Let me know what you think. Why can’t Dumbledore stand against Gellert Grindelwald?
The Elder Wand and ‘Fantastic Beasts’: Who is the Death Stick’s Master?
February 22, 2018 by 7 Comments
J. K. Rowling tweeted in response to a question about the Elder Wand from a reader that, with respect to mastery of the Death Stick, “Physical possession is irrelevant.”
J.K. RowlingVerified account @jk_rowling
The secret of the elder wand is that it’s more sentient than any other. It can identify the caster of any spell that touches it and keeps tally of which wizard has beaten which, giving its allegiance to the one it judges the victor. Physical possession is irrelevant.
I sent this and another tweet about Lethal White out to my list of Potter Pundit friends (just ask if you wanted to be added to said list) and received responses varying from “Not News” to “So What?” My answer to both those reactions is “Fantastic Beasts.”
We know the end of the five part series of films, i.e., that Dumbledore will best Grindelwald in a duel for the ages despite the black hat being in possession of the unbeatable Elder Wand. Rowling, consequently, has to set up from the start this epic confrontation and mysterious victory with a host of clues about who is really the master of the Wand of Destiny.
Hence the importance of “Physical possession is irrelevant” which we already knew from the climax of Deathly Hallows, because Harry’s victory over the Dark Lord was consequent to his “mastering” Draco Malfoy who had never touched the Elder Wand. The disarming of Grindelwald posing as Graves at the end of Fantastic Beasts, then, whether he was holding the Elder Wand in the subway or not, means that whoever disarmed him is now its master.
So, who disarmed Gellert Grindelwald at the end of the first movie?
Fantastic Beasts Ring Composition: Reading, Writing, Rowling Podcast
February 13, 2018 by Leave a Comment
Host Katy McDaniel directs the discussion of structure in Rowling’s Fantastic Beasts screenplay, a discussion featuring Brett Kendall, the Potter Pundit who broke the chiastic code of the Harry Potter series in 2003, and myself, in the Ring Composition corner (if those actually circular rings had corners). The patterns of Rowling’s work when coupled to the baseline mythological story she is re-telling are our best bets for guessing where we’re headed.
Join Katy, Brett, and me on a fun trip into the world of speculative possibilities and most likely story finishes in ‘Reading, Writing Rowling’s Episode 7, “The Beast Within: Chiasmus and Ring Composition in FantasticBeasts“!
Beatrice Groves: ‘Nagini Maledictus’ Literary Allusion in Fantastic Beasts
December 1, 2017 by 12 Comments
A Guest Post from Beatrice Groves, Research Fellow at Trinity College, Oxford University, and author of Literary Allusion in Harry Potter — Enjoy!
John has recently posted on the current fan theory that Claudia Kim’s character in Crimes of Grindelwald – ‘a Maledictus, the carrier of a blood curse that destines her ultimately to transform into a beast’ – will turn into Nagini.
John notes that ‘the Nagini theory has legs,’ which is a rather satisfying pun. It is pun I particularly like because the serpent in Eden is ‘cursed’ (maledictus) to go without legs:
‘So the LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, “Cursed are you above all livestock and all wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life.’ (Genesis 3.14)
Or, in the Vulgate (Latin):
‘Et ait Dominus Deus ad serpentem : Quia fecisti hoc, maledictus es inter omnia animantia, et bestias terræ : super pectus tuum gradieris, et terram comedes cunctis diebus vitæ tuæ.’
If the Maledictus becomes Nagini it will continue the link between Voldemort and the Satanic snake of Genesis which Rowling began in Harry Potter [John says: see chapter 4 in Prof Groves’ Literary Allusion in Harry Potter]. In Christian visual heritage the Satan-inhabited-snake in Eden is – rather surprisingly – often depicted as half-woman. This rich medieval visual tradition flourished despite the fact that Satan is described by a male pronoun in the biblical text. It culminates in the famous image of Michelanglo’s Satan-as-snake-woman on the roof of the Sistine Chapel.
Within Harry Potter there are many hints of Nagini as a snake-woman rather than simply a snake. Not only does she take the form of a woman in Deathly Hallows, she also has a disturbingly humanoid relationship with Voldemort from the moment we meet her in Goblet. She tells Voldemort that Frank is listening at the door of the Riddle House and while his not-to-be-named form resembles a baby – ‘the thing… looked like a baby’ (Goblet, Chap. 32) – Nagini keeps him alive with her ‘milk’ fed to him from a ‘bottle’ (Goblet, Chap. 1). Nagini takes the place of the mother to this parody of a child.
Then there is her name. Nagini is a name for Ma Manasa Devi, the Hindu snake goddess: [Read more…]
Is ‘Nagini’ the Name of the Maledictus in ‘Crimes of Grindelwald’? ‘Nagini Gaunt’?
November 20, 2017 by 11 Comments
Wayne asked me on the ‘Crimes of Grindelwald’ Ensemble Cast Photo post thread:
So, John, you’re suggesting that this Maledictus in this film becomes full-time snake and then animal familiar/horcrux for Voldemort about 70 years later. Did I get that right?
Great question, Wayne!
The ‘Nagini’ theory about the Beasts2 Maledictus is a fandom theory you can track down via this link that was also in the post. We were told months ago that the Claudia Kim character was a performer in the Circus Arcanus troupe.
It also sounds as if a wizarding circus will play a significant part in the plot: South Korean actress Claudia Kim has been cast as a young woman who stars in the circus as one of the attractions, while Ólafur Darri Ólafsson plays Skender, the circus boss.
The only character we know about in the Circus (from a poster) that are an obvious match with Kim is “the Enchanting Snake Girl.” Someone in global fandom, I do not know who, when it was announced last Thursday that Kim’s role was playing “a Maledictus, the carrier of a blood curse that destines her ultimately to transform into a beast,” posted a theory that the Maledictus is Nagini.
There are three steps from the information we have and that conclusion. What we know is:
- Kim’s character is a performer in the circus;
- There is an act in the circus according to the poster called ‘the Enchanting Snake Girl;’
- Kim’s character is a Maledictus who is cursed to become a beast.
To get from that information to ‘Kim’s character is Nagini,’ you have to connect these dots:
- The act Kim’s character plays is the Enchanting Snake Girl;
- The beast this Maledictus is cursed to become is a magical snake; and
- This magical snake is the snake who becomes Lord Voldemort’s familiar.
Which is quite a collection of jumps. I think the Nagini theory has legs for these reasons:
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