Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore, is the third installment in the series by Warner Bros, starring Eddie Redmayne, Jude Law, and Ezra Miller. The story follows a young Albus Dumbledore and his allies as they try to take down Grindelwald, who is attempting to seize control of the wizarding world by becoming a political figure. Dumbledore must do everything in his power to stop him. In this article, we'll be covering the most important plot points, a detailed review, a list of references to the Harry Potter universe, and FAQs.

Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore | Summary & Recap

Dumbledore and Grindelwald

The movie begins with Albus Dumbledore and Gellert Grindelwald meeting in a restaurant. They discuss the blood pact and their past. Grindelwald feels betrayed by Dumbledore, who once shared the same ideas as Grindelwald. Dumbledore admits he only went along because he was in love with Grindelwald.

As Grindelwald talks, the background grows white with smoke and the surrounding customers vanish. Grindelwald leaves and Dumbledore, who is now alone in a mirror world, stays put as the restaurant erupts in flames.

The Birth of the Qilin

Magizoologist Newt Scamander arrives by small boat just in time to find the pregnant Qilin giving birth. The Qilin is a deer-like creature with scales and it gives birth to a baby in a soft-shelled egg. Suddenly, Newt and the creatures are attacked by Credence Barebone, aka Aurelius Dumbledore, and Grindelwald’s followers. They kill the mother Qilin and Newt makes a run for it, trying to save the baby.

Newt ends up being injured and stunned by a spell. The baby Qilin is taken and Newt returns to the dying mother. He sits with her and notices another baby Qilin, a twin. The mother gets to look at her baby once before dying. Newt’s beasts, a Bowtruckle named Pickett and a Niffler named Teddy, come to his rescue and gather the other magical creatures to help take them somewhere safe.

The Sacrifice

Credence takes the baby Qilin to the castle that Grindelwald is hiding out in. Grindelwald tells Credence why the Qilin is so important. It has the ability to see everything and, when it’s born, it means a righteous leader will rise to change the world.

Queenie watches from the window as Grindelwald kills the baby Qilin. In its blood, Grindelwald sees glimpses of Dumbledore, Newt, and Theseus. Queenie checks on Credence, who accuses her of reading his mind for Grindelwald. She admits that she doesn’t tell him everything. The words “Forgive me” appear in the mirror behind Credence.

Hogsmeade Village

Newt and his brother, Theseus, go to Hogsmead to meet with Dumbledore. They meet his brother, Aberforth, in the Hog’s Head Inn. He is very blunt and would rather clean a mirror than talk to them. Upstairs, Dumbledore reveals the blood pact to Theseus. He shows Theseus what happens when he thinks about fighting Grindelwald, and the chain of the pendant nearly strangles him. He then reveals his plan to them on how to stop Grindelwald.

The Average Joe

Back in New York, Jacob opens his bakery, which is a shadow of what it once was. He hears a noise and sees Queenie standing in his shop. He hugs her, telling her how much he misses her, but when the camera switches to outside the shop, he is hugging thin air. It was just in his head.

Jacob sees a woman sitting across the street reading a book and she’s surrounded by men. She mocks them for not being intimidating enough but Jacob still tries to scare them away. The woman suddenly reveals that she’s a witch named Professor Lally Hicks and it was all staged to get his attention.

Jacob isn’t interested in anything to do with her kind. He claims that he is not important and wants to be left alone. She convinces him to join her once she points out how he tried to save her. They use her book as a portkey to return to Europe.

The Heroes

On the train, Newt reveals Dumbledore’s plan to the team that is going to take down Grindelwald: Jacob Kowalski, Lally Hicks, Yusuf Kama, Theseus Scamander, and Bunty Broadacre. They’re all given specific items. Jacob is given a wand with no core, Theseus is given a tie with a golden bird, Lally was given a book off screen, Bunty is given a note only she can read, and Yusuf already has what he needs.

Jacob asks where Tina is and Newt reveals she is too busy. She has been made head of the American Auror department at MACUSA. When the train stops in Germany, they split up. Much to Newt’s surprise, Bunty takes his suitcase with all his creatures. Yusuf goes off alone and the rest head out together.

