Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore Ending & Twists Explained

Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets Of Dumbledore is now available in select regions all over the world and is the continuation of a prequel story that sheds some light on one of the most prominent characters in the entire Harry Potter universe—Albus Dumbledore. That said, the movie was a good possible addition to the series, albeit not entirely the best. And that’s why we are here to discuss the ending and some of the most spectacular twists that happened in the film.

Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets Of Dumbledore Ending Explained

Truth be told, as much as Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald was a masterpiece in terms of its special effects, there were a lot of people who couldn’t totally follow what was happening in the film because of how convoluted it was. The Secrets of Dumbledore, thankfully, was able to make things easier to follow and was able to correct a fatal error that was seen by most fans in the last previous installment of the Fantastic Beasts series.

In that regard, a good part of The Secrets of Dumbledore is self-explanatory in the sense that people don’t necessarily have to read ending explanations just to understand what happened in the movie as long as they actually paid enough attention to the film. Still, we are here to look at what happened in the film’s ending for those who may have struggled to follow the events that transpired in the third installment of this newest Harry Potter franchise.

Quick Introduction

Despite the fact that the previous two movies were entitled after two of the greatest wizards of all time in Gellert Grindelwald and Albus Dumbledore, the film still heavily features Newt Scamander, the famed author of the Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them book in the Harry Potter universe. 

Still, the movie follows how Newt is working with Dumbledore and some other wizards to find a way to stop Grindelwald’s plans of getting elected as the new chief or Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards (ICW), which is basically the most powerful governing body of wizards in the entire Harry Potter universe.

True to the nature of the film as a movie that focuses on fantastic beasts, the plan involves using a mythical creature called the Qilin, and that means that the film series goes back to its roots as a movie that includes some of the rarest and most fantastic creatures in the magical world.

Basically, Grindelwald wanted to acquire a rare creature called the Qilin, which is a deer-like hybrid beast that has the ability of precognition and could look into a person’s soul to tell whether or not they were pure of heart. In electing a new Supreme Mugwump, a Qilin would choose the new leader by assessing their heart and by bowing in front of the winning candidate. 

In the hopes of becoming the chief of the ICW, Grindelwald wanted to manipulate a Qilin to do his bidding so that he could become the new leader of the wizarding world. He did so by sending Credence to kill a Qilin that was just giving birth and by kidnapping the newborn. From there, Grindelwald killed the newborn Qilin and reanimated it so that he could manipulate it.

What Happens In The Climax?

The main characters go to a magical location in Bhutan, where the ceremony to select the new Supreme Mugwump is going to take place. Grindelwald had all of the pieces set for him because he now had at the Qilin that he could manipulate for his own benefit. From there, he used the reanimated Qilin to bow in front of him and to effectively convince voters that he was worthy of the position as the leader of the ICW. 

But, of course, Newt and Dumbledore had a plan to stop him. It appeared that the mother Qilin had given birth to twins and that Newt had saved the other one. The goal of the protagonists was to get to Bhutan so that they could reveal Grindelwald’s fraudulent plans by delivering a real Qilin that could prove that the dark wizard had misled the voters into thinking that he was the right man for the job.

To hatch the plan, the team had to first meet in Hogwarts, where they were given identical briefcases, as Newt had a magical briefcase that housed fantastic beasts. The goal was to use them as decoys so that they could trick Grindelwald’s henchmen. Of course, one of the cases had the Qilin inside.

From there, the gang traveled to the Himalayan mountains using a portkey. They were also instructed to drop their cases if they were confronted by any of Grindelwald’s henchmen. The reason for the plan was that the fake briefcases contained charms that would attack their enemies if a battle were to occur. This would give enough time for them to escape.

However, before the team could make it to the sacred place where the voting happened, Grindelwald had already been announced as the new chief of the ICW. His first act as the Supreme Mugwump was to use the Cruciatus curse on Jacob Kowalski to show the wizarding world what would happen to muggles if they interfered with the affairs of wizards and witches.

