
He pulled away and turned back to the president. Credence will be fine with Tina for now. “I need my case and then I can show you.”
She nods and says, “We have a couple of your friends outside. They seem to be in possession of your suitcase.” She signals some aurors to go and get them. “Now tell me your plan.”
“Well, you see, the Swooping Evil has a very unique venom-”
He continued to explain what he wanted to do, glancing back occasionally at Tina and Credence. They seemed to be chatting lowly with each other. At one point, very briefly, Tina seemed to have managed to make Credence smile. Just a small, fragile thing, but it was there. It was genuine. Small steps.
Jacob and Queenie finally arrived and it’s good to see them unharmed. To have his case back in his hands again…. something tight in his chest finally unclenches for the first time since losing his case, since discovering there was another Obscurus, since realising how much danger Credence was in.
He thinks, looking around at his friends (his friends!), that maybe things were finally going to be okay.
So yesterday we had the opportunity to see Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald early (I loved it!), and then were lucky enough to meet almost the entire cast at Wizarding World! Honestly one of the most magical days of my life!100% cried meeting Dumbledore in the Defense classroom, NGL!
Newt | Tina | Queenie | Graves | Beauxbatons Student
My friend seriously thought that Aurelius dumbledore is a love child between Grindlewald and Dumbledore. Because it's magic so basically everything could happen, that holding hands thing they did when their blood fused together , some obscure thing came out of it. She thought it was credence's seed 😂😂 I don't even know anymore I might even believe her innocent headcanon.
I don’t think my level of Harry Potter obsession has really had a chance to shine yet on this blog. I meant to go see this movie the first weekend was out, nearly a month ago, and then circumstances and life got in the way, and here we are. Also, like I love #KeepTheSecrets, but it’s been nearly a month, all the spoilers are here.
Having not seen this movie right away, I had to work pretty hard to avoid spoilers (not entirely successful, since they put McGonagall right in the headlines of those review articles, but whatever). But like I was also sort of overwhelmed with negative reviews. I went into the theater already convinced that this world I loved had been irrevocably tarnished forever. Which maybe made me come out of the theater going “I’m not entirely sure about anything that happened in the last twenty minutes of the movie, but I think I liked it?”
Before I left, I had a pretty in depth conversation with my roommate, who had already seen the movie. We essentially decided the same thing, that writing something immediately into a screenplay must be difficult for JK Rowling, who wrote us Order of the Phoenix. Also a lot of fan frustration is coming from contradictions between this series and Harry Potter, but in the first series she had total freedom, this 5 movie arc is confined to the ending and course of history that is presented in Harry’s time at Hogwarts. We know a lot of things that make this entire series difficult to write.
I don’t really know where to start with this, I wish I’d been able to do this last night, even now, I’m still texting friends and googling questions I have, only to be left with more. So, I guess, I’ll just resign myself to forgetting things and dive in.
My big question right now is that it’s been 6 months to a year since the end of Fantastic Beasts, which happened in 1926. I’ve been under the impression that this series was going to end with the defeat of Grindelwald by Albus Dumbledore in 1945. So out of the 19 years this series needs to span, we’ve covered a year or so in two movies, meaning the next three movies havee 17 or 18 years to cover. However, J. K. Rowling has been hinting VERY heavily that the next movie takes place in Rio de Janeiro in the 1930s, meaning were moving ahead at least 2 or 3 years to get to the third movie. I mean, this series is going to end with Dumbledore defeating Grindelwald in 1945 right? Right?
Okay, so like, honestly SO MUCH was HAPPENING IN THIS MOVIE. Like with the Harry Potter movies, I had some giant books that I knew about before I went into the movies (figuratively, Philosopher’s Stone was released in Canada when I was two, I only saw Deathly Hallows Part 2 in theaters). Even Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them, I waited so long to watch the movie that I had already read the screenplay before I saw the movie. With this movie, I had nothing besides the trailers and a general sense of discontent from fans. And so keeping track of things I wanted to talk about is pretty hard.
