Will Jacob Get to Rejoin the Wizarding World?

Lucky Jacob Kowalski or poor Jacob Kowalski? Dan Fogler's good-natured New Yorker with a passion for baking stumbled onto the truth about the Wizarding World, befriended an equally good-natured Wizard, and won the heart of, you guessed it, a super-good natured witch. It was all-around pretty lovely and wonderous, and Fogler made an excellent audience surrogate as he stumbled through one enchanting set-piece to the next, just as so many of us have wished we could since we first cracked open the pages of Rowling's epic. Then it was all taken away.

After Grindelwald's (temporary) defeat, President Seraphina Picquery (Carmen Ejogo) demanded that all no-maj's have their memory wiped, even a proven trusted ally like Jacob. (Which, for the record, is no way to thank the group of people who literally just prevented the whole city of New York from learning about wizard-kind, but that's another story.) When Jacob accepted his fate and stepped into the Swooping Evil venom-tinged rain, thus obliviating all memory of his recent adventures and newfound friends, it was a much more emotional moment than I would have expected. No doubt, part of that was the fact that, as the audience surrogate, we were able to feel the deep loss of returning to the quotidian and saying goodbye to such a wonderous world, but I think a much bigger element was the inherent sadness of saying goodbye to the unique bonds he formed, most of all the unlikely love connection he formed with the delightful legilimens, Queenie (Alison Sudol).

Quite simply, Rowling is an excellent storyteller and she's not one to develop relationships that are this good and this prominent in the story only to write them off without fulfilling their dramatic potential. So I'd put my money on a return for Jacob in the future, and his final scene only confirms those suspicions. With the money raised from the silver-lined Occamy eggs, Jacob builds his dream bakery and it's absolutely bustling thanks to his adorable pastries that look just a bit too much like the fantastic beasts we've come to know and love. He may not remember, but he hasn't completely forgotten. Then the camera pans, and there's Queenie beaming at him. Rowling has confirmed Queenie is back for Fantastic Beasts 2, which makes me thing Jacob can't be far behind, a fact producer David Heyman has all but confirmed in interviews.

Who Is Leta Lestrange and What Is Her Relationship with Newt?

Leta Lestrange is one of Fantastic Beasts biggest mysteries. We don't know much about her other than the fact that she was Newt's dear friend, and likely girlfriend, who he fell for because they were both outsiders. Queenie sensed talking about her was bringing him pain. She also called Leta a "taker", telling Newt that he needed a "giver". You don't cast Zoe Kravitz for nothing but a quick shot of an old photograph, and indeed director David Yates has confirmed that Leta will return in Fantastic Beasts 2, calling her a "tragic figure" who is "complicated and damaged and confused," and confirming that Newt is definitely still in love with her.

But of course, the biggest intrigue around Leta is her surname, Lestrange, which belongs to an ancient pure-blood wizarding family with a long tradition of practicing the dark arts. The most infamous Lestrange is of course, Voldemort's loyal henchwoman Bellatrix Lestrange, but Belatrix was born a Black (cousin to Sirius) and married into the family, so the mysteries of the Lestrange history and bloodline are largely untapped.

Is Leta a supporter of the pure-blood movement? It seems unlikely that Newt would fall for someone with such hateful beliefs, and his description of her as an outsider suggests she perhaps fell outside her family party line, but Queenie's description of her as a "taker" certainly doesn't paint her as the heroic type. So, what was Leta's relationship with Newt and what role does it have to play in the future of the Fantastic Beasts saga?

What Did Grindelwald's Last Words to Newt Mean?

"Will we die, just a little?"

So, uh, what? To be honest, at first, I didn't even hear what Johnny Depp's freshly revealed Grindelwald said to Newt after their confrontation. I sincerely hope this is a sound-mixing issue and not a kooky accent problem we're going to have to deal with for four more films. But, as the screenplay book confirms, his exact words were, "Will we die, just a little?" And to be honest that doesn't make it any easier to understand. I'll be honest, I have no idea what that means.

The most obvious connection seems to be to the Deathly Hallows, which we know Grindelwald is seeking, but there's not much more to that observation than the words die/deathly. It's possible that Grindelwald was making an obscure comment on the state of wizard society. We know he thinks that wizards are the dominant race. Does he believe that when wizards conceal themselves their culture dies a little? Bit cerebral and vague. There are theories that this is an anagram, which would be classic Rowling, but a trick that doesn't work quite as well in film as in written word. It's also possible, and most likely, that we aren't meant to know what it means yet. Personally, I'm leaning towards the idea that it was a message for Dumbledore that Grindelwald knew Newt would relay. After all, he knew they have a special relationship and we know he shares a stormy history with the Hogwarts Headmaster, and it seems likely at this point that the films are heading to the climactic Grindelwald/Dumbledore dual that felled the dark wizard, so it seems practical that Rowling would be sowing the seeds of what's to come.

