History Film / FantasticBeastsTheSecretsOfDumbledore

* DoubleAgent: Karma tells Grindelwald that he was sent to spy on him for Dumbledore, but that he wants to return the favor and spy on Dumbledore for Grindelwald. Even with a mind reader reassuring him, Grindelwald is wisely untrusting and only agrees to allow Karma into his fold after meddling with his memory.

* ReluctantRuler: During the final vote, [[spoiler:the Qilin first bows to Albus, but he tells the creature that while he is honored to have been recognised as a pure soul, he doesn't feel he is worthy to rule the Wizarding World, and asks it to choose someone else]].

* StarCrossedLovers: Dumbledore and Grindlewald can't be together ever again, because of the latter's campaign for war against humanity. Now, they are destined to fight each other.

* {{Bowdlerise}}: Some dialogue was left out/dubbed differently in countries where it could have potentially gotten the film banned. WB confirmed that it was only two lines, "Because I was in love with you" and "the summer Gellert and I fell in love".

* DoubleEntendre: Grindewald manages to sneak a couple of these into his conversation with Dumbledore at the restaurant. Most notably, he opens with asking if the place they're meeting is one of his "regular haunts" with the clear implication that he's really asking about his love life. Dumbledore laughs and responds that he doesn't have any regular haunts and Grindelwald smiles and straightens up his posture. The way he asks about how the blood pact pendant feels around his neck is also pretty clearly meant to be sexual in nature as well.

* VillainousBreakdown: A TranquilFury wordless one. [[spoiler:Upon being exposed for election fraud, Grindlewald immediately attempts to murder Credence in front of the entire assembly, without changing his facial expression or even verbalizing his Killing Curse.]]

* BloodlessCarnage: Grindelwald unambiguously slashes the throat of the baby Qilin with a knife but it was cleverly shot to hide the wound and any bleeding. He has her tucked into his chest and the cutting is shown from behind and it cuts away to Queenie looking on in horror as she bleeds out. By the time it cuts back to him, she’s already dead and the blood is pooled on the ground.
* {{Bowdlerise}}: Some dialogue was left out/dubbed differently in countries where it could have potentially gotten the film banned. WB confirmed that it was only two lines, “Because I was in love with you” and “the summer Gellert and I fell in love”.

* {{Bowdlerise}}: Some dialogue was left out/dubbed differently in countries where it could have potentially gotten the film banned. WB confirmed that it was only two lines, “Because I was in love with you” and “the summer Gellert and I fell in love”.

* BatmanGambit: This time, it's Dumbledore's turn to do this after Grindelwald managed to achieve it so effectively in the second film. He asks Newt and his friends to split up and carry out different roles at the same time, expecting that Grindelwald wouldn't be able to see all of them at once. The first gambit worked off pretty well despite hiccups as all that Grindelwald achieved was capturing Theseus and then having to alter his plans to instead frame Jacob to make it look convincing. His last gambit was what truly lets the heroes secure a true win over Grindelwald: [[spoiler:Knowing and expecting Grindelwald would be after him, Newt, Theseus, and Eulalie because they were magically powerful enough to guard the Qilin, he instead gives that role to Bunty, exploiting Grindelwald's tendency to underestimate simple people, and it works wonders as she easily bypasses him, reveals the Qilin, and exposes Grindelwald, effectively eliminating any chances he had to become Chairman of the International Confederation of Wizards and making it clear to the public that beneath Grindelwald's façade, he is dangerous, leaving him with only his truly loyal disciples as everyone else who previously admired him clearly either turns their back on him or outright attacks him.]]
* BittersweetEnding: Like fellow midpoint entry, ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire'', this film essentially wraps up the first arc of the series with some positives and some negatives. [[spoiler:Grindelwald's plan to become Chairman of the International Confederation of Wizards has been stopped, Dumbledore has broken the blood pact between them, meaning they can now fight each other, and Jacob and Queenie have finally gotten married while Newt reunites with Tina, but while Credence redeems himself, it is seemingly too late for him as his Obscurus has already begun killing him and all that Aberforth, actually Credence's father, can do is bring him home and give him some comfort, knowing fully well he'll die sooner or later. In addition, even with Grindelwald thwarted, he is still out there and he has also in a way succeeded in starting his war, meaning the global Wizarding War will truly begin soon. While the heroes are given a brief respite and moment of happiness, it's apparent the road ahead will be filled with many difficulties even after this victory - Dumbledore's grim expression as he walks away from Jacob's wedding and the fact that we now know the legendary duel between them that will lead Grindelwald to defeat will only take place on 2 November 1945, 13 years from the film's end, makes this very clear]].