So, Newt has flat, of some sort, but he’s basically eating and sleeping and everything in one small room, because he needs the rest of his place for the creatures. He’s got some sort of assistant, who has a crush on him but we don’t see again, who is taking care of the rest of the creatures during this whole thing. Is she important? Probably not, but I want to mention that she’s like intentionally not named in that article where Leta is mislabeled as Newt’s fiancee. (Also like a dumb plot point, but whatever) I just think there’s a reason that this JAM PACKED movie took the time to even show her.
Um, all the creatures were great, um the poor Kappa is just still with the abusive circus people? I’m sad he didn’t get rescued. I can’t remember what the weird Lion/Dragon/Housecat was called, but like, SOOO CUTE. And then Nifflers, baby Nifflers, I’m here for all that. It wouldn’t be Newt if there weren’t creatures. Also I liked that he isn’t just into healing magical creatures, he saw a baby raven and he was like, yeah I’ll look after this little buddy too. Plus like there’s an obvious parallel with Credence’s little pet bird (I’m not ready to use Credence’s alleged “real” name, we’ll get there).
A lot of this plot stuff is going to be what I understood and remember from seeing this movie one time. If I get something wrong, like point it out I guess if it’s worth me knowing, but like please don’t come for me. My memory and understanding of things from this movie, the last movie, the Harry Potter series, it’s fallible.
So Tina is an American Auror again, she’s tracking Credence to France. The Ministry wants Newt to do this as well, I’m guessing they know that he had that Obscurial he took from the girl, and they know he knows about this stuff. And the deal is that he’ll be able to leave the country. Side note, I thought Newt was expelled from Hogwarts, now it sounds like he was at least finished his OWLs, or finished school before he got into trouble. Also IT’S FUCKING HARD TO BE EXPELLED FROM HOGWARTS! Tom Riddle would probably found it a lot harder to be Voldemort if he’d been expelled from Hogwarts for MURDERING MYRTLE. Anyways, he hears that Tina is in France and he’s on the first illegal Portkey to Paris. Where’s the Department of Magical Transportation?? Like 70 years from now the Ministry has a lock on Portkeys and the Floo Network, leading to the Battle of Seven Potters, but I guess in 1927/28 (ONE TITLE CARD WITH THE YEARS WOULD’VE BEEN NICE), they’re not so uptight and 50 Galleons will get you and your muggle friend across the English Channel.
UM MY HEART HURTS. I was excited about Jacob and Queenie for a few seconds until that took a DARK turn right off the bat. We’ve only ever really seen one love potion in action (technically two, that’s how Voldemort was conceived and we’ve got memories in HBP), Ron in HBP. So like that was a little gross, I wish we had discussed the Rappaport Law in a less date-rapey way. Cause I’mm very interested in the various magical governments and Rappaport’s Law is a big deal. It’s the reason Canadian Wizards became more British. And like it’s a problem for Queenie and Jacob because they really are in love (even once the spell is not in place), but getting married to a no-maj is illegal and she’ll go to whatever the American version of Azkaban is. This is a BIG plotline and if they’d just like introduced it a little in the first movie, or differently in this movie, I think we could’ve been a little more sympathetic to Queenie.
I’m just going to jump ahead to what Queenie does because I HAVE A FEW PROBLEMS. Queenie went to Paris to find her sister, never gets to her. Then, she finds Jacob again, but she’s been persuaded by Grindelwald already, again, because he sells her on this world where she can marry Jacob. They are reunited for about two minutes, and let me tell you, I thought Jacob woke her up at the end. And it turns out that she is actually crazy/brainwashed/whatever you want to call it. I REALLY WISH WE’D GOT TINA’S FACE. She was in that room. She watched Queenie walk through the ring of fire and join the Dark Side. And we did not get a shot of Tina being ABSOLUTELY DEVASTATED. I have a theory about Queenie, that I’m going to share right now, so let me know what you think. I think Queenie is very clearly targeted when she’s at the French Ministry of Magic. Like every person she interacts with is working for Grindelwald, she’s immediately picked up and brought to him. I think this gaslighting, combined with this barrage of thoughts that she can’t understand, and the heartbreak she’d going through make her very vulnerable. And then she’s in this room of thoughts that she can understand and they’re all buying into this bigoted ideology. I don’t think that Queenie is just an airhead, I think there’s deeper motivation behind her corruption. I definitely think Grindelwald wants Queenie because she can read people’s minds, the same way he wants Credence. And we do see at the end that he is using Queenie to help him manipulate Credence. I really was so worried she would die/she would try to drag Jacob through the fire and it would kill him, that I’m just relieved that she’s alive. I’m very much looking forward to the confrontation between her and Newt/Tina/Jacob where they’re up against one another and she’ll KNOW that they don’t want to hurt her, that they just want her to come back.
