#(that's what my mom calls him and it's sort of become his official-unofficial full name)

[blagueofchaos]

Yay for kitty eating food! 💜💜💜

Huzzah!! Yeah it's still been rocky lately (this ask is from a few weeks ago) and I'll be honest I still worry every time he breaths a little differently. Maple's appetite has been up and down but he ate pretty well today and it reminded me I had this ask because yeah, every time he eats I am just so proud of him and I have to fawn over him because he's such a good boy, eating his foods. Every bite he takes is a small victory. I've had a rough time of it getting his pills into him lately, but as long as he's eating I can dropper his vitamins into that and then at least I know he's getting nourishment and nutrition to help him restore his blood. It's still tough, but he's a tough little boy kitty and I'm amazed by his strength. I really do just love this little boy so so much.

Anyways, I'm also answering this now because I've gotten a few good pictures of him over the last couple of days and this is an excuse to share cat pictures now :)

He's a model <3

Here he is sitting on the toilet because he's a silly little boy <3 Maybe I should do that thing people do sometimes and toilet train him haha.

And here he and his sister are in one of the rare moments when I have been able to get them not only both laying together but also both looking at the camera! I sent this to my dad captioned "a portrait of your grandchildren" ;)

[electronicdelusionstarlight]

Ok, here's how I'd set up an actual BNHA Elder Scrolls crossover in case I ever get around to write it:

1) While he's, like, 4 years old in his living room watching TV, Izuku's Quirk activates. It will not get an actual official name but we can call it Planeswalker Spark ala MTG. Basically kid can tear a hole through reality and launch himself into a different plane of existence, which is what Izuku accidentally does here.

2) It's a slow process tho, which gives Inko plenty of time to rush in from where she was to tackle her son away from the sudden green glow brightly shining around him, a impulse decision based on her Instinct to protect him at all costs, which only ends up with both of them getting sent to Skyrim.

3) Izuku incidentally also happens to be a Shezzarine. His quirk is a mutation from her mom's side, whose Quirks usually affect space in some way, and is completely unrelated to this. Anyway, he and Inko are on the cart to Helgen now, usual shit, The plot of Modded Skyrim takes places, with Inko taking on the brunt of the adventure and trying to shelter Dragonborn Izuku from his destiny.

4) After many trials and tribulations, 2 DLCs, 4 guilds, 1 Dragon War, several adopted orphans as well as so many quest mods it's unreal, Lucien Flavius and several members of the College of Winterhold manages to reverse engineer Izuku's quirk, and gives him an enchanted ring to better control it. Kid can now safely use it without risking ending up somewhere completely different from his planned location. Izuku is now 14 years old. He also had to do terrible things no matter how much his mother tried to shelter him and take the brunt of the war crimes. This leads to PTSD obviously, but also to a now blue and orange morality system, chief among them his general disregard with killing or not killing someone.

5) Getting back to 10 years prior, Izuku's Quirk causes a ripple in the Tachion Field surrounding earth, which is felt on I-Island. David Shield spends the remaining 10 years monitoring and trying to better understand the phenomena, since it could be revolutionary in the till then hypothetical field of time and space travel. When Izuku activates his quirk back 10 years later, I-Island has by then built a teleportation device, hijacking Izuku's trip and sending him to I-Island.

6) Meanwhile on a familiar junkyard, Hatsume Mei's scrappy device built via salvaged parts, spit and lots of duct tape comes to life on her back, individuating a sudden tear in the now constantly decaying Tachion Field. It's happening in the middle of the ocean tho, so she can't really deal with it now.

7) Anyway, David Shield needs Izuku at hand for his Quirk, but Izuku and his mom came back to Japan trying to live a double life since by then most of their friends and family are in Tamriel. Except, both of them have been declared dead for years, and Hisashi, the bitch, ran away with the insurance money, so they don't have a life to return to. David Shield can't let them get back to Tamriel tho, again, he needs Izuku on planet for his new research, bit also realizes that if he actually wants to leave he can't really stop him, except Izuku, you know, still wants to become a hero, just like his mom is in Skyrim. So they reach a compromise, he will try to get into UA, and will take a new identity as Mikumo Akatani, usual excuses to have Izuku get into 1-A you know?

8) Izuku can't really make his Quirk public tho. So, after forging his and his mother identities as a foreign dignitary from the states and her son, and his Quirk is listed as "Cataclysm" (The last perk in the destruction skill tree for a Fire (and Earth) mage in the Ordinator Mod). He is after all a member of the college of Winterhold, trained under the Great and Powerful Destruction Magician Uncle J'Zargo the Magnificent himself, of course he knows plenty of spells. However, he can't really explain all of them as one Quirk, or better yet, he can, it would just get really complicated, so he just goes "My mom can move things with her mind, my... Father, ugh, can blow fire from his mouth, obviously my Quirk is being able to control flames with my mind, usually from my hands but some times also via vocalisation."

9) Which means Izuku has to really contain what shit he can do. It's a very superman like situation, since he needs to remain in control at all times and also not slip up and pull spells he couldn't explain as his "fire" quirk, least people start asking questions. Some people however notice.

10) Tsuyu and Todoroki start an unofficial conspiracy theorist fan club over it.

