Fantastic Beasts : 5 Secrets About Dumbledore That Need To Be Answered
29 September 2021
Its been a long time away from the Wizarding World, but in less than a year, well finally have more to talk about regarding the franchise when the next Fantastic Beasts movie comes to theaters next April. As revealed last week, we have an official title for Fantastic Beasts 3, and it will be called Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore. Perhaps mirroring the previous Crimes of Grindelwald, which introduced audiences to the dark wizard, this time around, we might learn more about Jude Laws Albus Dumbledore. Going into the film, theres a few secrets about him were curious to learn about.
Now theres more than a few secrets about Dumbledore wed like to know, and with that in mind, it may not be in the best interest of the third Fantastic Beasts movie to outright spill them all in the 2022 release. Though before the spinoff franchise ends, we do hope to know them and understand Albus a bit better, because these movies are a great opportunity to get to know the man who would later be the headmaster of Hogwarts and an important figure in Harry Potters life. Heres what news to be answered:
The Parallels Between Harry And Newt
The featurette splices a young, innocent Harry with that of a young Newt who we see in the new film in flashback form. Two very different heroes, both Harry and Newt do share certain similarities: they both had to take on Dark wizards against their will and they were both guided and mentored by Albus Dumbledore. Although Newt, naturally, seems far more introverted than Harry, the two heroes must both stare in the face of darkness. How will Newt fare taking on such a burden?
In Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them Grindelwald Tries To Start A War
Let’s get some of the timeline straight.
“Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” takes place in New York City in 1926. Dumbledore and Grindelwald’s whirlwind summer at Godric’s Hollow took place around 1899. And we know Dumbledore defeated Grindelwald in a duel in 1945.
So by the time “Fantastic Beasts” takes place, Grindelwald is in his 40s and his power is on the rise. But he never became a significant part of British magical history, so his activities must have been mostly confined to Eastern and Central Europe.
At the end of “Fantastic Beasts,” Percival Graves the head auror at MACUSA and seemingly the second-most-powerful person in the American wizarding community turns out to be Grindelwald in disguise.
Throughout the film, Graves enlists Credence Barebone, an orphan who appears to be a No-Maj, into helping him find an Obscurial. An Obscurial is a hard-to-control magical force that’s unleashed when a wizard or witch doesn’t express their magical powers.
There’s a big showdown between Graves, Newt Scamander , and Barebone. Graves is brought to his knees, and Scamander performs a “revelio” charm to reveal him as Grindelwald.
“Will we die, just a little?” Grindelwald tells Scamander as he’s hauled away.
Recommended Reading: When Is Draco Malfoy’s Birthday
Live Action Television Series
On 25 January 2021, a live action television series was reported to have been in early development at HBO Max. Though it was noted that the series has “complicated rights issues”, due to a seven-year rights deal with Warner Bros. Domestic TV Distribution that included U.S. broadcast, cable and streaming rights to the franchise, which ends in April 2025.
How To Watch Harry Potter Movies In Order
Everyone came into the Wizarding World through the Harry Potter books and movies, which introduced us to a gifted 11-year-old, his friends Ron and Hermione, and their hallowed school of magic, Hogwarts. Watching the Harry Potter movies in order, seeing the story unfold chronologically in-universe, used to be as easy as finding the one where Daniel Radcliffe looks youngest and starting from there.
But the series has expanded now with the Fantastic Beasts movies, set some 70 years before The Sorcerers Stone. So to watch the Harry Potter movies in order, your journey now begins with Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, set in 1926 and starring Eddie Redmayne as Newt Scarmander. Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald is set in 1927. The third Fantastic Beasts intends to release July 2022, with two more movies to close out the Scarmander and Grindelwald saga.
Then the story of Harry himself begins, starting with Sorcerers Stone and concluding in the second-part of The Deathly Hallows, for eight Certified Fresh movies in a row. Theres also a Harry Potter series early in development for HBO Max. For now, see our guide below on how to watch all Harry Potter movies in order.