Um Nicolas Flamel is too old. He made some offhand comment about having not seen action in some ridiculous number of years, but in Philosopher’s Stone (1992), he was 690. Assuming that this movie took place in 1928 at the latest, Flammel is 626 years old. I mean, he came though and stopped the entire city of Paris from burning, so whatever. It’s fine. Happy to see him.
I have lots of timeline issues with Jude Law being Dumbledore, but that being said, the ending of this movie makes it pretty clear why Dumbledore is aged down. I have NO ISSUES with Jude Law acting. He is VERY Dumbledore in how he answers questions, responds to confrontation. But like, my issue is the flashback to telling Tom Riddle he’s a wizard, around age 10/11. Tom was born on December 31, 1926, which means Dumbledore ages from Jude Law to Michael Gambon sometime in the next 10 years tops. I can ignore this, they didn’t know they were doing this back when they filmed HBP. (Sorry for all the HBP references, but like 90% of the relevant history of magic we learn about in the last two books of the HP series). Long story short, I really like the addition of Jude Law and Dumbledore in general, I really like that Newt is immediately more aware that Dumbledore’s been pulling strings than Harry is. Also I was a little thrown off by how HUGE the Mirror of Erised was. But I think I’m just remembering it as small because I assumed Dan Rad was small and that an adult would put the mirror in proportion. We kind of see that they make this blood pact, and Dumbledore says they were “closer than brothers”. I think it’s obvious that Dumbledore has feelings for Grindelwald, and I think that it’s at least somewhat mutual. Grindelwald took GREAT care to get the blood bond thingy out of MACUSA when he was being trasferred and kept it with him. So either breaking it will break the bond (seems like a little...too simple/too fallible) or he also cares about Dumbledore. Not a lot else to say about that, aside from I guess this blood bond is on the aftermath of one of them killing Dumbledore’s sister. So this is likely the last time that they ever saw each other, since we know Grindelwald got the heck out of dodge pretty quickly after the dead sister incident. Just a quick sec to say that I love Toby Regbo, who was Young Dumbledore, I hope we get more young Dumbledore flashbacks so that he can have some real action. He was the male lead on Reign for all four seasons, he’s an experienced actor.
Inappropriately placed Newtina time. Just like this movie. Did I mind at all that this ABSOLUTELY FULL movie took A LONG scene for Newt and Tina to awkwardly dance around the word “salamander”? NO. I think they make a well balanced pairing, both in a fight and romantically. I wish this review wasn’t already so long because I could easily talk about every scene Tina was in. I love Tina. I have high hopes for them, I hope they grieve together, him for Leta, her for Queenie. If they have to suffer loss, I hop it at least leads them to love.
I guess this brings us to the Lestrange issues. First, I assumed Leta Lestrange would be a nightmare. I don’t know if it’s that Zoe Kravitz is just a good actress (if you can’t think of what she was in, she was Christina in the Divergent movies) or what, but I found her to be an intriguing character. I’m not really sure about her story about her past, but like her present day character is very interesting. It’s pretty clear her and Newt have had/still have some unresolved feelings for one another, and I’d really like some details on how she ended up with Newt’s brother Theseus. I think the shot of Newt’s face when she says “I love you” and then to her attacking Grindelwald and then to Theseus, was such a beautiful choice of shots. We don’t really know which brother she was talking to, I’m not sure Leta herself knew. The contrast afterwards of the Scamander brothers hugging in grief versus their awkward “for show/warning” hug in the beginning of the movie is great. I really hope we see more Leta flashbacks and that Theseus is a part of The Team going forwards.
