There's no doubt that the Fantastic Beasts sequel The Crimes of Grindelwald is quite a ride. The only problem is, it's left us with so many questions. We certainly can't trust anyone - apart from Newt, of course - and we've no idea what's in store for the next three movies. Here are just a few of the things we're desperate to know about the story:
Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald
What's happening to Bunty?
Newt Scamander left her at his basement menagerie before disappearing to France. She's obviously hopelessly in love with him, so will Newt keep her around now that he and Tina Goldstein have all but confessed their love for each other? She must have some further significance to the story for her to be involved at all.
Is Leta Lestrange really dead?
We really thought she would go over to Grindelwald's side, but instead she attacks him and his followers before being engulfed in blue flames as Newt and Theseus escape. The flames only kill those who pass through with doubts about their allegiance to Grindelwald, and whether or not it kills Leta is left a little ambiguous. After all, Credence didn't die in the previous film, and the fact that Leta is a Lestrange means we don't entirely trust her.
Why can't Queenie Goldstein read Grindelwald's mind?
She's an accomplished Legilimens which means you would have thought she wouldn't have been taken in so easily by Grindelwald's charismatically articulated ambitions. Then again, he's a very powerful wizard so he is probably adept at Occlumency; that is, the ability to protect one's thoughts from invasion. But surely she'd notice something unusual about her failed Legilimency.
Does Albus Dumbledore know he has another brother?
Credence - or Aurelius, as we should now call him - is twenty years younger than Dumbledore which means the latter would have long left school and both his parents would have died by the time Aurelius was born. His father died in Azkaban and his mother led a virtually hermetically sealed existence with daughter Ariana until her death following Dumbledore's graduation from Hogwarts. So how is Aurelius Albus Dumbledore's brother? And who was with him on that ship when he was an infant?
Of course, Grindelwald could be lying. Or Dumbledore's father could have faked his death and escaped Azkaban, though it doesn't seem plausible that he wouldn't immediately return to his daughter given how he ended up in Azkaban in the first place for avenging her.
Perhaps the Obscurus is an entity far beyond the usual wizarding understanding of the term. A parasitic entity that possesses wizards, maybe, created within a family like a symbiotic twin - which in this case has jumped from Ariana into Credence following her death.
If Dumbledore and Grindelwald have a blood pact, how can he fight him?
We're assuming that a "blood pact" works in the same way as an Unbreakable Vow; if you break it, you die. Only this pact is sealed within a physical object - much like a Horcrux - whereby its destruction invalidates the oath sworn. We can only assume that Dumbledore does manage to break it eventually because history dictates that he fought his old friend in a legendary duel in 1945 and won ownership of the Elder Wand. But what sort of magic could break such a powerful object?
What does the prophecy mean?
"A son cruelly banished/ Despair of the daughter/ Return, great avenger/ With wings from the water."
If this prophecy does not refer to Corvus, Leta and Kama, who does it refer to? If we entertain the idea of Aurelius as a secret Dumbledore brother, as the "son cruelly banished", then Ariana might fit as the "daughter". Aurelius could also then be the "great avenger" who returns with "wings" (he can "fly", so to speak, as an Obscurial) from "the water" meaning the ship.
Water appears to be of huge significance within the film. There were so many aquatic instances from Grindelwald filling the Thestral carriage with water and the Kelpie in Newt's basement to the artwork at the French Ministry of Magic and the sinking ship.
Why does Nagini join Voldemort?
She expresses a distrust of purebloods which would make her an unusual companion for Voldemort just as she would be for Grindelwald. She does not follow Credence, whom she clearly loves, into Grindelwald's circle, so what could possibly make her join an even darker wizard like Voldemort?
Desperation, perhaps. By the time she has permanently transformed into a snake, the only way she would be able to communicate with other witches and wizards would be through Parseltongue, and there are not many Parselmouths around. It makes sense that she would align with Voldemort who could not only understand her but offer her a home.
But how does she become so evil? In the Harry Potter books she kills with obvious pleasure. And we know that her being a Horcrux can't necessarily make her evil, because Harry Potter was one.
Why was McGonagall teaching at Hogwarts?
Newt was born 38 years before Professor McGonagall so why she was teaching at Hogwarts when they were at school is still unexplained.