Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them dives deep into magical creature and Deathly Hallows mythology. Catch up on the lore with these six Harry Potter scenes.
Perhaps you’re already planning a full marathon of all eight Harry Potter movies ahead of the premiere of Fantastic Beasts later this month, in which case you’ll be all caught up before J.K. Rowling’s new Wizarding World story.
But whether or not you’ll be revisiting Harry’s years at Hogwarts, there are certain key moments in the Harry Potter saga that are particularly important to keep in mind when traveling back in time to learn more about Newt Scamander’s adventures in 1920s-era New York.
Because, while most of the Harry Potter series will prove of little relevance to Newt’s misadventures with his titular fantastic beasts, we now know that Rowling’s five-part film series will prove to be far more closely linked to her original book series than we first thought.
Here are six moments from the Harry Potter movies that will likely prove relevant for Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them:
1. The Tale of the Three Brothers — ‘Deathly Hallows – Part 1’
The Deathly Hallows may have seemed like a new invention when they were introduced to the reader in the final Harry Potter novel, and yet as Fantastic Beasts will prove, the three artifacts (and various wizards’ quests to obtain them) have served as a cornerstone of the Wizarding World since the beginning.
Indeed, Fantastic Beasts and its sequels are set to explore the story of the last time a Dark Wizard sought to become the Master of Death, even introducing one of Grindelwald’s disciples. So let’s revisit the “Tale of the Three Brothers,” which explains why these Hallows are worth all this trouble in the first place.
2. The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore — ‘Deathly Hallows – Part 1’
While Albus Dumbledore himself isn’t set to appear until the second Fantastic Beasts movie, it’s worth re-watching this scene just to remind yourself that there is so much we still don’t know about Dumbledore and the wizards and witches he associated with.
It’s equally important to remember all of the things we do know, however, and although the Deathly Hallows novel goes into a great deal more detail, this scene from Bill and Fleur’s wedding gives you the CliffsNotes of Rita Skeeter’s salacious tale, and introduces some of Dumbledore’s old friends (who may or may not feature in the Fantastic Beasts movies, too).
3. Grindelwald steals the Elder Wand — ‘Deathly Hallows – Part 1’
Although is is unlikely that we’ll see Jamie Campbell-Bower reprise his role as a young Grindelwald in Fantastic Beasts, the second-to-last Harry Potter movie actually gave us a pivotal part of his story: The moment he gained possession of the Elder Wand.
As we go back in time to chronicle his rise to power, it’ll be important to remember that Grindelwald did not win the Elder Wand in a duel, but rather stole it from its previous owner, the wandmaker Gregorovitch. Dumbledore, on the other hand, won it fair and square. Maybe that’s a moment we’ll get to witness in a future Fantastic Beasts movie.
(You might also want to check out this comparison between Grindelwald’s final scene in the movie and book. As the Fantastic Beasts series progresses, it might prove significant that in the original version of Rowling’s tale, Grindelwald died protecting Dumbledore and the Elder Wand, whereas in the movie he laughingly betrayed Dumbledore to Voldemort.)
4. Dumbledore meets Tom Riddle — ‘Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince’
While not directly related to Newt or Grindelwald, this is one of the only moments in the Harry Potter series that takes place while Grindelwald was still in power.
Dumbledore first visited the 11-year-old Tom Riddle in 1937, just over 10 years after the events of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Grindelwald wouldn’t be defeated until 1945, which leaves a good chunk of time for Dumbledore and Newt’s worlds to collide.
5. ‘Monsters don’t make good pets, Hagrid’ — ‘Chamber of Secrets’
Not only did Eddie Redmayne actually audition for the role of Young Tom Riddle, but this scene is the closest we get to a Newt Scamander flashback in the Harry Potter series.
Dumbledore, of course (even if Sir Richard Harris wasn’t explicitly thinking it), would likely be reminded of the incident with Newt when confronted with the death of a student as (what was believed to be) a result of an attack by a magical creature. And he would fight for Hagrid to remain at the school, just as he had fought against Newt’s expulsion.
Of course, poor young Hagrid was expelled because Riddle framed his pet Acromantula for the murder of Moaning Myrtle, whereas Newt was expelled because his creatures almost got his fellow students killed. Let’s hope these two meet at some point — we bet they’d have a lot to talk about.
6. ‘I came to Hagrid from a distant land…’ — ‘Chamber of Secrets’
(The quality of this clip is terrible, I apologize.)
The connection between Hagrid and Newt Scamander may extend beyond a shared love of dangerous magical creatures.
In fact, there’s a very real chance that a character we know (though not many love him) from the Harry Potter series will show up in Fantastic Beasts, after having been right under our noses the whole time: Aragog, the very creature that got Hagrid wrongfully expelled from Hogwarts.
Aragog, whom Hagrid later refers to as his oldest friend, explains to Harry and Ron in Chamber of Secrets that although Hagrid was hiding him within Hogwarts, he was not born in the castle. Instead, he says, “I came to Hagrid from a distant land, in the pockets of a traveler.”
And let’s be real: There’s only one traveler who would keep an Acromantula in his pocket and give it to a lonely 12-year-old half-giant. RIP Aragog, you were the glue that held this whole Wizarding World together and we never even knew it.
Bonus: That time Newt Scamander showed up on the Marauders’ Map in ‘Prisoner of Azkaban’
Ah, the age-old question: Was Alfonso Cuarón just blatantly disregarding canon again, or was he in fact a secret superfan who knew something we didn’t?
Can’t wait for the 10-part origin story of the shrunken heads.