Um, the Lestrange family line has encountered a SLIGHT problem. What, you may ask? Based on the research I’ve done in the last few hours, I can’t figure out how Bellarix’s husband is born at all. If the REAL Corvus is dead and Leta is dead, then that is the last of the Lestrange’s line. But SOMEHOW there’s a Lestrange in Hogwarts around the same time as Voldemort, who is more or less credited with being an early Death Eater and the father of Rastaban and Rodolphus. The only other Lestrange on the line is what I THINK a NINTH COUSIN, Nozea Lestrange, and she’s as far as we know unmarried and childless. There’s a lot of cousin intermarrying on this family tree, it’s a lot and my brain hurts. And honestly IT DIDN’T END UP BEING THAT BIG OF A THING.
Is there much more to talk about, probably. But like, I’m gonna do a quick blurb on Nagini, a theory/hope, and then get you the goods on the end reveal.
Nagini is a Maledictus, which is a type of blood curse that is going to turn this woman into the snake that is at Voldemort’s side. My roommate FLOORED me last night when I got home from the movie and she said “Just think, Neville Longbottom KILLS that woman”. I was SHOOK because I hadn’t thought about it. We don’t know a lot about her yet, it seems like some of her plot may have been cut out. I’m reserving judgement for now. I liked that we mentioned blood curses again, because we know that Astoria Greengrass, Draco Malfoy’s future wife is a victim of a different type of blood curse. I have a few theoris regarding Nagini’s future company. I’d kind of been under the impression that Nagini was a particularly intelligent snake that Voldemort had found when he was hiding out waiting for a chance to return. Now I’m wondering if Voldemort meets Nagini before she’s a snake permanently. Or I’m thinking that Parseltongue is SO rare that Nagini is just so happy to have found someone to understand her after so long being trapped in the snake’s body and mind. I would like to see some Voldemort foreshadowing in this film, the way the Hobbit films retroactively foreshadowed the events of the Lord of the Rings movies that already existed.
Okay. Here we are. The real reason you’ve been reading this. To find out what I think about this DUMBLEDORE reveal. You wanna know? For one minute we’re going to contemplate that Aurelius Dumbledore is really a brother of Albus Dumbledore. First, that means out of FOUR children, TWO were kept secret, and ONE became Albus Dumbledore who I HAVE SOME ISSUES WITH, OKAY? This is intesting, there’s a BIG TWENTY YEAR AGE DIFFERENCE, but it does make sense that they brought in Jude Law to give us a younger Dumbledore. I think this is an interesting choice, because back when we thought that Credence was Leta’s brother, Dumbledore mentions to Newt a real sibling could heal Credence and replace the Obscurial. Grindelwald pitting Credence against his alleged brother prevents this from being a viable option. My roommate suggested that Credence somehow inherited Ariana Dumbledore’s Obscurial as a baby when she was killed, and like, I could potentially buy that. Except that there’s a BIG PROBLEM. Credence Barebones, whoever he may truly be, was born in 1901. Percival Dumbledore, Albus, Aberforth, and Ariana’s father, was in Azkaban around 1890 and then died, so it’s unlikely he fathered any children. And then Ariana and Kendra (their mother), both die the same year, in 1899. Two years before Credence was born. So if Credence truly is a Dumbledore, he’s not Albus’s brother. Some people have suggested that Credence is a lost son of Albus, but considering that Albus is gay and has had his heart broken to the point that he’s done with love for the next 90 some years of his life, that seems unlikely to me. The Dumbledore family has some serious ISSUES and EXPLAINING to do. I really think that something about believing that Albus Dumbledore is his brother and trying to kill him will make Credence somehow more volatile and likely to kill Dumbledore, and that Grindelwald is using that to get what he wants. I really don’t think it’s the truth. Nice touch with the A name though, only someone who knew the Dumbledore family would’ve made up a name like Aurelius just to keep that family tradition detail in.