Easy vs Right

Newt, Theseus, Jacob, and Lally arrive during the midst of a rally. There is an election happening soon for the Supreme Mugwump for the International Confederation of Wizards and the citizens have taken to the streets in crowds. Newt has a message from Dumbledore for the current German Minister of Magic and Supreme Mugwump, Anton Vogel. He arrives just in time to pass it along: “Do what is right, not what is easy.”

Vogel finds this offensive, since the messenger, Dumbledore, is sitting safely at Hogwarts. Vogel gives his speech and Newt notices one of Grindelwald’s followers in the crowd. Theseus starts to tail her. Suddenly, Vogel announces that he is absolving Grindelwald of all his crimes. He is a free man.

Jacob is outraged. Theseus tries to arrest Grindelwald’s followers but is attacked from behind and taken. Newt, Jacob, and Lally escape. When they go to find Theseus at the Ministry, they claim they don’t have him.

The Message in the Mirror

Dumbledore and Aberfoth are eating dinner when Dumbledore brings up their sister, upsetting Aberfoth. There is a knock on their door. McGonagall has come to tell Dumbledore the news: Vogel absolved Grindelwald of all his crimes.

As Dumbledore is making his way out, he sees a message in the mirror behind Aberforth, asking “Do you know what it’s like to be alone?” Aberforth tells him not to ask about it and he doesn’t.

Falling into Place

Dumbledore meets with Newt, Lally, and Jacob and tells them that Theseus is in Erkstag, a secret German wizarding prison. He gives Newt the tools he needs to get inside. He asks Lally and Jacob to go to the candidate dinner, since he suspects there will be an assassination attempt.

Bunty is finally shown again. She brings in six identical copies of Newt’s case. Yusuf reaches Grindelwald’s hideout and tells the dark wizard he was sent by Dumbledore to spy on him. Queenie tells Grindelwald he is telling the truth, but that he holds Grindelwald responsible for his sister, Leta’s, death. Grindelwald removes the memories of his sister from Yusuf’s mind.

Credence confronts Dumbledore and they battle in a mirror world, both showing incredible displays of magic. Credence asks the same question that Dumbledore saw in Aberforth’s mirror and realizes they’ve been talking. When he sees the Phoenix, he also realizes that Credence is a Dumbledore, but not in the way Grindelwald claims.

The Rescue

Newt goes to the prison to rescue his brother, but is forced to leave behind his wand, Pickett, and Teddy. He ventures into the prison, not knowing where to go carrying nothing but a small light. He encounters crablike creatures, which are baby manticores. Luckily, Newt knows a dance that makes them less prone to attack.

He finds Theseus hanging upside down. Another prisoner is killed by a giant manticore when his light goes out. Using the distraction, the two brothers try to make a quick escape. Theseus ends up stepping on one of the little guys just as his light goes out and they, too, are attacked by the giant manticore.

There is a dramatic chase scene, where they’re dodging the manticore's tail as it lights the tunnels on fire. Theseus ends up getting grabbed by it, but Pickett and Teddy arrive just in time with Newt’s wand and Theseus’s tie. The tie is a portkey that whisks them to safety.

The Murderous Muggle

Grindelwald arrives at the dinner by carriage and the crowd is cheering for him. When he enters the crowd unharmed, Vogel decides that Grindelwald should be on the ballot so that the people can vote, otherwise there will be bloodshed.

Jacob sees Grindelwald, his followers, and Queenie enter the room. Queenie ignores him and goes to comfort Credence when he arrives after failing to kill Dumbledore. Angry, Jacob approaches Grindelwald and pulls out the wand. Lally, manages to stop the other candidate, Vicência Santos, from being assassinated.

Someone shouts that Jacob is an assassin. Lally uses magic to make it look as if Jacob is doing magic in order to create a distraction for them to escape.

