Hey everyone,
Welcome to another installment of Harry Potter Theory.
In this video, we’re going to be discussing a topic that’s come up for much debate over
the years: How was it that Albus Dumbledore and Gellert Grindelwald were able to break
their blood pact and duel?
For many, this question would’ve initially come up long ago, after the release of The
Deathly Hallows novel, nearly 15 years ago in 2007.
Here Harry Potter fans were first introduced to the idea that Albus hasn’t always kept
the most “acceptable” company, discovering that he was once close to the dark wizard,
Gellert Grindelwald.
I believe it is also in this book that we learn that Albus waited a questionably long
time before challenging – and defeating – Grindelwald, despite the incredibly dangerous
threat he posed to the Wizarding World at large.
That said, he did finally challenge Gellert in 1945, besting him in a duel that became
most infamous.
Dumbledore’s delay in dueling Grindelwald at first seems puzzling.
However, we now know for certain that Albus was unable to challenge Grindelwald due to
an unbreakable blood pact that the two men made in their youth.
This would’ve been when both wizards were interested in pursuing the same revolutionary
cause: to overthrow the Muggle population, and rule over them with magic.
And, so, it’s quite likely that they made the pact to prevent any disagreement getting
in the way of achieving this goal, in the event that one of the two wizards decided
against their vision – which, of course, Dumbledore eventually did.
For those who may be unfamiliar, a blood pact is a theoretically unbreakable magical agreement
between two wizards, resulting in either party being unable to harm the other.
This magically binding contract was performed by blood being drawn, typically from the hand,
at which point the two wizards would place their palms against each other and state an
oath.
A drop of blood from each wizard would rise above their interlocked hands, form as one,
and become enclosed in a magical vial.
This vial would remain the physical manifestation of the blood pact.
At the end of Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, we get to see the physical
manifestation of Dumbledore and Grindelwald’s pact – a vial that Grindelwald keeps on
his person at all times.
Despite doing so, however, Grindelwald loses this incredibly valuable item – as it’s
the only thing preventing Albus from being able to attack him – to none other than
a Niffler, a small magical creature who is simply obsessed with shiny things.
This particular Niffler belonged to Fantastic Beasts protagonist and ally of Dumbledore,
Newt Scamander.
So, thanks to the jewelry-obsessed Niffler, Albus is reunited with the one thing that
– if he can destroy it – could allow him to finally take down Grindelwald.
Now, it’s important to note here that Dumbledore gains possession of the blood pact vial in
1927, however, we know that the infamous duel between Albus and Grindelwald doesn’t occur
until 1945, 18-long-years later.
We know that EVENTUALLY Dumbledore is successful in breaking the blood pact and challenging
Grindelwald.
But what we DON’T KNOW is HOW he does it – or how LONG it takes him.
It would be quite reasonable to assume that perhaps it takes Albus almost two decades
to crack a theoretically unbreakable pact.
It had never been done before – that we know of.
So, it’s not out of the question that it could simply take TIME to break this magically
binding contract.
But my theory takes a bit of a different perspective…
I suspect that in the upcoming Fantastic Beasts film, The Secrets of Dumbledore, we will witness
him break the blood pact – or at least get around it.
You may think that this would be too soon, according to the timeline of when Dumbledore
does in fact duel Grindelwald – but hear me out.
Firstly, we have yet to discover how much time has passed between The Crimes of Grindelwald
and The Secrets of Dumbledore.
And based solely on Credence’s new look, I’d wager that at least a few years have
gone by!
There are also several other clues throughout the two trailers that a fair bit of a time
has elapsed between films.
First of all, we have no indication of where either Tina or Nagini is, and if we were to
be picking up right where we’d left off, presumably they would be in at least ONE of
the previews.
However, both of these women are quite noticeably absent.
Secondly, we see at least one new face – the “schoolteacher” as Theseus Scamander refers
to her – who seems to be quite familiar to our group of protagonists, even if not
to us.
This character has likely joined Newt and the others in the time that has passed between
the films.
In my opinion, I believe that around 5-10 years have gone by since the last film.
This would bring us to the mid to late 1930s.
Then, let’s consider that The Secrets of Dumbledore may take place over the course
of a year or so, getting us that much closer to 1945.
This would mean that if Albus is able to break the blood pact in this movie, then perhaps
he would take the next few years to plan a well-coordinated attack on Grindelwald and
his empire.
This, of course, brings us to the HOW of it all.