* HumiliationConga: It's Grindelwald's turn to lose after managing to so effectively manipulate the events of the first two movies to his favor. He loses hard, too. [[spoiler:He manages to lose the election, have two powerful Acolytes defect, get exposed for his true colors, lose his former lover forever, and be forced into hiding in one fell swoop. Albus pretty masterfully manages to use ConfusionFu to negate his seeing with the only hiccup being Theseus getting arrested. Grindelwald gets Vogel to pardon him of his crimes, get him on the ballot, and help him use the zombified Qilin to bow to him. Meanwhile, Bunty manages to slip by his group of supporters in Bhutan with the case with the second Qilin because he mistakenly thought the more powerful Scamander brothers or Lally would have been given it. Queenie, whom he worked so hard to recruit, also defects before the election takes place. After a short respite of him winning the initial vote for Chairman of the International Confederation of Wizards, Newt and Credence expose his fraudulent Qilin and Bunty walks up with the case as the zombified one disanimates in Vogel's arms. A new vote is called. The Qilin first bows to Albus who turns her down and then to Santos, whom the crowd elects the new Chairman. At that point, Grindelwald completely loses it. He tries to kill Credence in front of everyone and the blood pact gets destroyed in the crossing of spells. As he and Albus fight to a draw in the mirror dimension, he desperately reaches for him as they part and Albus turns his back on him which signifies the breaking of their bond, both literally and metaphorically. With real pain in his voice, all he can do is lash out at him with, "Who will love you now, Dumbledore. You're all alone!" As everyone starts pointing their wands at him, all he can do (while being a visible wreck of emotions) is jump off the cliff and apparate away.]] A far cry from the cocky, flirtatious, and smug demeanor seen at the beginning of the movie in the restaurant scene.

* ArcSymbol: Grindelwald's sigil can be seen in the trailers in the form of fireworks and even on a hood ornament of a car.

* BatmanGambit: This time, it's Dumbledore's turn to do this after Grindelwald managed to achieve it so effectively in the second film. He asks Newt and his friends to split up and carry out different roles at the same time, expecting that Grindelwald wouldn't be able to see all of them at once. The first gambit worked off pretty well despite hiccups as all that Grindelwald achieved was capturing Theseus and then having to alter his plans to instead frame Jacob to make it look convincing. His last gambit was what truly lets the heroes secure a true win over Grindelwald: [[spoiler:Knowing and expecting Grindelwald would be after him, Newt, Theseus, and Eulalie because they were magically powerful enough to guard the Qilin, he instead gives that role to Bunty, exploiting Grindelwald's tendency to underestimate simple people, and it works wonders as she easily bypasses him, reveals the Qilin, and exposes Grindelwald, effectively eliminating any chances he had to become Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards and making it clear to the public that beneath Grindelwald's façade, he is dangerous, leaving him with only his truly loyal disciples as everyone else who previously admired him clearly either turns their back on him or outright attacks him.]]
* BittersweetEnding: Like fellow midpoint entry, ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire'', this film essentially wraps up the first arc of the series with some positives and some negatives. [[spoiler:Grindelwald's plan to become Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards has been stopped, Dumbledore has broken the blood pact between them, meaning they can now fight each other, and Jacob and Queenie have finally gotten married while Newt reunites with Tina, but while Credence redeems himself, it is seemingly too late for him as his Obscurus has already begun killing him and all that Aberforth, actually Credence's father, can do is bring him home and give him some comfort, knowing fully well he'll die sooner or later. In addition, even with Grindelwald thwarted, he is still out there and he has also in a way succeeded in starting his war, meaning the global Wizarding War will truly begin soon. While the heroes are given a brief respite and moment of happiness, it's apparent the road ahead will be filled with many difficulties even after this victory - Dumbledore's grim expression as he walks away from Jacob's wedding and the fact that we now know the legendary duel between them that will lead Grindelwald to defeat will only take place on 2 November 1945, 13 years from the film's end, makes this very clear]].

