Hey everyone,
Welcome to another installment of Harry Potter Theory.
In today’s video, we’re going to be discussing whether Nagini, Voldemort’s faithful pet
snake turned Horcrux, would’ve turned evil if the Dark Lord hadn’t harboured a piece
of his splintered soul inside of her.
Let’s sink our teeth into this one, shall we?
Alright, so, most of you will know Nagini from the original Harry Potter novels and
films.
She was an enormous snake and an unquestionably loyal servant of Lord Voldemort, who he often
kept close at hand to help him carry out his dirty work…you know, eating the odd witch
or wizard, attacking Members of the Order of the Phoenix, and the likes of that.
Of course, as we find out in the final installment of the series, Nagini is also one of Voldemort’s
seven Horcruxes – which is likely another reason he kept her nearby at all times.
(That was why according to Albus Dumbledore, at least.)
Anyway, being that Voldemort, born Tom Marvolo Riddle, was a descendant of Salazar Slytherin,
he possessed the ability to speak parseltongue – an extremely rare language that, put plainly,
meant that he could talk to snakes.
His ability to communicate with Nagini further shows why they would’ve had a close bond,
and perhaps explains Voldemort’s reasoning behind making Nagini a Horcrux in the first
place.
Here was a creature that he could speak to but who couldn’t betray his confidence in
the way a human could.
But wouldn’t it be a bit dicey to LITERALLY put your life in the hands – err, scales
– of a snake?
Well, here’s where Nagini’s backstory gets interesting: she actually used to be
a woman.
As J.K.
Rowling has continued to expand the Harry Potter universe since the release of The Deathly
Hallows in 2007, we have learned more and more about characters who weren’t given
the most substantial backstories in the original series.
Nagini is one of those characters.
Her origin story was at last revealed through the Fantastic Beasts movie franchise, the
prequel film series to Harry Potter.
In the second movie installment, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, we discover
that Nagini had not always been a snake.
She was, in fact, at one time a human woman.
As a woman, she was a Maledictus, meaning she was born with a blood curse that, at first,
allowed her to transform back and forth between a human and a snake.
Sadly, as with all Maledictuses, she eventually lost the ability to control her transformations,
and the affliction ultimately trapped her in the form of a serpent.
This bestial version of Nagini was, of course, the only one we used to know – the unusually
intelligent and malevolent pet serpent of Lord Voldemort.
But with the telling of Nagini’s origin story, we are shown the type of woman she
was before she became Voldemort’s loyal pet.
And I wouldn’t be shocked if many of you – like myself – were quite surprised to
find that Nagini was…not completely terrible as a human.
In fact, it would seem that she was actually quite moral and good.
Let me explain.
In Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, we are introduced to Nagini through Credence,
a wayward wizard – and Obscurial – who is in search of clues to his past.
Credence meets Nagini after he joins a travelling wizarding circus, the Circus Arcanus, and
the two form a close friendship.
We witness Nagini be kind and compassionate towards Credence, and she becomes concerned
when he shows interest in joining the powerful dark wizard, Gellert Grindelwald.
Ultimately, despite caring for Credence, Nagini chooses to help the likes of Newt Scamander
and Albus Dumbledore in their efforts to defeat Grindelwald – a far cry from where she ends
up with the wizarding world’s next great dark lord: Voldemort.
Which brings us to the question: If Nagini was once a good and kind woman, how and when
did she turn so evil?
Was it, in fact, when Voldemort turned her into his Horcrux?
In all honesty, I rather think NOT.
Here’s why…
If being made into a Horcrux had the ability to turn the vessel of the Horcrux into an
evil creature or being, wouldn’t Harry Potter have become undeniably evil himself when Voldemort
unintentionally turned him into one as a baby?
Yes, right?
But, of course, we know that didn’t happen, even if Harry wasn’t a full on Horcrux.
In fact, we didn’t even KNOW that Harry was a Horcrux until the very end of the final
installment of the series.
