- "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] is a character in the Harry Potter book series. Newt is a famed Magizoologist and author who pens the popular book, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them in the wizarding world. He is known for the part he plays in the defeat of the Dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald.
Biography[]
Early life and education[]
Newton Scamander was born in 1897. He was raised by a mother who bred Hippogriffs and she encouraged his love for animals.[1] At the age of seven, Scamander liked dismembering Horklumps. He attended Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in the early twentieth century.[3]
Ministry employee[]
After leaving Hogwarts, Scamander worked at the Office for House-Elf Relocation for the Ministry of Magic which he considered very boring. He eventually transferred to the Beast Division where he became very successful because of his invaluable knowledge of magical beasts. This led to a rapid promotion which helped him begin a successful and acclaimed career in Magizoology.[1]
Travelling[]
In 1918, Augustus Worme of Obscurus Books commissioned Scamander to write a compendium on magical creatures. 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 creatures instead. He travelled to a hundred countries across five continents while researching his book. While he was observing many magical creatures, Newt learned about their abilities, gained their trust, and occasionally had to fend them off with his travelling kettle.[3]
During his travels, Newt undertook research trips abroad with the Dragon Research and Restraint Bureau. The information he collected was also used in his book.[1]
In 1927, his book Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them was first published. The book was a best-seller which garnered him critical acclaim. Every week after the release, he received letters in his postbag with questions about his work which he later answered by adding his responses to the introduction of his book.[3]
Grindelwald[]
During the two decades that Gellert Grindelwald waged a war in the wizarding world, Newt encountered him more than once. When he travelled to New York to free a trafficked Thunderbird that he had rescued, he ended up being the first person to capture Grindelwald. This happened after several creatures accidentally escaped from his suitcase which triggered a severe infraction of the International Statute of Secrecy.[4]
After the incident, Seraphina Picquery, the President of the Magical Congress of the United States of America, asked Newt to voluntarily leave New York with immediate effect or she would have kicked him out herself. He also agreed to leave important creatures native to America out of his book on wizarding creatures due to the higher persecution of witches and wizards in the country.[4]
At some point, Albus Dumbledore reached out to Newt and asked him to play an active part in the war against Grindelwald which continued until the Dark wizard was finally defeated in 1945. Scamader was forbidden from talking about his part in the war by the Official Magical Secrets Act. Due to his inability to legally correct presumptions about his involvement, an unfounded rumour started that he was a spy sent to New York by Dumbledore, where he was to pretend to be a magizoologist to capture Grindelwald.[4]
Later life[]
After leaving New York, his book on magical creatures was published and entitled Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. It was a bestseller and considered an essential book for young witches and wizards to read at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. A year after his visit, he persuaded Seraphina Picquery to issue a Protective Order on Thunderbirds, which she would later extend to every creature. Before his visit, there had been a curse-to-kill policy on wizarding creatures in America.[4]
In 1947, Scamander was solely responsible for the creation of the Werewolf Register, a new law that every werewolf has to sign in order to monitor their actions to ensure that they behave responsibly with regard to public safely. In 1965, he passed the Ban on Experimental Breeding which he was particularly proud of. In 1979, he was awarded the Order of Merlin (Second Class) for services to magizoology[1] and a Chocolate Frog Card was made for him. By 1992, he had published A Children's Anthology of Monsters.
Newton Scamander married a woman called Porpentina and together they had at least one child and one grandchild named Rolf.[5] Rolf married Luna Lovegood and they had twins, Lorcan and Lysander Scamander.[6] By 2001, he had retired in his old age and lived in Dorset with Porpentina and their pet Kneazles, Hoppy, Milly and Mauler.[1]
Newt on a Chocolate Frog Card
In 2001, a copy of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them was published in the Muggle world with the statement that it was a completely fictitious book written for charity. At some point after, Rita Skeeter published a biography about him titled Man or Monster? The TRUTH About Newt Scamander. She claims Newt was really a spy for Dumbledore who was sent to infiltrate the Magical Congress of the United States of America.[4]
In 2017, a new edition of Fantastic Beasts was published. Information about his involvement in Grindelwald's defeat, once protected by the Official Magical Secrets Act, were now slowly being declassified. In his foreward, he finally addresses several rumours and questions about the incident in New York and his relationship with Dumbledore. He calls Rita's claims "absurd" and points out that pretending to be a Magizoologist would not have been the best choice of cover story because they were considered suspect and dangerous. He also wrote that he regretted taking his suitcase to the city and that it was a mistake.[4]
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[]
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: About the Author
- ↑ Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: Introduction (About This Book)
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2017 edition)
- ↑ J.K. Rowling and the Live Chat, Bloomsbury.com
- ↑ This image by Rowling from J. K. Rowling: A Year in the Life