* HumiliationConga: It's Grindelwald's turn to lose after managing to so effectively manipulate the events of the first two movies to his favor. He loses hard, too. [[spoiler:He manages to lose the election, have two powerful Acolytes defect, get exposed for his true colors, lose his former lover forever, and be forced into hiding in one fell swoop. Albus pretty masterfully manages to use ConfusionFu to negate his seeing with the only hiccup being Theseus getting arrested. Grindelwald gets Vogel to pardon him of his crimes, get him on the ballot, and help him use the zombified Qilin to bow to him. Meanwhile, Bunty manages to slip by his group of supporters in Bhutan with the case with the second Qilin because he mistakenly thought the more powerful Scamander brothers or Lally would have been given it. Queenie, whom he worked so hard to recruit, also defects before the election takes place. After a short respite of him winning the initial vote for Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards, Newt and Credence expose his fraudulent Qilin and Bunty walks up with the case as the zombified one disanimates in Vogel's arms. A new vote is called. The Qilin first bows to Albus who turns her down and then to Santos, whom the crowd elects the new Supreme Mugwump. At that point, Grindelwald completely loses it. He tries to kill Credence in front of everyone and the blood pact gets destroyed in the crossing of spells. As he and Albus fight to a draw in the mirror dimension, he desperately reaches for him as they part and Albus turns his back on him which signifies the breaking of their bond, both literally and metaphorically. With real pain in his voice, all he can do is lash out at him with, "Who will love you now, Dumbledore. You're all alone!" As everyone starts pointing their wands at him, all he can do (while being a visible wreck of emotions) is jump off the cliff and apparate away.]] A far cry from the cocky, flirtatious, and smug demeanor seen at the beginning of the movie in the restaurant scene.

* LoveCannotOvercome: Dumbledore and Grindlewald are still crazy for each other after all these and each spend most of the restaurant scene trying to get the other to back down and reconcile to no avail. By the end of the movie Dumbledore realizes that things are done between them for good, though it pains him, and literally and metaphorically turns his back on him after the election is held.

* ArcSymbol: Grindelwald's sigil can be seen in the trailers in the form of fireworks and even on a hood ornament of a car.

* AssassinationAttempt: Grindelwald’s followers attempt to assassinate Santos via poisoning at the dinner party in Berlin but Lalie is able to foil it.

* LoveCannotOvercome: Dumbledore and Grindlewald can't get past the latter's hatred of muggles and cruelty toward others, no matter how much they still love each other.

* SecretTestOfCharacter: Professor Hicks gets some tall friends to pretend to be hooligans menacing her in front of Jacob's store. Despite there being three of them, Jacob stands up to them and proves his bravery. The test here is not so much to prove Jacob's worth to Hicks, but to prove to Jacob himself that he is exceptionally brave.

* RagtagBunchOfMisfits: Theseus notes that the team entrusted to take down the most dangerous wizard in a century include himself and Yusuf, a Mazoologist (Newt), his assistant (Bunty), a school teacher (Eulalie), and a Muggle (Jacob).

** Of course, the movie ends with a spectacular duel between our main villain, Gellert Grindelwald, and one of the film's many protagonists. [[spoiler:Dumbledore actually gets a crack at Grindelwald a decade early, having a BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind as the love pact which kept them from fighting is destroyed. The duel is rather underwhelmed as it's just the beginning, but as they are nearly equals, the fight is much more well-matched than Albus's fight with Credence. Both display quite flashy spells such as a jet of red energy, the Killing Curse, blue whips, and orange blasts. The lightning fast reflexes and superb defenses Albus uses is also mixed with offensive as Grindelwald has to be taken seriously, and Grindelwald makes it clear he is quite able to match Albus in speed and defense as well.]]

