Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore is about to hit theaters,
so if you need a quick refresher on the story so far, don’t worry, this video has you covered.
This is a recap of everything you need to know from Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
and Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald.
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them serves as a prequel and spin-off story of the Harry
Potter franchise. The story starts with British wizard and magizoologist Newt Scamander arriving
in New York City. When one of his creatures, a Niffler, escapes from his magical suitcase,
Newt is forced to chase it through the city, bumping into human No-Maj, or non-magical person,
Jacob Kowalski. Jacob is a witness to Newt using magic and the two accidentally swap suitcases.
Newt is arrested by Tina Goldstein, a demoted Auror, basically the magic police,
for using magic in front of a No-Maj. But when Newt’s suitcase is investigated and found to
only include Jacob’s baking supplies he is released. And speaking of released,
Jacob opens Newt’s suitcase and accidentally releases three magical creatures into the city.
Newt, Jacob, Tina, and Tina’s mind-reading sister Queenie then team-up to track down the
beasts and return them to their home in Newt’s magical suitcase. As the team works together
to recapture the beasts, Jacob and Queenie develop romantic feelings for each other,
despite a relationship between a witch and a No-Maj being forbidden.
When US Senator Henry Shaw, Jr. is killed by an Obscurus, the team is arrested by
Seraphina Picquery, President of the Magical Congress of the United States of America,
as she believes the Obscurus was one of Newt’s escaped creatures. An Obscurus is a dark
parasite which develops inside magically gifted children when their abilities are suppressed,
and usually kills the host by the age of ten. After being arrested, Newt is accused by the
Director of Magical Security Percival Graves of working with the infamous dark wizard Gellert
Grindelwald. Graves sentences Newt and Tina to death, but Jacob and Queenie help them escape.
Graves visits the orphan Credence Barebone after having a vision that he was connected somehow to
the Obscurus. Credence lived with his adoptive mother, Mary Lou Barebone, who was staunchly
anti-witchcraft and forced Credence to suppress his magical abilities. Graves promises to teach
Credence how to use his magic in exchange for his help. When Mary Lou confronts Credence about
magic, Credence’s Obscurus kills Mary Lou and her eldest adopted daughter, Chastity.
Graves mistakenly assumes that Credence’s younger adopted sister Modesty was responsible and takes
an interest in her abilities, dismissing Credence. This angers Credence, who reveals that he was
the host of the Obscurus and had survived into adulthood due to the intensity of his
magic. Credence then goes on a rampage throughout the city, exposing magic to the non-magical world.
Tina had a history with Credence, having previously tried to protect him from the
abusive Mary Lou, and being demoted after using magic to do so. As Newt and Tina try to
calm Credence down and stop his destruction of the city, Graves tries to convince him to join
his side. Seraphina and a team of Aurors then arrive, attacking Credence and his Obscurus,
seemingly killing them both, although Newt does notice a wisp of the creature fleeing the scene.
Graves then reveals his master plan was to use the Obscurus to reveal magic to the No-Maj world,
tired of wizards having to live in hiding. Newt helps to
apprehend Graves and reveals him to be Gellert Grindelwald in disguise.
Fearing that Credence’s attack had exposed magic to the city,
Newt tasks his Thunderbird to disperse an obliviate potion across the city,
which would erase the memories of recent events from every No-Maj in the area. As
the potion falls like rain, Queenie kisses Jacob goodbye as he loses all memory of her.
The story continues in Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald. Grindelwald has
escaped custody and was now amassing an army of loyal followers. Months later in London,
Newt Scamander is asked by his old Hogwarts professor Albus Dumbledore to find Credence
Barebone, who had resurfaced in Paris. Dumbledore believed Credence to be Corvus Lestrange V,
the long-lost half-brother of Newt’s childhood love Leta Lestrange.
Also searching for Credence is Newt’s Auror brother Theseus, alongside his fiance Leta.
And Tina teams up with a wizard named Yusuf Kama who also has his own motives for finding Credence.
Before leaving on his mission, Newt is visited by his old friends Queenie and
Jacob. Jacob has restored his memory of the magical events in New York City
and was now engaged to Queenie. Newt discovers that Queenie had put a love enchantment on Jacob
and lifts the enchantment. Despite his love for her, Jacob refuses to marry Queenie out
of fear for the consequences she would face for marrying a No-Maj. Heartbroken,
Queenie goes off to find Tina, while Jacob joins Newt on his mission to find Credence.
In Paris, Credence has teamed up with Nagini, a Maledictus who was cursed to
transform into a snake, to uncover the truth about his birth parents. Before they can get
vital information from the half-elf servant who had brought Credence to America for adoption,
Grimmson, a loyal follower of Grindelwald, murders the half-elf.
Queenie fails to find Tina and is instead brought to Grindelwald. Wanting to harness her abilities,
Grindelwald manipulates Queenie into joining him, explaining that in his vision for the future,
magical laws wouldn’t prevent her and Jacob from marrying.
Eventually, all of the parties searching for Credence converge, bringing together Newt, Jacob,
Tina, Yusuf, Theseus, and Leta. Yusuf finally explains his motives for hunting down Credence.
When Yusuf was a child, Corvus Lestrange became infatuated with his mother and cursed and abducted
her. Yusuf and his father later learned that she eventually died giving birth to Corvus’ daughter,
Leta Lestrange. On his deathbed, Yusuf’s father makes Yusuf take an Unbreakable Vow
to kill the person Corvus loved the most. Corvus never loved Leta, but did love the infant son
he eventually fathered, which he named Corvus Lestrange V. Fearing for his infant son’s safety,
Corvus sent Leta and baby Corvus on a ship to America. So now, believing Credence to be Corvus,
Yusuf was on a mission to kill him. Leta then explains that on the journey to America,
she couldn’t stand her infant brother’s constant crying and switched him with another baby. When
the ship sank, the real Corvus died, and the swapped baby, Credence, took his place.
The group’s search for Credence eventually leads them to a rally for Grindelwald’s
followers. Grindelwald shows his followers a vision of World War II and details his anger
that magic laws prohibited wizards from preventing such tragedies. Theseus leads a
team of Aurors to surround the rally and apprehend Grindelwald. Grindelwald conjures a ring of fire,
which kills many of the Aurors. Loyal followers of Grindelwald, like Credence and Queenie, are
able to safely cross the fire to join him. Leta sacrifices herself to allow the others to escape.
As Grindelwald and his followers flee, the fire begins to spread throughout the city.
Newt and the other wizards then unite to extinguish the flames.
Newt returns to Hogwarts, now fully onboard in the fight against Grindelwald. He presents
Dumbledore with a vial of blood he had taken from Grindelwald, revealed to be a blood pact former
lovers Dumbledore and Grindelwald had made that prevented them from dueling each other.
As the film comes to a close, Grindelwald presents Credence with a wand and finally
reveals to the orphan his true identity. He was Aurelius Dumbledore, Albus’ long-lost brother.