Fantastic Beasts’ Harry Potter Connections

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them serves as both a prequel and reboot to the Harry Potter movie franchise. The film takes us back to New York City 1926, some seventy years before Harry’s story began, and a very different time in the Wizarding World.

With Fantastic Beasts now in theaters, some viewers may till be confused about the film’s place within the larger Harry Potter saga. In case you need further explanation, here are the Harry Potter connections in Fantastic Beasts.

NOTE: MAJOR SPOILERS Follow!

Albus Dumbledore & Hogwarts

Neither actually appears in Fantastic Beasts, but Harry Potter’s Wizarding school and its headmaster have big influence, nonetheless. 

It’s revealed that Newt Scamander was thrown out of Hogwarts for letting a dangerous beasts get loose – but Albus Dumbledore argued against his expulsion, and generally vouched for him. 

Scamander’s time at Hogwarts and contributions to the school are a legacy that Harry and friends would feel during their time there.

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

During the film Newt, explains that he has been commissioned to write a book on the creatures in his collection, in order to help other wizards understand the creatures of their world, rather than fear them. 

That book will eventually carry the same title as the film: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. It’s catalogue of creatures in the Wizarding World is something that Harry and friends still study as part of their curriculum. 

Gellert Grindelwald

Gellert Grindelwald (Johnny Depp) was an old friend of Dumbledore’s – maybe even his lover. The two envisioned a world where wizards ruled over humans, though the method of that rule is what caused them to split. Dumbledore envisioned wizards making the world better for all, while Grindelwald had less benevolent designs in mind. 

Grindelwald’s main connection to the Harry Potter saga is his research into the Deathly Hallows and obtaining of The Elder Wand. After losing the famous duel with Dumbledore and being imprisoned in a jail of his own design, Nurmengard, Grindelwald is the informant Voldemort exploits to discover the location of The Elder Wand. 

The Deathly Hallows

The Deathly Hallows – The Elder Wand, Resurrection Stone, and Cloak of Invisibility – are three powerful artifacts that can make a wizard a master of death. 

In Harry Potter, The Hallows are the ultimate weapon that Voldermort is seeking; in Fantastic Beasts, we see how the Hallows got within the evil wizard’s grasp, as Percival Graves/Gellert Grindelwald displays the Hallows symbol as a sign of his dark intent to track the three artifacts down. 

Voldemort’s Origin

In a more obscure Easter egg, Fantastic Beasts takes place in 1926, the same year as another big milestone in the Harry Potterverse: the birth of Tom Marvolo Riddle – aka, Lord Voldemort. 

Voldemort was born on the very last day of the year (December 31st), presumably not long after the events we witness in Fantastic Beasts. Considering the series will cover nineteen years, Tom Riddle’s time at Hogwarts and dark quest for immortality (via his Horcruxes) could become an important side story of this new series. 

…Newt Scamander and the Chamber of Secrets? 

More Fantastic Beasts

LINKS: Our Fantastic Beasts Official Review / Where the Franchise Goes Next / Fantastic Beasts Timeline / Johnny Depp Rumored to Cameo / There Will be 5 Fantastic Beasts Films / Will we see the Dumbledore/Grindelwald Love Affair? / Who is Newt Scamander?

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is now in theaters. It is 133 minutes long and is Rated PG-13 for some fantasy action violence.