He was a good wizard.
He was a moral person.
He was maybe a little stubborn and misguided at times – but evil?
Harry?
Never.
So, then, why did Nagini turn so evil if not from being made into the Dark Lord’s Horcrux?
I think the answer to that is not a simple one.
As a Maledictus, at first, Nagini had the ability to go back and forth between her two
forms – that of a woman, and that of a snake.
I wouldn’t be surprised if she had found it quite fascinating to start with – she
may have even enjoyed it at one time or another.
But once she permanently became a snake, can you imagine how trapped and isolated she would’ve
felt, knowing that she would never be able to interact with the world as a human ever
again?
She had no one to talk to.
No one to pass her time with.
To be perfectly honest, it would be enough to make anyone go mad, really.
Don’t you think?
But, then again, madness does not necessarily equate to being evil.
Cue Lord Voldemort…
Okay, so, how exactly did Nagini and Voldemort meet?
Her a Maledictus serpent, and he a phantom-like version of himself (due to his failed attempt
to murder an infant Harry)?
Well, the theory goes that deep in the forests of Albania, Nagini met the shadowy remains
of the Dark Lord.
It was here that he was rumoured to have befriended many of the animals that he came across in
the woods, which, of course, included Nagini.
And, so finally, she had found someone – or something – with whom she could communicate.
Voldemort, who could speak to her in parseltongue, was also able to inhabit her body.
It’s not that far-fetched to think that an impenetrable bond would’ve formed – especially,
on Nagini’s behalf.
And so, Nagini, having been driven a little bit mad due to her isolation from humanity
and living in the woods as a beast, likely would’ve been all too open to, well, whatever
her new best mate Voldemort suggested.
ESPECIALLY, if it included her sticking with him when he left the forests of Albania.
This would’ve been a very unique – maybe even once in a lifetime – opportunity for
Nagini.
An opportunity for her to rejoin the wizarding world in a way she probably hadn’t thought
possible before meeting Voldemort.
After all, parseltongue was an incredibly rare language.
And yet, here was this wizard who could understand and TALK to her.
I can only imagine this would’ve come as an intense relief for Nagini.
From there, well, we know the rest.
Nagini became Voldemort’s most loyal “pet.”
It was Nagini who helped him regain his strength while in his shadow form – her venom was
a key part of the potion that enabled him to return to a temporary body.
And then, Nagini herself was made into a Horcrux – further helping him return to power – when
Voldemort took the life of Bertha Jorkins.
After that, they were rarely separated.
She witnessed him perform murder, after murder – and she killed on his behalf almost constantly.
All of this clearly shows that Nagini most certainly did turn evil, but I believe she
did so long before becoming one of Voldemort’s Horcruxes.
And so, in my opinion, Nagini still would’ve become evil even if she hadn’t been made
into a Horcrux.
She may have even turned evil without having met this particular Dark Lord.
After all, Maledictuses lost the ability to think like a human as time went on, so it’s
possible that she may have become more and more wicked as she lived life permanently
as a snake.
BUT, since it’s not inevitable for a Maledictus to become evil, despite the affliction coming
from a blood CURSE, I think that the main reason Nagini turned evil was her RELATIONSHIP
with Voldemort, rather than any form of magic – blood curse, Horcrux or otherwise.
In her desperation to connect with a being more intelligent than the woodland creatures
she lived amongst in the forests of Albania, she was willing to be whatever the Dark Lord
needed her to be, and that just so happened to be an EVIL serpent willing to do his bidding.
Which brings us to the end of this video.
What do you guys think?
Do you agree that it was Nagini’s RELATIONSHIP with Voldemort that turned her evil?
Or do you think she was already poised and ready to be evil on her own when he met her?
Or was it something else entirely?
Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!
And don’t forget to like the video and subscribe to the channel.
Until next time…
“DINNER, NAGINI.”