History Headscratchers / FantasticBeastsAndWhereToFindThem

* How did the rain erase the indoor Muggles' memories, but [[spoler: Jacob]] needed to step outside into the rain in order to be obliviated? Even if we assume it only works on Muggles, which is never stated, it certainly should have worked on [[spoiler: him]] before going outside, or else not worked on the other Muggles.

** Muggleborns are the answer to that. When one appears, in Britain at least, their whole immediate family gets in on the secret, and becomes "part" of the magical world alongside the newfound wizard/witch. We see this a bit with Harry's family, but since they're absolutely negligent towards him, they don't mingle with the wizarding world, but I can imagine, for instance, Hermione's parents going with her to the Diagon Alley for the first few times. Petunia, being Lilly's sister, would equally have a shot at meeting and marrying a wizard at some point, had her not adopted her strong anti-magic stance.

** [[spoiler: Considering that Grindelwald was able to prevent Voldemort himself from reading his mind AFTER he'd been in prison for fifty odd years, I'm pretty sure he'd have no problems masking any thoughts from Queenie]]

* Newt was shown to be able to repair an entire building with the reparo spell.... So why hasn't he fixed the lock on his suitcase?

** This brings up a rather odd Potterverse-wide plot hole as well: why ''are'' there so many half-bloods, anyway? It's pretty clear that in both Britain and the U.S., the magical community physically and socially segregates itself from Muggles due to TheMasquerade, and severely punishes those who reveal the existence of wizards. Newt treats America's wizard-Muggle segregation as ridiculous, but this really only seems like a common-sense protective measure (especially given the events of the movie) as well as a codification of what already exists. In fact, the only wizard-Muggle coupling we see in the whole franchise is, unfortunately, Tom Riddle Senior and Merope Gaunt. So how exactly do wizards go about interbreeding into the Muggle world that they know so little about and can't really take part in?

* So... what happened with the senator's murder subplot? How do you cover up the death of a US Senator whose father is a media magnate? Even if we assume that all photos the reporters were taking during the climax were destroyed, someones going to be on this case?

*** [[spoiler: It might not have been "this man isn't Graves" so much as "something about this guy is 'off'". Perhaps the Revelio charm would also expose magical influence, and Newt simply had suspicions of something odd.

** Queenie seems to enjoy the whole ObfuscatingStupidity concept. She plays herself off as just the blonde, happy-go-lucky sort, but seems to be a fairly competent witch when she wants to be. As we see during the rescue [[spoiler: of Newt and Tina], when her whole demeanor turns on its head. Perhaps she jinxes the toilets solely for her own fun?

[[folder:Rufus and Hogwarts]]

[[folder:Book]]

*** Which of course leads to the question: how does Dumbledore - in his will or in person - have the right to publish an exact copy of Harry Potter's personal property?
*** Dumbledore, break the law? Surely not.
*** Maybe it was Harry's idea?
*** Dumbledore's intro specifically states Harry agreed to it.

*** [[TyrantTakesTheHelm Umbridge]] making a ''reasonable'' rule? Surely not.
*** Even a stopped clock is right twice a day. Dolores was a sociopath par excellence but on some level a lot of her comments were correct. Lying is wrong, after all.
*** Then why is the entire regarding population doing it all day every day to almost everyone who isn't them?

*** That's true. In fact, Hagrid SPECIFICALLY has a different book used in one year. The "Monster book of Monsters".

[[folder:Film]]

*** The bit about Draco is confirmed in [[spoiler: HarryPotterAndTheCursedChild]].

*** Going off of this, Hagrid probably lost his wand because one of his mistakes (supposedly) ended up killing another student, but he wasn't sent to Azkaban because it was labeled as an accident and he hadn't meant to hurt anybody. Fred, George, and Newt Scamander may have performed similar dangerous experiment and were promptly expelled from the school, but those experiments hadn't injured anyone, so they kept their wands and escaped without punishment. (Also, the three of them were old enough to legally use magic outside of school, which probably contributed, as well - Hagrid was still underage, so his wand being snapped makes a lot more sense.)

*** Um, no they weren't. The twins left of their own accord because they weren't going to put up with Umbridge's crap anymore. The "explosions" (also known as fireworks) were a deliberate celebration of chaos to stick in to her one more time before they left for good.

*** Fair. It still seems a little strange of a conclusion to make (Sure, he didn't suspect that [[spoiler: he was really Grindelwald]] until after he was revealed), but it does seem a little broad of a conclusion to take that Graves is [[spoiler: an imposter]] just because he appears to be able to perform such a feat. Unless it was stated that only [[spoiler: Grindelwald and Dumbledore could even think of doing that]] earlier on?
*** Graves was [[spoiler: ranting on just before then about how the statute of secrecy was useless and outdated and needed to be dismantled which, as we learned earlier in the movie while he was interrogating Newt, is a viewpoint commonly held by Grindelwald sympathizers. Add that to the fact that he was also clearly attempting to recruit/use Credence — which, as Newt was asking earlier, isn't what you should be doing with an Obscurial when you should be saving them instead — and it probably wasn't hard for him to put together that this guy was not Graves.]]