Grindelwald Exposed

Credence suddenly steps in and calls out Grindelwald in what was an act of bravery from a former supporter of the dark wizard. He told the truth about what Grindelwald had done to the Qilin. Meanwhile, Queenie went on to corroborate his claim that Grindelwald had used fraud to become the new leader of the wizards.

Bunty arrived at the scene carrying the case that contained the real Qilin. She released it as the creature bowed in front of Dumbledore to show that it wanted the famous wizard to become the new leader of the ICW. However, he declined the job and asked the Qilin to select a new one, and that was when it selected Vicência Santos to be the new leader of the ICW.

Of course, Grindelwald wasn’t too happy about the fact that he got exposed and that he was about to lose his leadership role—one that he had only held for a few minutes. Using his prowess as one of the most powerful wizards in the world, he tries to kill Credence for his betrayal.

As Grindelwald was about to kill his former henchman, Albus and Aberforth blocked the attack. Protecting Credence broke the blood pact between Dumbledore and Grindelwald, and this allowed the two strongest wizards to finally duke it out in a magical duel for the ages.

Nevertheless, as powerful as they were, Albus and Gellert were equally matched in their magical prowess. The fight ended in a stalemate, and that allowed Grindelwald to flee the scene without getting brought to justice. 

Of course, he wouldn’t die in the events of the Fantastic Beasts movies because we do know that he was in Azkaban during the events of the Harry Potter movies and was eventually killed by Voldemort after revealing that Dumbledore was the owner of the Elder Wand. The events of Harry Potter suggest that Dumbledore and Grindelwald will eventually duel again and that this would lead to the dark wizard’s defeat and eventual imprisonment.

After Grindelwald fled the scene, Credence was close to death before Aberforth took his son and left. Credence’s final fate is left unclear as we are not sure whether or not he will survive the events of the film.

From there, the movie moves forward to Queenie and Jacob’s wedding. Queenie had now repented for her sins when she betrayed Jacob and followed Grindelwald. The scene where she corroborated Jacob’s claims in Bhutan proved that her love for Jacob was stronger than her loyalty to Grindelwald.

The movie ends with Newt getting reunited with Tina, who was noticeably absent the entire movie until the end of the third installment of the Fantastic Beasts series. Newt awkwardly complimented her appearance in what was a happy ending for the main characters of the movie as Dumbledore walked off from the scene.

Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets Of Dumbledore Twists Explained

The good thing about Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore is that it tends to be a bit more straightforward than the previous installment, which was a bit too confusing for some people to follow. That means that there aren’t a lot of twists in the movie, but we are still here to explain some of the twists that may have shocked audiences.

Credence Defects

Credence is one of the most important characters of the entire Fantastic Beasts movie series, as he was revealed as one of the main antagonists of the first film due to his Obscurial powers. While he was seemingly killed off in the first movie, the second movie revealed that he had survived because of his Obscurial powers.

Moreover, the end of the second film also revealed a twist—that Credence was actually a Dumbledore. But fans were wondering about his status as a Dumbledore because we do know that there are only three Dumbledore siblings. Grindelwald used this information to his advantage as he also used the young man’s anger to gain Credence’s allegiance.

However, Secrets of Dumbledore revealed that Credence is actually the son of Aberforth. During the events of the movie, Credence met Albus for the very first time in Berlin. The Dumbledore uncle and nephew had a duel. Despite his Obscurus powers, Credence couldn’t overpower the mighty wizard, who was able to defeat his nephew.

Albus understood that Credence was really a Dumbledore and that he was his nephew when Credence’s phoenix dropped ashes on him. That was when Albus helped his nephew up before they parted ways.

In the climax of the movie, Credence defected from Grindelwald’s side because he was really a Dumbledore deep in his core. That meant that he was a pure-hearted wizard who had the same kind of beliefs as the other Dumbledores. This ultimately led to his apparent demise, as we were not privy to whether or not he survived the encounter with Grindelwald.

Queenie Repents

Queenie Goldstein had been a mainstay in the Fantastic Beasts movies since the first film, where she met and fell in love with Jacob. However, the second movie allowed us to see a different side to Queenie, who was noticeably controlling when she used a charm to basically keep Jacob with her. She was afraid of what the wizarding world would think about her relationship with a no-maj/muggle.

