- "I have visited lairs, burrows and nests across five continents, observed the curious habits of magical beasts in a hundred countries, witnessed their powers, gained their trust and, on occasion, beaten them off with my travelling kettle."
- — Newton Scamander
Newton Artemis Fido "Newt" Scamander[1] was a character in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by J.K. Rowling. He was very briefly mentioned in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Newton Scamander was the pen name of Rowling when she wrote Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them for charity.
In the Harry Potter books, Newt was a famed Magizoologist and author who penned a popular book of the same name in the wizarding world. He was well-known for the part he played in defeating the Dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald.
Biography
Early life and education
Newton Scamander was born in 1897. He was raised by a mother who owned Hippogriffs which began a life-long love of animals.[1] From the age of seven, Scamander would begin dismembering Horklumps.[2] Newt began attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in September 1908 or 1909.[1]
Ministry employee
Scamander eventually joined the Beast Division at the Ministry of Magic and he became very successful because of the invaluable knowledge he had gained of magical beasts which led to a series of promotions which helped Newt begin a successful and acclaimed profession in Magizoology.[1]
Travelling
In 1918, Augustus Worme of Obscurus Books commissioned Scamander to write a book which would later be named Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. At the time, Scamander was only earning 2 sickles a week from the Ministry of Magic and jumped at the opportunity to spend summers travelling the world in search of magical animals instead.[2]
Scamander travelled to a hundred countries across five continents researching his book, observing many magical creatures. He learned about their abilities, gained their trust, and occasionally beat them with his travelling kettle if they got too dangerous.[2]
Grindelwald
Scamander would not speak of the involvement he had in Gellert Grindelwald's war for many years. But he caught Grindelwald at least once during an incident in New York in which animals escaped from the suitcase he was carrying in 1926[4]. He was then persuaded by Albus Dumbledore to play an active part in defeating Grindelwald which continued up to Grindelwald's defeat in 1945.[4][5]
When Grindelwald was defeated, the government forbade Scamander from speaking about any part he undertook in Grindelwald's defeat through the Official Magical Secrets Act. The Act had an expiration date from which he would be able to speak of the events when that time was ended. Because of that, an unfounded and untrue rumour began that Dumbledore sent him to New York to pose as a magizoology expert on behalf of the government.[4][5]
Later life
In 1947, Scamander passed a law that demanded every werewolf sign up in order to monitor their actions and be certain they act safely. In 1965, he passed another law that banned experimental breeding. In 1979, he was awarded the Order of Merlin (Second Class) for services to magizoology and a chocolate frog card was made for him. By 1992, he had published A Children's Anthology of Monsters.
Newton Scamander married Porpentina and together they had at least one child and one grandchild named Rolf. Rolf would marry Luna Lovegood and they had twins named Lorcan and Lysander Scamander. He gave up working in magizoology in old age and lived in Dorset with Porpentina and their pet kneazles, Hoppy, Milly and Mauler.[1]
In 2001, a copy of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them was published in the Muggle world with the statement it was a completely fictional book written for charity. In 2017, a new edition of Fantastic Beasts was published. Newt had never spoken of the connection he had to Grindelwald and never confirmed any part he played was true, mainly because he was forbidden by the government from doing so. The document forbidding him had a length of time from which he would be able to speak of when that time was ended.[5]
He finally admitted in the 2017 edition that he had in fact caught Grindelwald once and that he became part of a plan made by Dumbledore, in order to play an active part in defeating Grindelwald again which continued over the next two decades until Grindelwald's eventual final defeat in 1945. He denied he was part of a plan when he went to New York and that he was sent with the case to pose as a magizoology expert on behalf of the government which he called absurd, but he admitted it was a bad idea to take the case with him.[5]
Trivia
- When she penned Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Rowling wrote the book under the name of Newton Scamander. She acted like she was Scamander, who was putting the book out in the Muggle world for charity and kept stating that the contents were fiction.
Notes and sources
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: About the Author
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: Introduction (About this Book)
- ↑ Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: Foreword by the Author
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2017 edition)
