Despite being the main character of the Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them franchise, not much is known yet about Newt Scamander's backstory. All fans really know about him is that he's a Magizoologist, he has a brother, and he was expelled from Hogwarts mostly thanks to his relationship with Leta Lestrange. This lack of detail can't sit well with Harry Potter fans, who aren't hesitating to squeeze what they can out of J.K. Rowling and her Wizarding World. Normally pretty tight-lipped, Rowling did offer one subtle tease after a fan asked her a question over social media.
One fan desperately wanted to know what Next Scamander's Patronus animal would be -- assuming that he knows the spell -- to which J.K. Rowling replied over Twitter that revealing that seemingly innocent information would be a "big spoiler." Check it out
This is a case where the implications of what she said are more revealing than her actual words. Why is knowing Newt's Patronus such a spoiler for Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them 2 and beyond? I have a few ideas.
First off, the situation in which Newt Scamander uses a Patronus can be considered a spoiler. The main use of a Patronus spell is to ward off Dementors, the jailers of Azkaban who are repelled by the positive feelings needed to make a Patronus. Voldemort used them in his army throughout the Harry Potter series, so is Grindelwald going to do the same for his war? It could also mean that we will be seeing a Lethifold in the movie, a dark creature that, similar to a Dementor, can only be repelled by a Patronus.
While the animal that makes up Newt's Patronus might be a spoiler, it's actually not uncommon in Harry Potter. Severus Snape's Patronus was notably a big reveal in The Deathly Hallows, a doe that reflected his love for Lily Potter. It also signified that Snape's true allegiance had always been with Harry, and was a massive moment in the series. Harry's stag Patronus was also used for a reveal in The Prisoner of Azkaban, when he ended up saving his past self from Dementors (time travel). Is the specific animal or how it's used in Fantastic Beasts 2 important to the movie?
Patronus often reflect the personalities and feelings of its user. With that in mind, does Newt's Patronus reveal something about his character that we don't already know, or will it change into something different over the course of the series? The actual animal it would be is also subject to debate. A lover of all animals, can Newt's Patronus really only take the form of just one animal? Maybe it changes form and takes on the appearance of multiple animals, or maybe it just summons an army of every beast at once. That might be breaking the rules of a Patronus, but it's food for thought.
Whatever this spoiler ends up being, we won't find out about it until at least Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them 2, which is premiering in theaters on November 16, 2018. To learn more, here's everything we know about the movie so far.