Set in [[TheGreatDepression 1932]], the story leads up to the Wizarding World's involvement in UsefulNotes/WorldWarII. With Gellert Grindelwald's power rapidly growing, Albus Dumbledore entrusts Newt Scamander and his friends on a mission that will lead to a clash with Grindelwald's army, and will lead Dumbledore to ponder how long he will stay on the sidelines in the approaching war.

%% zce * TheBartender: Aberforth is tending the bar in the trailer.

* SlashedThroat: Grindelwald slit's the throat of the Qilin his followers found while a horrified Queenie watches.

Set in the [[TheGreatDepression 1930s]], the story leads up to the Wizarding World's involvement in UsefulNotes/WorldWarII. With Gellert Grindelwald's power rapidly growing, Albus Dumbledore entrusts Newt Scamander and his friends on a mission that will lead to a clash with Grindelwald's army, and will lead Dumbledore to ponder how long he will stay on the sidelines in the approaching war.

* StrongAndSkilled: This is the reason why Albus is able to quite handily overpower and subdue Credence. Credence has spent months training himself for his inevitable fight with Albus, but it becomes quickly evident that while his skills have definitely improved after training with Grindelwald, he still clearly prefers and uses a fighting style based on the overwhelming power of his Obscurus, his techniques still lacking in finesse. Meanwhile, Albus has not only the extraordinary magical strength to fight Credence on equal ground, which is something Credence is clearly unused to fighting against, but he also has decades of experience and training to supplement that power. Credence's anger is the only thing that lets him put up as much of a fight as he does, and Albus makes it clear at the end he was just humoring Credence so he could let off some steam from his pent-up anger. It takes Grindelwald, a much more seasoned wizard with roughly equivalent levels of power, in order to match Albus in the end.

* BatmanGambit: This time, it's Dumbledore's turn to do this after Grindelwald managed to achieve it so effectively in the second film. He asks Newt and his friends to split up and carry out different roles at the same time, expecting that Grindelwald wouldn't be able to see all of them at once. The first gambit worked off pretty well despite hiccups as all that Grindelwald achieved was capturing Theseus and then having to alter his plans to instead frame Jacob to make it look convincing. His last gambit was what truly lets the heroes secure a true win over Grindelwald: [[spoiler:Knowing and expecting Grindelwald would be after him, Newt, Theseus, and Eulalie because they were magically powerful enough to guard the Qilin, he instead gives that role to Bunty, exploiting Grindelwald's tendency to underestimate simple people, and it works wonders as she easily bypasses him, reveals the Qilin, and exposes Grindelwald, effectively eliminating any chances he had to become Chairman of the International Confederation of Wizards and making it clear to the public that beneath Grindelwald's façade, he is dangerous, leaving him with only his truly loyal disciples as everyone else who previously admired him clearly either turns their back on him or outright attacks him.]]
* BittersweetEnding: Like fellow midpoint entry, ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire'', this film essentially wraps up the first arc of the series with some positives and some negatives. [[spoiler:Grindelwald's plan to become Chairman of the International Confederation of Wizards has been stopped, Dumbledore has broken the blood pact between them, meaning they can now fight each other, and Jacob and Queenie have finally gotten married while Newt reunites with Tina, but while Credence redeems himself, it is seemingly too late for him as his Obscurus has already begun killing him and all that Aberforth, actually Credence's father, can do is bring him home and give him some comfort, knowing fully well he'll die sooner or later. In addition, even with Grindelwald thwarted, he is still out there and he has also in a way succeeded in starting his war, meaning the global Wizarding War will truly begin soon. While the heroes are given a brief respite and moment of happiness, it's apparent the road ahead will be filled with many difficulties even after this victory - Dumbledore's grim expression as he walks away from Jacob's wedding and the fact that we now know the legendary duel between them that will lead Grindelwald to defeat will only take place on 2 November 1945, 13 years from the film's end, makes this very clear]].

