Warner Brothers just dropped the final trailer for Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald yesterday, revealing the truth behind an iconic Harry Potter character – the Horcrux, Nagini.
A secret that Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling has been keeping to herself for "around 20 years" since she wrote the books, the trailer for Fantastic Beasts 2 reveals that Voldemort's serpentine friend, Nagini, didn't start out as a Horcrux but began her journey as a Maledictus.
Unlike a Horcrux, an object in which a Dark Wizzard has hidden a fragment of his soul in order to attain immortality, Rowling explains that a Maledictus is a female individual that carries with her a blood curse that turns them into a beast.
The curse is one that the Maledictus attains from birth and in the trailer for The Crimes of Grindelwald, fans get to see Nagini as a human (played by Claudia Kim), bending into a snake at will.
While most people felt astounded by the new revelation, Mirror writes that some were skeptical that Rowling had known all along about Nagini's true origin.
"So Rowling knew in 1998 she would be writing a five-film Fantastic Beasts franchise thus retconning the entire backstory of Nagini that she laid out in her original book series? Sure, Jan," one fan wrote online.
"J.K. Rowling saying she kept the Nagini thing a secret for 20 years is just like when you have an argument and think of a comeback an hour later," another added.
The revelation also sparked a bit of backlash, with some outraged that Nagini turned out to be Asian in Fantastic Beasts 2. According to the dissenters, it just seemed a little bit racist for a white man to keep an Asian woman as his own pet and then place his own soul into her.
"J.K. Rowling is trash and I'm sick of it. Nagini is apparently an East Asian woman. If you don't see anything racist about an Asian woman being the pet of a white man — I don't know what to say," one angry fan decided to write.
"On the one hand, problematic as f***, and an example of diversity done wrong. A white man who keeps an Asian woman as a pet? Puts his soul in her? Feeds enemies to her? On the other hand, we finally have an answer to the last HP mystery: just how do you milk a reptile?" another added.
There have certainly been a lot of interesting reactions to Nagini's true origin, but then again there are so many fans who are sincerely invested in the Harry Potter franchise.
What do you think of Nagini? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comment section below.
Read: Check Out New Character Posters for Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald
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