It’s been over 24 hours since I saw the movie. I’ve been writing this review over a few HOURS now. I’m still really not sure what I think about this movie. Overall I liked it, despite some plot holes (Guys, McGonagall, I didn’t talk about it because, like the internet has it ESTABLISHED already) and the fact that every family detail I got in this entire movie was a lie, I was hooked. I’m excited for the next one already, even though it’s probably another two years away. Let me know what you think, because I want to know. I want to hear ALL the theories.
Well, it’s been a while, my dudes. I literally saw the new Fantastic Beasts movie two days early at a special screening and am still only getting to this now. The thing is, I wanted to organize my thoughts and make sure I wasn’t being overly critical before I said anything and...I don’t think I was. The movie was a mess guys.
On the plus side, sitting with these thoughts also put me in a place where I actually think it’s would have been fixable, and I’m going to tell you how for literally no reason. Just stick with me, guys. And there will be spoilers.
1. Cut half the plots of this movie:
Credence looking for his family is all fine and well, but does not help this movie at all. Seriously, I understand they are trying to further the plot point of him wanting to be somewhere he belongs from the first movie, but couldn’t he just be trying to live a normal life in the wizarding world and learning to control his magic and Grindelwald constantly sending people after him is derailing that, making him a threat and causing the Ministry to also want him? Then we could have Credence back and not have the weird magic circus story that exists for no real reason and the moments where we stop the movie short to show a conversation with a random nanny who gives a tiny bit of exposition and then dies. We could also focus more on Grindelwald’s actual followers and power.
Also, the side plot of Dumbledore literally being unable to fight Grindelwald, totally pointless (I’ll get to more on that one later). He could’ve just had the Ministry watching him because they think he’s searching for Credence and they have conflicting hopes for him, and have sent Newt to find Credence before Grindelwald because Newt wasn’t being watched, and boom, reason Dumbledore doesn’t go after Credence himself.
So, basically, just have the movie about Grindelwald still trying to remove the Obscurial from Credence, and Dumbledore trying to cure Credence, and the Ministry trying to kill the Obscurial by any means necessary and you have one cohesive plot that you can show Newt using beasts to help him along the way and have Credence back, and have Grindelwald be a threat and all the side plots are pretty much flushed.
2. Better explanations:
So I’ve heard a lot of people confused about things that happened between this movie and the first. I, myself, don’t understand the sudden jump to Grindelwald telling his followers Credence is the lost Lestrange boy. I’m assuming he just went with the flow when someone brought it up?? But I’d love a clear answer to that. I’d love a clear answer to Why Credence joined a circus in the first place. Or why Queenie turned psycho so quick (That’s also talked on more in the next point). What’s up with Grindelwald’s weird hookah magic? Please explain the series of events that led to that opening escape scene. Why didn’t he just duck out on that dude who switched places with him? He certainly didn’t seem particularly useful anyway. None of these questions are answered, and I’d love if, for all the exposition in this damn movie, we could get useful answers.
3. Don’t 180 established characters for lazy plot reasons:
Okay, we all know who I’m talking about. Queenie was established first movie to be very empathetic and, mostly even despite her seemingly air-headed demeanor and whimsical attitude, an amazingly resourceful and adept witch. So why, when the second movie rolls around, is she suddenly crazy, and then triggered by the word crazy?? She literally kidnaps her boyfriend and tries to trick him into marriage and when he’s not even mad, makes solid logical points as to why they aren’t married, and thinks at her that she’s being a bit crazy (which she is as far as we can tell), she acts like he’s in the wrong and runs off?? The chick we see this movie is not Queenie. Even worse, there is no explanation for why she is losing it, and not being as understanding as we know her to be. Not to mention, making her crazy actually diminishes what they were trying to do. How much more terrifying and awe worthy would it have been if, instead of turning a crazed woman to his side, Grindelwald took our original Queenie and turned her to his side? Or, even better, how about that plot point not exist at all?
