After the Fantastic Beast: Crimes of Grindelwald was released, fans have wondered about several things, one of which is – how did professor Dumbledore not recognize Nagini as a snake? Before we can answer this question, we need to dive into the world of Dumbledore and what he knew of the world of spells and several things that could create the most powerful spells in the magical world.

We first need to see the evidence, if any, of whether Dumbledore knew of Nagini’s past as a human. Although there is no sure-shot or solid evidence of such possibilities, we will still try to decipher certain theories to better understand the relationship dynamics of these major characters.

Did Dumbledore Know about Nagini?

By examining relevant incidents from the franchise, we are able to make a plausible case for Dumbledore knowing about Nagini’s past, and nothing much beyond. It is plausible, and not probable in which case things are cast in a fascinating light. Because we cannot promise any solid understanding of the possibilities and draw a fixed conclusion. We can direct our theories in any relevant direction we want, to have our own understanding of what movie directors often want the audience to do.

At some point in the movie, we come to know that Nagini has some soul trace of Lord Voldemort inside her mind because of which she is able to perform some bidding.

Tom Riddle, as speculated by potter-heads, happens to be the young Voldemort who would later torment the wizarding world, especially Harry Potter. The movie Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore is set in the 1930s and also involves the events of the second world war.

What does Nagini Say to Harry Potter?

Harry and Hermoine go to Godric’s Hollow in the hope to find the Sword of Gryffindor where they are attacked by Voldemorts’s snake Nagini. The snake was set up by Voldemort to lure Harry into the Hollow as he was hoping Harry would want to visit his parents’ graves and have a chance to kill him.

While he and Hermoine are searching through the place for the sword, they are ambushed by Nagini who was planted in the animated corpse of Bathilda Bagshot. Harry and Hermoine managed to escape through the window of the second floor of Bathilda’s home. Hermoine had earlier warned Harry to not go to the Hollow as Voldemort would be expecting him. She later changed her mind as the only known sword that would be able to destroy the Horcrux is the Godric Gryffindor’s Sword.

Bathilda Bagshot was an elderly historian who knew Harry’s parents and where they were buried and also knew Dumbledore. For this reason, Harry must have thought that the sword is with Bagshot who received it from Dumbledore to give to Harry. When the two arrive at the old village, they come across his parent’s grave where they spend some time.

They sense an old woman looking at them so they ask her if she is Bagshot, to which she nods. They follow her to her house and she tells Harry “Come!” from the other room because of which Hermoine did not understand that he was talking to the lady who was actually Nagini.

Here is an interesting theory about the bite Nagini gave to Harry during the combat. The snake bite Ron Weasley got in the initial movies could not be healed with magical power as the snake was a magical being.

However, Hermoine could heal the bite with her power which either means he did not want to harm Harry severely because Voldemort told her to hold him, or, Harry could speak parseltongue because of which Nagini had a familiar feeling of being Horcruxes.

What did Dumbledore know about Nagini and Voldemort?

Later in the franchise, Dumbledore wants Harry to kill Nagini and tells him nothing of the snake’s past or what Harry should really be doing to save the world. The reason for Dumbledore not telling Harry about the snake’s past is either because he does not really know about Nagini’s past, or he does not want Nagini’s past as a human to cloud his judgment which might stop him from killing the snake.

Dumbledore knows that Harry values human life and would not want to harm or kill anyone who has the soul of a human. As destroying the Naginicrux is essential in saving himself and the people around him, it would be difficult to carry out the mission if he has knowledge of Nagini’s past. The most likely reason would be that Dumbledore realizes Nagini’s connection with Voldemort because of which letting Harry know about the past would be an unnecessary obstacle.