History Headscratchers / FantasticBeastsAndWhereToFindThem

*** Comment had nothing to do with how plausible it is that Grindelwald thinks in English. My issue is the idea that Queenie couldn't read Grindelwald's mind to discover that he's not the real Graves because he thinks in German/has a thick accent when he thinks. Those things alone would have given him away as not being the American wizard he claims to be. Hence Queenie not knowing the truth only makes sense if she just can't read his mind at all.

** The wand chooses the wizard. This troper has always held that the Elder Wand switches allegiance when it wants to, or finds a more powerful or appealing wizard to ally with.

** There's also the fact that supporting material has revealed that the real Percival Graves is a friend and correspondent of Newt's older brother Theseus. If Theseus and Newt are close, Newt might be going off his elder brother's description of his friend, or the fact that Theseus is unlikely to approve of, let alone actually ''like'' someone of Grindlewald's beliefs.

** Major Spoiler ahead: [[spoiler: Graves is Grindlewald. There is zero reason why he would let our protagonists come within shouting distance of his ostensible boss, procedure be damned. As such, Picquery would have been told something along the lines of "unfortunately, he died trying to release an Obscurus from his case as an escape attempt" once he could speak without fear of contradiction. That interrogation was a formality to decide what excuse Grindlewald could use to get rid of a catastrophic nuisance. Also the executioner lackeys were probably Imperiused (No reason to risk the lackeys refusing to cooperate otherwise).]]

** While the Imperius angle does explain away the assistants (though I'm annoyed this was never made clear), the explanation does seem to have a flaw or two in explaining Graves' plan. Graves/Grindlewald was intent on killing Newt and Tina, that much is certain. However, if there *was* a procedure for MACUSA executions, Graves was most certainly flouting it: even at its worst times, America has never made an official practice of drumhead-trial-to-execution in a matter of minutes on flimsy evidence and no oversight. So essentially, Graves is extra-judicially executing two suspects, but via the ordinary execution method. If he was going to claim they tried to escape, he could have Avada Kedavra'ed them right on the spot as soon as they were alone. Them actually escaping is also implausible, as somehow two wandless suspects managed to overpower an exceedingly strong wizard and escape without a trace from a building crawling with Aurors. The only explanation he would have for MACUSA afterwards would be that he tried the suspects and found them guilty, and then executed them all on his own authority. Assuming he doesn't legally have that terrifying level of delegated power, he'd essentially be ruining his own cover.
** Considering he's close to finding the Obscurus, and MACUSA has just blatantly refused to acknowledge that such a thing even exists, does he even ''need'' the Graves identity at this point? In the beginning, certainly, it was probably the best position from which to find out about the most likely people to produce an Obscurus and make sure MACUSA didn't become suspicious, but given that he has narrowed things down to the Barebone children at this point and knows MACUSA don't suspect a thing, he might have decided that it was worth the risk to get rid of the threat to his plans. Possibly this was how he planned to dispose of the real Graves too, as if he were to be found after Grindlewald had made his escape, he would be suitably disgraced and thus his claims of what had happened to him might be dismissed as the ravings of a guilty man using all means to escape his sentence. Or, if Graves is already dead, he can just leave the corpse lying around somewhere and leave the city quietly with no-one suspecting Grindlewald had anything to do with it.

** By the same logic, maybe he just got sloppy? Grindlewald is very close to winning here - the only reason he ''didn't'' get exactly what he wanted and get out of dodge was his own miscalculation in dismissing Credence as a Squib. As such, he isn't expecting to be around long enough for it to matter. He's been posing as Graves with no-one noticing for at least a couple of months, maybe anything up to a year, maybe he just got complacent about no-one asking questions because no-one has suspected anything so far.
** Alternatively, this is the American counterpart to Barty Crouch Sr's 'extreme measures' brought in to combat Voldemort in the 70s and early 80s, which allowed for killing rather than capture of suspected Death Eaters. While the implication there is of a kill in combat, this is fifty years earlier and times have changed. (This is true even in the Muggle world, as it was a lot quicker and easier to execute people back in the 1920s than it is today, even in countries which still have the death penalty.) It's also entirely possible that this too was introduced by Grindlewald in the guise of Graves (who seems to be the American equivalent of the head of magical law enforcement, which might explain his absurd levels of power), in order to make it easier for him to silence anyone who might suspect something amiss with his cover/interfere with his search for the Obscurus.

