Hey everyone,
Welcome to another installment of Harry Potter Theory. In today’s video, we’re going
to once again be discussing the upcoming Fantastic Beasts Film - Fantastic Beasts 3: The Secrets
of Dumbledore. However, today we’re not just going to be discussing release dates,
filming locations and prospective actors. We’re going to be discussing the TITLE of
the film and its significance.
Early in our childhoods (well at least for me and a lot of you) we were first introduced
to Dumbledore- the loveable Hogwarts headmaster- and at that stage his life was still very
much a mystery. There he was- a powerful and respected wizard that presided over the youth
of the magical world- but, what were HIS formative years like? How did he become the man that
people came to love and respect? Expanding on this further, was Dumbledore ACTUALLY a
‘good’ person- or was he sort of grey like Snape and just more personable?
Luckily, thanks to the Fantastic Beasts films (which are effectively Harry Potter prequels)
we’re finally getting a closer look at Dumbledore’s formative years- the time that shaped him
in to the man that he is today. Your youth is the perfect time to make mistakes, because
it gives you an opportunity to correct them as you progress through the rest of your life.
We’ve had 2 Fantastic Beasts films so far- Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find them, as
well as Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald. Those two came out in 2016 and 2018, respectively,
so we’ve been without Harry Potter content for a while. However, fortunately, the third
Fantastic Beasts installment is going to be hitting theatres relatively soon on April
15th- during Easter of 2022.
Along with the release date being announced, the film’s much-awaited title was released
as well- with film creators landing on ‘Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore’. Now,
with a title like this- you’re practically begging for Harry Potter fans to speculate.
Dumbledore has a dubious past, there’s no doubt about that, but- WHAT secret is this
title referring to? Today, I want to discuss some THEORIES that I have regarding the meaning
of the films title.
Now, as it happens, Dumbledore’s past is so controversial that at one point it prompted
Rita Skeeter, known ‘journalist’, to publish a biography on the beloved Hogwarts headmaster.
Entitled ‘The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore’- Skeeters ‘poison piece’ ran a staggering
900 pages in length, and was published 4 weeks after Dumbledore’s death in June 1997. Given
that the book was published AFTER Dumbledore’s death, it’s unclear which segments of the
book were genuinely true and which parts were fabricated by Rita, as Dumbledore was not
around to protest.
Despite the book’s success, and 5 star rating from the Daily Prophet, the book was met with
mixed reviews from those who were close to or knew Dumbledore personally. Ron’s aunt
Muriel, for example, praised the book- while those such as Elphias Doge were furious at
Skeeter’s attempts to tarnish Dumbledore’s good reputation. The timing of the publication
of the book was also in particularly bad taste as she intentionally used Dumbledore’s death
as a launch pad.
The book dove into Dumbledore’s humble beginnings - particularly focusing on his family life
and relationship with Grindelwald. While I’m sure some of the ‘information’ in the
book was a product of Rita’s uncanny ability to write libel, there is evidence to suggest
that a good deal of information was accurate. The reason for this is that, while gathering
info for the book, Skeeter interviewed Bathilda Bagshot (Grindelwald’s great-aunt) while
under the influence of Veritaserum. Bagshot knew Dumbledore and Grindelwald well, so as
far as sources go she is very credible.
After the book was published Skeeter sent a copy to Bagshot with the following note:
"Dear Batty, Thanks for your help. Here's a copy of the book, hope you like it. You
said everything, even if you don't remember it. Rita"
What an awful woman.
Anyway, with all of that said- let’s jump in to my top 3 theories for what will be revealed
as Dumbledore’s ‘secrets’ in the upcoming film:
Albus Dumbledore’s Evil Side
Now, if you’re privvy to the Harry Potter story and Dumbledore’s character then you
already know that Dumbledore had a bit of an ‘evil’ or ‘misguided’ streak. However,
this side of Dumbledore has yet to be shown on screen in either the Harry Potter OR Fantastic
Beasts films- so maybe, just maybe- this is the first time we’ll see his former evil
intentions revealed.
