History Literature / FantasticBeastsAndWhereToFindThem

* BreathWeapon: The Nundu's breath, which causes disease strong enough to [[KillEmAll depopulate entire villages.]]

** Nundus, gigantic, silent leopards with pathogen spreading breath so powerful they can wipe out entire villages from the disease they cause.

* CallBack: Rita Skeeter claims that Hagrid's Blast-Ended Skrewts are illegal crossbred creatures in the fourth book. Their lack of an entry in this one confirms that.

** Nundus, gigantic, silent leopards with poisonous breath so powerful they can wipe out entire villages from the disease they cause.

** Basilisks, giant (noticing a pattern?) fifty-foot-long poisonous snakes who have the power to turn anyone who looks at them to stone.

* EldritchAbomination: Lethifolds, being formless [[LivingShadow living shadows]] that may be hybrids or related to [[HumanoidAbomination Deme]][[TheHeartless ntors]], which like to ambush sleeping people and consume them. (Dementors themselves don't get an entry, as they are considered non-beings.)

A LiveActionAdaptation ''Harry Potter'' SpinOff [[Film/FantasticBeasts film series]] began in 2016 with [[Film/FantasticBeastsAndWhereToFindThem the first film]] reusing the title of the book, following the adventures of Newt Scamander [[{{Prequel}} seventy years before Harry set foot in Hogwarts]], with J.K. Rowling writing the screenplays.

A LiveActionAdaptation SpinOff [[Film/FantasticBeastsAndWhereToFindThem film series began airing in 2016]], following the adventures of Newt Scamander [[{{Prequel}} seventy years before Harry set foot in Hogwarts]], with J.K. Rowling writing the screenplays.

A LiveActionAdaptation SpinOff [[Film/FantasticBeastsAndWhereToFindThem film series began airing in 2016]], following the adventures of Newt Scamander [[{{Prequel}} seventy years before Harry set foot in Hogwarts]]. J.K. Rowling wrote the screenplay for the first film.

* OurWerewolvesAreDifferent: During the rest of the month, they're usually normal wizards or even Muggles. During the full moon, they become [[SavageWolf vicious]], ImAHumanitarian man-eating]] direwolves.

* EldritchAbomination: Lethifolds, being formless [[LivingShadow living shadows]] that may be hybrids or related to [[HumanoidAbomination Deme]][[TheHeartless ntors]], which like to ambush sleeping people and consume them.

''Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them'' is a book mentioned in ''Literature/HarryPotterAndThePhilosophersStone'' which was later [[{{Defictionalization}} Defictionalized]] as a real book written by Creator/JKRowling... ahem... [[PenName Newt Scamander]], whose grandson [[WordOfGod married Luna Lovegood]]. The book was first published in 2001, with an UpdatedRerelease scheduled for 2017.

The book is, of course, a guide to the magical beasts which exist in the world of ''Harry Potter''. It is [[DirectLineToTheAuthor supposedly a copy of the edition owned by Harry Potter]], complete with lots of amusing graffiti written in it by Harry and Ron, and a bit from Hermione.

* MugglePower: Some extreme factions favor classifying muggles as "beasts".

* CallForward: There's an entry referencing Invisibility Cloaks, namely that they wear out after a few years and become opaque. [[spoiler: That Harry's belonged to his dad several decades ago and is still in perfect working order is a hint about its true nature.]]

* {{Foreshadowing}}: The Demiguise is mentioned as a huge, gorilla-like creature whose silky hair is used to create invisibility cloaks. These cloaks are said to wear out over time. [[spoiler: Harry's cloak has been around for years and is still fully functional, becoming an important plot point in ''Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows'']].

-->'''Hermione:''' Why don't you buy a new one [book] then?
-->'''Ron:''' Write in your own book Hermione.

* WhatMeasureIsANonHuman:
** A serious issue, given the wizarding world's [[HalfHumanHybrid partially-human hybrid creatures]] and [[TalkingAnimal talking animals]] of various levels of intelligence. The centaurs in particular willingly separated themselves from humans, rejecting 'Being' classification.
** There was a big debate about the inclusion of Werewolves, since they are essentially just cursed humans.