** Remember that the Death Cell potion doesn't just kill, it ''disintegrates'' the condemned. Grindle-Graves wasn't just eliminating his enemies, he was destroying evidence. Had the execution proceeded as planned, he'd probably have Confounded the executioners into thinking Newt had escaped with Tina's help, sicced the Aurors on the "escaped fugitives" to divert their attention, and gone on to capture his new pet Obscurial uninterrupted.

* The wizarding government of America doesn't bat an eye at summary executions (even of their own employees) and was perfectly willing to kill a troubled child they believed was under ten years of age. Why would they even bother trying to imprison [[spoiler:Grindlewald]], especially when he mocks the idea that they can hold him right to their faces?
** Because, repressive as MACUSA may be, they hold the Statute of Secrecy almost sacred, and Grindlewald wants to bring it crashing down around their ears? Also, given that said summary execution was ordered by Graves, who is [[spoiler: Grindlewald himself]], and the two attendants were almost unnaturally calm throughout the whole thing, this can be read as an indication of the Imperius Curse having been used on them. It's entirely possible that Graves intended to simply have the two of them killed, and then claim they had escaped, as the American wizards' mode of execution doesn't seem to leave a body, allowing him to continue using them as scapegoats while preventing them from interfering with his plans.

** The guy [[spoiler:used Polyjuice to impersonate their top Auror]]. Polyjuice only works if the person being impersonated is still alive. They may simply want to try and find out where [[spoiler: the original Graves]] is before they kill Grindlewald.

** [[spoiler: Grindelwald]] had been involved in terrorist activity on European soil before crossing over to America - being forced to kill him while in the heat of battle is one thing, but once they've gotten him captured and subdued without a casualty, they probably have an obligation to alert the magical communities of Europe that he's been apprehended so they can take part in deciding his punishment. It's basically the difference between, say, Osama Bin Laden's death and the Nuremberg trials, for example. (Also, it was Graves himself who'd issued the death penalty upon Newt and Tina, with the implication that he had the aides who were to carry it out under the Imperius Curse - I sincerely doubt that the death penalty is used nearly so often as that scene would imply.)

** Possibly he'd intended to torture Newt into submission, then demand that the magizoologist (who's already admitted to having studied Obscuri) tell him how to catch Credence alive. Capturing dangerous exotic creatures is Newt's specialty, after all, and Grindlegraves' own methods had already proved ineffective.

* Newt makes a pretty good point when he asks what on Earth anyone would want an Obscurus for. It's an uncontrollable, incredibly destructive entity that's just as likely to kill ''you'' than it is anyone else. What precisely were [[spoiler:Grindlewald's]] plans for the Obscurus? The only explanation I could think of is [[spoiler:Grindlewald's]] gigantic ego make him think he could control it.

** Or they were a little more mature in their fifth year - [[FridgeBrilliance maybe one of Umbridge's Educational Decrees banned writing in books]].

** In RealLife this book was released between ''Goblet'' and ''Order'' (not to take away the validity of the above headscratchers, just pointing it out to anyone who doesn't know)

* According to the book, the creature known as the Hidebehind was the result of a trafficked Demiguise escaping confinement and then mating with a ghoul during its voyage to America. But it seems that pairing only resulted in one offspring - so how did the species survive long enough to become a species? The Demiguise is native to the Far East, and ghouls typically take up residence in the attics of Muggle homes. With whom did that first Hidebehind manage to procreate with?