4. Let Dumbledore be gay:
This one is just annoying. Honestly, why couldn’t they have just let him be hesitant to go after Grindelwald because he’d loved him once? Why is that so hard to do? Why mention it if it means nothing to any of the established canon for mainstream audiences? I’m just disappointed in this one. If they had dropped the whole blood oath crap and just let him have the moment in the mirror where it’s just them, that would’ve been enough for me to not be as mad as I am.
5. Stop ruining established canon for pointless fan service:
I’m talking to you McGonagall and Nagini. There is a right way to do fan service, Nicholas Flamel and going to Hogwarts to see Dumbledore where examples of that. Giving us lore and then taking a giant dump all over it is not. McGonagall should not have been at Hogwarts, you literally have five movies to bring her in and this was the wrong one to do it in. You wanted to show through the raise of Voldemort, so wait for that to show McGonagall. Don’t shove her in early for literally no reason at all.
Also, let’s talk about how dumb Nagini existing this movie was. She does absolutely nothing to further this plot. She’s just there, making sad eyes at Credence and turning into a snake. She has so few lines, the movie would literally barely be any shorter if she never said anything at all. Every scene she’s in could’ve gone exactly the same without her, with the most minimal changes. Have Credence escape the circus on his own (or subscribe to my idea and don’t do that circus thing at all). Have Tina be the one asking him not to go with Grindelwald since they already have an established rapport, and boom, movie is literally hardly any different (once again, unless we go with my plot).
6. Don’t waste interesting characters:
Newt’s brother, Thaddeus and his fiancee Leda actually seemed to have pretty good chemistry with Newt, and they did this really clever thing where we see how uncomfortable Newt is with them which makes us realize how close he really is to Tina, Queenie, and Jacob in the first film because it’s a vast contrast to how he is with his brother and former best friend. Then they go and give neither of them anything to do the whole movie and cap it off by killing Leda off at the end. I’m not gonna lie, her talents were wasted, and to make matters worse, I don’t actually care enough about her by the end of the movie for the the death to cause me sadness. Something compounded by the fact that it comes in the wake of Queenie’s betrayal, which is by and large more upsetting. Explore Newt’s possible feelings of abandonment by Leda. Have her have a useful job, one that maybe makes her privy to info about what the Ministry is up to and pass it on to Newt or Dumbledore. Something! Anything but that dumb convoluted sibling plot line that reeked of ignorance and poor taste.
Also, give Thaddeus more to do. Explore his dynamic with Newt more. Have him more torn about siding with his brother and Dumbledore or siding with the Ministry. He does little else, besides telling Newt the Ministry is watching him (something that presents no hindrance to Newt and his travels whatsoever), and looking worried or strained in places with the other Aurors. Have his job as Auror conflict with Newt’s plans more. Have him chasing his own brother. Like, give him something to do.
7. Flashbacks or Exposition, not both:
I don’t have much to say other than it halted the movie to show us stuff we were already told. Either show or tell, don’t do both.
8. Make Grindelwald more of a threat:
He doesn’t actually do much in this movie. None of his speeches seem that charismatic. The way he interacts with his followers doesn’t seem very charismatic. We get a lot of people telling us he is, but I never see it. He kills some people who aren’t prepared to fight him, and he has a single fight scene which was actually pointless because he should’ve just escaped and left a dude to die in his place which would’ve shown his real menace at least a bit more than what we got. The running joke is, nobody really knows what the crimes of Grindelwald are this movie. I mean, yes there is the obvious stuff: murder, gathering without a permit, escaping police custody, maybe some secrecy issues?? But for a movie literally named for his crimes, there is still a surprising lack of actual bad stuff he does.
He has one really clever moment and it doesn’t happen until the very end of the movie so it honestly feels too little too late. I will mention that it’s a great example of how well matched he a Dumbledore were though, because we’re led to believe they both knew what would happen if the Aurors showed up at his rally. It’s honestly his best moment, in my opinion.
9. Don’t do that ending you did:
It’s dumb. It’s terrible. It better be a lie. Once again, it takes a dump on well established canon to do something that isn’t even necessary. i just...no. Don’t do any of that you did.
