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Fantastic Beasts 3: Why does Jacob Kowalski have a wand?

If you've seen the trailer for Fantastic Beasts 3, you may be wondering why Jacob Kowalski, a muggle, has a wand. Well, wonder no more

Fantastic Beasts 3: Why does Jacob Kowalski have a wand?

Why does Jacob Kowalski have a wand in Fantastic Beasts 3? If you’ve seen the trailer for the latest chapter in the Harry Potter franchise, you will probably have noticed that Jacob Kowalski is given a wand. So, what’s the big deal? Well, Kowalski is a muggle, and in the rulebook of the wizarding world, muggles cannot do magic!

The fanbase has not been happy about this move for Fantastic Beasts 3, and the furore surrounding Jacob Kowalski and his wand has been one of the major talking points in the lead up to the release of the new fantasy movie.

But, are the fans right to be angry, or is there more than meets the eye with this curious case of Jacob Kowalski and the magic wand? If you haven’t seen Fantastic Beasts 3 yet, it’s best to stop reading now, as there will be spoilers for the adventure movie coming up. If you do read on, you’ll find out why Dumbledore gives Kowalski a wand, and what the muggle does with it.

Why does Jacob Kowalski have a wand in Fantastic Beasts 3?

So, it turns out there really was no reason for the fans to get angry about Jacob Kowalski having a wand. The simple answer is that the wand Dumbledore gives the muggle is a fake, and Kowalski never actually performs any magic.

Basically, the whole premise of Fantastic Beasts 3 is that Dumbledore, Newt Scamander, and the gang are trying to foil Gellert Grindelwald’s plot to become ruler of the wizarding world. The only problem is, that Grindelwald is able to see the future and can see all of their heroic plans before they even happen.

With this in mind, Albus Dumbledore decides the best workaround is to hatch so many different plans that Grindelwald, and indeed Newt and the team, don’t even know what’s going on. This is where the wand and Jacob Kowalski come in.

By giving Kowalski a wand, and allowing him to attend a fancy dinner where all the most powerful wizards will be, Dumbledore puts the muggle in the spotlight. When Kowalski sees his beloved Queenie, he can’t help but cause a scene, and he confronts Grindelwald.

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During the heated moment, Kowalski appears to attack Grindelwald with a magic spell. But, in reality, this is all a decoy, and it is actually Eulalie Hicks who casts the spell. Nonetheless, the wizarding world now has a scapegoat in the form of Kowalski, and they begin to support Grindelwald’s tirade against the muggles.

So, why does Dumbledore want that? Well, this all plays in perfectly to get Grindelwald exactly where he wants him – on the world stage, ready to be exposed as the villainous fraud he is. In the end, although Kowalski does indeed yield a wand, it is all part of Dumbledore’s bigger plan, and the muggle was never going to actually be able to use any magic.

Fantastic Beasts 3 is in UK cinemas now, and arrives in US cinemas on April 15. For more content related to the movie, check out our interview with graphic design studio MinaLima, who has worked on all the Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts movies.