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| photo courtesy of empireonline.com |
SPOILERS FOR THE HARRY POTTER SERIES AND FANTASTIC BEASTS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM
THE BASICS
The Crimes of Grindelwald takes place in the same wizarding world as the
popular Harry Potter franchise. In that
universe, wizards and witches have their own society hidden amongst our own,
and just like regular humans (Muggles
or No-Maj’s), they can be noble or
sinister. Young witches and wizards go to schools of witchcraft like Hogwarts (the UK school in Harry Potter) or Ilvermorny, an American school.
The first Fantastic Beasts movie, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016),
takes place in 1920s New York City (about 70 years before the events of Harry Potter). The Crimes of Grindelwald will likely feature a few different
locales, including New York, London, and Paris, and will re-introduce a few
fan-favorite characters from the Harry
Potter series. Jude Law plays a young Albus
Dumbledore, the wise mentor figure from Harry
Potter, and Johnny Depp plays Gellert
Grindelwald, a notorious dark wizard and Dumbledore’s former lover.
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| An adorable Niffler. photo courtesy of revelist.com |
So far, the Fantastic Beasts series has explored
several new aspects of the wizarding world. In the first movie, we saw the magical
American government, the MACUSA, and
we encountered an Obscurus (a
malevolent, uncontrollable energy that develops in young magical children who
try to suppress their powers). And, true to its name, Fantastic Beasts introduces a number of magical beasts: Nifflers (who compulsively hunt
treasure), Thunderbirds (who create
storms), Bowtruckles (stick-like
creatures good at picking locks), Erumpents
(huge rhino-like animals with a magical horn), Swooping Evils (winged creatures who transform from a miniature
cocoon form), Demiguises (who can see
the likely immediate future), Occamies
(who grow or shrink to fill the available space), as well as Graphorns, Billywigs, and Nundus,
oh my.
WHERE WE LEFT THEM
NEWT SCAMANDER
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| photo courtesy of slashfilm.com |
Newt Scamander
(Eddie Redmayne) is a magizoologist who works for the Ministry of Magic (the British magical government). He was expelled
from Hogwarts, despite his friendship with Professor Dumbledore. In Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,
his trip to America put him on a collision course with Grindelwald and Credence Barebone (Ezra Miller). After
he recovered his missing magical creatures and helped defeat Grindelwald, Newt got
on a ship back to the UK. Although he felt sad to leave his new American
friends behind, he was excited about releasing his findings and getting his
book published by the Ministry of Magic.
TINA GOLDSTEIN
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| photo courtesy of pottermore.com |
Tina Goldstein
(Katherine Waterston) is an Auror (dark
wizard hunter) working for the MACUSA. Before the events of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,
she was demoted for publicly attacking an abusive anti-wizard activist, but
after she helped capture Grindelwald, the MACUSA restored her title.
QUEENIE GOLDSTEIN
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| Queenie and Jacob. photo courtesy of inverse.com |
Tina’s sister, Queenie Goldstein (Alison Sudol) also
works for the MACUSA. She has natural skill with Legilimency (mind-reading), which came in handy when she saved Newt
and Tina from Grindelwald in Fantastic Beasts
and Where to Find Them. Although American wizarding laws forbid
relationships between magical and non-magical people, Queenie’s in love with Jacob Kowalski (Dan Fogel), a No-Maj
with no memory of her.
JACOB KOWALSKI
Lack of magical powers
doesn’t stop Jacob Kowalski from participating in the wizarding world.
Alongside Newt, Tina, and his love interest Queenie, he helped recapture Newt’s
missing creatures and arrest Grindelwald. But in accordance with wizarding law,
Jacob (along with the rest of New York City) had his memories erased after the
fact. With some anonymous help from Newt, Jacob was still able to fulfill his
dream: starting a bakery, which is inspired by his residual memories of the wizarding
world.
CREDENCE BAREBONE
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| photo courtesy of nerdist.com |
Credence Barebone is
the only known Obscurial (host of an
Obscurus) to survive past the age of ten, thanks to his considerable magical
power. His adopted mother Mary Lou (Samantha
Morton) was adamantly anti-magic, which caused Credence to suppress his abilities
and develop an Obscurus. In Fantastic
Beasts and Where to Find Them, his Obscurus became uncontrollable,
frequently causing public destruction and catching the attention of Grindelwald
and the MACUSA. Although the MACUSA tried to destroy him in the interest of
public safety, a sliver of his Obscurus escaped the scene.