Tsuyu was there with him at the USJ, where in his sudden hyperfocused competence over the crisis situation made her realize A) This is not the first time this boy has almost died in his life and B) Back in the water at the USJ, she could swear she saw his hands shining as some strange light washed over him, and she could swear he could swim as fast as her back then, and for such long periods of time she could swear he could breath underwater. That makes it really suspicious.

Todoroki sees another kid with a powerful fire quirk but also the signs of a hard life and who seems to not like his father, and instantly goes "Oh... same hat." So his conspiracy is that Izuku is actually Endeavour Bastard Son he had after a premarital affair during a visit to the states 14 years prior, and he has a corkboard to prove it. He also realizes that he's trying to contain his power just like he is, which makes him believe he too must have done a pledge just like him.

11) Shinso beats Bakugou on the first match of the tournament. Doesn't really matter to the overall crossover I just wanted to point this out.

12) Anyway, this explodes during the Sports Festival. It's Todoroki Vs Midoriya, and 1) everyone is comparing the two due to similar Quirks, which Izuku finds really unfair to both of them, 2) Todoroki is being a stubborn ass with his quirk and 3) Izuku can't really talk now l, can't he? That would make him an hypocrite, and he might be a Mage, an Honorary member of the Explorer Guild, a Dragonborn and also a Bard College Student for some reason, but he's not a hypocrite, so he just up and SNAPS because hey, maybe Todoroki will actually unleash his full potential if someone else does it first too.

13) So, Izuku Midoriya, on national television, starts blasting. Armour Spells, Ice Spells, Lightning Spells, Mind Spells, Water, Wind, Air, Poison, turns himself invisible, summons a Dremora Champion, shouts with the power of the souls of the Dragons his mother slew, Todoroki actually has to start using his fire but is mostly out of sheer survival now ("There is always a bigger fish out there, and one day you deciding not to use your full power just because of a stupid pledge will get someone killed. Trust me, I know. You better start realizing that now Todoroki"), and is still a close match because Izukus spells all start from his hands or mouth after all, and Todoroki has now something to prove more than ever.

14) Without his robes on tho, Izuku Magicka is depleted in the end, ending up in a tie as the two collapse from exhaustion. Rather than an arm wrestling match this time, Izuku is disqualified due to the sudden mutation of his Quirk. He's fine with it and probably expected it, bit this still bums Todoroki out, as well as all of his classmates and friends.

15) After the Festival there are 4 leading theories on Izuku now:

A) All Might, discovering via Tsukuachi that Izuku's identity is fake, as well that he looks a bit like a missing case kid from 10 years ago, AND knowing that AFO is back due to the USJ... Believes Izuku is a mole, and is working, willingly or unwillingly, for AFO after he was implanted with all those Quirks. He is now incredibly suspicious of him, and it kind of shows. Nighteye is on the same page despite not having talked to the man in years, and is subtly trying to have Mirio scout out the kid to see if he's a threat. Mirio is too much of a Golden Retriever to even realize what has been asked of him tho, and just think Nighteye wants him to befriend another kid with a promising Quirk.

B) Todoroki now knows the truth. Izuku is Monoma's long lost twin brother. His Quirk allows him to copy the Quirks of those around him (Iron Skin and Stone Skin would be Tetsu Tetsu and Kirishima Quirks after all, Invisibility is Hakagure, Fire and Ice are either his or Bakugou's, Lightning is Kirishima, and Tsuyu mentioned how he could swim and breath underwater while near her, meaning he was using her Quirk). He has connected the dots.

C) AFO still remembers his brother's lover, the stories she came up with, the long periods of times she was gone, only to return with a haunted look in her eyes... The powers she hid from him, thinking he wouldn't notice, the way she fled right after his brother lay lifeless on the ground, almost disappearing into thin air with his broken body... The family his brother hid so well from him, as if they were in another world all together... They never told him, but he knew, he knew she had some sort of Quirk, one that had been then inherited by this new Mikumo Akatani, so similar to HIM yet so different, back from the other world in revenge for his ancestor.

He has to capture that kid. He's family after all, and his quirk belongs to him, it's his by right as his brother's keeper. And with it, he will be able to extend his reach to worlds beyond his own.

D) the official version, the one David Shield puts out, is that Izuku's Quirk evolved unexpectedly due to the new environment he was in, mentioning it as a precursor of Quirk Singularity.

E) The only one who actually got it is Hatsume. She can tell Izuku is the source of the Tachion Spikes and subsequent decays as he "returns home" in Skyrim when leaving school, so she perfectly understands that he's a powerful warlock from across dimension who had come here with the power of science and unholy magic to infiltrate society posing as a hero. Obviously, she's going to help him do it becoming his evil vizier and grand artificer of course. Worst case scenario, she can now market the shit out of him as a hero using her babies, best one, he succeeds and she gets to rule Australia out of their "Deal." I say "Deal" because Izuku isn't even sure he got half of what she was saying, but she seems nice and if Skyrim taught him anything is that you should treasure everyone willing to be your friend, so they hang out together, scheming and plotting without even realising it.

Tsuyu however pretty much got the gist of what Hatsume was saying (it was a crowded lunch break after all) and while she does know Izuku doesn't seem the type of the interdimensional conqueror, she still decides to call dibs on North America in exchange of becoming his Grand Admiral.

And Who knows, maybe he'll end up starting an actual line of Dragonborn Emperors there too.

Anyway that's the rough draft.

