Category: Uncategorized

Niffler is extremely anxious when he is outside of the case or other safe spaces designed by Mummy whenever he is stuck in his stupid human body. While this can be mitigated so long as Newt is nearby, ultimately speaking jailbreaks are not nearly as common as they used to be. He prefers to stay where he absolutely 100% knows that he is safe and surrounded only by sett humans. 

That said, this does not mean he does not still “borrow” just about anything shiny he sees. Initially he was horrifically distressed by the realization humans do not have pouches and at first he thought his was somehow missing. When it was made clear to him that humans just don’t have them, he was utterly boggled. ( A good protip to getting him into a shirt would be to magic a frontal pouch with an extendable charm onto it for his comfort. ) 

This does result in him at times taking things and patting them against his stomach with a look of confusion that fades quickly to a sort of existential exasperation that would be absolutely comical on such a young face if one didn’t know how old Niffler technically is, how very tired of all this nonsense, and admittedly that inside that head is really not a human mind at all, but very much a niffler one. 

For the most part everything he takes in the case or elsewhere he generally polishes and puts back or in a new spot for Newt to find, but there is doubtless times when he is caught at it or when he just forgets to put things back where he found them and will need to be reminded not to do that. At least now he might understand better. ( Don’t count on it… )

Niffler Physiology And Behaviour 

Mun Note: This is 100% my own work based off my own research into various animal habits and my own ideas for how my niffler works, thinks and operates. While folks are welcome to use this if they wish I do ask that you get my permission first, and absolutely do not reblog this post as I would rather not have it floating around outside my little space if possible ❤

Food & Hunting: 

Nifflers are omnivores. They are particularly fond of barley, maize, oats, and any berry they can get their wee paws on. Those who have access to human markets will often show fondness for apples, peaches and pineapples as well.

Their primary source of nutrition however comes from crabs, crayfsh, earthworms, fish, frogs, large insects, and shellfish. While it is possible for nifflers to take on small mammals (as large as rabbits, in fact!), their bills and clever paws are better built for holding on to slippery prey and cracking open shells. 

What is more, nifflers prefer to maintain a healthy social dynamic with land animals as their burrows and latrines tend to interconnect with badgers more often than not. Nifflers are quick and slippery on land, but are far faster in water and almost impossible to catch when hunting without the use of magic. 

Gold, Jewelry, & Shiny Things:

Nifflers have an incredible attraction to shiny things, and much like their fastidious badger neighbors are very keen on keeping such items highly polished and well cared for. 

If something is dusty or spotted it is very disgraceful to a niffler and will be immediately rectified – it is for this reason that they consistently hunt for forgotten shinies, as there is nothing more disappointing to a niffler than neglected treasures. 

However, on their hunt for things to polish and hoard, they do note when things are well loved or worn. These pieces in particular they polish up their very best before putting it somewhere almost enshrined for it’s true owner to find again.

Though they also have the habit of taking anything shiny someone happens to be holding for inspecting and cleaning, nifflers generally make an attempt to bring these things back. Sometimes they forget – or don’t bother. It all depends on how rude one gets when something is being borrowed for a cleaning!

By that standard though, new things, such as jewelry in shops, are considered free game because they are just sitting about unattended and unloved. This is often what makes them so very unmanageable – to a niffler, it’s just borrowing, or plain being helpful – but to most people, it’s a rather notorious predilection for theft!  

Social Behaviour:

Nifflers are incredibly social creatures. They live in underground burrows that are passed on through the generations, work together to raise their young and even invite other species into the sett when winters are particularly tough. They are known for making friends with their neighbors, putting them very at ease with badgers, foxes, and rabbits.  

Being as clean as badgers, they can travel through badger burrows without causing much fuss and being capable of opening shellfish they are able to provide foxes with treats. In turn, foxes will protect them from larger predators and bring them harder to fetch food scraps. 

Nifflers can usually find a way of getting on with most creatures, being rather placid and peaceful animals themselves. They are playful as otters and are deeply family oriented. When a niffler dies it pulled from the sett and buried outdoors. The area is then guarded until the carcass is too putrid for carrion eaters, before a trinket is hidden nearby that nifflers from the family will polish regularly. This indicates to non-related nifflers that this trinket is a marker, and may result in polishing from strangers as well. This is how they are remembered through generations. 

Nifflers groom one another with their bills and claws, paying particular attention to the back and the neck, which is always hardest for one to reach. They can also be inspired to do this for others who share the sett, as knotted and gnarled fur is never fun and they are always happy to lend a paw in these situations. It is a sign of affection and friendship for a niffler to groom someone, but can at times just be a sign that one is lamentably dirty.

