The student newspaper of Bucks County Community College

The Centurion

The student newspaper of Bucks County Community College

The Centurion

The student newspaper of Bucks County Community College

The Centurion

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‘Fantastic Beasts’ is Back

“Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald” focuses on Newt Scamander’s quest, provided by Albus Dumbledore, to kill Grindelwald because Grindelwald is using magical creatures against oblivious and defenseless muggles in London.

The Fantastic Beasts series focuses on muggles being cut off from the Wizard World before Voldemort rose to power and takes place 60 years before Harry Potter was born, and incorporates the various fictional creatures in the Wizard World.

The film is about Albus Dumbledore’s past with Grindelwald. The plot focuses on their friendship, seeking the elder wand, and the complications of Albus Dumbledore taking care of his younger sister Ariana, who experiences uncontrollable violent magical outbursts.

Grindelwald, played by Johnny Depp, wants Dumbledore, played by Jude Law, to accompany him to seek the elder wand, but Dumbledore was committed to take care of Ariana. The two get into a violent duel, and Ariana is killed from a curse.

This explains Dumbledore’s lifelong regret, mentioned by his older brother Aberforth Dumbledore in the “Deathly Hallows Part Two”. Aberforth explains that it was Albus who was at fault for Ariana’s death.

Grindelwald obtains the Elder Wand, described in the “Deathly Hallows” as the most powerful wand in existence.

Dumbledore and Grindelwald duel later on in the 1940s, leading to Dumbledore’s victory. This explains how Dumbledore obtained the Elder Wand.

Dumbledore became the head teacher at Hogwarts of course, and Grindelwald terrorized New York, London, and Paris.

Credence Barebone, played by Ezra Miller, will reappear to aid Grindelwald as the eldest obscurus to live: he has reached adulthood and most don’t survive after 10 years. An obscurus is a dark force inside a wizard who has experienced a trauma with magic it is created out of pain, torment, and violence. This is definitely someone that Grindelwald wants to be a part of his army.

In “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,” it is inferred that Credence’s dark force was created due to his adoptive mother, Mary Lou Barebone. Mary Lou Barebone also joins Grindelwald because she’s against wizards and magic. Mary Lou Barebone was especially abusive to Credence because his birth family were the Lestrange family that consisted of pureblood wizards.

Nagini, played Claudia Kim, is also going to appear in “Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald.”

Harry Potter fans assumed that Nagini was able to shapeshift like Peter Pettigrew, Ron’s pet rat.

However, J. K. Rowling explained that Nagini wasn’t a wizard, but was able to shapeshift from human to snake. But one day she couldn’t shift back into a human, and was forced to remain a snake. This led her to becoming a Horcrux and Lord Voldemort’s prized possession. A Horcrux is an object in which a Dark wizard or witch has hidden a fragment of his or her soul for the purpose of attaining immortality. Horcruxes can only be created after committing murder, the supreme act of evil.

Although, the casting for Nagini did cause a massive amount of controversy among fans. The casting was seen as a racial issue. The fans didn’t understand why that ethnicity was chosen to serve the Dark Lord.

“Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald” is proving to be a very interesting prequel to the popular Harry Potter franchise. I would recommend anyone who’s a fan of the Harry Potter series go check it out!