** Mooncalf dung is used as plant fertilizer. When it's spread on plants, they grow much faster than normal and become extremely strong.

** Ditto with the Lethifold, which requires a Patronus Charm to repel. Around the time this book came out, we'd only seen Patronuses used on Dementors. Similarly to the Nundu Harry didn't have a reason to visit the Lethifold in the tropics.

** The 2017 update of the book added two more XXXXX-classified beasts: the Wampus Cat and the Horned Serpent. It's not specified exactly what makes Wampus Cats so dangerous, but they can walk on their hind legs, outrun arrows and are reputed to have hypnotic eyes. However, the Cherokee have traditionally used their hairs as wand cores, implying that they can be befriended or tamed. Horned Serpents are equally mysterious, but Isolt Sayre was known to have befriended one.

* TheDreaded: Any creature classified as XXXXX by the Ministry of Magic, meaning that they kill wizards and are impossible to tame or domesticate.

** The Nundu, a gigantic, silent leopard with poisonous breath so powerful it can wipe out entire villages from disease.

** CropCircles are caused by Mooncalfs doing their mating dance in fields of wheat.

* BreathWeapon: The Nundu's breath, which causes disease strong enough to depopulate entire villages.

* TheComplainerIsAlwaysWrong: It's common to find a Runespoor (three headed serpent) with the right head bitten off--as this head is 'the critic' and criticises the other two's actions.

** In the entry for Leprechauns, it mentions that they produce "a realistic gold-like substance that vanishes after a few hours, to their great amusement." Ron notes next to it, "But not mine", referencing the leprechaun "gold" he picked up in ''Goblet of Fire''.

* DarkIsNotEvil: The Thestral has a black coat, has a very reptilian appearance, is attracted by raw meat and is considered a bad omen--because it can only be seen by those who have witnessed someone die. However, that is just superstition, and the horses in the series are perfectly friendly to Harry when he meets them. Likewise, the Augurey was thought to be an omen of death, when it really just predicts rain on the way.

* DumbDodoBird: The diricawl, certainly a weird one though. See BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy and {{Teleportation}}.

** Then there's the erumpent, a rhinoceros-like creature that has an exploding horn. [[spoiler: In ''Deathly Hallows'' Xenophilius Lovegood has one's horn on his wall (thinking it belongs to a Crumple-Horned Snorkack) and his accidentally blowing it up helps the trio escape.]]

* KickTheDog: or the Puffskein in this case: one of Ron's annotations mentions that he used to have a pet [[RidiculouslyCuteCritter Puffskein]] until Fred and George used it for Bludger practice (implicitly beating it to death).

* MultipleHeadCase: Runespoors, which are three-headed snakes. Each head actually has a separate personality; the left head is TheLeader who commands the body, the middle head is [[{{Seers}} the dreamer]] who is often lost in fantastic visions, and the third head is [[CausticCritic the critic]] who is constantly taunting the other two (and often bitten off once the other two heads have had enough.)

* DidntThinkThisThrough: The creation of the Quintapeds. Summary: The heads of two FeudingFamilies engage in a duel and one of them gets killed. The dead man's family responds by transforming all members of the other family into five-legged monsters. [[TooDumbToLive Said monsters proceed to kill everyone]], leaving the Quintapeds incapable of turning back into humans. It's also noted to be the case for the wizards who did the transfiguring, as the family being transfigured were famously inept at magic and became much more dangerous when in beast form.

* DidntThinkThisThrough: The creation of the Quintapeds. Summary: The heads of two FeudingFamilies engage in a duel and one of them gets killed. The dead man's family responds by transforming all members of the other family into five-legged monsters. [[TooDumbToLive Said monsters proceed to kill everyone]], leaving the Quintapeds incapable of turning back into humans.

* MeaningfulName: The Quintaped, which has five legs. For bonus points, one wizard legend states that quintapeds are the last descendants of the [=MacBoons=], a wizarding clan transfigured into their current form in revenge for their chieftain killing a rival in a duel. The [=MacBoon=] chieftain responsible was named Qunintis.

* MeaningfulName: The Quintaped, which has five legs.