*Mild Spoiler Warning for Crimes of Grindelwald*
I have noticed a pattern as I’ve been reading reviews for both Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016) as well as its sequel Crimes of Grindelwald (2018). Most critics do not understand Newt Scamander. His uncharacteristic “schtick,” so described here, is labeled boring, distracting, and uninteresting. Newt certainly seems like an odd choice to take center stage in a five-film franchise. Especially when J.K. Rowling had previously given us the impetuously bold Harry Potter as our protagonist.
I love the comic book age of cinema that exists right now, but I’m not blind to its unfortunate side effects. The current cinematic landscape is dominated by leading masculine heroes who are strong, cocky, witty, charismatic, funny, and undeniably charming. Marvel has built 10 years of films on a foundation of hyper-masculine, overly macho men. And I have loved every second of it. This has been the norm for so long now that film critics and audiences, in general, aren’t really sure what to do with a protagonist who is not that.
Newt is painfully shy and awkward around people, avoidant of eye contact, a fair bit oblivious of the intricacies of human relationships. But, he is awake to the subtle world of magical creatures — the small things most people don’t care about. Take almost everything that Tony Stark is and invert it and you’ll have Newt Scamander.
As I said above, the general reactions to Newt have been mixed to muddled. Critics just don’t seem to get Newt or why Rowling has positioned him front and center in this epic story. As someone who likes to think I get Newt, I’d like to take a few moments to examine Newt as a character and demonstrate why he is one of the finest and most powerful heroes I’ve seen on screen in ages.
Never Met a Monster He Couldn’t Love
The basis of Newt’s character is that he is a magizooligst. For the uninitiated, this means Newt studies magical creatures of all sorts. The first film prominently features his suitcase crammed full of fantastic beasts that are both intimidating and charming. What we learn throughout the first film is that Newt is more comfortable chasing down Nifflers and Bowtruckles than he is making eye contact and sustaining conversations with people. Newt is more uncomfortable during a family room dinner than he is caressing a giant Thunderbird named Frank. In fact, it has been said that Newt has “never met a monster he couldn’t love.”
Anyone familiar with the original Harry Potter films and books should have bells going off in their heads whenever Rowling uses the word love. What turned out to be Voldemort’s downfall and Harry’s saving grace is that love is the most powerful magic in the world. Voldemort never understood this and it took Harry 7 books and 8 movies to finally get it. But with Newt Scamander we get a character who doesn’t just know this, he lives it.
While he obviously is a bit shy and timid around people, these traits disappear whenever he is around creatures. Newt is the opposite of shy and timid when he adorns himself with Erumpet musk to whoo a frisky female Erumpet back into his suitcase. Throughout, we learn that Newt doesn’t just study his creatures, he loves them for what they are and not as he would have them be.
Inside his case, rather than keeping the creatures in cages and kennels, as anybody else would do, most of the creatures are running wild in their own environmentally suited enclosures. Newt doesn’t do what is easiest for him, locking them in cages, but what is best for each individual creature. And it is clear that Newt has fostered a tender relationship with each of them. He knows them individually by name and character as demonstrated by his curious friendship with Pickett, the tiny Bowtruckle. Because of this, he is able to utilize and call upon the best of each creature to save himself and his friends when in danger.
Jon McIntosh, in a wonderful video essay at Pop Culture Detective, states that Newt’s defining trait is his empathy. Empathy is our ability to intuitively know and feel the feelings of others. True empathy allows us to slip past our preconceived notions and perceptions about each other. Only then can we begin to see another person as they really are and not as we think them to be. Through compassionate empathy, each person becomes a whole (holy) subject to be treated with reverence and not as an object to fulfill our personal desires.
Through his empathy, Newt is able to know the inner nature of each creature that crosses his path. When he combines this empathic knowledge with his inherent compassion, it creates a powerful love in Newt that allows him to care and serve those around him — human or creature. In the wizarding world, we also know that this sort of love enables magic users to do the impossible, like surviving the Killing Curse or separating an Obscurus from its host.
Yes yes, this is great and all, but why is Newt the hero of this story? Why not have somebody more traditionally compelling be the hero and Newt be a side-character? The answer to this, I think, lies within the context of the narrative itself. We need to dive into the character similarities and difference between Newt and Grindelwald.
Newt vs Grindelwald
In Crimes of Grindelwald, Dumbledore makes it clear that he believes Newt is the only one capable of defeating Grindelwald. To better understand why, it’s helpful to look at the kind of power Grindelwald uses over people.
One of the first things we learn about Grindelwald in the sequel is that the Ministry of Magic has had to cut out his tongue and change guards numerous times because he has a persuasive and manipulative influence on those around him. Because of its prominence in the script, that line should inform everything Grindelwald does in the film. No matter how outwardly powerful he is, especially with the Elder Wand, Grindelwald’s greatest power is his ability to coerce people into carrying out his will.
