It was revealed this year that Nagini starts life as a human inflicted with a Maledictus curse, which enables her to change from woman to serpent at will. Fans know, however, that eventually the curse will get the better of her and she’ll be forced to live as a fearsome snake forever – going on to become Voldemort’s companion and Horcrux in the main Harry Potter timeline. But how will her story play out over the remaining Fantastic Beasts films?
A new theory posted to Reddit has a poignant solution, and it’s been 92% upvoted at time of writing.
User Paleoman12 wrote: “I think that it is likely that in the upcoming Fantastic Beasts films that Newt (or maybe Dumbledore) will break Nagini’s Maledictus curse, and separate Nagini the woman from Nagini the snake.
“I think this for various reasons, the principal one being that I think it is inordinately cruel that Nagini, who is ostensibly a good person, is destined to turn into Voldemort’s companion and Horcrux.”
They explained: “In universe, we see in the circus that she has control over her snake form, and later we see that Nagini chooses not to go along with Grindelwald.
“It would then seem unlikely that she would join Voldemort unless she loses control of herself when permanently transformed (which is possible).
“We also know that Newt was able to isolate the Obscurus of the girl from Sudan, and he has an affinity for magical beasts. This sets up his capacity to potentially isolate the beast side of Nagini.
“They may also be interacting with one another if they are both trying to reach out to Creedence.
“I mention Dumbledore only because he would is the other established character with both the skill and good intent who may do this.
“Importantly, this would isolate the snake Nagini, allowing Voldemort to take her as a companion, and it would make sense for Voldemort to seek out a snake that was born of dark magic.
“Additionally, it may be that because the snake was removed from the person that the snake doesn’t have a soul of its own, which would facilitate Voldemort turning Nagini into a Horcrux.
“Nagini is the only living Horcrux we know of, not counting Harry because (according to JK) he wasn’t technically a Horcrux after all.
“I think it would be a logical reveal that the reason Voldemort was able to make her into a Horcrux is because she had no soul of her own.”
Read the theory in full and see the responses to it on Reddit here.
Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald has had a decent if unspectacular start at the box office, perhaps thanks in part to its lukewarm reviews.
Despite topping the listings in both the UK and US – and several other territories worldwide – the sequel fell short of the opening weekend gross achieved by its 2016 predecessor.
That said, JK Rowling has promised as many as five Fantastic Beasts films overall – meaning there are still three to come to complete the characters’ stories.
Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald is out now.