* HumiliationConga: It's Grindelwald's turn to lose after managing to so effectively manipulate the events of the first two movies to his favor. He loses hard, too. [[spoiler:He manages to lose the election, have two powerful Acolytes defect, get exposed for his true colors, lose his former lover forever, and be forced into hiding in one fell swoop. Albus pretty masterfully manages to use ConfusionFu to negate his seeing with the only hiccup being Theseus getting arrested. Grindelwald gets Vogel to pardon him of his crimes, get him on the ballot, and help him use the zombified Qilin to bow to him. Meanwhile, Bunty manages to slip by his group of supporters in Bhutan with the case with the second Qilin because he mistakenly thought the more powerful Scamander brothers or Lally would have been given it. Queenie, whom he worked so hard to recruit, also defects before the election takes place. After a short respite of him winning the initial vote for Chairman of the International Confederation of Wizards, Newt and Credence expose his fraudulent Qilin and Bunty walks up with the case as the zombified one disanimates in Vogel's arms. A new vote is called. The Qilin first bows to Albus who turns her down and then to Santos, whom the crowd elects the new Chairman. At that point, Grindelwald completely loses it. He tries to kill Credence in front of everyone and the blood pact gets destroyed in the crossing of spells. As he and Albus fight to a draw in the mirror dimension, he desperately reaches for him as they part and Albus turns his back on him which signifies the breaking of their bond, both literally and metaphorically. With real pain in his voice, all he can do is lash out at him with, "Who will love you now, Dumbledore. You're all alone!" As everyone starts pointing their wands at him, all he can do (while being a visible wreck of emotions) is jump off the cliff and apparate away.]] A far cry from the cocky, flirtatious, and smug demeanor seen at the beginning of the movie in the restaurant scene.

* MetaphoricallyTrue: In the last film, Grindlewald revealed that Credence was a Dumbledore, claiming that he was Albus's younger brother who had been knowingly rejected by the family; as it turns out, [[spoiler:Credence is actually the son of Albus's brother Aberforth, and his mother left the area before she or Aberforth knew of the pregnancy]].
* MindlinkMates: The blood pact forged by the love between Dumbledore and Grindelwald allows the two to talk to each other telepathically in an imaginary world where reality bends to their whims. The movie opens with them eating at a nice restaurant together in this place, at least until Grindelwald wills the place to burn down. [[spoiler:The final battle of the movie takes place here two, as the world is falling apart alongside their pact.]]

* NeverTrustATrailer: The trailer shows Jacob getting a wand, implying he'll start doing magic, but in the movie it's just a fake wand to help blend in with wizards, and while it has been enchanted to perform a single spell, Jacob has no control over that feature.

** PlayedForLaughs with Teddy the Niffler's dive at the falling Picket. It seems Niffler is going to catch his falling friend, but instead, he's jumping at the shiny coins that fell with Picket and the two land harmlessly on the ground as the normal frame-rate resumes.
** In a mix of drama of farce, Theseus is about to be dragged into a lethal fall when Newt's niffler jumps after him with Dumbledore's tie in hand. The movie slows down as Theseus reaches for the tie mid-falls and grabs the tie for dear life. Turns out it was a portkey, as Theseus, Newt, and the niffler are whisked off to Hogwarts in an instant.

* PaperMaster: Eulalie throws a book and has pages come out to be solid platforms for Jacob to walk across. She also uses books as a Portkey on two occasions, causing paper to swarm around the travelers before they teleport.

** Dumbledore sends a drop of what appears to be [[PensieveFlashback pensieve]] water at Credence to transport him unknowingly to a fake Berlin where they duel before emerging out of a puddle at the end.

* PortalBook: Eulalie uses a book Portkey to take herself and Jacob to Meet and co.

