J.K. Rowling may have spoiled Theseus Scamander's (Callum Turner) story, as his scene with Newt (Eddie Redmayne) in the Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore trailer matches the Greek legend of Theseus all too well. The first two Fantastic Beasts movies connected J.K. Rowling's Wizarding World storyline in the 1920s with the Harry Potter timeline, mainly through Dumbledore (Jude Law), who is rallying everyone around him in his war against his friend-turned-foe Grindelwald (Mads Mikkelsen). The third Fantastic Beasts installment will see brothers Newt and Theseus working closely together for Dumbledore, in hope of ending Grindelwald's reign of terror.
In the Fantastic Beasts 3 trailer, Newt and Theseus are swiveling carefully through a maze-like cave full of blast-ended skrewts. Finally, they encounter a mother-beast, which can either be a giant blast-ended skrewt or a manticore, judging by its enormous scorpion tail. The movie's second trailer shows a prisoner falling to his death, then Newt commenting: "We're gonna need some help." The maze, the beast, and the prisoners all match a legend from Greek mythology: Theseus and the Minotaur.
J.K. Rowling has been known to choose meaningful names for her characters, from Remus Lupin (where the legendary Romulus and Remus were raised by a wolf and "lupus" means "wolf" in Latin) to Tom Felton's Draco Malfoy (where "mal foy" literally translates as "bad faith" from French). Theseus' name was certainly not chosen randomly either. The Greek legend states that Theseus offered to go into the Minotaur's deadly maze, defeat the beast, and free the Athenians stuck in the labyrinth. Theseus emerged victorious from the maze, and if Rowling is to stay true to the story, this means that Callum Turner's Theseus might be the one who kills the skrewt/manticore and saves his brother in the process. However, there's a tragic twist to the story: Greek Theseus eventually dies falling off a cliff. The Fantastic Beasts 3 trailer shows a moment where Theseus falls in the cave, with Newt grabbing his hand. But again, if Rowling sticks to the legend, Theseus' fall might be his final one.
Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald ends with Theseus tragically losing his fiancé, Leta Lestrange (played by The Batman's Catwoman, Zoë Kravitz), as she fights Grindelwald in an effort to save Newt and Theseus. Fantastic Beasts 3 is bound to explore the aftermath of Leta's death for both brothers, as Newt had a complicated relationship with her before she met his older brother. It would be a deeply tragic story for Newt to lose his brother so soon after Leta's untimely death, especially after he finally opened up to Theseus and told him he "has chosen a side."
Theseus Scamander is a complex character, and with Leta gone, there are several dimensions to explore: his relationship to Newt, to Dumbledore, and to the Ministry of Magic, to name a few. It would be a shame to end Theseus' character arc (and deprive Newt of a brother he has very recently become closer to). Nevertheless, the Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore trailer just proved J.K. Rowling thought of the Greek legend when she named Theseus, and he is bound to meet a tragic end unless the author changed some details to his story.