Gellert Grindelwald, the PRIMARY antagonist in Fantastic Beasts,was born in the year 1883,
and in his younger years he was a student at Durmstrang institute. While attending the
school, Grindelwald’s sadistic nature shone through, and he was expelled for experimenting
with twisted and dark magic.
When he left school, Grindelwald travelled to Godric’s Hollow where he met a young
Albus Dumbledore. Grindelwald had just been expelled and was a bit lost, and Dumbledore
had been dealing with all sorts of family issues.From the moment they met, the two spent
every minute together, and eventually began PLOTTING. Upon establishing the slogan ‘for
the greater good’ it was their intention to find the fabled deathly Hallows, then lead
a wizarding revolution that would effectively put an end to the international statute of
secrecy, breaking down the ‘secretive’ divide between the two worlds. This revolution
would create a global power hierarchy that would place powerful witches and wizards at
the top of the food chain, effectively giving them full control of muggles and muggle affairs.
That’s right, Dumbledore (at one stage) wanted to rule over muggles! That’s a dirty
dark secret if I’ve ever heard one.
The Family Secrets
Now, when you say ‘Dumbledore’- most people will think of ‘Albus’. But, what we need
to remember is that Dumbledore is a surname, and the film title may actually be referring
to the Dumbledore family and not just Albus as an individual. And, when it comes to the
Dumbledore family as a whole, there are certainly a lot of JUICY tidbits that we could be exposed
to, and that pretty much applies to every family member.
Dumbledore’s mother- Kendra Dumbledore was the wife of Percival Dumbledore, and the mother
of Albus, Ariana and Aberforth Dumbledore. She was a Muggle-Born witch with jet black
hair, dark eyes, high cheekbones, and a straight nose. Not much is known about Kendra, but
we do know that she died in an explosion when her 14 year old daughter Ariana lost control
of her magical abilities. In fact, the only person who had anything to say about Kendra
was Ron’s aunt Muriel, who expressed that she was a ‘terrifying’ woman who was ‘ashamed’
by her ‘Squib’ daughter- locking her in a cellar. But, Muriel isn’t exactly credible
so who knows.
Percival Dumbledore was a pure-blood wizard, husband to Kendra, and father to Aberforth,
Ariana & Albus. When Percival’s daughter and Albus’s sister Ariana was 6, she was
brutally assaulted by 3 muggle boys. The incident left Ariana with an inability to control her
magical abilities. When Percival found out about what had happened to his daughter, he
furiously attacked the 3 muggle boys. For this, he was sentenced to Azkaban. Percival
never explained the reason for attacking the muggles to the ministry, as he feared that
if they knew of her condition she would be locked away in st.mungos hospital due to her
existence being a hazard to the statute of secrecy. This lead to much speculation about
Percival’s crime, and many believed that the attack was driven by a radicalized perspective
on blood-purity, which couldn’t have been further from the truth. After being locked
away in Azkaban, he eventually died in the prison. Maybe his sister being attacked was
what began driving Albus to his ‘evil’ side.
Credence
At the end of the last film we were left on a pretty big cliffhanger, as one of the last
things we witness is Grindelwald revealing to Credence Barebone that he is in fact a
member of the Dumbledore family- Albus’s long lost brother Aurelius Dumbledore.
Though Grindelwald doesn't confirm who exactly Aurelius's parents are, since he refers to
Albus as the young man's brother, we can safely assume that he belongs to at least one of
Albus’s parents. Before this point in time, it was widely thought that there were only
three Dumbledore children: Albus, Aberforth and Ariana.
In order for Credence to carry the Dumbledore name, it would mean that he would have had
to have come from PERCIVAL’s side, as Kendra’s maiden name is ‘Canard’. Did Percival
have an affair with another woman? Maybe soon we’ll find out
And that’s it for this video! What do YOU think the ‘Secrets’ mentioned in the title
refer to? Comment down below.
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Until next time
Remember
It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live