Before we dive deep into our first look at the next installment in the Fantastic Beasts series, I have a few things that we need to discuss. First, we are all not happy about the Grindelwald swap because it was unnecessary, and now that everything is settled, Warner Bros. looks dumb, in my opinion. Jumped the gun and we’re all upset, and I feel safe saying that due to the hundreds of comments I’ve seen about the casting. If you don’t count young Grindelwald or the time when he used polyjuice potion to change himself into other people, this is the third Grindelwald that we’ve seen and we’re tired of meeting new people. I vote you give me Johnny Depp in the next movie and leave it alone.
Next, it is safe to say that we need a recap of the first two movies because it has been a long time, unless you watch these movies over and over like the original Harry Potter series. Newt Scamander, Rolf Scamander’s grandpa and Luna Lovegood’s grandfather-in-law, takes a trip to New York to release his Thunderbird in the plains of Arizona. Now, why he’s really in New York, we’ll never know, but he meets Porpentina Goldstein, better known as Tina and his future wife, and Queenie Goldstein. A discharged Auror with Magical Congress of the United States of America (MACUSA), Tina tries to win her job back by “capturing” Newt and bringing he and his creatures to justice. In the mist of her mission, they stumble upon some strange happenings, which of course, turns our characters into amateur sleuths. They find out that Grindelwald, in Voldemort fashion, has been disguised as one of their own and has been staring them in the face the entire time. Well, Voldemort couldn’t stare at anyone in the first movie because he lived on the back of Quirrell’s head but whatever. We also meet Credence who is oldest known Obscurus that, at least Newt, has ever seen. Grindelwald, disguised at the time as a MACUSA Auror, looks to give Credence want he desires, a place to belong, while trying to recruit him as one of his followers so he can use his power to destroy everything that he despises. At the end of the film, Dumbledore shows Newt a special necklace. The necklace contains a blood pact which Dumbledore explains means that he and Grindelwald cannot attack each other. Having been best friends once upon a time, they vowed not to hurt one another. So much for that!
In the second film, we see Grindelwald recruit more followers while Newt, under the direction of Dumbledore, try and find ways to stop him. To start, they need to find Credence. Credence befriends a maladictus named Nagini who at this point in the series is still able to control turning into a snake and back into a human. They with the circus. We also meet Leta Lestrange, Theseus Scamander, Leta’s fiancé, more beasts and Jacob under a spell given to him by Queenie. Fast forward in the movie to when we get to meet Yusuf Kama who is on a mission to seek revenge for Corvus Lestrange using the Imperius Curse to lure his mother out of their home and out of he and his father’s lives. Honestly, Corvus is in the way. Later, Leta reveals that while on the Titanic with her new baby brother (it was never said that it was the Titanic but it was the 1920’s and the ship sank so….) she swapped her brother for a quieter baby. The baby she swapped him for lived while he died. Remember that because a theory I saw earlier today seemed farfetched until I saw the title card for this movie. So her brother drown while this other random baby lived. At the end of this film, there is an epic battle. Nicholas Flamel helps Theseus and Newt cast a spell to temporarily stop the destruction started by Grindelwald and his riled up followers. Queenie ends up joining Grindelwald, Leta dies and Grindelwald tells Credence he’s a Dumbledore, Harry. (We’re still not sure about this last one but here we go. )
Ok, I skipped a lot, but I tried to hit the main points of each film because all of what I mentioned should help you when you watch the trailer below.