* RaisingTheSteaks: Grindelwald zombifies a Qilin in his bid to commit election fraud. During the election, the Qilin will bow to whoever has a pure heart to help sway voters. His zombified one bows to him but Newt and Credence expose him for the fraud and a new vote is held when Bunty produces the living Qilin.
* RefusalOfTheCall: Jacob has repeatedly been refusing Dumbledore's pleas to join him in fighting Grindelwald and it is only when Professor Hicks shows him his worth to Dumbledore that he agrees. Even then, it took a lot of arm-twisting to get him to come along.

** This film definitively answers the "Who is Credence?" question. The cliffhanger from the second film is revealed to have been a [[spoiler:half-truth. He is not Albus's brother but rather his nephew. Aberforth started dating a girl from Godric's Hollow the summer Albus did the same with Grindelwald. She got pregnant and was sent away by her family to cover it up before he knew. However rumors persisted that she'd had a baby who was then believed to have drowned in the shipwreck. Albus tells Newt that Aberforth probably didn't trust him enough to confide in him any lingering doubts so they could figure out what happened]].

* {{Seers}}: We see many of Grindelwald's visions of the future throughout the film. Every time he looks in a reflection, whether it be from a car window or the blood of a slaughtered magical beast, he sees brief flashes of the near future of Newt and friends, allowing him to piece together the actions his enemies will take

* StrongAndSkilled: This is the reason why Albus is able to quite handily overpower and subdue Credence. Credence has spent years training himself for his inevitable fight with Albus, but it becomes quickly evident that while his skills have definitely improved after training with Grindelwald, he still clearly prefers and uses a fighting style based on the overwhelming power of his Obscurus, his techniques still lacking in finesse. Meanwhile, Albus has not only the extraordinary magical strength to fight Credence on equal ground, which is something Credence is clearly unused to fighting against, but he also has decades of experience and training to supplement that power. Credence's anger is the only thing that lets him put up as much of a fight as he does, and Albus makes it clear at the end he was just humoring Credence so he could let off some steam from his pent-up anger. It takes Grindelwald, a much more seasoned wizard with roughly equivalent levels of power, in order to match Albus in the end.

* HumiliationConga: It's Grindelwald's turn to lose after managing to so effectively manipulate the events of the first two movies to his favor. He loses hard, too. [[spoiler:He manages to lose the election, have two powerful Acolytes defect, get exposed for his true colors, lose his former lover forever, and be forced into hiding in one fell swoop. Albus pretty masterfully manages to use ConfusionFu to negate his seeing with the only hiccup being Theseus getting arrested. Grindelwald gets Vogel to pardon him of his crimes, get on the ballot, and help him use the zombified Qilin to bow to him. Meanwhile, Bunty manages to slip by his group of supporters in Bhutan with the case with the second Qilin because he mistakenly thought the more powerful Scamander brothers or Lally would have been given it. Queenie, whom he worked so hard to recruit, also defects before the election takes place. After a short respite of him winning the initial vote for Chairman of the International Confederation of Wizards, Newt and Credence expose his fraudulent Qilin and Bunty walks up with the case as the zombified one dies in Vogel's arms. A new vote is called. The Qilin first bows to Albus who turns her down and then to Santos, whom the crowd elects the new Chairman. At that point, Grindelwald completely loses it. He tries to kill Credence in front of everyone and the blood pact gets destroyed in the crossing of spells. As he and Albus fight to a draw in the mirror dimension, he desperately reaches for him as they part and Albus turns his back on him which signifies the breaking of their bond, both literally and metaphorically. With real pain in his voice, all he can do is lash out at him with, "Who will love you now, Dumbledore. You're all alone!" As everyone starts pointing their wands at him, all he can do (while being a visible wreck of emotions) is jump off the cliff and apparate away.]] A far cry from the cocky, flirtatious, and smug demeanor seen at the beginning of the movie in the restaurant scene.

