Hey everyone,
Welcome to another installment of Harry Potter Theory. In this video, we’re going to be
discussing both the Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts franchises, as well as lord Voldemort
and his trusty companion Nagini.
The Nagini that we know from the Harry Potter films was first introduced in the Goblet of
Fire, where she is described as eating the body of muggle Frank Bryce after his brutal
murder.
And from as far back as we can remember, she’s glued to Voldemort’s side- a trustworthy
and loyal companion through seemingly any kind of adversity. When Voldemort was weak
and just a shadow of the powerful man that he usually was, she was still there right
by him- and this truly speaks to the bond that Voldemort and Nagini had. However, the
Nagini that we know from the Harry Potter franchise is not expanded upon much in the
original series, and it’s not until Fantastic Beasts came out that we got a little bit more
of her history. Nagini is such a rich character with a lot of history, but in harry Potter
we only see her in her snake form, and the relationship that she has with Voldemort had
already been developed.
We don’t really get a proper sense of who is she or what her story is, and in today’s
video I’m going to be diving in to the history of Nagini, not just the snake, but the woman.
Nagini’s birth year is not officially recorded anywhere, but we do know that when we first
see her in Fantastic Beasts, it’s the year 1927, and she looks to be in her late 20s
or so. With this in mind, I’m going to assume that Nagini was born sometime around the year
1900.
However, Nagini wasn’t born in to normal circumstances- she wasn’t born as a normal,
healthy young baby, she was born with a curse. We don’t know whether or not Nagini came
from a family of witches, muggles, or something else, but we do know that her lineage had
the ‘maledictus’ curse in it’s bloodline, a dark curse that is passed on through generations
of family members and is transferred from mother to daughter. Because of this, Nagini
was born a female ‘Maledictus’ - one who carries the Maledictus curse. A ‘Maledictus’
suffers from a blood malediction- a type of curse that causes the sufferer to slowly transform
in to an animal over the course of their life. The animal can vary according to the specific
curse. In Nagini’s case, her blood malediction meant that she was destined to turn in to
a snake- becoming less human and more snake each and every day. Generally, for quite a
number of years, the Maledictus will possess the ability to transform at will, but that’s
what slips over time. Eventually, you will lose the ability to transform, and will be
stuck in whatever animal form that is destined for you.
A blood malediction is an awful and inescapable curse that eats away at you, slowly stripping
away your identity. In Harry Potter, we see Nagini after she has completely lost the ability
to transform at will, and she is permanently stuck in her snake form, however, in Fantastic
Beasts, she’s still clearly able to assume her human form, and even switches between
the two.
Before transforming in to a snake permanently, and eventually becoming a Horcrux, Nagini
was a shy, quiet, kind woman who was unfortunately mistreated by the Circus Arcanus. Circus Arcanus
was a travelling wizarding circus owned by a man named ‘Skender’ -it was essentially
considered to be a ‘freak show’ and boasted the ‘world's most complete congress of human
oddities’. Nagini was put on display, and forced to show the world what a ‘freak’
she was, when in reality she was just a poor woman that suffered from an awful curse. Skender
was incredibly cruel, and exploited Nagini - forcing her to perform for his show day
in and day out. She was stuck there, that is, until Credence Barebone came along. During
one of her performances, Credence came along and released firedrakes, allowing her to escape
and run away with him.
Their new friendship was unusual, and each was as confused as the other with regards
to their place in the world. They were an uncanny pair, a mistreated maledictus that
had been being held captive, and Credence, a boy that knew nothing of his identity. In
an effort to help Credence, the two partnered up, and they sought answers with regards to
Credence’s existence- who were his biological parents? Where was his family? After an unfortunate
run in with one of Grindelwald’s acolytes, Gunnar Grimmson, Nagini and Credence found
themselves on the top of a house near the Eiffel Tower, where they met Gellert Grindelwald
himself. At this point in time, Grindelwald was quite familiar with Credence, and began
planting the seeds of manipulation - knowing that the power of this impressionable, but
powerful young obscurus could be easily swayed and harnessed if he played his cards right.
