In the "Harry Potter" series, we learn about the magical art of Legilimency. It's a way to search into someone's mind, read their thoughts, and understand them.
In "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them," the J.K. Rowling-written "Harry Potter" spinoff movie coming out this November, we'll be introduced to a new, more powerful kind of Legilimency.
Queenie Goldstein, who works a desk job at the Magical Congress of the United States of America (MACUSA), sounds like a very skilled legilimens — even more so than other characters we've seen from the "Harry Potter" series such as Severus Snape or Voldemort.
Alison Sudol, the actress who play Queenie, says she's able to pick up the thoughts and feelings of everyone around her. She's "like an antenna," according to Entertainment Weekly.
Here's how Sudol described playing her magical character to EW:
"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."
In the movie, we know that Queenie is the sister of Porpentina Goldstein, who works in the same department in MACUSA as her sister. They cross paths with Newt Scamander, the main character of the film, in New York.
Legilimency is normally thought of as a sort of dark magic in the "Harry Potter" series. It's used by Voldemort to interrogate minds. It's also normally used with a spell, although objects can also be enchanted to use the skill, like the Sorting Hat.
In Queenie's case, it seems more like an innate magical ability, much like Metamorphmagi, who can change their physical appearance without using a wand.
That means that Queenie's brand of Legilimency will be quite unlike anything we've ever seen before from the "Harry Potter" series. And that's a good thing.
We can't wait for November.