Thinking that her relationship with Jacob would not work out as long as people saw wizards and witches differently from no-maj people, she defected over to Grindelwald’s side because she believed that only he could bring about a world where she and Jacob would be free to love one another.

However, the events of Secrets of Dumbledore revealed that Queenie’s love for Jacob was stronger than her loyalty to Grindelwald when she betrayed the dark wizard who tortured her lover. She corroborated with Credence’s statement regarding the Qilin, and that paved the way for Grindelwald to lose his position as the chief of the ICW.

Dumbledore Rejects The Most Powerful Position

After Credence had revealed Grindelwald’s fraudulent scheme and when a new Qilin was brought, the creature actually selected Dumbledore to become the new Supreme Mugwump of the ICW. He was basically given the most powerful position in the wizarding world but he turned it down.

It could be possible that Dumbledore rejected the most powerful position in the wizarding world to focus more on his duties as a professor. Throughout the entire Harry Potter franchise, it wasn’t a secret that Dumbledore loved teaching and that he loved bonding with his students.

The possibility is that he wanted to stay closer to the ground and keep an eye on his students so that he could help shape them into better wizards. Owning a high position such as the Supreme Mugwump would have kept him busy from his job as a professor, although we do know that he did become Supreme Mugwump during the events of Harry Potter when he was already the Headmaster of Hogwarts.

Nevertheless, what Dumbledore’s act proved is that he wasn’t someone who coveted power as much as Grindelwald did. The position was there for him for the taking but he refused to take it because he wasn’t as power-hungry as his dark wizard counterpart.

The Blood Pact Broken

In Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, we were introduced to a younger Albus Dumbledore, who was asked to help bring Grindelwald to justice because he was the only wizard powerful enough to be his equal in a duel. However, Dumbledore refused to help not because he didn’t want to but because he couldn’t.

It was later revealed that the reason he literally can’t fight Grindelwald is the fact that they had a blood pact during their younger years when they were still close friends and lovers. The blood pact prevented them from dueling one another.

In The Secrets of Dumbledore, Grindelwald tried to kill Credence, but both Albus and Aberforth blocked the attack. This act broke the blood pact between Dumbledore and Grindelwald, as Albus was now free to duel a man who used to be so dear to him.

It was never specifically stated how the blood pact was broken, but Dumbledore hinted that it got broken because Grindelwald wanted to kill and that he wanted to protect. The act of protecting Credence must have been so powerful that it broke the pact between Dumbledore and Grindelwald, who were on the opposite sides in terms of their beliefs. This will also lead to the event wherein Dumbledore finally defeats Grindelwald and puts him behind bars in Azkaban.

The Missing Tina

The first movie of the Fantastic Beasts series introduced Tina Goldstein, who proved to be one of the most important characters in the newest magical franchise. She played important roles in both the first and the second movies. Her growing relationship with Newt was also one of the highlights of the Fantastic Beasts movies because they had an awkward dynamic even though everyone knew that they liked one another.

However, she was noticeably absent throughout the entire third movie. It was early on in the film when Theseus asked what we all wanted to know when he wondered why Tina wasn’t helping them take Grindelwald down.

Newt responded that Tina was tied up at that time because she had been promoted as the Head Auror of the MACUSA, and that meant that she now had bigger responsibilities on her shoulders. Still, that didn’t make a lot of sense.

An Auror’s job is to take down dark wizards, and Grindelwald was the darkest of all of the dark wizards. This makes us wonder about what was keeping Tina so busy that she couldn’t help bring down the biggest dark wizard in the world and the very same man who had been brainwashing her sister.

Nevertheless, being a stickler for rules, she might have focused more on her job, which might have had different responsibilities. It could also be possible that Tina wasn’t allowed to travel the world too much because her job was focused more on what was happening in the US than in the other parts of the wizarding world.

We did see her at the end of the movie sharing a sweet yet awkward moment with Newt Scamander, as this could hint at a possible romantic relationship between the two wizards. Still, it would’ve been better to see more of Tina in Secrets of Dumbledore.