* BatmanGambit: This time, it's Dumbledore's turn to do this after Grindelwald managed to achieve it so effectively in the second film. He asks Newt and his friends to split up and carry out different roles at the same time, expecting that Grindelwald wouldn't be able to see all of them at once. The first gambit worked off pretty well despite hiccups as all that Grindelwald achieved was capturing Theseus and then having to alter his plans to instead frame Jacob to make it look convincing. His last gambit was what truly lets the heroes secure a true win over Grindelwald: [[spoiler:Knowing and expecting Grindelwald would be after him, Newt, Theseus, and Eulalie because they were magically powerful enough to guard the Qilin, he instead gives that role to Bunty, exploiting Grindelwald's tendency to underestimate simple people, and it works wonders as she easily bypasses him, reveals the Qilin, and exposes Grindelwald, effectively eliminating any chances he had to become Supreme Mugwump and making it clear to the public that beneath Grindelwald's façade, he is dangerous, leaving him with only his truly loyal disciples as everyone else who previously admired him clearly either turns their back on him or outright attacks him.]]
* BittersweetEnding: Like fellow midpoint entry, ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire'', this film essentially wraps up the first arc of the series with some positives and some negatives. [[spoiler:Grindelwald's plan to become Supreme Mugwump has been stopped, Dumbledore has broken the blood pact between them, meaning they can now fight each other, and Jacob and Queenie have finally gotten married while Newt reunites with Tina, but while Credence redeems himself, it is seemingly too late for him as his Obscurus has already begun killing him and all that Aberforth, actually Credence's father, can do is bring him home and give him some comfort, knowing fully well he'll die sooner or later. In addition, even with Grindelwald thwarted, he is still out there and he has also in a way succeeded in starting his war, meaning the global Wizarding War will truly begin soon. While the heroes are given a brief respite and moment of happiness, it's apparent the road ahead will be filled with many difficulties even after this victory - Dumbledore's grim expression as he walks away from Jacob's wedding and the fact that we now know the legendary duel between them that will lead Grindelwald to defeat will only take place on 2 November 1945, 13 years from the film's end, makes this very clear]].
* BlatantLies: After [[spoiler:Newt produces his own Qilin at the vote, Grindlewald's allies attempt to claim that the one that bowed to Grindlewald was the true Qilin even though it's clearly a darker, more sickly colour than Newt's obviously healthy one. It then dies on the spot, just to rub in that Grindewald's been outplayed]].
* BloodMagic: The first time we see Grindelwald looks into the future, he does so using the blood of an innocent baby Qillin whose throat he just slit. In the Qilin's blood, he sees Dumbledore and all the ones he chose to help him in the coming days, alerting Grindelwald on how to proceed against his ex-lover.

* HumiliationConga: It's Grindelwald's turn to lose after managing to so effectively manipulate the events of the first two movies to his favor. He loses hard, too. [[spoiler:He manages to lose the election, have two powerful Acolytes defect, get exposed for his true colors, lose his former lover forever, and be forced into hiding in one fell swoop. Albus pretty masterfully manages to use ConfusionFu to negate his seeing with the only hiccup being Theseus getting arrested. Grindelwald gets Vogel to pardon him of his crimes, get on the ballot, and help him use the zombified Qilin to bow to him. Meanwhile, Bunty manages to slip by his group of supporters in Bhutan with the case with the second Qilin because he mistakenly thought the more powerful Scamander brothers or Lally would have been given it. Queenie, whom he worked so hard to recruit, also defects before the election takes place. After a short respite of him being the Supreme Mugwump, Newt and Credence expose him for the fraud and Bunty walks up with the case as the zombified one dies in Vogel's arms. A new vote is called. The Qilin first bows to Albus who turns her down and then to Santos, whom the crowd elects the new Supreme Mugwump. At that point, Grindelwald completely loses it. He tries to kill Credence in front of everyone and the blood pact gets destroyed in the crossing of spells. As he and Albus fight to a draw in the mirror dimension, he desperately reaches for him as they part and Albus turns his back on him which signifies the breaking of their bond, both literally and metaphorically. With real pain in his voice, all he can do is lash out at him with, "Who will love you now, Dumbledore. You're all alone!" As everyone starts pointing their wands at him, all he can do (while being a visible wreck of emotions) is jump off the cliff and apparate away.]] A far cry from the cocky, flirtatious, and smug demeanor seen at the beginning of the movie in the restaurant scene.