[under-the-lake]

It Has To Be You  -  Fantastic Beasts The Second: What we know (or don’t) so far

WARNING: SPOILERS (writing this 9-10th August 2018)

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them - The Crimes of Grindelwald, Second Film of the five-film franchise, coming out 16th November 2018… already there! Can’t wait, to be honest. However, there’s some clues that have been dropped by the Wizarding Community online and that can allow us some kind of anticipatory excitement. Here’s a sort of summary, along with some personal thoughts and dug out information, because why bother only summarize when you can actually think?

Let’s start with the trailers, shall we?

Teaser trailer from Pottermore (PM - posted 13th March 2018): https://www.pottermore.com/news/watch-the-first-trailer-for-fantastic-beasts-the-crimes-of-grindelwald

Second official trailer : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlCKOG9ut8g

Short ID

Warner Bros., Heyday Films, 2018, directed by David Yates, screenplay by Joanne K. Rowling, music by James N. Howard.

Setting: London, Hogwarts, Cliffs of Dover, Muggle and Wizarding Paris (we get to see the local equivalent of Diagon Alley - entrance via a statue), New York, (maybe Godric’s Hollow?), 1927, plus at least Hogwarts in the early 1900s.

Main Characters: Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne), Albus Dumbledore (Jude Law), Gellert Grindelwald (Johnny Depp), The Niffler, Pickett, Jacob Kowalski (Dan Fogler), Tina and Queenie Goldstein (Katherine Waterston and Alison Sudol), Credence Barebone (Ezra Miller) and his Obscurus.

Secondary Characters: Leta Lestrange (Zoë Krawitz), Nicolas Flamel (Brontis Jodorowski), Seraphina Piquery (Carmen Ejogo), Theseus Scamander (Newt’s brother, Callum Turner), Maledictus (Claudia Kim), Skender (owner of the Circus Arcanus, Ólafur Darri Ólafsson), Abernathy (a Macusa supervisor, Kevin Guthrie), Vinda Rosier (Poppy Corby-Tuech), Spielman (Wolf Roth), Bunty (Newt’s assistant, Victoria Yeates), Torquil Travers (Derek Riddell), Arnold Guzman (Cornell S. John), Yusuf Kama (William Nadylam), Eulalie Hicks (Jessica Williams), Mrs Lestrange (Sabine Crossen), Laurena Kama (Isaura Barbé-Brown), Credence’s Aunt (Linda Santiago).

Rough plot outlines:

The series ranges from 1926 to 1945, when Dumbledore defeated Grindelwald and Tom Riddle graduated from Hogwarts. See… there’s no end to evil, only keeping it at bay.

The story of The Crimes of Grindelwald  is set just after the first film. If you remember well, in 1926, Newt was in New York apparently buying an Appaloosa Puffskein and unofficially releasing his Thunderbird back in Arizona. He gets into trouble because of a 21-year old Obscurial, Credence Barebone, and is condemned to death along with his friend Porpentina Goldstein, by Magical Congress of the United States of America (MACUSA) supervisor Percival Graves. Miss Goldstein was at the time a dismissed Auror from MACUSA - she was investigating the New Salem Philanthropic Society - NSPS - against the orders of her superiors. They escape, along with Tina’s sister Queenie and a No-Maj (US word for Muggle), Jacob Kowalski. The group eventually confronts Percival Graves in the Subway tunnel, and in front of Seraphina Picquery (head of MACUSA) and her crew, they uncover Gellert Grindelwald under the traits of Graves. Grindelwald is taken into custody. Kowalski is Obliviated, along with apparently all the Muggles in New York, by some weird rain that raised a lot of questions, the Thunderbird flies to Arizona and Newt returns to the UK.

In 1927, Newt’s book, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, has been published, Grindelwald has escaped MACUSA and is gathering followers. He wants to expose the Magical Community, and advocates Wizard supremacy over Muggles. Sounds familiar. Newt is sent to Paris by Dumbledore to track down the Dark Wizard, and the Ministry of Magic people don’t seem exactly ecstatic about that. Credence has survived and is becoming more powerful, apparently siding with a mysterious cursed woman called Maledictus who works for a non less mysterious circus called Arcanus. We can imagine that Tina, reinstated Auror for MACUSA, has been sent to track Grindelwald, and she and Newt meet again, together with Queenie and Jacob.

Apparently, from the trailers, we’ll be back at Hogwarts during Newt’s school years but also later.

What Has Been Disclosed So Far

‘Following the declassification of certain secret documents kept at the Ministry of Magic, the wizarding world has recently learned a little more about the creation of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. I am not yet in a position to tell the full story of my activities during the two decades that Gellert Grindelwald terrorised the wizarding world. As more documents become declassified over the coming years, I will be freer to speak openly about my role in that dark period of our history.

[...]

It is true that I was the first ever person to capture Gellert Grindelwald and also true that Albus Dumbledore was something more than a schoolteacher to me. More than this I cannot say without fear of breaching the Official Magical Secrets Act or, more importantly, the confidences that Dumbledore, most private of men, place in me.’

(Scamander, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, 2017, pp. x and xii)

A poster made by MinaLima for the Comic Con of San Diego this year reveals a lot (see picture below): People (Dumbledore, Grindelwald, Credence and Maledictus, Leta and Theseus), locations (Hogwarts, London, Paris), a Thestral-driven carriage, the Deathly Hallows and a Snake...