Recommended Reading: What Point Of View Is Harry Potter Written In
Whats The Hodags Connection To Harry Potter
Stories of the Hodag have traveled far and wide since its discovery in the 1890s. In 2017, the Hodag reached an even bigger audience, showing up in the expanded mythology of the Harry Potter universe, thanks to world-famous author J.K. Rowling.
An expanded edition of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Themthe book about the magical creatures that populate the Harry Potter series, supposedly written by famed magizoologist Newt Scamanderwas released in 2017 and included an entry on the Hodag.
Scamanders description of the Hodag matches previous accounts, identifying the creature as roughly the size of a large dog and horned with a frog-like head and glowing, red eyes. The books entry also says that like the Snallygaster, the Hodag is a North American creature whose antics have excited considerable Muggle interest and curiosity.
Will Dumbledore Finding Tom Riddle Be Connected To Fantastic Beasts
Lastly, were curious about a secret of Dumbledore that he wont deal with until much further in the future. Dumbledore comes to visit Tom Riddle in his orphanage when he is a young boy, likely not far away from the timeline Fantastic Beasts is in now, considering Tom was born in 1926 and The Secrets of Dumbledore will take place a few years after the events of Crimes of Grindelwald, which was in 1927.
Will this in turn connect to the upcoming film? Could a young Voldemort have a greater purpose in the Fantastic Beasts storyline. That could be an interesting way to tie back into the Harry Potter movies and build upon the Dark Lords backstory if so! Theres definitely a lot of questions here that wed like answered ahead of the next movie hitting theaters on April 15, 2022. Until then, check out what movies are coming out in the final act of 2021 here on CinemaBlend.
You May Like: What Harry Potter House Am I In Test
Was There A Romantic Relationship Between Dumbledore And Grindelwald
Back in 2007, J.K. Rowling proclaimed that Dumbledore is gay, and during this Fantastic Beasts era, she has shared that he and Grindelwald had a passionatelove relationship. It may have been somewhat hinted at in Crimes of Grindelwald when Dumbledore sees Grindelwald in the Mirror of Erised. However, so far the true nature of their relationship has not been revealed on screen, and its unclear how the franchise will actually handle this information.
Seeing a same sex couple in a movie as big as Fantastic Beasts could be huge, but following J.K. Rowlings viral , theres not exactly confidence from the larger LGBTQ+ community that it will be told with care. Secrets of Dumbledore will need to forward the story of the two characters now at the core of the Fantastic Beasts movies, and how it unfolds will be a large part of the ongoing conversation.
Defense Against The Dark Arts
The Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom is one of the most iconic classrooms in Hogwarts. It was the site of the hilarious Gilderoy Lockhart interactions and it was the place where Lupin delivered his iconic Boggart class. As if to reference this Lupin class, Crimes of Grindelwald shows Dumbledore teaching this same Boggart class.
While this is undoubtedly a reference to the Harry Potter movies, it begs the question of why Dumbledore is teaching this class as he was the Transfiguration professor before he became headmaster.
Recommended Reading: How Plays Voldemort
Connections Fantastic Beasts Makes To Harry Potter
Beyond the obvious setting, the Fantastic Beasts films make several subtle connections to the Harry Potter canon that only die hard fans would catch.
The Harry Potter series is one of the most loved and lucrative movie franchises of all time. The otherworldly success of the book and movie series meant that there would always be demand for further additions to the franchise.
RELATED: 10 Continuity Errors Fans Probably Didn’t Notice In The Fantastic Beasts Movies
Fortunately for fans, JK Rowling started work on the Fantastic Beasts series which would act as a prequel to the Harry Potter series, taking place from the 1920s through to 1945. Due to the fact that Fantastic Beasts is a prequel, there are several connections to the Harry Potter series, from characters to subtle references.
