In preparing for his battle with Lord Voldemort, Harry Potter used a number of tools to win. Aside from fighting alongside his extremely loyal and very clever friends, he utilized various magical techniques and paraphernalia such as the Pensieve and the Patronus Charm. And under the tutelage of Professor Severus Snape, the young wizard learned how to combat Legilimency, the act of navigating through the many layers of a person’s mind and possibly controlling them. And now in the upcoming film ‘Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them’, Newt Scamander will have to deal with a whole new level of Legilimen that fans of J.K. Rowling’s acclaimed books likely haven’t seen before.
During a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, Alison Sudol discussed her character Queenie Goldstein. Not much is currently known about the American witch that works in the Magical Congress of the United States, but the actress opened up about some of Queenie’s magical abilities, which happen to be some new kind of Legilimency:
“She’s basically a complete and utter magical empath. She’s able to read people — so it’s not just reading somebody’s thoughts. She’s can read into someone’s story, she can see people’s goals. And so even though she’s able to do magic with her wand, a lot of her magic is actually internal, which makes her a different type of wizard or witch. And she’s incredibly fun, playful, joyful, and free-spirited, kind and wise, and also has a sort of stillness about her because she’s always tuning into people, so she’s quite an interesting character to play — very vivacious and lively, yet very centered and aware.”
Sudol also went on to say that Queenie’s powers are “more like an antenna, always turned on, picking up the thoughts and feelings of everybody around her”. With the ability to use such powerful magic without a wand, she could prove to be a major player in Newt’s journey around 1920s New York City. But could Miss Goldstein have more of a penchant for dark magic? In the past, many powerful witches and wizards in this world have used abilities such as these for nefarious purposes. Since the trailers for ‘Fantastic Beasts’ haven’t really defined an antagonist for the film yet, it’s possible that Queenie could step into that role. Time will certainly tell on that one, but until then, let us know what you think about Alison Sudol’s character in the upcoming David Yates film in the comments below.
‘Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them’ starring Eddie Redmayne, Katherine Waterston, Dan Fogler, Alison Sudol, Ezra Miller, David Chester, Samantha Morton, Carmen Ejogo, Jon Voight, Ron Perlman, and Colin Farrell breaks out of it’s cage on November 18, 2016.
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