To start with, Grindelwald is free. That was pretty obvious though. It looks like Seraphina Picquery’s cells and measures of protection weren’t enough. In the trailer Grindelwald is seen in a thestral-drawn carriage (I thought the only tame ones were at Hogwarts, and only after Hagrid tamed them, so way later), wands pointing at him. The two men driving the carriage look like back-dressed Willy Wonkas :P and the carriage is followed by two people on broomsticks. What happened? Grindelwald is still with long hair and beard so when does this take place?

Once free, Grindelwald is making his point to a big crowd, trying to convince them to follow him. His inner wish is of course wizard supremacy over Muggles and other non-magical beings like Squibs. His ‘official’ version is that wizards shouldn’t be in hiding. He’s seen working with a woman holding a skull, who is Vinda Rosier (another ancestor to Death Eater Evan Rosier? Even the first names sound similar).

Grindelwald has his own logo, apparently, that looks like two letters ‘G’ put back to back, and that actually resemble a distorted swastika…. (see zoomed picture above). Well, the film takes place during one of the darkest periods of European history, namely the one during which rough extreme dictatorships rose... We don’t see it in the trailer (or I’m really blind), but we can assume that Grindelwald has already stolen the Elder Wand from Gregorovitch. The crew made Dumbledore’s first wand similar to the Elder one, though, as seen on a tweeted picture.. I am not sure if I like it yet.

A second major news is that we’re going back to Hogwarts, on two distinct occurences in time, it seems. The first is 1927, while what seems like a delegation of the Ministry of Magic (MoM - that has a different logo then, more in the fashion of the times) comes to confront Dumbledore about his use of Newt Scamander on a mission in Paris. It makes sense to think they are MoM people because among them is Theseus Scamander, Newt’s brother, who is Head of the Auror Office at the time. Along with him on the MoM team is a bloke called Travers. Rings a bell? His family tree has a Death Eater on it, later in the 20th century. The lines from the trailer are the following:

MoM Official: ‘There’s a rumour that Newt Scamander is headed to Paris. I know that he’s working under your orders. What do you have to say for yourself, Dumbledore?’

Dumbledore: ‘Well, if you ever had the pleasure to teach him, you’d know Newt is not a great follower of orders.’

However, Dumbledore and Newt have a meeting that has to be secret (since it’s shot on the roof of St Paul’s cathedral, London), and that tends to back up the idea that Newt is working ‘for’ Dumbledore. Moreover, Newt owes Dumbledore, who made a strong case for Newt not to be expelled from Hogwarts, as we learnt in the first film.

The second occasion on which we visit Hogwarts is during Newt’s school years as a Hufflepuff boy there. Maybe we’ll have more details about his relationship with Leta Lestrange. We know he loved her, and shared her passion for creatures. When one of Leta’s experiments with a Jarvey went wrong, Newt took the blame to prevent her from being expelled. Dumbledore defended Newt, and we don’t know if the expulsion finally took place or not. However, Newt could keep his wand, which would tend to back up the theory according to which he could stay at Hogwarts and graduate. What also backs up this theory is the fact that he’s been working for the MoM, which wouldn’t have hired someone without top grades in N.E.W.T.s so... yeh. Not expelled, I believe. We also know that later, Leta fell for Newt’s brother Theseus and got engaged to him.

One of the trailer scenes pictures Newt taking over a Boggart. The film crew placed the same cupboard in the DADA classroom as in the Prisoner of Azkaban film, which is all right given the period, I mean on an antiques point of view. Why assume that Boggarts would be hidden in the same cupboard, though? Moreover, who is teaching DADA but Dumbledore. That doesn’t make sense at all. That being said, Newt’s Boggart is funny: a desk full of in-trays and papers (see picture above). Because his worst fear is to be made to work in an office (that’s what he says in the trailer).

To stay with Newt a bit longer, do you remember how he did not have a Wand Permit for the USA? Well, his travelling troubles seem to have no end. From some official documents, we can see that his MoM Travel Permit is pending, because ‘subject uncooperative and evasive on reasons for last trip’. If it had only been a trip to collect data for his book he would not have been evasive or uncooperative…. (picture below)

Among the latest news, we learn that Newt wanted to go back to New York once his book was launched. He didn’t seek celebrity, he wanted to find Tina. Unfortunately for his introvert self, his book is a success. Redmayne says ‘Newt has been grounded in London and unable to leave.’ (Buzzfeed, 10.8.2018). In the same post we learn that Newt has a basement to his London apartment, that Rowling intended as a creature hospital. It is actually an extension of Newt’s suitcase, and is apparently bottomless. The entrance is…. You’ll never guess…. Via a cupboard under the stairs! I’m NOT taking the mickey.

Something unexpected, maybe is the appearance of a well-known prop. The trailer shows lights being sucked from street lamps. That can mean only one thing: Dumbledore had already invented the Deluminator (aka Put-Outer) in 1927. Who’s using it though? The shadows won’t yet reveal the answer. Is the use Ron Weasley put it to going to be displayed too?

Another point that has been fantasised about is Credence. Credence has survived the blasting in the Subway tunnel, and is now more powerful and seems more angry than ever. At one point in the first trailer, he is in the circus and frees some kind of creatures from a glass ball, or so it looks like at least. He’s also seen intensely looking at the posters advertising the circus….

