The final trailer for Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald was released yesterday, and as fantastic (ha) as it was, dare I say there may be too much to break down. I get that they don’t want to give away a lot, but dozens of rapid fire shots one after the other is intense.
I had a lot of questions after this one. Dumbledore has a safe house in France, Is that where Nicolas Flamel comes in? How the hell did Dumbledore ever have romantic feelings for Grindelwald if he’s this big of a dick? Can Newt be any more adorable? Uh, is that Groot?
We’re not going to get any answers until the movie is released, so instead I’m going to focus on the biggest moment in the trailer, the confirmation of something that has long been suspected. Actress Claudia Kim, whose role has been a secret until now, will play…Nagini. THAT Nagini. That obviously has huge implications for the larger Wizarding World. Does this mean that Harry isn’t the only human Horcrux now? Yes and no. Kind of. Maybe?
Nagini is not an Animagus, as that’s voluntary and is achieved through training. She’s also not a werewolf. This movie will introduce something called a Maledictus, which J.K. Rowling explained a bit on Twitter.
They’re different conditions. Maledictuses are always women, whereas werewolves can be either sex. The Maledictus carries a blood curse from birth, which is passed down from mother to daughter. https://t.co/wYfvPeQFRW
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) September 25, 2018
A Maledictus eventually turns into a beast permanently, but I’m curious to know how much of a human consciousness lingers after that transformation is complete. About Nagini specifically, Dumbledore remarked that Voldemort “certainly likes to keep her close and he seems to have an unusual amount of control over her, even for a Parselmouth.” So she may in fact have retained her human intelligence. For me, that would definitely add an odd aspect to the character. Considering the fact that it’s not something she can control, would the fact that she’s technically a human in the physical form of a snake change the way people feel about something like Neville killing her at the end of Deathly Hallows?
While many fans were delighted to have the theory of Nagini’s true nature officially verified, many others brought up a valid concern. The Harry Potter universe has repeatedly been hit with criticism for it’s lack of diversity, and now when a non-white character that will play a vital role in the story is introduced—something that is all too rare in the Wizarding World—we find out not only that she’s destined to become an animal, but a vicious creature that does an evil wizard’s bidding. That’s…not the best, to say the least. And while it’s absolutely on brand for Voldemort to have kept a transformed person of color as some kind of creepy pet—it’s not like this ruins his reputation, he’s the magical equivalent of a Nazi after all—that’s not the issue. The Harry Potter fandom is a vast and diverse one, but far too many of those fans don’t get to see themselves represented in the books and movies and it’s not fair. Three more movies are planned for this franchise, and the filmmakers need to do much, much better than this going forward. More on Nagini, as well as everything else fans want to know will be revealed when Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald hits theaters in November.