HOW does Dumbledore break his blood pact with Grindelwald?
Well, in the same way that we see Grindelwald attempt to use Credence – or Aurelius Dumbledore
if Grindelwald is to be believed – to defeat Albus, I think Mr. Barebone will be the answer
to Dumbledore beating Grindelwald.
Grindelwald hand-picked Credence as his weapon of choice against Albus for seemingly two
reasons: 1.
Credence is an incredibly powerful Obscurus – proven simply by the fact that he has
survived into young adulthood while hosting an Obscurial.
From Grindelwald’s point of view, the young wizard’s raw, rare magical power may be
the only thing strong enough to defeat Albus. 2.
If Credence is in fact a Dumbledore, aided by the power of a Phoenix, he is also more
likely to defeat Albus in a duel than almost any other wizard.
But if Credence is actually Aurelius, I think this relation may play into how Albus overcomes
the blood pact.
You see, in the trailers, we witness Albus and Credence fighting in a street.
In the first trailer, it looks like an ordinary – although very exciting – duel between
two wizards.
Credence’s Oscurial form makes an appearance, and at one point he shoots jets of bright
red light at Albus, who seems to calmly deflect them with his hand.
In the second preview, we see more of this same fight.
Most interestingly – at least to me – is the view we’re given of this duel when it
looks as though the world is flipping round, upside down.
We start with a shot of Credence lying on the ground and Albus’ hand pressed against
the young wizard’s chest.
An item in Dumbledore’s hand lights up – could it be the vial?!
it certainly doesn’t look like his wand – and our perspective shifts as the scene
inverts itself.
Okay, I’m pretty sure the item in Dumbledore’s hand is actually the Deluminator, not the
vial containing the blood pact.
BUT I’d vouch that he DOES have the vial on him, and I have a theory as to what Dumbledore
is doing here.
Could this bizarre scene indicate Dumbledore SHIFTING THE PACT to Credence?
If Credence truly is a member of the Dumbledore family, he would, of course, share the same
blood as Albus.
SO- if they actually ARE related (which we don’t know yet) Could it be possible, that
Dumbledore discovers a way to transfer this magically binding blood-contract to another
wizard with the same genes?
After all, if Credence turns out to be Albus’ long-lost brother, Aurelius would share the
same genetic makeup – which, perhaps, could be enough to fool the vial into thinking one
was the same as the other.
So, maybe Dumbledore doesn’t break the unbreakable after all – he simply removes himself from
it.
Now, you may be thinking, “Well, if it turns out to be possible that a blood pact could
be shifted to another member of your family, why wouldn’t other witches and wizards have
attempted to do the same?
Why wouldn’t Albus simply ask his brother Aberforth to take on the pact in his place,
so that he could go after Grindelwald?”
Well, my theory is that the process of transferring the pact is not a particularly safe one.
From the looks of it in the trailer, Credence doesn’t seem to be feeling all that well
as Dumbledore is crouched over him.
So, perhaps, it is quite a risky thing to do.
Further to this point is the fact that Albus looks rather regretful as he’s doing – whatever
it is he’s doing to Credence…
So- how would Dumbledore know how to do this?
Well, if we look at Dumbledore’s history- it’s fairly apparent that he is a talented
wizard- having achieved all sorts of accolades by the time he was just a young adult.
And it just so happens that one of these accolades pertains to BLOOD- having been credited as
discovering the 12 uses of dragon’s blood- most of which have not been revealed to us
Harry Potter fans.
It seems like Dumbledore is a blood EXPERT- particularly in the realm of its USE- and
so I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that Dumbledore’s knowledge of blood, or
perhaps even the use of dragon’s blood itself- relates to the broken blood pact with Grindelwald.
How dragon’s blood specifically comes in to play here is not really something I’ve
begun to tackle yet, but if you guys want a video on it I’m open to giving it a go.
In any case, if Dumbledore is successful in removing himself from the blood pact with
Grindelwald in the upcoming movie, I don’t think it’ll be long before we see the two
duke it out.
Which brings us to the end of another video!
What do you think?
Will Dumbledore crack his blood pact with Grindelwald this film?
Or will we only see him get close?
Do you think getting out of the pact has anything to do with Credence?
Or do you think my theory is mad?
Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!
And, as always, if you enjoyed this video, don’t forget to like it and subscribe to
the channel!
Until next time…
“Things are not quite what they appear.”
– Albus Dumbledore