While very placid and friendly creatures, nifflers have all the ferocity of badgers when their home is threatened. They give warnings with growls and snaps, as well as by kicking dirt with their hind paws. If this doesn’t work they puff out their fur to look much bigger and make loud barking noises. If this fails, they will attack – their bills will snap, latching on to necks or chests and they will hold on in order to kick with their back claws as hard and frequently as possible while gripping like little pitbulls. They usually attack in groups, but a lone niffler will do the same if they or their sett is threatened. Nifflers are vicious when family is at stake and will have no care to themselves if it means family can get to safety. This is often how poachers catch them, as one simply needs protective gear and can walk off with the attackers to have them sedated while the others flee. 

If taken from the sett: 

Nifflers are typically very troublesome as they fight to get home again. Typically the fastest method of calming them is a forgetfulness potion; by forcing them to forget where home is, they become immediately dependent on their handler as this is now their only home. They can become extremely distressed by change afterward, and very easily lost. They lose some of their ability to trust their own senses and are always aware that this is Not Home, but with no ability to Find Home, they must simply build a new one.

It is for this reason nifflers are notably affectionate toward human owners after being captured and sold illegally. The niffler has accustomed themselves to the fact that this is their home now, and as such adopts the human into their sett-function. However, they can be prone to despondency and fits of bad behavior.

The former will result in one’s niffler simply laying about and not moving, hanging limply in the hand, refusing to eat and even turning away from shiny things. This depression can be alleviated either by releasing the niffler into a sett, where they will be quickly adopted by their fellows and may even find their way back to their proper sett with their help, or by bringing a pet into the home. Nifflers are particularly fond of cats, dogs and literally every other magical creature. They do not like owls. 

The latter is a direct result of how determined to get home your niffler is. They will do everything in their power to encourage you to set them free. The best way to tame this (aside from more doses of forgetfulness potion!) is to hold your niffler frequently. Frequent holding and pets and patience will lead to something like domesticity, as the niffler will come to learn that you need them – and though you aren’t the home they want, they will make the home you need, because they’re at their core very helpful creatures.

What This Means For Trouble: 

Trouble is – in the plainest of terms – a rescue animal. Newt is hardly likely to take a social creature from it’s burrow – but obtaining one from a known seller or through some other means is highly likely. Trouble never settled in with his first human – he was taken from his sett and immediately focused himself on getting back, refusing to accept that he would be lost. All he needed was another niffler and he would be fine.

Trouble’s tenaciousness wasn’t good for him, He was impossible to domesticate and was very fight-ready, as he was a young boar taken from his sett just after pups were born. This attitude problem lead to all manner of stress for the poor fellow before Newt got hold of him, and he developed an extreme distrust and distaste for humans throughout the ordeal that Newt has managed to somewhat alleviate. 

Because he is completely surrounded by magical creatures, Trouble’s worst behaviours did fade rather quickly as he settled into a feeling of home. Newt’s case became his sett – but now and then it hits him that there are no nifflers here, which means this is not home, which means he needs to find home. Whenever this hits, off on an adventure he goes – and he might make it if he wasn’t constantly distracted by shiny things.

Once distracted by shiny things, he’s off on a whole other mission, completely forgetting that he wanted to find home, because his tiny niffler brain knows he has a safe and good home with Newt in the case. So it becomes a nonissue (though it is very much proof of how bad forgetfulness potions are on nifflers) and he is eventually found by Newt and is more than happy to go home, convinced he’d just gone on a polishing mission until the need to find his family hits again, and well.

Off he goes.

Thankfully, there is always an abundance of shiny things to distract him, and he has built a very safe and happy home and nest with Newt. Instinct is very hard to fight, and he knows he has another place he belongs – but ultimately, if he ever did make it back to a niffler sett, he would miss Newt and his family in the case rather desperately, as they are very much his sett now.  

Notes Regarding Niffler Vocabulary

Mun Note: This is not a complete list; much of the way niffler thinks and defines things will likely occur to me as roleplay continues. When new definitions arise, they will be added to this and I will make a note that it has been updated. 

Kin vs Human
People is a human term, for humans. It isn’t a term that the niffler would make use of, until he has a better grasp of English and forming human words. Animals is the human way of grouping together everything that is not human and once the niffler has a better understanding, he will probably take offense to the term in general. 

Humans are just that – they are human. Groups of humans, to the niffler, are herds or packs. Humans in herds are usually just those going about daily tasks and walking down the street, while humans in packs are actively posing as threats. 

Pack means predator, which means danger, which means run and hide, or stand and fight. When niffler starts referring to people in terms like pack, hunter, sett robber, nest wrecker, he is either angry or scared and liable to run or to fight. When they are referred to as herd, big plodders, good pets it means he is comfortable, ultimately uninterested, or fond. 

Only one human is considered sett or family to niffler and that is of course Mummy. (As Newt consistently states mummy’s here it has lead to the niffler conclusion that Mummy is his human’s special name. It may be very hard to shake him of this belief.) 