From one fishy character to another… Who is Maledictus? She is Credence’s companion as it appears. She is said to bear a blood curse that transforms her into a beast, and that she’s one of the attractions of the Circus Arcanus, owned by Skender, currently on tour in Paris. One of the posters says ‘Snake Girl’... and Maledictus means ‘cursed’ but also ‘ill spoken’. We also know that the Circus was on tour in New York late 1926, and left only at the beginning of January 1927 to cross the Pond to France. Hm….. could Credence and Maledictus have met before? Or is it a new acquaintance? Why would Credence be in Paris otherwise?

The most unexpected visit to the film might be that of Nicolas Flamel. It makes sense since he lives in Paris (or does he still? We know from the Dumbledore Frog Card from 1991 that he lives in Devon), but I wonder what is going to be his role. He meets Jacob, that’s sure, from the trailer. Will he be meeting Dumbledore? Some kind of alchemical discussion could be really nice, and offer a rest in the probably action-packed-CGI-ed film. It appears from pictures that Newt will at some point hold an alchemical symbol, which, if I remember well, is that of gold. It’s a circle with a dot in the middle. What significance to this? Link with the Hallows? Or the Philosopher’s Stone? 

Another point is that there’s a hint, on Pottermore, that the film will show us younger versions of the main characters. Does that mean yet another flashback? Apparently. That fits the fact that we are to see Newt at school, in the early 1900s, but it also says that there is going to be a younger Grindelwald. Would that mean that maybe we could have a glimpse of that visit he payed to his great-aunt Bagshot in Godric’s Hollow the summer after Dumbledore graduated?

Let’s move to Creatures: the series is called Fantastic Beasts, after all. Pickett is back, and the Niffler. There’s all sorts of other creatures. In the trailer, Newt is seen riding an underwater creature. What could it be? A water dragon (he’s been training dragons for WW1, after all), a Kelpie (but it would likely eat him)? There’s also some sort of weird bird I’d say is an Augurey, and Thestrals. That bird appears to be sort of controversial in its determination: I mean that some people think it’s a Fwooper. Well, according to Scamander, in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, the book, of course, Fwoopers are brightly coloured, which this bird is not. As a pet, it would be quite dangerous to have one, since it’s cry drives one mad. Moreover, It doesn’t match Rowling’s illustration for it at all. The bird from the trailer does, however, match the description of an Auguery a bit more: a vulture-like creature (all right it has feathers on its head, vultures, as scavengers, don’t), blueish grey, used as a home weather-forecaster.

Ok this kills me: there are going to be BABY NIFFLERS! FantasticBeasts retweeted a post about that and here’s the picture in there. 

This is not a joke, There are really baby Nifflers. There are four different colours actually, as published by PM today 10th August. One adult Niffler was already some kind of a Weasley twin.... what about FOUR?

Here they are:

And HA another of their tweets lists creatures. And the bird IS an Augurey, but there is also indeed a Kelpie (wondering why, and how Newt is going to escape). The weird thing walking in the streets at some point in the trailer is called a Zouwu, that seems, from what I saw on Twitter, to be a Chinese creature. In the trailer, there’s also a weird-looking crumpled-antlered stag/elk-like creature, that some people refer to as a Leucrotta, but the usual description doesn’t fit here, some think it might be a Crumple-Horned Snorkack. There’s no description matching the beast in Newt’s book, unfortunately.

That’s what I’ve dug out so far. There is new info coming out all the time, and I probably have missed some. If that’s the case, please comment under the text :)

Paris, London, New York and the Wizarding World in 1927: Short Description (more after the film is launched)

I wanted to do a tiny bit of research on 1927 in Paris and London, mostly, and have a more deeper go after having seen the film, to put things more into context.

As The Crimes of Grindelwald set in 1927 directly follows Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, set in 1926 New York, there’s not much point into dwelling into what New York looked like at that time. There are a couple of papers on this blog about that:

http://under-the-lake.tumblr.com/post/157988584836/fantastic-beasts-and-where-to-find-them-the-film (first deeper impressions after the first film, mainly deeling with Speakeasies and Immigration Rules)

http://under-the-lake.tumblr.com/post/158268815626/fantastic-beasts-and-where-to-find-them-the-film (first deeper impressions part 2: laws and death penalty)

http://under-the-lake.tumblr.com/post/159376016836/fantastic-beasts-and-where-to-find-them-the-film (first deeper impressions part 3: the NSPS and Credence)

http://under-the-lake.tumblr.com/post/153419399321/fantastic-beasts-and-where-to-find-them-first (Very first Impressions)

Paris in 1927

President of France at the time: Gaston Doumergue (1924-1931)

Here’s an 8-minute video of Paris in 1927. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QDmzfyqNJM It shows really how life was in the streets.

Among the artistic life of the 1920s in Paris were people like the Missouri-born Josephine Baker, who was spotted in New-York in 1925 by French producers who were looking for an all-black cast for their Parisian Revue Nègre. Josephine was chosen and she moved to the French capital in the same year. She was one of the stars of the nightlife there from then on (see picture above). She was not the only foreign artist to set quarters in Paris. They came from the USA but also from the whole of Europe, mainly the East and South: Poland, Russia, Ukraine, Hungary, Spain. The whole neighbourhood of Montmartre, with its Moulin Rouge and Bateau-Lavoir, and that of Montparnasse and the Quartier Latin, were exploding with modern artists from poets to painters and composers, trying things, often living on nothing, often collaborating, often also hating each other in peace. The 1925 Exposition of Decorative Arts had also launched the period of Art Deco. The Expo hosted works by artists like Lalique or Le Corbusier.

