Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore explores the blood pact Geller Grindelwald and Albus Dumbledore shared in their youth, which adds tragic complexity to Professor Snape’s unbreakable vow in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Unbreakable bonds are a type of magic commonly featured in the Harry Potter universe, and the reveal of Dumbledore’s experience with binding charms in Fantastic Beasts 3 supports the notion that he can personally relate to Snape. In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Severus Snape (Alan Rickman) undergoes an unbreakable vow with Draco Malfoy’s mother, Narcissa Malfoy (played by Peaky Blinders’ Helen McCrory) where he promises to protect Draco until the boy kills Dumbledore but will kill Dumbledore himself if he fails. Dumbledore is aware of this because he wants Snape to kill him as a way of gaining Voldemort’s trust and succeeding in a double-cross. Draco is unable to kill Dumbledore, so in the last act of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Snape does as he has been requested to do, which fulfills the vow’s contract.
Fantastic Beasts movies, Dumbledore (Jude Law) was familiar with unbreakable vows at the time because the blood pact that he and Grindelwald (Mads Mikkelsen) created together is supposedly eternally binding. They bound themselves together when they were young because they were in love. Years later, when Dumbledore needs to defeat him, this pact causes problems because the charm makes it so they cannot hurt each other unless it is broken. When Dumbledore and Snape scheme to take down Voldemort, the former’s trust of and sympathy toward the latter are explained by his past with Grindelwald and his understanding of the inescapability of a magical bond. He knows that by committing to the unbreakable vow, Snape will not be able to back out of killing Dumbledore without dying. Snape wants to fight for good as much as anyone else does in Dumbledore’s army, and by acting as a plant in Voldemort’s troops, he sacrifices his emotional comfort and the trust of various colleagues (for example, Minerva McGonagall). He also cannot change his mind about being the one to kill Dumbledore, which Dumbledore must have felt deeply about because of the tragic irreversibility of his own blood pact with Grindelwald. This connection expounds upon Dumbledore’s unbridled trust in Snape’s loyalty, which is only briefly explored in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part 2.
The blood charm Dumbledore carries with him in Fantastic Beasts 3 breaks by the end of the movie, and he and Grindelwald are finally able to battle each other. The charm is not the same magic as an unbreakable vow, but the effect is similar enough to draw a comparison. Furthermore, when Dumbledore can finally fight with Grindelwald, he is unable to win when he’s given a surefire chance. There is an obvious love still simmering between him and Grindelwald that, despite the charm shattering, proves their bond is as unbreakable as it always was. So, it would be impossible for Dumbledore not to understand on a personal and empathetic level what Snape is sacrificing by vowing to Narcissa.
Love and Thunder’ Trailer Thor Breakdown
Thanks to the massive success of Thor: Ragnarok, Chris Hemsworth is back as the only OG Avenger to get a fourth movie and after months of waiting and an approaching release date, the teaser trailer for Thor: Love and Thunder finally dropped for the highly anticipated sequel. The trailer opens with Thor contemplating his role in the galaxy as he seemingly has put his warring days behind him as he buries Strombreaker and remarks that he needs to figure out who he is. While the trailer shows off the buff Thor we all know and love, fat Thor will make his return after being hilariously introduced in Avengers: Endgame. Fat Thor also goes hard into a Crossfit routine as he completes exercises with massive chains that are attached to a dead gigantic monster. Also returning is fan favorite character Korg who appears to be joining Thor on his new journey of self-discovery. Alongside the two (or three as there appears to be a possibly familiar character edited out of the trailer) is the Guardians of the Galaxy as they are continuing their hijinks across the universe. How they factor into the movie remains unclear as of now but what is clear is that Thor and Star-Lord appear to continue their feud that was hinted at the end of Endgame. There is also the awkward stare that the two share as Star-Lord remarks that Thor just needs to look at the people he loves. If this statement is in regards to Thor’s love of Star-Lord, it’s unknown. What is known that there are shots of Thor sharing a kiss with a new love interest, a character that can be assumed to be Zeus, King Valkyrie attending a meeting in New Asgard and Thor along with Korg looking at the body of a gigantic beast.
The trailer closes with a long shot of the return of Thor’s ex-girlfriend, Jane Foster. While Natalie Portman was absent from Ragnarok, she was announced to be returning to the series in 2019 after writer/director Taika Waititi reached out to her and showed her the script. In Love and Thunder, Foster dons The Mighty Thor outfit while wielding a repaired Mjolnir. It is unknown exactly how Jane has come to wear the Thor outfit and gain powers; it’s possible that this is a variant of Thor but another possibility is that if Thor goes missing/cannot be found, then a new Thor is selected and the hammer is magically repaired. Regardless of what the answer is, it is great to see Natalie Portman back alongside Thor.
What is noticeably absent from the trailer is the presence of Christian Bale’s character, Gorr the God Butcher. Including the main villain in the trailer may have possibly thrown the fun action-comedy vibe but what this character’s motives are or what he’s up to isn’t pinned down just yet. While there is one shot of King Valkyrie, we don’t see any more but as the film’s title implies, it could be Thor has a bevy of life partners to select as Jaimie Alexander’s character of Lady Sif also isn’t present in the trailer.