Kin are any beast that are not human, while sett kin are fellow niffler. Referring to a human as kin is literally never done. Humans are not like kin – they are not as well understood or trusted. For a human to be like kin is truly the grandest compliment niffler can possibly give, outside of sett human. Sett humans are niffler’s humans, which makes him possessive of them as he is of his treasure and nest. He will defend them as though they were part of his sett and again, there is presently only one human with that honor, though there are some kin (such as Pickett) who are also considered to be sett. 

Other Animals
Niffler has different terms for most animals than we do, based mostly on what they do. The only exception being birds and fish – literally everything with wings is a bird-type while everything that lives primarily in water is a fish-type. Snake-types are slithers while bug-types are crawlers. Herd animals are plodders while pack animals are hunters, and lone predators are stalkers. Humanoid creatures are called little humans. 

So occamy are slither birds, while bowtruckle would be little human crawlers. If niffler is particularly familiar with one, then chances are he will use their special name, or their personal identifier. This is a way of individualizing them from the collective, indicating they have importance. Niffler using the name of someone means they matter; continued refusal to use a name means he either doesn’t like you, is bored by you, or you have done nothing of significance to make him remember. 

Fur vs Clothes

Niffler is unfamiliar with the term skin. He knows fur, feather, scale and flat fur which is what creatures like humans, pigs, cows, horses, deer and etc have. He learns hair eventually, though prior to this he simply called it head fur. 

Clothes are a damn alien concept to this little dude. He calls them false fur because it is, very much, fake fur over flat fur, which is wholly ineffectual which is obviously why humans need false fur. He understands the function in this sense – but he hates it. Shoes make him bitterly unhappy and he has a very hard time with them (much like a dog in booties, the lack of his own traction messes him up terribly.)  He is usually fine with pants – pants have a lot of uses, he rather likes pants. Shirts he can do without, and whenever he can get away with it – well. He sure tries.

Gellert is a Naturalist – his magic works much differently from the general populace ( more on this in particular can be read here, with particular emphasis on naturalist magic located here,here and here. ) The reason I bring this up yet again was because @indiscretus asked me something about a particular statement made in the ‘naturalist magic as presented by my characters’ portion:

In short, Gellert was never meant to maintain himself or perform in the way that he did, and this caused extensive damage on him psychologically over time.

While I did intend to frame a long format elaboration, I think with the sheer amount of content in regard to naturalist magic already something short and to the point might be a little bit more kindly.

Technically speaking, Gellert should be dead 18 times over because as an Earthbound Naturalist,he was meant to serve as an anchor point — he literally belongs to the earth — so he should have spent his life and his magic walking and traversing the paths open to him because of that, restoring himself and increasing the power of worn down areas. Had he gone his actual life path – had he been trained in the right era – he’d be a sort of druid like figure that heals the land and animals.

As it was, he was instead constantly draining his reserve with explosive displays of power, losing control through his temper, and nearly destroying himself again and again because he was too busy fighting a war to understand the depths of what his body needed. He survived mostly out of sheer dumb luck and timing, as well as the earth at times literally yeeting him to a nearby safespot. ( As mentioned in another headcanon, he has literally apparated without his own conscious will on a few occasions and woken up in powerful zones that reconnect him to the earth as a whole, thus replenishing his magic )   

In short, 

he was never supposed to be a combatant as his body was literally not built for it. What handling techniques he developed over the years came together first through guesswork, and later through encountering people with esoteric interests who were able to direct him in better understanding his magic, his body, and his needs in general, though by that point in his life, all of the damage had already been done or was set so thoroughly in motion, nothing short of faking his own death as Gellert Grindelwald and living on as one of his personas ( or even a new one, truth be told ) could possibly have saved him and permitted him to walk the path he was born to be part of.

The Friendship Of Albus & Gellert

Please note that I do not approve of JKR’s approach to homosexuality and that, as well as how short the canonical friendship actually was ( eight months and that was with a lot of stretching and fucking around with the timeline. Technically speaking it could have been as short as three ) are huge contributions to why I have never once managed to ship Gellert and Albus, despite being complete and utter trash for it as a mun. 

While Albus players are welcome to approach this friendship with Unrequited Romantic Feelings™ I need to make it abundantly clear that in the timeline that they knew one another, there was absolutely no sexual component and Gellert absolutely did not make any conscious efforts to ‘lure’ or ‘seduce’ Albus Dumbledore. They were seventeen year old nuclear power houses who found a sense of belonging together due to finding a fucking equal in life, and that’s the tea. 