It was also the period of weird circuses. Fêtes foraines were travelling fun fairs with carrousels and other attractions, but also with displays of ‘monsters’ or other ‘unusual’ creatures, including humans. Famously, of course, bearded women and elephant men, or dwarves, were showed to the public. Audience were attracted via posters and even music, like barrel organ music, that could be heard up to 3 km (1.8 miles) around. From what the trailer of The Crimes of Grindelwald shows, the Circus Arcanus is exactly along those lines. The name itself should be enough for us to know that something fishy is coming, ‘arcanus’ meaning ‘mysterious’ or ‘secret’ in Latin. Plus there are snakes and that evil cloak-holding being on the poster.... and that phrase, Le musée des curiosités vivantes (the museum of living oddities, like a live curiosity shop). According to Wikia, the Circus was in New York for a fortnight in late 1926 and travelled to Paris, France, in early January 1927…

London in 1927

King: George V (reigned 1910-1936)

PM: Stanley Baldwin

There is footage from London in 1927, and Simon Smith has replicated the shots in 2013:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kml92pPjx0

In 1927 the UK was recovering from the General Strike of 1926. The lower class had lost for many reasons, and the majority of the population was in a worse state then than before the strike.

The posh London society youngsters were known as the Bright Young Things. They were offspring of those who had gone through WW1 and were either fighting their parents’ values or taking life at face value, living carpe diem because of the war that had slaughtered so many young people. Maybe, for the young women, it was a way of showing their newly born independance. Maybe the reason was a mix of all. At any rate, it was a time of party, alcohol, drugs, freedom, jazz and a feeling of fighting the establishment. That latter was expressed, among other things, by the full acceptance of gay and lesbian relationships, which were, at the time, banned by the British laws.

Among them were people like photographer Cecil Beaton (see pic by him above), who is partly responsible for starting the cult of celebrity in the UK, via his portraying of the Bright Young Things. Since they were children of rich families, they had also connections with tabloids and could use them to spread their image, which they did. By the start of the 1930s, unemployment, Wall Street Black Thursday and global unhappiness were getting people bored by the growing excesses of that group.

On the cultural side, BBC (British Broadcasting Company) was created in 1927 (it was really founded in 1922 but was granted a Royal Charter in 1927). Authors who published in this year were among others Agatha Christie, Virginia Woolf and P. G. Wodehouse.

The Wizarding World in 1927-ish

In February 1927, Gellert Grindelwald, notorious Pureblood supremacist, makes an escape from MACUSA prisons in New York, while a month later, in March, Jacob opens his bakery, thanks to Newt’s Occamy Egg shells (Fantastic Beasts Screenplay, scene 123). Newt is doing well too, his book being published somewhere between January and March. The launch is set on 19th March 1927 at Flourish & Blotts, Diagon Alley, London.

By December, Seraphina Picquery has made the Thunderbird a protected species. She has instituted a Protective Order on it (While in the Muggle world Theodore Roosevelt had made Pelican Island a protected area in 1903, and the first protected list of species was used in 1918 jointly by Canada and the USA).

Dumbledore has been writing for Transfiguration Today for a year in 1927.

A French Ministry of Magic? Well, if the USA have their MACUSA and the UK have the MoM, why not a French Ministry. At any rate, the trailer gives us a glimpse of a glass dome with constellations and creature names written in pseudo-French: Le Niffleur, Hippocampe, Le Nundu, Le Doxy….  (there is even a typo because ‘centaur’ in French takes an ‘e’ at the end). I cannot vouch for this being the building of the French Ministry, but at least we know there is one, mentioned by J. K. Rowling in her writing about Beauxbâtons Academy on Pottermore. In French it is called Le Ministère des Affaires Magiques de France, which translates into ‘French Ministry for Magic Affairs’. According to Wikia, it was founded in 1790 during the French Revolution, and has ‘Incanté, Envoûté, Conjuré’ as a motto, which would translate into ‘Cast, Bewitched, Conjured’. The latest news from today tell us that the entrance is via one of the multiple public drinking fountains scattered all over Paris, called Wallace fountains. How can people enter via such a thing, search me. In London, you could either use Apparition, or the Visitor’s Entrance in the telephone box that you could actually enter, or later the public loo that you could get flushed in. The French thing is a fountain. Are people going to be suck via the plumbing after shrinking themselves or something? What about the Statute of Secrecy??

I must acknowledge that I hadn’t thought about Voldemort when I started this piece of writing. However, since Grindelwald’s defeat is followed by Voldemort’s rise to power, it must be considered. Merope Gaunt eloped with Tom Riddle Sr. in 1925-1926, and Tom Riddle Jr. was born on 31st December 1926 at Wool’s Orphanage, London, after his father left Merope, probably due to her stopping to feed him on Love Potion. So if we put two and two together, Tom Riddle Jr. had a nice model to worship when he was at school...

UK Minister for Magic: Hector Fawley (1925-1939)

US President of MACUSA: Seraphina Picquery (1903-1928)

French Ministre des Affaires Magiques: Unknown yet

Grindelwald and the Deathly Hallows: Dusting Our Memories

According to Rowling in her writings for PM, Gellert Grindelwald was born somewhere around 1883, somewhere on planet Earth. However, he was sent to Durmstrang Institute, that is located somewhere in northern Norway or Sweden (according to J. K. Rowling, see report of her reading GoF). He was ‘as ‘precociously brilliant as Dumbledore’ (Deathly Hallows, ch. Eighteen). Grindelwald was expelled when he was sixteen. The official reason is that he was making ‘twisted experiments’. They must have been really nasty if he was expelled from a school that favours Dark Magic.

