Nagini Confirmed for Fantastic Beasts 2

If you haven't yet seen the 3rd and Final trailer for Fantastic Beasts 2: The Crimes of Grindelwald, I highly recommend you check it out before continuing with this article. It's right here so please don't go anywhere 😄

At 00:30 seconds into the trailer you see Credence Barebones seemingly whisper the word "Nagini" through a circus cage to the young woman dressed in a blue scaly outfit, at which point she literally turns into a snake. This woman is repeatedly shown in the movie's promotional material including several that indicate a close relationship with Credence, such as this one:

Now, to give you a quick summary of what is happening with this woman (played by Claudia Kim) and her character, let me explain:

This woman is so far unnamed beyond "Nagini" so we don't know for sure if that is her real name or some sort of title she assumes. But either way, we do know that she is not an "Animagus" like Sirius Black from the Harry Potter books and movies - this means she does not have total control over transforming between human and snake. Instead she is what is called a "Maledictus", meaning she is the subject of a possibly inherited curse that at some point in her life will permanently transform her into a creature (in her case a snake) without the ability to transform back into a human on her own.

What makes this woman so special for fans of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter is that Fantastic Beasts 2 seems to have confirmed her to be the same Nagini that attacked Arthur Weasley, ate the Hogwarts Muggle Studies Professor (Charity Burbage), pretended to be Bathilda Bagshot, nearly killed Harry Potter, Hermoine Granger, and Ron Weasley, did kill Severus Snape, all while being Lord Voldemort's horcrux and loyal servant. This woman has an incredibly extensive resume in the Harry Potter universe, to say the least.

I'd be remiss if I didn't point out that the SuperCarlinBrothers on YouTube were one of the first (if not the first) to theorize that this woman teased in Fantastic Beasts 2 was in fact the Nagini Harry Potter fans have loved to hate for years - even though at that point she had only been identified as "The Maledictus". Click HERE to see their original theory video! So, THEORY CONFIRMED!

But I noticed something interesting in the way she is presented in this final trailer for Fantastic Beasts 2. She's literally shown aiding the movies' heroes (namely Newt Scamander and Co.) against the evil tyrant Gellert Grindelwald. I can't help but wonder how and why this woman will go from one of our heroes to one of the greatest of our villains.

Now that we've seen her to be more than a simply magical snake, I wonder how many of her actions in Harry Potter were the result of a more human thought process. I especially wonder at why she would actively fight the evil Grindelwald but dutifully perform every bidding of the evil Voldemort.

These are just my guesses but I would be very intrigued to see a detailed development of this character over the next several Fantastic Beasts movies and perhaps other stand alone content from J.K. Rowling:

1. Could Grindelwald be somehow responsible for Nagini's curse - either having cursed Nagini herself or cursing her mother many years prior? JK Rowling has said that the Maledictus curse is inherited, being passed from mother to daughter - but every curse has to start somewhere. If Grindelwald did indeed curse Nagini or her family it would explain why Nagini helps Newt and Co. in fighting Grindelwald even if she espoused evil beliefs herself that she simply demonstrated later in her service to Voldemort. 
2. Is it possible that Nagini was never actually a villain? Could she be a tragic hero forcibly trapped in Voldemort's service?

It's this second question that I want to explore in more detail. I think Nagini being a sort of tragic hero would be such an ultimate twist that it would be incredibly shocking and fun for viewers, and I would absolutely love for her story to take such a turn.

I have to options for how a Tragic Hero Nagini story could play out:

