How Did Grindelwald Know That Credence Is a Dumbledore?

One of the things that were revealed in what was a convoluted and somewhat confusing Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald plot was that Credence was actually a Dumbledore the entire time and is closely related to Albus Dumbledore. This was something that made fans wonder, as there were no hints of Credence being related to the Dumbledores at all during the second movie. Nevertheless, we did get to see more of Credence’s Dumbledore heritage in The Secrets of Dumbledore. Still, how did Grindelwald know that Credence is a Dumbledore?

Grindelwald deduced that Credence is a Dumbledore based on the fact that he was able to survive past the age of ten as an Obscurial. That is something that only Ariana Dumbledore had ever done because of the extraordinary magical abilities of the Dumbledore bloodline in the Harry Potter universe.

It was never properly explained how or why Grindelwald was able to discover the fact that Credence is Dumbledore because of how somewhat confusing the events of the second movie are. Nevertheless, smart as he is, Grindelwald basically deduced Credence’s bloodline as a Dumbledore. And that’s what we are going to talk about in this article.

How Did Grindelwald Know Credence Is A Dumbledore?

One of the most important characters introduced in the Fantastic Beasts series in the Harry Potter universe is Credence, who was introduced as a confused character in the first movie and was actually an Obscurial, who had an Obscurus, which is a dark and parasitic force that feeds on magical people. But while he may have seemingly perished in the first movie, he went on to have a more prominent role in the second movie, albeit the fact that The Crimes of Grindelwald was sort of confusing.

Nevertheless, one of the things that we saw in The Crimes of Grindelwald was Credence’s history, as he spent a good part of the movie trying to find out who he is and how he got to the US. After all, he grew up not knowing his true parentage.

The final part of the second movie revealed that Grindelwald knew about Credence’s true family heritage as he told him that he was named Aurelius Dumbledore. This caught fans by surprise because, prior to the Fantastic Beasts series, the only Dumbledores everyone knew of were Albus, Aberforth, and Ariana, who are all siblings. Another Dumbledore added to the mix confused fans.

But while fans were wondering how Credence is related to the other Dumbledores, there’s one pressing matter that was never really resolved. How did Grindelwald find out that Credence was always a Dumbledore?

First of all, Grindelwald was born with the powers of a seer as he could see visions of the future. In one of his visions, he saw an Obscurial killing Albus Dumbledore, the man he feared the most because he was the only one that could match his magical prowess. This sets Grindelwald on a journey to find who this Obscurial is because he thinks that he could manipulate it.

Then here comes the part where Grindelwald basically used his deduction prowess to come up with the conclusion that Credence is a Dumbledore. And it goes back to the third Dumbledore sibling, Ariana.

Ariana Dumbledore herself was also an Obscurial and had magical powers that she couldn’t fully control, and that led to the death of the Dumbledore siblings’ mother. Albus ultimately became her caretaker—a role that he wasn’t fond of.

Now, going back, it was mentioned in the first movie that Obscurials are always under the age of ten because the hosts end up dying at the hands of the Obscurus before they make it past the age of ten. But Ariana was an exception because the Dumbledore family was always known for its extraordinary magical capabilities, and that’s why Ariana was able to handle the Obscurus and live past the age of ten.

Throughout the first movie, Grindelwald and even Newt were looking for a child as the possible Obscurial without even thinking that it could be Credence, who was already in his teen years. However, Credence revealed himself to be the Obscurial, and that was when things became clear for Grindelwald.

Smart as Newt was, he couldn’t have deduced that Credence was an Obscurial because only a few people knew that Ariana was one. Had he known about it, he would have surely been able to deduce that Credence was also a Dumbledore because only Ariana Dumbledore was able to live past ten even after becoming an Obscurial. This is why the only person who could connect the dots was Grindelwald, who knew about Ariana because he was close to Albus and due to the fact that he was partially to blame for her death.

Of course, Grindelwald didn’t come to this conclusion without actually using other pieces of evidence. He was also researching Credence’s identity in the events of the second movie when he stumbled upon Irma Dugard and the story of Corvus Lestrange, who had drowned in the ship that also carried Aurelius from the UK to America. There was a good possibility that Irma knew a good part of the story because she was acquainted with Aurelius’ aunt, who was the one who carried the boy from the UK to America on that ship.

That said, the only logical conclusion that the dark wizard could make was that Aurelius Dumbledore and Credence are one and the same. And the reason why he manipulated Credence over to his side was his vision of an Obscurial killing Dumbledore.

How Is Credence Related To Albus Dumbledore?

The end of Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald had fans wondering how Credence was related to Albus Dumbledore, given that Albus only had two other siblings. And considering that are hints of Albus being gay, he couldn’t have possibly sired a child from a woman. So, how is Credence related to Albus?

Of course, Credence’s relationship with the Dumbledore family was revealed in The Secrets of Dumbledore. In this movie, the younger version of the second Dumbledore brother, Aberforth, was revealed. On top of that, it was also revealed that Credence is actually Aberforth’s son in a union that wasn’t recognized, and that’s why the Dumbledore family did not recognize Aurelius. This means that Credence is Albus’ nephew.

That said, Albus was able to confirm that Credence was his nephew in a duel that occurred during the third movie. Uncle Albus was able to overpower his nephew in that duel, as the two parted ways after the older Dumbledore was able to realize that Credence was indeed of his blood.

Is Credence Still Alive In Harry Potter?

The climax of Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore allowed us to see Credence betraying Grindelwald when he revealed the dark wizard’s fraudulent plot to get elected as the new Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards.

Angry at what had happened, Grindelwald tried to murder Credence in cold blood but was prevented from doing so by the Dumbledore brothers. Still, Credence suffered injuries that looked fatal as he laid down, seemingly dying after Grindelwald had escaped.

We were never shown what truly happened to Credence at the end of the duel between Dumbledore and Grindelwald. So, is Credence still alive in the events of Harry Potter?

It is unlikely that Credence is still alive in the events of Harry Potter. That’s because there was no mention of Aberforth having a son during the events of the war between Dumbledore’s army and Voldemort’s army. As such, it could be possible that he had died in the events of the third movie. 

But it is also possible that he was still alive back then but was living in America instead of living with his father in England. Still, we are leaning towards the possibility that he had died after the events of The Secrets of Dumbledore.