Back to Hogwarts

Newt and Theseus arrive at Hogwarts and find Jacob and Lally in the Great Hall, where Jacob is showing off his wand to the students. Dumbledore shows them where the election will be held, in a place of magical origin called Bhutan. They all have dinner at Aberforth’s place. Lally explains to Jacob that the Qilin will bow to those with a pure heart and were once used in elections.

Newt sees a message in the mirror and goes to find Dumbeldore. He accidentally overhears Dumbledore tell Aberforth that Credence is his son. Dumbledore sees Newt and tells him about Credence’s lineage. Dumbledore also reveals that his sister, Ariana, was an Obsurial like Credence. He tells Newt that, when he and his brother got into a fight, one of their spells hit her and they don’t know which one killed her.

The next day, they all go to the Room of Requirement, where there are six identical cases. No one knows which one is the real one. Dumbledore and Jacob go to Bhutan together, and the rest grab a case and use the portkey to follow behind.

The Resurrected Qilin

Back at his castle, Grindelwald uses magical waters to temporarily resurrect the Qilin he killed. Watching from the doorway is Vogel, who has aligned himself with Grindelwald. Grindelwald sees a vision in the water and realizes that the Qilin had a twin. He confronts Credence, who knew nothing about a second Qilin, and attacks him for failing him a second time.

Evasion

Everyone with a suitcase is trying to evade Grindelwald’s followers in the streets. Dumbledore tells Jacob he doesn’t have the real one, encourages him to be brave, and then leaves him. Right when Newt is about to be caught, Jacob knocks out the wizards with his case.

Theseus and Lally end up getting caught. Their cases and Jacob’s case are opened at the same time. They’re filled with pastries, school supplies, or Quidditch materials and they suddenly begin to multiply. Newt makes it to the steps of the castle, but Vogel’s assistant takes his case. He’s knocked out by a spell.

Yusuf, leading Grindelwald’s followers, corners Theseus and Lally on the bridge. Right when uncertainty about where his loyalties lie set in, he turns and attacks the people behind him, proving he’s still on their side. Jacob ends up running into Queenie and, while they’re reuniting, they’re caught.

New World Leader

Newt wakes up and chases after Vogel’s assistant. She gives him back the case. It dissolves, meaning Newt never had the real one and he’s too late. The fake Qilin has bowed to Grindelwald. His first act as a new leader is to use the Cruciatus Curse on Jacob, a muggle, to make an example out of him.

Credence interrupts and declares that the Qilin they used is dead and that they bewitched it. Newt steps up, saying that there were two. Right when he thinks he has no proof, Bunty comes out of the crowd with the real suitcase. The other Qilin dies in Vogel’s arms and the vote is retaken with the real one.

The Qilin finds Dumbledore in the crowd and bows to him first. Dumbledore, a bit mortified, tells the creature that there is another, equally as worthy. The Qilin then choses Vicência Santos as the leader.

Broken Bond

Enraged, Grindelwald goes to attack Credence with the killing curse. Aberforth and Dumbledore also cast spells to protect Credence. All three spells overlap and the blood pact between Dumbledore and Grindelwald breaks. The moment they realize this, they enter a mirror world and battle, but fail to kill one another.

They return to reality and Grindelwald escapes. Dumbledore reveals that the bond broke because one of them sought to do harm, and the other to protect. He promises Theseus that he’ll stop Grindelwald. Aberforth is reunited with his dying son and they go home.

The Wedding

Jacob and Queenie have their wedding at last. Newt, the best man, is nervous about his speech and steps outside to practice and runs into Tina. They don’t get much time to talk before they’re interrupted by Lally and Theseus.

Newt sees Dumbledore across the street and he goes over to him. He thanks Newt for all his help. After exchanging some pleasantries, Newt returns to the wedding.

Dumbledore watches the merriment from afar, before walking off down the snowy streets of New York alone.

Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore | Analysis & Review

CGI and Visuals | 9/10

The beasts looked fantastic (ha) in this film. The close ups of the creatures and the way they interacted with the world looked life-like. It’s one of the greatest aspects of the movie. The magic, especially in the fight between Dumbledore and Credence, was spectacular.