** The first thing we see Grindelwald do after his date with Dumbledore is slit the baby Qilin's throat. This was necessary for an enchantment he performs later in the film, but at the time, all the audience knows is that it proves Grindelwald is still one bad guy

* SecretTestofCharacter: Professor Hicks gets some tall friends to pretend to be hooligans menacing her in front of Jacob's store. Despite there being three of them, Jacob stands up to them and proves his bravery. The test here is not so much to prove Jacob's worth to Hicks, but to prove to Jacob himself that he is exceptionally brave.

* MercyKill: Newt suggest in an attempt at comfort that Ariana's death in the fight was one of these in a way. She died quickly and painlessly instead of in a long, drawn out painful and agonizing death at the hands of the parasite.

** Grindelwald's forces lead by Credence kill a weak Qilin seconds after she gives birth to her child, immediately orphaning it.

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome:
** The grimly effective VillainWithGoodPublicity ways of Grindelwald compared to the rather ineffectual methods of Voldemort's brute-force ways are fully demonstrated in this film, and also demonstrates the complete difference between them that makes Grindelwald a far more terrifying villain. While Voldemort wanted to dominate Britain through sheer force, Grindelwald only makes the terrorist attacks look like he's fighting the unjust powers of the world and actively seeks to be diplomatic. Not to mention he is no pure-blood supremacist and accepts anyone while Voldemort was selective at best and completely bigoted at worst. And while Voldemort and Grindelwald are both arrogant, Grindelwald is much better at appearing humble and simply seeking a revolution because unlike Voldemort, he is not a psychopath as much as he is detached towards his enemies and willing to do whatever it takes to crush them and regularly portrays himself as a valiant revolutionary with immense power, which Voldemort can never be because he was a DirtyCoward. All this combined means that Grindelwald is significantly better at attracting subordinates and devotees everywhere, and as he is attacking the whole world and not just Britain, there was simply too many people who support him and too little evidence to charge him with. In the end, even though the magical governments are all desperately trying to paint him as a criminal, they ultimately have to bow down as he has won the public and charging him any further would lead to violence. It takes Dumbledore, an equally brilliant individual who has none of Grindelwald's arrogance, in order to expose him and truly encourage resistance against him.

* {{Overcrank}} The film makes liberal use of slow-motion:

* BittersweetEnding: Like fellow midpoint entry, ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire'', this film essentially wraps up the first arc of the series with some positives and some negatives. [[spoiler:Grindelwald's plan to become Supreme Mugwump has been stopped, Dumbledore has broken the blood pact between them, meaning they can now fight each other, and Jacob and Queenie have finally gotten married while Newt reunites with Tina, but while Credence redeems himself, it is seemingly too late for him as his Obscurus has already begun killing him and all that Aberforth, actually Credence's father, can do is bring him home and give him some comfort, knowing fully well he'll die sooner or later. In addition, even with Grindelwald thwarted, he is still out there and he has also in a way succeeded in starting his war, meaning the global Wizarding war will truly begin soon. While the heroes are given a brief respite and moment of happiness, it's apparent the road ahead will be filled with many difficulties even after this victory - Dumbledore's grim expression as he walks away from Jacob's wedding and the fact that we now know the legendary duel between them that will lead Grindelwald to defeat will only take place on 2 November 1945, 13 years from the film's end, makes this very clear]].

* DarkAndTroubledPast: The film expands on Aberforth's youth beyond what we knew already. [[spoiler:He fell in love with a local girl from Godric's Hollow at the time Grindelwald showed up and the relationship resulted in a pregnancy. His girlfriend was sent away by her family to hide it but rumors persisted that there was indeed a baby. Said baby was then believed to have drowned in the shipwreck so no one knew to look for him. Albus tells Newt that if he'd been a better to Aberforth, he would have probably confided in him any lingering doubts that he may have survived and things could have been different]].