For the most devoted Harry Potter fans among us, there are an endless amount of delightful HP references and nods in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them . I mean, the entire movie is basically a piece of really, really, really good fan fiction about Newt Scamander. (No offense to the queen, J.K. Rowling.) But, while everyone was busy looking for Harry Potter references, jokes, and clues, there's one major detail you might have missed. The one Fantastic Beasts Easter Egg you might have missed is actually a sort of retroactive Easter Egg, but its importance is very, very real.
If you've seen Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them , then you know that the movie introduces a huge new concept into the Wizarding World: the Obscurus. Spoiler alert. In Fantastic Beasts, an Obscurus is established as a strong, dark magical force that manifests when a young witch or wizard represses his or her power. This repressed power can fester, and eventually explode into a dark force that usually leads to death before the child turns 12. The Obscurus is a rare occurrence by the time Newt arrives in New York City in 1926, so it's possible that it is extinct by the time Harry Potter is even born. As a new concept, the Obscurus is decidedly not an Easter Egg — at least, not on the surface. The concept of the Obscurus is clearly going to play in the future installments of the Fantastic Beasts series, but it also could have very close times to the Harry Potter story.
In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, when Harry learns about Dumbledore's close relationship with Grindelwald and his past as a trouble maker, he also learns about Dumbledore's younger sister, Ariana. Growing up, Ariana had trouble controlling her magic and tried desperately to keep it hidden, until it exploded out of her when she was about 14 and killed her mother. Afterwards, Dumbledore returned home to take care of her, and so his BFF Grindelwald came too. Of course, the story goes that Dumbledore and Grindelwald grew apart due to Grindelwald's more extreme (and deadly) ideas of wizard supremacy, ending in a duel that accidentally killed Ariana. Besides the fact that Ariana lived until she was 14, many fans are already theorizing that Ariana was an Obscurus.
Grindelwald's obsession with finding an Obscurus in Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them could be a Harry Potter Easter Egg not just because of Grindelwald's presence, but because of what it means for Ariana Dumbledore. If Ariana was an Obscurus, then it's possible that she inspired Grindelwald to go on a hunt for one of his own. Going one step further, it's not hard to think that Grindelwald might have tried to control her magic before she died, prompting his fallout with Dumbledore. This could be huge going into the Fantastic Beasts sequels, which J.K. Rowling has promised will get into the Grindelwald-Dumbledore relationship.
Osbscurus is going to need a place in your Harry Potter-Muggle dictionary — STAT.
Images: Warner Bros Pictures; Giphy
