JK Rowling planned Nagini’s story all along - a thread.

Fantastic Beasts: Crimes of Grindelwald revealed Voldemort’s snake Nagini used to be a human, or more precisely, a maledictus - the carrier of a curse which will ultimately cause her to transform into a snake for good. /1

While this inclusion was controversial with some fans, I believe JKR has been playing the long game and hasn’t ‘retconned’ Nagini’s former human existence. JKR confirmed as much in the following tweet. /2 https://twitter.com/jk_rowling/status/1044579634581401600

While some, shall we say, less charitable (*cough* Daily Prophet-esque) blogs have suggested this to be untrue, trawling UK-IP records shows that JKR has actually had the term ‘Curse of Nagini’ trademarked since 2005. Ha! /3
https://trademarks.ipo.gov.uk/ipo-tmcase/page/Results/4/EU004666211

As noted above, being a maledictus is described as a ‘curse’ - seems like a pretty massive coincidence for these to not be related! /4

Secondly, Nagini’s name. We all know JKR likes to use character names to hide subtle (& not so subtle - I’m looking at you Remus Lupin!) hints about their personalities. Nagini in Indonesian & Indian mythology is the name of half-woman, half-snake creatures! Massive hint! /5

Thirdly, Nagini’s relationship with Voldemort. It seems odd Voldemort chose an impressive but ultimately common snake as a horcrux. Why choose Nagini over his basilisk? After all, his basilisk tied him to his Slytherin heritage, underlining the bloodline he was so proud of. /6

Perhaps the origins lie in Voldemort’s first encounter of Nagini. Prior to Philosopher’s Stone Voldemort was exiled without a body in Albania. What if during this time Voldemort encountered Nagini & she helped him survive? /7

We know that he possessed snakes during this time, which all died as a consequence. What if he succeeded in doing so with Nagini where he had failed with the snakes? After all she is not a mere snake but a maledictus! /8

From Nagini’s POV this might offer hints as to why she is loyal to Voldemort. Imagine being trapped as a snake, unable to communicate to others, when up pops Voldemort, similarly unable to communicate as a result of his lack of corporeal form. Lots of snake-y bonding together! /9

If Nagini was able to help Voldemort survive then imagine how grateful he would be! And then she goes & does so a second time (!) by being milked (venom - not that type of milking!) by Wormtale to create the potion that returned Voldemort to a corporeal body in Goblet of Fire./10

We know the regeneration potion contained Nagini’s venom & unicorn blood (as mentioned in Philosopher’s Stone) & was Voldemort’s own creation. Snake venom seems pretty common compared to unicorn blood for such a complex potion. But imagine how rare maledictus venom would be! /11

More evidence Nagini is not a common snake - she’s special not only due to her bond with Voldemort but because she’s a maledictus! /12

Further, in the events of Deathly Hallows Nagini is enchanted to impersonate Bathilda Bagshot. But doing so seems way beyond the abilities of a snake. Given the revelation of Nagini’s former existence as a human however, these events seem way more plausible! /13

Also, in Half Blood Prince Dumbledore comments on Voldemort’s relationship with Nagini, saying ‘He seems to have an unusual amount of control over her, even for a Parselmouth.’ Sure he is referring to Nagini’s status as a horcrux here, but what if he is hinting at more? /14

In Crimes of G’wald we don’t see Dumbledore & Nagini interact but going forward it’ll be interesting to see what Dumbledore knows about Nagini & vice versa. It seems unlikely D’dore knows who Nagini is, given his instructions for her to be killed in Deathly Hallows. /15

But what does Nagini know about Dumbledore? In Crimes of Grindelwald she is very close to Credence/Aurelius. What if future events within the Fantastic Beasts films lead her to blame Dumbledore for something which happens to Credence? /16

Credence might come to harm as a result of the destruction of the blood pact between Grindelwald & Dumbledore (as has been widely speculated). This seems plausible since after all there is no mention of Credence during the events of Deathly Hallows (or any other HP novel). /17

If something along those lines did happen this could set up Nagini’s transition to the dark side, opposing Dumbledore as a consequence of her love for Credence. Either way Nagini is certainly one of the Fantastic Beasts I’m most excited to find more about along the way! Ends. /18