Though Nagini is seemingly quite evil in Harry potter, she doesn’t appear to be evil at
all in Fantastic Beasts. In fact, she immediately recognized what Grindelwald was trying to
do to Credence, and tried her best to save him. After surviving Grindelwald’s Paris
Rally and losing Credence, she eventually teams up with the good guys - Newt Scamander,
Tina Goldstein, Jacob and others. I’m really interested to see how Nagini makes the transition
from helpful, kind woman to evil snake, and there are a LOT of dots that need to be connected
in the next three Fantastic Beasts films, however, for now, let’s just resume Nagini’s
story at the point at which she first encounters Lord Voldemort.
Though we don’t have an exact date, it’s speculated that Nagini and Voldemort met in
the forests of Albania, sometime in the 1980s. At this point, Nagini would have likely fully-assumed
her snakelike form, and Voldemort would have been hiding in his disembodied state.
What their initial interaction would have looked like is anyone’s guess- however,
we do know a couple of things about Voldemort that would have helped him in interacting
with a giant snake. First of all, Voldemort is the descendant
of Salazar Slytherin- this means that his connection to snakes is strong, and that he
can even communicate with them because of his ability to speak parseltongue. Nagini,
who would have been stuck in her Maledictus form at this point in time, would have probably
leaped at the opportunity to finally speak with someone. She was a lost Maledictus that
was devoid of communication- and finally she encountered someone who could understand her-
it was someone that she could tell her story to. Whether Voldemort would have been able
to recognize that she was a Maledictus or not is unclear, however, he is an extremely
versed Legilimens, so I’m sure he could have taken a look inside of her mind and figured
it out.
At this point in time, both Nagini and Voldemort were a bit lost in the world, similar to when
she first met Credence. Nagini was stuck in a snake form, an entirely new identity, and
was completely devoid of human interaction. She probably had no idea what her next move
was going to be, and she must have been incredibly lonely.
In Voldemort’s case, he had just been recently defeated and was likely also at a bit of a
loss for what to do next. For this reason, I think that it is only natural that the two
would pair and join up, each of them having something to offer the other. Without Nagini,
it would have been considerably more difficult to return to a corporeal form, and without
Voldemort, Nagini would have had no purpose in the world, and no one to talk to. She would
have just been, alone.
Nagini became instrumental in Lord Voldemort’s survival before he could be restored to his
real body, and her venom was even used as an elixir that helped him to survive. It was
one of the primary ingredients in a potion that he used to rebuild his strength. Nagini
also helped Voldemort to commit numerous murders, and one murder in particular, the murder of
Bertha Jorkins, sealed their bond more than ever. You see, after the death of Bertha Jorkins,
Nagini became one of Voldemort’s Horcruxes. She was now more than just the companion of
Voldemort- a fragment of Voldemort’s soul lived inside of her.
By this point in time her previous shy and gentle nature was no more, and she became
a weapon for Lord Voldemort, the man to which she was completely loyal. Because she was
one of Voldemort’s horcruxes, she even shared a telepathic bond with him, and was able to
communicate with him over vast distances.
Despite Voldemort’s evil nature, she thought very highly of him, and I think that she only
became more and more like him as the years went by. It should also be mentioned that
Voldemort thought very highly of Nagini- which can’t be said for a lot of people. In fact,
Dumbledore had this to say of Voldemort’s relationship with Nagini.
"I think he is perhaps as fond of her as he can be of anything. He certainly likes to
keep her close and has an unusual amount of control over her, even for a Parselmouth."
The pair had a special bond, and their union allowed two lost souls to reignite their sense
of purpose in the world.
And that’s it for this video! I hope you enjoyed it. Did I miss anything about Nagini’s
history? If so, let me know down in the comment section below.
Until next time
YER A WIZARD ARRY