Warner Bros. are incredibly enthusiastic to build up the Wizarding World, meaning they are consistently pushing for more connections between both Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts. From plot points to locations, characters, and thematic beats, there’s a lot of parallels and links between these two franchises.
Role In The Harry Potter Series
The book’s fictional author, Newt Scamander, does not appear in the main Harry Potter book series though his name is seen on the Marauder’s Map in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. He is the central character of the Fantastic Beasts film series, in which he is played by Eddie Redmayne.
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is a British-American fantasy film inspired by the book of the same name by J. K. Rowling. An extension of the wizarding world from the Harry Potter film series and directed by David Yates, the film stars Eddie Redmayne, Katherine Waterston, Alison Sudol, Dan Fogler, Samantha Morton, Ezra Miller, Colin Farrell, Carmen Ejogo, Faith Wood-Blagrove, Jenn Murray, Jon Voight and Ron Perlman. The first movie is set to be followed by four more. Principal photography commenced on 17 August 2015, at Warner Bros. Studios, Leavesden. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them was released in the United Kingdom and the United States on 18 November 2016.
A sequel was released on 16 November 2018. The third movie is scheduled to be released in July 2022.
Read Also: Hogwarts House Test Pottermore
Completion Of The Series
In December 2005, Rowling stated on her web site, “2006 will be the year when I write the final book in the Harry Potter series.” Updates then followed in her online diary chronicling the progress of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, with the release date of 21 July 2007. The book itself was finished on 11 January 2007 in the Balmoral Hotel, Edinburgh, where she scrawled a message on the back of a bust of Hermes. It read: “J. K. Rowling finished writing Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in this room on 11 January 2007.”
Rowling herself has stated that the last chapter of the final book was completed “in something like 1990”. In June 2006, Rowling, on an appearance on the British talk show Richard & Judy, announced that the chapter had been modified as one character “got a reprieve” and two others who previously survived the story had in fact been killed. On 28 March 2007, the cover art for the Bloomsbury Adult and Child versions and the Scholastic version were released.
In September 2012, Rowling mentioned in an interview that she might go back to make a “director’s cut” of two of the existing Harry Potter books.
How Fantastic Beasts And Harry Potter Are Connected
Despite the creators best attempts to draw a solid line between the two franchises, there are many similarities between the two stories. It may not have been obvious to Fantastic Beasts viewers. But the movie has laid the foundation for a broader line of connection that should develop in later films. Here are some of the connections between Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts
Don’t Miss: How To Put Clasp On Harry Potter Robe
Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is the fourth Harry Potter movie following the release-date order. It is a 2005 fantasy film. In the film, Harry Potter mysteriously became one of the wizards to compete for the tri-wizard cup, which is a large competition between the top young wizards from all of the Wizarding Academies from across the world. The competition ended up becoming tougher than expected, with an appearance from the series big bad.
Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes Of Grindelwald
The Crimes of Grindelwald is the second movie in the Fantastic Beast series. Also, it is a sequel to the Fantastic Beasts and where to find them. It is a 2018 fantasy movie. Besides, it is the tenth overall movie in wizarding world production. In this series, Grindelwald is another wizard with powers even more enormous than Voldemort. In the fantastic beast series, it is essential to know that Harry Potter himself is not in it. However, Tom Riddle gained admission to Hogwarts school of magic in 1938 just before the end of the series.
Recommended Reading: What Does Lord Voldemort Look Like
Original For Muggles Version
Fantastic Beasts purports to be a reproduction of a textbook owned by Harry Potter and written by magizoologistNewt Scamander, a character in the fictional Harry Potter series. In the series, magizoology is the study of magical creatures.
Albus Dumbledore, headmaster of Hogwarts, provides the foreword and explains the purpose of the special edition of this book ” rel=”nofollow”> Comic Relief charity). At the end, he assures muggle readers, “The amusing creatures described hereafter are fictional and cannot hurt you.” He repeats the Hogwarts motto: “Draco dormiens nunquam titillandus”, Latin for “Never tickle a sleeping dragon”.