Grindelwald knew about the Deathly Hallows and believed they would give him limitless power once united. He stole the Elder Wand from Gregorovitch the wandmaker. He wanted the other two Hallows, the Resurrection Stone and the Invisibility Cloak, badly. We don’t know if he wanted to be Master of Death or just have power, but he was obsessed with overruling the Muggle world and put the non-magic people in their rightful place. He engraved the Hallows sign on one of the Durmstrang walls. Later Dumbledore draw it on the front page of his copy of The Tales of Beedle the Bard.

How lucky then that Grindelwald’s great-aunt, Bathilda Bagshot, happened to live in Godric’s Hollow, which, apart from being the Potters’ and the Dumbledores’ family village, was the place where the Peverells had lived. Ignotus Peverell and his two brothers are said to be the Three Brothers of the tale, and thus the first owners of the Hallows.

After being expelled, Grindelwald went to visit his great-aunt. How very convenient… and there was Dumbledore, having to spend his summer looking after his family instead of taking his Grand Tour of the Wizarding World with Elphias Dodge. Bathilda introduced the two men, and it was like a bubble of fresh air to Dumbledore, according to Rowling. The two became inseparable, writing to each other about Wizard domination over Muggles for the Greater Good (that’s what Dumbledore thought) when they couldn’t talk about it. The relationship lasted two short months. Albus was besotted and that cast a gloom on his family, because he would not fulfill his obligations. His brother Aberforth eventually reacted, and the result was a three-way duel and Ariana’s, their sister, death. Needless to say, Grindelwald vanished. (Deathly Hallows, chapter Eighteen).

He travelled through Europe, gathering followers, and tracking down the Elder Wand, the easiest Hallow to trace, due to its bloody history. Apparently, he avoided Britain.

Europe having probably given out what it could, Grindelwald crossed the Atlantic and hired himself as MACUSA Auror Percival Graves. I guess he had heard about Obscuri and about Credence, because why go exactly there otherwise. Credence would be a wonderful weapon of destruction if he learnt to control his powers. Pottermore says that Grindelwald discovered Credence later, but I can’t think of any other reason for someone to go to the USA while the wizarding community there was so much more restrained than in Europe, and hopes of bringing it to the light were therefore so much smaller. Using an Obscurial to wreak havoc and thus expose the community would be a huge blow for his enemies. And of course we know that Grindelwald was already tracking down the Hallows, and knew of their existence, as proven by the necklace he gives Credence in the first film. Actually, I just read that according to Rowling, Grindelwald is a Seer… and had a vision about Credence’s immense power (see tweet). 

During his stay in the USA, Grindelwald was discovered by Newt Scamander, and captured and imprisoned by MACUSA. Not for long, though. That’s what the second film is telling us.

Questions Raised by the Trailers and the Written Info

Some of these questions, together with the fact that since Rowling wrote the screenplays herself, make things that were canon from the Harry Potter series and Fantastic Beasts collide….

- Now were we hoodwinked in the first film? I mean drawn into thinking that Newt is an innocent Magizoologist, trying to gather information for his book? Was he actually already on a mission to track down Grindelwald? Because honestly, that’s what he does in the end. Nothing about collecting stuff for his book. Setting Frank the Thunderbird free seems like a nice cover story.

- If he was indeed on ‘innocent’ business in New York, then why are MoM officials monitoring his movements, and why is his current MoM travel authorization pending? Why are MoM officials coming to Dumbledore to inquire about Newt? Or are they actually investigating Dumbledore? And remember, MACUSA was already tracking Newt from the start of the first film...

- What are Queenie and Jacob doing in Europe? If Tina is probably on MACUSA duties or tailing Credence because she’s still on the NSPS trail, I can’t imagine why a baker would leave his flourishing new business and why a witch like Queenie would leave her makeup and brushes to travel to Europe.

- Who’s that bloke with long white hair and beard levitated by apparently officials in some kind of prison?

- Is Maledictus the Snake Lady? If she is, it would be clever for her to hide her curse in a circus, given the intolerance of the age for differences of any kind. Some rumours actually have it that she would become Nagini...

- How did Credence survive? And after recovering, did he join the circus? Otherwise it doesn’t make much sense that he’s in Paris, right? Nor that he knows Maledictus.

- From research done by SuperCarlinBrothers, Credence is related to Corvus Lestrange and is half-brother to Leta Lestrange, Corvus having had offspring by two women. It’s all here in their video, time 7.27  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3ChukSDGRU  

Now how did Credence end up in the care of Marylou Barebone in the first place, please?? Or is that name a fake one?

- That family tree bears the name of Laurena Kama, a black witch. The film cast says that there’s going to be a character there called Yusuf Kama, played by William Nadylam. Family? And we know from cast that Credence has an aunt...

- And now we’re talking about Credence and his family tree... what about Modesty? Is she going to appear some time in this film or the next ones? What’s the point of developing her character so much in the first film if she has no role to play in the story later?