1. Voldemort finds Nagini at some point in his quest for power and forcibly turns her into a horcrux, using the piece of his soul housed inside her to exert incredible mental command over her actions, turning her previously more noble self into a mental slave of Voldemort. This theory does seem to have some merit since even Dumbledore noted that Voldemort seemed to have "an unusual control over her, even for a Parselmouth".
• We saw in Harry Potter that there were times when Harry's self control would slip and a more angry or violent nature would be visible, particularly when he was sensing Voldemort's thoughts thanks to the horcrux connection. Dumbledore and Snape both were cautious of what Voldemort could do to, or through, Harry Potter if the Dark Lord recognized that the connection worked two ways. We can only imagine what kind of control he could exhibit on Nagini while knowing she was his horcrux.
• We have seen Voldemort take forceful possession of Harry's mind (presumably without using the horcrux connection since the Dark Lord was still unaware of that reality) during his famous duel with Dumbledore at the Ministry of Magic. It is possible that he used a similar spell to control Nagini.
• It is also possible that Voldemort placed Nagini under the Imperious Curse, seeing her value as a largely innocuous servant and seeing the power of her venom. Personally, I don't think the Imperious Curse could account for the degree of loyalty and equality demonstrated in her service to Voldemort, so I doubt this is really a good option to linger on. 
2. Nagini initially entered into Voldemort's service hoping to rescue a loved one from his grasp, but was then trapped in his service, either by contract or by some method of mental enslavement (as already discussed).
• First, I want to discuss a separate theory I have regarding a connection between Credence and Voldemort, this additional theory will set the stage for why Nagini would choose to serve Voldemort but still be considered a tragic hero. Since the first Fantastic Beasts movie came out, many people - myself included - have been racking their brains to find some sort of link between Voldemort and Credence, for various reasons. I'll explain my Voldemort/Credence theory and then show how Nagini fits into that picture.
• Voldemort is obsessed with surviving death and achieving immortality, hence his trademarked use of serial horcurxes. Credence, was successfully able to evade certain death AND completely revive his body through the use of a small ember or soul shard from his very powerful obscurial form. The poetic comparison is pretty easy to see right away but I think the connection goes a lot deeper than simple poetic symmetry.
• We don't know how a horcrux is created, and we likely never will. However, it is logical to assume that something had to point young Tom Riddle in the direction of studying horcruxes in the first place; Credence would have been an exceptional inspiration to Voldemort (since there are several similarities between Credence's obscurial and a horcrux) if he and his story were taught in any class at Hogwarts. So, it's possible that studying Credence and the abilities of his obscurial were inspiring to a young Tom Riddle seeking incredible dark power.
• We see in Fantastic Beasts 1 that Grindelwald (disguised as Percival Graves) ultimately wanted Credence's immense power for some undisclosed reason, but we also see Newt Scamander take an interest in studying both an obscurial and an obscurus in the hopes of finding a cure for the condition. In both cases we are shown that an obscurial is able to be studied and experimented on - this implies that there are multiple ways an obscurial can be useful to magic users... perhaps even in the creation or study of horcruxes.
• If Voldemort did indeed seek out Credence he likely would have been capable of defeating Credence and acquiring a "sample" or piece of Credence's obscurial form (destroying the rest). This would have placed Credence in a sort of limbo where he could have been able to revive his body once again after being freed from Voldemort (we know this could happen since Credence is already shown having the ability to survive and rebuild his body from one small ember of his obscurial form) but was unable to do so while a captive of the dark lord.
• If Credence and Nagini maintained a close relationship in the years and decades after the events of Fantastic Beasts: Crimes of Grindelwald it is likely that she would have wanted to rescue her friend (or lover) from captivity. Knowing she was outmatched by Voldemort she had only a limited number of options at her disposal.
• Get help: She could have attempted to recruit assistance in recovering Credence, either from Dumbledore, Newt, or the Order of the Phoenix but either she failed or decided against asking for help. To be honest, help would have been unreliable against a powerful Voldemort, so I could easily justify any character, including Nagini, for refusing to ask for it when planning to face off against Voldemort personally.
• Make a Deal: Nagini, knowing of Voldemort's power and advantage could have negotiated her servitude in exchange for Credence's freedom, willingly sacrificing herself to save her loved one. She may even made the "Unbreakable Vow" in offering to serve Voldemort so long as Credence was set free. Depending on the wording of the contract, Voldemort could have accepted Nagini's offer and still managed to kill Credence, legally, while still forcing Nagini to serve him unconditionally. 
• Covert Mission: Alternatively Nagini could have attempted to sneak into Voldemort's place searching for Credence and his obscurial fragment. During this mission she would have been caught and forced into the dark lord's servitude after seeing her value.
• We don't know if Nagini began serving Voldemort during the height of his power or not until after his defeat to the baby Harry Potter while the dark lord was hiding in Albania. In either case, if Voldemort had access to Credence's obscurial, Nagini may have offered a deal regardless of the dark lord's current power. However, if the deal was made "post-baby defeat" 😏 she may have negotiated to help heal Voldemort and aid in his mission to kill Harry Potter in exchange for Credence's freedom in the end.
• Of the three options most likely available to Nagini, I would expect her to attempt a deal with Voldemort over any other option. Throughout Harry Potter we are told Voldemort had an unusual degree of control over the snake but we are also never told of any instance where she might have resisted him. If Nagini had been completely forced into servitude it's likely she would have manifested some resistance at some point in the story. Instead she's frequently described as "loyal" to the dark lord. If Nagini was at all a sort of tragic hero I could only imagine that she willingly entered into Voldemort's enslavement through a type of contract hoping to save Credence. The end result, no matter what happened to Credence, was that she became bound to the dark lord's soul and ended up losing her free will in the process.
• If this story is true, then Neville Longbottom wielding the Sword of Gryffindor to kill Nagini becomes more an act of accidental mercy, freeing a trapped slave from all her horrific cages.

To sum up my theory connecting Nagini and Credence to Voldemort, we have a power hungry Voldemort seeking immortality being drawn to find and conquer Credence Barebones because of Credence's ability to revive himself from certain death. A victorious Voldemort begins to study the final piece of Credence's surviving obscurial soul shard but is approached by Nagini who attempts to bargain for the freedom of her friend. After striking a deal that proves advantages for the dark lord Nagini enters Voldemort's service where she slowly loses all her free will and is consumed by the horcrux and legilimency of her new master. She serves with great loyalty and becomes Voldemort's favored pet and support until her death at the Battle of Hogwarts.

However, there is one more possibility I want to quickly discuss. There is another possible way Nagini could go from hero to zero in Voldemort's loyal servitude, a way that doesn't involve Credence or becoming directly enslaved to the dark lord: Split Personality. We still have no idea how being a Maledictus can affect a person - we don't even know if the animal form resulting from the curse retains any part of the human that once lived in that body. It is entirely possible that human Nagini was a good person dealt incredible tragedy while snake Nagini has a completely unique and vile personality. If we are destined to witness the slow mental decay and death of Nagini from a beautiful and noble woman into an wild and evil animal it would still create a compelling tragic hero for all to both love and hate simultaneously.

Thanks for reading! Also, please comment and share this article, it would mean a lot to me 😉

ps. Food for thought:
Did you ever wonder why Voldemort didn't kill Snape directly but allowed Nagini to do it herself? Maybe Snape did something to hurt Nagini that the dark lord is letting her claim vengeance for?