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them contains the history of magizoology and describes 85 magical species found around the world. Scamander says that he collected most of the information found in the book through observations made over years of travel across five continents. He notes that the first edition was commissioned in 1918 by Augustus Worme of Obscurus Books. However, it was not published until 1927. It is now in its fifty-second edition.
In the Harry Potter universe, the book is a required textbook for first-year Hogwarts students, having been an approved textbook since its first publication. In his foreword to the book, Albus Dumbledore notes that it serves as an excellent reference for wizarding households in addition to its use at Hogwarts.
Harry Potter And The Chambers Of Secrets
The second Harry Potter movie was also a product of Rowlings book. It was released in 2002 following the Sorcerers Stone. The movie focused on Harrys 2nd year of adventures at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It expanded on the back story of many beloved, and hated characters, following Harry as grows in confidence and power.
Recommended Reading: What House Am I In In Harry Potter Quiz
Grindelwald And Dumbledore’s Relationship
What’s going on here then? Well J.K Rowling confirmed Dumbledore is gay in a tweet awhile ago, it then followed that he had a relationship with Grindelwald.
The pair had been friends when at school. Grindelwald studied at Durmstrang, you remember that school right? It’s from the fourth book.
They planned to rule as nice leaders together, but that all fell apart. We only hear a bit about the duel in the Harry Potter books.
The duel led to the death of Dumbledore’s sister Ariana. Grindelwald left Britain, stole the Elder Wand and set up base in Europe,
Now in the Fantastic Beasts franchise we slowly learn about what happened in between them falling out.
What About The Textbook
Newt writes about his journey across five continents discovery new species – 85 magical species to be exact.
The textbook is available to read, but doesn’t relate directly to the movie – it provided the idea though.
Due to the books format, Warner Brothers had to come up with a way to bring it to life.
Rowling went back to the drawing board and fleshed out the characters she had already mentioned in the Potter universe.
The result was an original storyline – as well as the connection to the Harry Potter books and movies.
You May Like: Who Played Voldemort In The Harry Potter Movies
Does Dumbledore Really Have A Long Lost Brother
Of many major cliffhangers at the end of Crimes of Grindelwald, one particularly stuck out. Johnny Depps Grindelwald revealed to Ezra Millers Credence Barebone that he is the long-lost brother of Dumbledore, Aurelius Dumbledore. It was a controversial reveal because no fan had ever heard of this name, and it messes with some aspects of the Wizarding World timeline. An important distinction that wed need to learn sooner rather than later is whether Grindelwald was speaking the truth and Dumbledore does in fact have another brother in Credence, or if the villain is manipulating Credence with the reveal and the original timeline remains intact.
Theres already been some other inconsistencies in terms of the Fantastic Beasts timeline conflicting with the original one, so its possible it could very well turn out to be true. Credence is an Obscurial, making him incredibly dangerous, and perhaps a child that could have been cast out of the Dumbledore family. Were really curious how this potential secret plays out.
Nagini In Her Human Form
Rowling stirred up controversy when the Crimes of Grindelwald trailer teased a character who turned from human to snake. This woman turns out to be a Maledictus named Nagini, played by Claudia Kim. Credence meets her while the two are working at a circus. Unlike an Animagus, who can freely morph from human to animal and back, a Maledictus carries a blood curse that will eventually turn the person into the animal permanently.
Presumably, this Nagini is the very same one who will eventually become companion to Voldemort. Fans might assume that Nagini was intrigued by the dark arts early in life since she inevitably ends up an ally of the most evil wizard in history.
But in Crimes of Grindelwald, when Grindelwald offers several wizards the choice to join his forces, Nagini resists, even as her friend Credence aligns himself with Grindelwald. Its still unclear whether Nagini will go to the dark side or whether Voldemort will somehow enslave her after shes permanently turned into a snake.
Recommended Reading: How To Put Clasp On Harry Potter Robe