So, of course, Dumbledore knows a lot more than he is willing to tell anyone. I think this is because the last person he probably trusted like he does Hagrid later in the series is Grindelwald and look how that turned out. The first thing we see is the golden snitch. There is another theory that Dumbledore was the seeker before Harry a century earlier which could explain this random snitch. Also, remember when Harry got the snitch from Dumbledore when he died? The one he caught in his mouth which he later found out is how it opened at the close? The one that opened and revealed part of the Sorcerer’s Stone that resurrected Harry when Voldmort tried to kill him but it actually destroyed a horcrux he never knew he created? I think Dumbledore got that idea from this snitch we see in this trailer. Now, I don’t know what could be in it unless he put a spell on it that turns the inside of the snitch into Hermione’s bag that doesn’t have a bottom and he put the blood pact in there, but I’m sure we’ll find out. It might just be notes back and forth from Dumbledore and Newt or him and someone else, but I would imagine people would notice a snitch randomly flying around but it is fast, so maybe not. Speaking of the blood pact, did you peep that Dumbledore is showing the blood pact to Theseus in the title image I chose? Wonder what he’s telling Theseus and Newt about the pact or about Grindelwald? I know he’s leaving something out on purpose because he always does!
We see Aberforth, who is not in the least bit impressed by his older brother. Kind of mirrors the relationship between Newt and Theseus. Back to the trailer. I paused and rewound around :21 to see what the banner on the right says. It looks like the banners are in Chinese or Japanese (someone help me) and the banner on the right may say Cuffee Suprema. Looks like she’s some type of queen or ruler. Since we see Grindelwald directly after this scene taking a memory from Yusuf Kama (why he’s over here with the man is a question I need answered), I assume these are more followers of his. Grindy also has the Elder Wand that I know he stole. Fast forward to Jacob getting a wand. Yes, people, a wand. He is a muggle. Why would Dumbledore give him a wand? Pickett seems excited as well (peep how he “TaDa’s” the wand in the trailer). Not sure who that is on a broom at 1:08 but it is someone who was sorted into Gryffindor. Two seconds later, we see Dumbledore creating dense smoke or fog in his classroom and some growing creature. Again, no idea what is going on here. Fast forward to 1:44 and we see Credence, maybe Nagini and another unidentified woman breaking through some barrier I assume only he could access. What’s behind this veil….may be the secret.
The key to this trailer is “Things might not be as they seem.” My favorite Crashbox sketch’s tagline was “Just because you got eyes, don’t mean you always see.” We could be looking at something that isn’t exactly what someone told us it is or someone who isn’t exactly who they told us they were. Polyjuice potion is a recurring theme in the Wizarding World, but I don’t think they’ll rest on the polyjuice. I think something else is going on here. We’ve done a lot of talk about who Credence really is but what if that is the red herring? What if Yusuf, Newt or even Dumbledore are not who they say they are? Yusuf did come out of nowhere with this vengeance that seemed to come out of nowhere last film. Who is he really and what does he really want? Also, if you notice, there is no Tina. Where is she? Jonathan Carlin, of the Super Carlin Brothers, believes that she could be Bunty, that assistant we met last film that was supposed to be watching the baby nifflers? Remember how distracted she was around Newt? I’m not with them on this one but I do think she is somewhere undercover trying to convince her sister that she’s chosen the wrong side.
Now, what I do agree with them on is the phoenix and water. At this point, you have no idea what I’m talking about. Remember when Grindelwald told Credence he was a Dumbledore and he explained it was because of this phoenix that was following him? Remember when Dumbledore said a phoenix will always come to a Dumbledore in need? It is interesting that behind the title card we see the shape of a phoenix drawn out in….water. The Super Carlin Brothers believe that maybe the baby that died on the Titanic, the one Leta believed she was responsible for killing, never really died but somehow is a phoenix that burst from the cold waters. I’m going to be honest, I have to go back and watch the video to get the logistics but it seems to make more sense than before just from seeing that one animation.
I’m going to make a semi-bold prediction here and say that Yusuf is the one we need to look at. In this trailer alone, I think I’ve seen him more than Newt, Dumbledore and that new Grindelwald. There’s something we’re missing with him. I’ll have to rewatch Crimes of Grindelwald to see if I can find any holes in his story.
What did I miss? Can you find anything else?
BLACK WATCH 