In the first film, an incognito Grindelwald seeks out the Obscurus running rampant in New York as a weapon. He manipulates, gaslights, and baits Credence, an orphan, with empty promises until finally, Obscurus reacts.
Juxtapose this against Newt’s separating of an Obscurus from its host in order to discern how to prevent an Obscurus from ever forming in the first place. Grindelwald only sees the Obscurus as a potential weapon to use. But because of his empathy, Newt sees the Obscurus for what it really is, a wounded and abused child in need of love and care. Grindelwald only sees a world full of objects to maneuver into his folds. Newt sees a world of subjects that must be understood and loved in order to gain their friendship and help. One holds power over and denies free will, the other seeks power under and empowers the will of others.
Throughout Crimes of Grindelwald, we see different characters approach this idea of power and will in various ways. In the 3rd act, Grindelwald essentially gives his pitch to his followers and some Aurors on why they should be loyal to him. I’ll be honest, he makes his brand of Fascism pretty palatable even though we, as the audience know, that he means to exterminate or enslave muggles and preserve only pure-blooded witch and wizards. His silver tongue is persuasive enough that one or two of our heroes even join him, although, in the end, Grindelwald truly offers a join-me-or-die ultimatum.
And this illustrates just what sort of power Grindelwald wields; coercive enforcement. You join him because he has left you no other choice, thus subverting your own will with his own.
An example of how Newt’s empathy exerts an influence on the world around him. The plot of the sequel leads Newt to a circus where a Zouwu, a powerful magical creature, is chained and abused. During the commotion of the plot, the Zouwu escapes and begins terrorizing the people and village.
All the witches and wizards pull out their wands in defense but Newt, the one who acts like empathic water, knows better. He plops his open suitcase on the ground and pulls out a large cat toy. Immediately the Zouwu stops and focuses on the toy, his cat-like pupils widening (anyone who has played with a cat knows that look). With elegance and tact, Newt is able to utilize the inner nature of the Zuozwu, which chases the cat toy into the suitcase.
Later, we see Newt, in an effort to free the creature of its chains, subjecting himself to a beating from the creature. Finally, he is able to remove the chains, restoring the Zuowu’s autonomy and agency, thereby winning its friendship. This enables Newt to call upon the best of the Zouwu in a crucial moment. Of its own free will, the Zouwu fights for Newt and rescues him and his friends. Newt’s empathic power preserves the will of those around him by forming a bond of trust. This perfectly demonstrates how Newt is able to preserve the free will of his friends and allies by extending relationships of loving trust.
Final Thoughts
Newt and Grindelwald hold mirror images of the same power. They both exert a powerful influence on the world around them. Though their approaches are worlds apart, both are able to change hearts and win people to their side. Time and time again we see Grindelwald’s coercive power manipulates characters by imprisoning them within their own fear. And we see the exact opposite of Newt whose empathic power lifts, empowers, enables, and wins hearts through true knowledge, compassion, and love unfeigned.
Perhaps this is why Rowling chose the unassuming Newt Scamander as the hero of this epic saga. Our world is being dominated by fear-mongering, arrogantly-ignorant, power-hungry leaders like Donald Trump who are content to manipulate information and public favor for their own corrupt purposes. Rowling, who is politically outspoken, perhaps hopes to wield her influence in the world by creating a hero in Newt that is a symbol for soft, gentle, empathic, and compassionate power. True power is found through empowering others.
Post-Script Ruminations
- It has been theorized by fans, and potentially confirmed through Redmayne, that Newt is on the Autism spectrum. If true, it would demonstrate that autism is not a disability, but a different way of seeing the world and in no way would prevent someone from being a hero.
- Dumbledore said, in his later years, that those most suited to power are those who don’t want it (also a Taoist adage). I’d wager that he learned this from his lifelong friendship with Newt. It may be too soon to tell, but I’ll also bet that Newt is the one who ultimately is able to defeat Grindelwald, and claim the Elder Wand as his own — only to freely offer it to Dumbledore because he just plain ol’ doesn’t want it. This might be a bit of Rowling revisionist history, but it’d be powerful to see on-screen.
- Notably, Newt was in the Hogwarts house Hufflepuff. Seeing as Gryffindor gets all the attention and Hufflepuff largely gets ragged on, it’s nice to see what sort of folk come from the house of yellow and black. My head-canon is that all hobbits are also sorted into Hufflepuff.
- It should be no mystery that Newt is by far my favorite character J.K. Rowling has ever created. I am inundated with films that have heroes like Iron-Man and Star-Lord, whom I love dearly. The thing is, I don’t see myself in them as readily as I do with Newt Scamander. It is so refreshing to get a masculine hero who doesn’t have to overcome his sensitivity or lay aside his empathy to win the day. Newt isn’t powerful despite his gentle meek empathic way, but because of it. When you approach Newt on his terms, when you lay down your notions about how a hero should act, you see that he is the wizard uniquely suited to oppose Grindelwald.
- Plus I’m a freaking hippie environmentalist who won’t kill flies or spiders anymore. How could I not love Newt?!