GELLERT GRINDELWALD
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| photo courtesy of geektyrant.com |
Like Lord Voldemort many years later,
Gellert Grindelwald is a powerful dark wizard who aims to rule the magical
world. Specifically, he plans to lead wizards in an uprising against
non-magical people. Grindelwald was a troublemaker from the beginning, but that
didn’t stop him from developing a romantic relationship with Dumbledore back when
the two were idealistic youngsters. After a magical brawl with Albus and his
brother Aberforth accidentally
killed Albus’s sister, Ariana, he
left Albus to start putting his sinister plans into motion. During Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, he
posed as MACUSA official Percival Graves
(Colin Firth) until Newt and the gang revealed his true identity. Grindelwald
was last seen in MACUSA custody, but as the sequel’s title suggests, that
probably won’t last long. Of course, Harry
Potter fans will remember that Grindelwald’s crimes have their limit—he dies
in prison, at the hands of Lord Voldemort, in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I (2010).
MACUSA OFFICIALS
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| Seraphina Picquery. photo courtesy of digitalspy.com |
Seraphina Picquery
(Carmen Ejogo), the President of the MACUSA, will return in The Crimes of Grindelwald. In Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,
she oversaw the MACUSA’s efforts to stop Credence and Grindelwald, eventually
reinstating Tina to the position of Auror. Abernathy
(Kevin Guthrie), Tina’s condescending boss during her demotion, also appears.
FRESH FACES
(Note: I’ve made some conscious omissions to avoid
giving away spoilers.)
ALBUS DUMBLEDORE
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| photo courtesy of kdow.biz |
Before he was
Headmaster of Hogwarts, Albus Dumbledore (Jude Law, previously Richard Harris
and Michael Gambon) was a professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts. When we
meet him in The Crimes of Grindelwald,
many of the formative events in Dumbledore’s life have already occurred. His
relationships with Grindelwald and his brother Aberforth were stunted when a
fight resulted in his sister Ariana’s death. Once Grindelwald left, Albus
channeled his guilt into his work as a professor.
Now that Grindelwald’s
sinister plans are on the rise, Dumbledore intends to take more direct action through
his trusted ally, Newt. As Harry Potter
fans remember from the series, Dumbledore will eventually duel and defeat
Grindelwald… but that comes years after the events of The Crimes of Grindelwald. The victory scores Albus the Elder Wand (one of three powerful magical
items that make up the Deathly Hallows),
which previously belonged to Grindelwald.
NAGINI
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| photo courtesy of digitalspy.com |
Claudia Kim plays Nagini, one of the main attractions at
a wizarding circus in The Crimes of
Grindelwald. Nagini is a Maledictus,
which means that she’s cursed to be irreversibly transformed into a snake. (This
is different from an Animagus, a
witch or wizard who can transform into an animal at will.) By the time of the
main Harry Potter series, Nagini’s
transformation has taken place; she serves as Lord Voldemort’s pet serpent
throughout his rise to power.
LETA LESTRANGE
We don’t know much
about Leta Lestrange (Zoë Kravitz)
except that she and Newt have romantic history dating back before the events of
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.
Fans will recognize her last name, which she shares with Voldemort’s devious second-in-command
Bellatrix Lestrange.
THESEUS SCAMANDER
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| photo courtesy of mugglenet.com |
Newt’s older brother, Theseus Scamander (Callum Turner) makes
his debut in The Crimes of Grindelwald.
He’s largely an unknown entity, but hints from Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them indicate that his
relationship with Newt might not be in tip-top shape. At the very least, we
know he’s sort of a big deal back in the UK.
NICOLAS FLAMEL
Nicolas Flamel
(Brontis Jodorowsky) is the titular sorcerer in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. Although he doesn’t appear
in the movie or book, Dumbledore tells Harry
Potter that Flamel is the alchemist responsible for the Stone, which can extend a person’s
lifespan beyond natural limits. After Harry stops Voldemort from getting the
Stone, Flamel agrees to destroy it, which cuts off his source of immortality. We
don’t know what he’s up to at the time of The
Crimes of Grindelwald.
LOOKING FORWARD
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| photo courtesy of denofgeek.com |
Will The Crimes of Grindelwald matter in
terms of the larger wizarding world? It depends how you look at it. Thanks to
the Harry Potter series, we already
know how most of the major players end up, but Dumbledore and Grindelwald
definitely have places to go—both as former lovers and as magical enemies—over the
course of three more movies (Fantastic
Beasts will have five total). New characters like Newt and Queenie have a
bit more wiggle room.
In all likelihood, we
can expect to see The Crimes of
Grindelwald and its sequels explore some of the things we already know from
the Harry Potter series. We'll probably see
Grindelwald expand his quest for the Deathly Hallows. He possesses the Elder Wand
in this movie, but the Resurrection
Stone (which resurrects the dead in ghostly form) and the Cloak of Invisibility (which renders
its wearer invisible) are out of his reach. As far as we know, Grindelwald never
gets his hands on them. We’ll also see a piece of Nagini’s journey from human witch
into Lord Voldemort’s snake and Horcrux
(an item in which a dark wizard stores a portion of his soul for safe-keeping).
And with any luck, The Crimes of
Grindelwald will feature some new, you know, fantastic beasts.
TRAILER
Watch the trailer here.
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| photo courtesy of bostonherald.com |
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