* Newt's suspicions about [[spoiler: Graves in fact start in the interrogation. When Graves asks "So the Obscurus is useless without the host?", Newt is horrfied and asks Graves what on earth he'd even want to use an Obscurus for. Graves them seems to have realised he's slipped up and immediately changes the subject which sparks Newt's suspicions further. When the group meet with Gnarlak, Newt asks Gnarlak about Graves and his background. Gnarlak's expression confirms to Newt there's something there to confirm his suspicions, as the script specifies that Gnarlak's expression indicates "there is much he could say, but he'd rather die than say it". All this plays on Newt's suspicions that Graves might not be who he seems to be. Add in Graves's actions in the climax and it's more than enough for Newt to think "Maybe this guy isn't who he appears to be... what if he's someone else?".]]

*** Yes. [[spoiler:When a person is arrested, at the end of that, or at the end of their sentence if convicted, their property is returned to them when they are released. Obviously, ''Graves'' won't, but she didn't know that when she disarmed him. He was just arrested for ranting like a madman and acting like he was about to go out and tell Muggles what was going on, so Tina was fully expecting that he would get his wand back. Maybe after a few years in jail, but eventually. To ''win'' a wand you probably have to intend to deprive someone of that wand ''permanently'' when you take it.]]

*** Additionally [[spoiler:Wand permits that are required in America and make it so that every wizard must first register to be legally eligible to carry a wand, with the punishment of not having one being imprisonment, prosecution or wand confiscation. So Grindelwald showing up with a legendary wand would have obviously tipped off some of the other wizards.]]
*** [[spoiler: You don't need to be using the Elder Wand to lose its allegiance. Draco never even touches the Elder Wand but he loses it to Harry when Harry forcefully rips his wand out of his hands. Lord Voldemort even uses the Elder Wand for the last third of the book despite never having its loyalty. Having the Elder Wand and having its allegiance are two separate things. He does have the Elder Wands stored somewhere for safe keeping or to keep up the ruse of him being Graves (more likely) but Newt definitively defeats him as stated even in the published screenplay. It's the same situation as Draco passing along to Harry. He may not have lost the Elder Wand physically but his defeat ensures it passes to Newt now.]]
*** [[spoiler: This isn't a plot hole any more than 'If Grindelwald was arrested in America in 1926, how's he wrecking Europe in the 1940s?' is a plot hole. Newt or Tina probably do indeed have the allegiance of the Elder Wand at this point, even if they're never going to put their hands on it. Presumable something is going to happen in a later movie to change that.]]
*** [[spoiler: As to the Elder Wand question, we don't have confirmation Grindelwald even has it yet. Could be his first action once he breaks out of jail in New York. Also note, When Harry earned the Wand he disarmed Draco wand to wand, disarming spell IIRC. Newt didn't disarm Grindelwald using his magic or a wand, he used the Swooping Evil to smack him around and bind him. Which was IMHO the only reason why they won, as Grindelwald was well on his way to blowing everybody away, to either kill the President or escape.]]
*** [[spoiler: At least in the movies, if not also in the books, Grindelwald was much younger when he stole the Elder Wand from Gregorovitch.]]

*** Muggleborns are the answer to that. When one appears, in Britain at least, their whole immediate family gets in on the secret, and becomes "part" of the magical world alongside the newfound wizard/witch. We see this a bit with Harry's family, but since they're absolutely negligent towards him, they don't mingle with the wizarding world, but I can imagine, for instance, Hermione's parents going with her to the Diagon Alley for the first few times. Petunia, being Lilly's sister, would equally have a shot at meeting and marrying a wizard at some point, had her not adpoted her strong anti-magic stance.

* To keep TheMasquerade going, Newt's Thunderbird essentially mind-wipes everyone caught in the rain that it makes. There's unfortunately a number of problems with how this is done:
** 1. How far back did the memory-wipe go, and is it calibrated? Because some people saw not only Newt's magical creatures, but also the [[spoiler: prior murders and destruction caused by Credence/Obscurus. Is Jon Voight's character going to remember that his son was murdered, or how?]]
** 2. Did every wizard in the area not immediately on the scene or indoors just get their memory wiped too? Oops.
*** This is hinted at when Newt is treating Jacob's bite. He says that Muggles have different physiology than wizards, suggesting that the venom might affect them differently. It's possible that wizards are straight-up immune or highly resistant to the Swooping Evil venom.
** 3. How did the rain not only change people's memories, but also the very newspapers and photographs taken? Is it that flexible?
*** [[spoiler:I think the newspapers were changed by the same aurors that reconstructed the whole city, not as an effect of the rain]].

*** At least in the movies, if not also in the books, Grindelwald was much younger when he stole the Elder Wand from Gregorovitch.