 

How Does Grindelwald Escape MACUSA?

Rowling has confirmed that Fantastic Beasts overarching narrative begins in 1926 and ends in 1945 (the year of Dumbledore and Grindelwald's famous duel), so while these films were originally marketed as a fun romp with Newt Scamander and his wily beasties, it was covertly the introduction to a sort of Harry Potter history about the rise and fall of Gellert Grindelwald, wizarding kind's second most dangerous dark wizard of all time. (Voldemort wins that title, obvi, if you can consider such things winning.) Which means it's not too long before we see Depp's villain bust out of his confinement and continue his reign of terror across the Wizarding World.

But how does he escape? Well, if Newt and Tina's escape is any indication, it can't really be that hard. I mean those guys were in the grips of that super scary death serum, but thanks to some shoddy inspections, Newt was able to bust them out with the help of his beasts. Presumably, a feared wizard like Grindelwald will be under more security, but I have to imagine wizards sentenced to death are taken pretty seriously too. But, whether it's easy or not, the question remains -- how does he escape?

Given what we know about Grindelwald and what the film revealed about his influence in the newspaper montage, it's not too hard to imagine that a wizard of his presence and power will have loyalists willing to throw down their lives to break him out. Will it be a new character? Could there be a mole in MACUSA? Or, is it possibly someone we've seen before. Which leads me to...

What's Up with Percival Graves?

Through Newt's "Revelio!" spell, we learned in the film's final minutes that Percival Graves, Colin Farrell's super creepy and vaguely-inappropriate-toward-troubled-teenage-boys MACUSA Auror was, in fact, Grindelwald all along. Which explains all that creepy and inappropriate business. What we didn't learn was just how Grindelwald became Graves or how he infiltrated MACUSA.

The most logical conclusion is that he used a bit of Polyjuice Potion to impersonate Graves, who is a real man. Rowling demonstrated in Fantastic Beasts that she will be introducing new magics to the world of Harry Potter (see: Obscurus), so it's possible that this was achieved by other means. It's also possible that Grindelwald is a Metamorphmagus (a wizard who can change appearance at will), though there was never any canonical hint that he possessed the ability (they're born, not trained), and it stretches reason to think that he invested enough time to build an entirely different persona as a successful American auror. In a world with time-turners, anything's possible, but that starts to get a little convoluted.

So, the most likely answer is that Grindelwald was using a Polyjuice potion, which means that Percival Graves is almost certainly still alive somewhere (Polyjuice potion wears off and requires regular DNA samples from the person your impersonating). If so, is Graves actually a good guy that's locked up somewhere a la Mad-Eye Moody? Or is he a willing participant loyal to Grindelwald's cause? If so, it's possible that Graves could return under the guise of a rescued man only to be the one who busts Grindelwald out of confinement.

Will We Actually Get to See Ilvermorny and the Other International Wizarding Schools?

I gotta say, this was probably the biggest let down of Fantastic Beasts. After much ado about the American wizarding school Ilvermorny, including an extensive backstory, a sorting quiz on Pottermore, and a breakdown of the four houses -- Thunderbird, Pukwudgie, Horned Serpent, and Wampus -- Fantastic Beats never actually let us see the damn thing. All we got was a single reference in bit of hometown pride banter between Newt and Tina, and a glimpse at an actual Thunderbird (Who was awesome. No disrespect, Frank.)

So, with the next film headed off to Paris, is that all she wrote for our chances at seeing Ilvermorny on screen? And will we get to see Beauxbatons or Durmstrang as the franchise trots across the globe? As much of a disappointment as it is after the hype, it kind of makes sense that we never visit Ilvermorny. After all, Harry Potter was a story about school children and Fantastic Beasts is focused on adults, but it seems an awful sad missed opportunity if we never get to see how kids across the world learn their magic. At least a little bit.

What Role Will Newt and His Beasts Play in the War Against Grindelwald?

Newt Scamander may be a bit of a weirdo and a Hogwarts-expelled outcast (side question: why did he get to keep his wand?), but Fantastic Beasts proves he's quick-thinking, brave and good in a battle. And as a magizoology pioneer, he's got the power of his fantastic beasts behind him, which the film proves is a mighty advantage, even against one of the world's most powerful wizards. We know that Newt has a close friendship with Dumbledore, a fact that will likely draw him further into the growing war with Grindelwald -- especially considering Dumbledore was famously too conflicted to intervene himself until 1945. Will Newt act as a liaison for the Headmaster and how deeply will he become embroiled in the dark magic set to spread across Europe? We also learned that Newt's brother is a war hero? Will we meet him, and how much of a role will he play in the war to come?