There were only a few scenes where things were visually off. On the train, Bunty is sitting on the bottom right side, in front of Theseus, and she looks very blurry. It’s almost as if she was edited into the scene in post production. A similar thing happens when Newt and Theseus arrive at Hogwarts. When they’re looking up at the castle, their outlines are very blurry.

Storyline and Plot Development | 7/10

The plan to stop Grindelwald is to have no plan, and while this makes for an interesting turn of events, the movie suffers from one giant flaw- the timeline. The election for Supreme Mugwump happens in 1932, six years after the events of the first Fantastic Beasts. While it does seem like some time has passed, Lally says one vital line to Jacob that sets the time frame.

“A little over a year ago, in the hopes of securing a small business loan . . . You then made the acquaintance of Newt Scamander.”

This means, if the events of the first movie took place in 1926 and a little over a year has passed, its winter of 1927. That means the events in the movie shouldn’t be happening in 1927, or it should have been clarified through dialogue or exposition that at least 5-6 years have passed.

Character Development | 7/10

There isn’t much character development with the main characters, besides Newt and his brother getting along, but the side characters pull through. Newt's assistant, Bunty, who was introduced in the previous Fantastic Beasts, has a much bigger role in this movie. She must protect the suitcase from Grindelwald and his followers. Yusuf, who was an antagonist in the last movie, makes the greatest sacrifice of them all. Jacob learns to be braver and Credence finally stands up to Grindelwald.

Sound and Music | 8/10

By now, the Fantastic Beasts’ theme song is memorable and the scores throughout the film do their job well. This movie is much darker and the music reflects that. Of course, “Hedwig’s Theme” when Hogwarts is shown is still probably one of the most exciting moments, musically, but it risks becoming overused. The movie did bring back some of the comedic music during Jacob’s scenes, which was one of the aspects that made the first movie great.

Reception and Impact | 6/10

This movie has a lot of mixed reviews. It was enjoyable and there were many Harry Potter fans who loved it, but it’s the most poorly rated film set in the wizarding world, and not just because of Grindelwald's recast. Most people were actually satisfied with Mads Mikkelsen’s portrayal of Grindelwald. There were just too many inconsistencies. For example, the timeline not matching up, Avada Kedeva not being an instant kill spell, characters referring to traveling by Floo Powder as a Portkey, and McGonagall making another appearance before she was born. Once again, these errors are very surprising, considering J.K. Rowling wrote the screenplay.

Final Score | 7/10

References to the Harry Potter Series

Same Painting of Ariana

The painting in Aberforth’s pub, the Hog’s Head Inn, may look familiar to those who have seen the last Harry Potter movie. In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, the painting of the young woman is used as a secret passageway to get into Hogwarts. The painting is of Ariana Dumbledore, Albus and Aberforth’s younger sister who died during a duel between the brothers, when a stray spell hit her.

A Familiar Message

Dumbledore sends Newt to Germany to pass along a message to Vogel: “Do what is right, not what is easy.” This message sounds very familiar, and it definitely sounds like something Dumbledore would say and that’s because we’ve heard him say it before. In Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Dumbledore tells Harry: “Soon, we must all face the choice between what is right and what is easy.”

“Always”

At the end of the movie, Aberforth says another familiar piece of dialogue. When Credence asks his father, “Did you ever think about me?” Aberforth responds with, “Always.” This sounds exactly like Snape’s line in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2. When Harry is viewing Snape’s memories, Dumbledore asks him “After all this time?” and Snape’s response is, “Always.”

The Deluminator

During Dumbledore’s battle with Credence, he uses a contraption very similar to the Deluminator that makes an appearance in the first and final Harry Potter movies. In the Harry Potter films, the object is used to capture and hold light. However, in Fantastic Beasts, it seems to transport them from the real world to a mirror world and back.

The Room of Requirement

While at Hogwarts, the heroes go into a magical room before setting off to Bhutan. When Jacob asks what the room is, Newt responds with “The room we require.” This is, in fact, the Room of Requirement and it looks very similar to the room from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. It has the same half columns and the same door.