- Tina looks dark. ‘We’ll all have to pick our side’.... ? And it appears like she feels the urge to look after Credence… and maybe she’s a bit jealous of Bunty, Newt’s assistant, who in turn might be a bit infatuated with Newt, from what Redmayne says.

- WHY the bloody hell is Dumbledore teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts (DADA)???? That is so not canon. He’s a Transfiguration teacher. By 1927 he had been writing regularly for Transfiguration Today for a year. He was never mentioned as a DADA teacher, and it sounds really wrong. I know some people argue that DADA didn’t exist then, and that maybe Care of Magical Creatures was merged with it, as well as Transfiguration, but that doesn’t make any sense. Dark Wizards have always existed, and bad curses, hexes, jinxes, and dangerous creatures, if not dark ones. It makes no sense to ‘invent’ DADA just because Voldy was on the loose, or after Grindy was sent to Nurmengard.

- What’s that orb the woman next to Grindelwald is holding in her hand? Looks like either a Crystal Ball or a big version of a Prophecy. That last would be ruled out since it is too big to be one, but again, tampering with canon stuff seems to be the fashion. Unless, since everything seems to happen in Paris, it is a French Prophecy. Actually, new theory: from pics where you can see the two protagonists from the front, it seems Vinda is actually holding a skull with glowing orange eyes.

- Who’s the woman walking with the three thestralish cats? I found out she’s called Melusine…. That could open a lot of speculation.

- What’s Grindelwald saying to Dumbledore in the Mirror of Erised? And why does Dumbledore see Grindelwald in the Mirror in the first place? While actually at the end of the HP books, it is hinted that he’d be seeing his family… If the deepest desire of his heart were to see Grindelwald finished, then the latter wouldn’t be alive in there.

- Why always ‘it has to be you’? Same with Harry Potter and Severus Snape. Reminds me of Lord of the Ring, where people with the Rings of Power (that is Galadriel, Gandalf and Elrond) can’t take over Sauron and it has to be a Hobbit. Or David and Goliath. Oh wells. Always puppets played by experienced puppeteers.

- Last but not least. Why is Jacob working with wizards? Is he a descendant of wizards himself? I’ve been giving this some thought myself, but haven’t had time to work out all the connections. HOWEVER, there IS a theory that he’d be a descendant of Helga Hufflepuff, and it’s really interesting how the blokes who thought this came to that conclusion. It would explain, for instance, why Jacob has not been totally Obliviated by that rain that was destined for Muggles only (he makes pastries in the shape of all the animals he saw in Newt’s case, for instance). If you are curious about this theory, check this video by SuperCarlinBrothers :  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uT7i4Lu55pg (for details about disagreements on some names used in the video, check the comments under it :P ) There’s further evidence to be read in the comments below the video, because one of the people mentioned a Quentin Kowalski playing Quidditch for the USA in 2014, which would mean there are Kowalskis in the wizarding world, maybe a descendent of Jacob?

- Ok not last. I just rewatched the trailer and here comes one more question: HOW COME those people can just APPARATE on the bridge at Hogwarts??? I thought you couldn’t Apparate on the premises. At least according to Hermione, Severus and Hogwarts: A History. However, it is possible that those protection measures were put on later than 1927. On the other hand, Rowling says, on PM, that the castle and ground have always been protected by Anti-Apparition charms…

Of course, more info will be released the closer we get the the launch, on 16th November. We will see if any of those theories are confirmed, any questions answered… - can’t wait!

Meanwhile, as all these questions, all these thoughts, are obviously only assumptions and ramblings of my own mind, sometimes backed up by others, sometimes not, feel very free and very welcome to discuss any point you might feel worth it! Either in the comment thread under the article, or on our facebook page!

Happy anticipation to everyone!

Sources

https://www.pottermore.com/writing-by-jk-rowling/beauxbatons-academy-of-magic

https://www.pottermore.com/writing-by-jk-rowling/durmstrang-institute

https://www.pottermore.com/features/gellert-grindelwald-the-story-so-far

https://www.pottermore.com/news/watch-the-first-trailer-for-fantastic-beasts-the-crimes-of-grindelwald

https://www.pottermore.com/writing-by-jk-rowling/the-hogwarts-express

https://www.pottermore.com/news/introducing-the-baby-nifflers-in-fantastic-beasts-the-crimes-of-grindelwald

http://www.redhotjazz.com/josephinebaker.html

https://www.historic-uk.com/CultureUK/Bright-Young-Things/

https://fromthebygone.wordpress.com/2017/12/30/the-bright-young-things-captured-by-cecil-beaton-1920s/

Full Credits currently available:  https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4123430/fullcredits

Latest update, 10th August 2018: https://www.buzzfeed.com/eleanorbate/fantastic-beasts-crimes-of-grindelwald-set-secrets?utm_term=.cvKd2rJEw#.gnnJo7gP0

J. K. Rowling reading Goblet of Fire report: http://www.accio-quote.org/articles/2000/1209-hpfgu-scruton.html

Scamander, N. (2017). Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Bloomsbury Publishing, London, in association with Obscurus Books, Diagon Alley, London.

Rowling, J. K., (1999). Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Bloomsbury, London.

Rowling, J. K., (2007). Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Bloomsbury, London.

Rowling, J. K., (2007). The Tales of Beedle the Bard, Bloomsbury, London

Rowling, J. K., (2016). Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them - The Original Screenplay. Bloomsbury, London.