Newt is also undoubtedly on Grindelwald's shitlist now, which is probably not a very good place to be and a pretty immediate promise of trouble. But as Fantastic Beats showed us, the knowledge of magical creatures that we take for granted in the Harry Potter narrative, was largely founded by Newt himself. He knows the abilities of his creatures better than any, and he's shown us how he can use them to his advantage in moments of crisis. His rivals don't have that advantage, and that could make Newt a wild card and a key player in the battles to come, just as he was in the New York-set conflict of Fantastic Beasts.

Alternately, it could be that Newt's role in the war to come may not be quite as large as you might expect, given the first film was built around him. In an interview, Heyman suggested that Newt and his pals might take a backseat in future installments to the epic battle brewing between Grindelwald and Dumbledore.

What Is Newt's Relationship with Dumbledore?

Speaking of Dumbledore and Newt, what is behind the Hogwarts Headmaster's fondness for his expelled student. We know that Newt was expelled when one of his creatures endangered the life of another student (which student seems apt to become a point of interest in the future, if Rowling's past attention to detail is any hint), but why does Dumbledore seem to have a soft spot for the oddball Hufflepuff?

Here's the thing, if there's one thing that Harry Potter taught us, it's that Dumbledore's charm and warmth can belie a calculated and dangerous masterplan that values the greater good over the life of an individual. Did he care for Harry? Sure, but he absolutely also endangered and manipulated the young man towards his destiny to defeat Voldemort. So, does Dumbledore like Newt because he could tell he was just a good young man. Could he see the value of his magizoology genius for the future of wizard kind? Or does he know something we don't? I wouldn't expect Rowling to repeat the same exact tricks, with Newt being the chosen one or whatnot, but is it possible Dumbledore knows he has a greater role to play in the dark times to come? Given what we know about him, it seems a pretty safe bet.

Was Ariana Dumbledore an Obscurial?

If you're not hip to Dumbledore's family tragedy, you should be. It's no doubt going to be a major undercurrent of the action ahead in the Fantastic Beasts saga. In brief, it goes a little something like this: Dumbledore's younger sister was a sweet girl, but in her youth she had an unfortunate encounter with a group of muggles who saw her using her burgeoning magical abilities. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows tells us, "she was attacked by Muggle boys who saw her practising magic, which left her traumatised to the point of rendering her magical abilities uncontrollable."

As Aberforth (Dumbledore's brother) explained, the encounter left the young girl traumatized and she repressed her magical abilities to disastrous results.

"It destroyed her, what they did: She was never right again. She wouldn't use magic, but she couldn't get rid of it; it turned inward and drove her mad, it exploded out of her when she couldn't control it, and at times she was strange and dangerous. But mostly she was sweet and scared and harmless."

Sounds a bit like Creedence, no? But there's more. When Ariana was 14, she had one of her "rages", which Aberforth insists she couldn't control, and killed her mother Kendra in the outbursts. Sounding even more familiar. In fact, it sounds almost exactly like an Obscurus, the magical parasite that feeds on repressed witches and wizards like Creedence.

What makes this theory even more interesting is that Grindelwald met Ariana when he and Dumbledore were friends. In fact, he was there at the time of her death in a tragic three-way duel between himself, Albus, and Aberforth. Ariana could very well have been Grindelwald's first encounter with an Obscurus and it may have been the experience that set him on Creedence's path. I'm hoping this fan theory proves true, it would be a great move to tie the characters and the story together in a way that feels natural.

 

Is Credence Really Dead?

If you take Fantastic Beasts at face value, poor young Credence was tragically killed by MACUSA on the order of President Picquery while Newt and Tina were fighting to get his Obscurus under control. But don't let that fool you. We know that Creedence is a remarkably powerful wizard who somehow survived being an Obscurial for much longer than was thought possible, so it's also possible he survived Fantastic Beasts.

And if that's what you were thinking after the film, you were on the right tack. Producer David Heyman confirmed to CinemaBlend that Credence not only survived, he's poised to become a key figure in future films, perhaps even more so than Newt. Indeed, Heyman revealed that there's a deleted scene that showed Credence alive and well:

We actually had a scene, which we cut, which was Credence going to a boat, to get on a boat somewhere else. But we cut that, because we didn't want to have it be such an, 'Ahhh, here we go.'... [It's] Him getting on a boat, maybe a boat with Newt, maybe not, and heading off out of New York.

So no, Creedence isn't really dead, and you can expect Miller to stick around for future films as a "main player" alongside Grindelwald and Dumbledore. Which also raises the question -- do we know Creedence's birth family? Rowling revealed that she's interested in maintaining a generational tale with the Fantastic Beasts saga, tying in Dumbledore and the Lestranges in just the first film. Is it possible that we've already met the bloodline from which the orphaned wizard hails?

What do you guys think? Any burgeoning fan theories I missed? What questions are keeping you up at night? Any Harry Potter characters you hope to see pop up in future films? Sound off in the comments with your thoughts.