One reason we’re so excited to dive into J.K. Rowling’s expanded Wizarding World this November? We’ll be learning about new types of magic, or different takes on Harry Potter magic.
Regarding the latter, this week we’re learning about a new type of Legilimens. In Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Magical Congress of the United States of America employee Queenie Goldstein, the sister of Tina (who eventually marries Newt), is a special type of Legilimens: She can hear the thoughts and feelings of everyone around her.
This type of Legilimency is unlike what we saw in the Harry Potter series, where a Legilimens had to focus on a specific person.
Queenie actress Alison Sudol told Entertainment Weekly, “She’s basically a complete and utter magical empath. She’s able to read people — so it’s not just reading somebody’s thoughts. She can read into someone’s story, she can see people’s goals. And so even though she’s able to do magic with her wand, a lot of her magic is actually internal, which makes her a different type of wizard or witch.
“And she’s incredibly fun, playful, joyful, and free-spirited, kind and wise, and also has a sort of stillness about her because she’s always tuning into people, so she’s quite an interesting character to play — very vivacious and lively, yet very centered and aware.”
By the sounds of it, Queenie will be able to use her skills without people knowing that she’s listening to them. This is a dramatic change from the Legilimency in the Harry Potter series, and should make Queenie a very important player in the 1920s Wizarding World.
This is also pretty creepy/scary. Imagine knowing that a person near you is able to see what you’re thinking/feeling? Queenie will probably be able solve a lot of problems that Newt and company encounter over the course of the trilogy.
Known Legilimens in the Harry Potter series include Voldemort, Dumbledore, Snape, and Salazar Slytherin.
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