Gellert is a Naturalist – his magic works much differently from the general populace ( more on this in particular can be read here, with particular emphasis on naturalist magic located here, here and here. ) He has been othered the better majority of his life on account of the fact magic works differently for him – producing better results in some cases, and catastrophic or simply queer results in others. And then he meets Albus Dumbledore – someone his own age whose powers are just as incredible, just as intense, just as strange and frankly speaking, just as bizarrely OP. 

What Gellert found in Albus was something he had been craving ever since he was a child. He found acceptance and joy for his magic rather than restrictions and fear – he found someone who could celebrate magic with him and explore it for all its potentials, without judging him or envying him. When things went wrong he found an optimistic alternative just by having Albus with him. 

Their abilities were wild but what truly stood out, aside from all the shenanigans ( for there were many! ) was the fact that together, they found a kind of freedom and joy their oppressive society had never before permitted them to truly experience, and it was absolutely liberating in all respects. That Albus still remained trapped and fettered by his family was the only shadow that was cast on their friendship – for Gellert adored Ariana and was as completely accepting of her, as Albus was accepting of him. 

It never occurred to Gellert that Ariana should not come with them. That they could not take care of her as they explored the world together was such an unexpected notion when it was presented, because it never felt to Gellert as though Ariana was a danger. Between himself and Albus, he saw no reason they could not protect her and help her to regain her control, help her heal from her fear and her grief. She was always a part of the picture to him – Aberforth never was. Gellert saw Aberforth as a threat, but that is a whole other headcanon in and of itself. In short, Gellert loved two Dumbledores very deeply, because they loved him for exactly who and what he was, and there was no shame to be found when he was with them.  

A short look at some of the things Gellert did with Albus that help further illustrate the sheer level of over powered ridiculousness that was this whirlwind of a friendship include:

  • During attempts to use an archaic summoning rituals, Gellert and Albus had the tremendously horrible habit of calling forth entirely the wrong things. ( Solid example, getting a hippogriff when they meant to summon a canary to sing for Ariana. ) 

  • Gellert being forcibly apparated away from Albus by his own magic on account of depleting himself almost unto death. ( It looked less like apparition and more like someone punted him directly into the path of a portkey ) He came to nearly 200 miles from where they had been performing magical feats, utterly drained at Stonehenge.

    When Albus retrieved him they stayed there until the next morning, as Gellert was overwhelmed by a strange terror of leaving. When Albus came too, Gellert was chasing sheep, only to turn around and run from an Angry Scotsman like the absolute idiot that he is. 

    • ( @forttem knows exactly how ridonkulous this is like I made it sound so much more serious but really it was more like *yeet* *im cute dont be mad* *SHEEP WILL EAT YOUR HAIR* so I mean. Don’t take Grindelwald too seriously when he’s a kid I guess ) 

  • Gellert draining his magical resources occurred on five occasions while he was showing off with Albus, and it was Albus who came to the life saving conclusions that Gellert needed to always have his feet on the ground when he performed magic and he should walk barefoot through grass and foliage whenever he got headaches or nausea / whenever his magic stopped working properly. 

  • Albus once woke Gellert up at five in the morning and suggested they go swimming in Bali, “because it is probably noon.” Without asking a single goddamn question, a very sleepy Gellert went with Albus to Bali ( where it was in fact 1pm and Gellert became lowkey convinced Albus was just intimately tied to time or something ) They discovered together that Gellert is very, very allergic to shellfish and is absolutely not allowed to ever eat lobster or crab ever again so long as he lives. 

  • 90% of their friendship was LOOK WHAT I CAN DO and then proceeding to do something absolutely ridiculous and often OP magic wise. They were basically Jackass but for Wizards With Too Much Power.
  • The fact Gellert was still learning English when he met the Dumbledores and would frequently go on tangents in Swedish only to switch to German when confronted on the fact he was speaking the wrong language, because Albus was learning German at the time and it was a good way to transition while also aiding his friend in the pursuit of knowledge. 

    • @forttem‘s Dumbledore only; the language switching was very general with Gellert but Albus learning German is specifically related to Alex’s interpretation! 

Sirius & The Firebolt 

–  AKA We Stan Goblins

There is something I never got around to telling you during our brief meeting.  It was I who sent you the Firebolt – Crookshanks took the order to the Owl Office for me. I used your name but told them to take the gold from Gringotts vault number seven hundred and eleven – my own. Please consider it as thirteen birthdays’ worth of presents from your godfather.

– Prisoner of Azkaban

– Page 315

– Bloomsbury

– Chapter 22, Owl Post Again

I am sorry but

– how did Sirius Black really get Harry the Firebolt? He was on the run from the Ministry

– any attempt to access the Black fortune ( or his own ) would surely have been noted by someone, and then there is the process of buying the broom after that fact. We have to suspend disbelief in order to have this gift make any form of logical sense

– while a cat delivering an order is acceptable with the rules of the Harry Potter universe based on owl post, there is still a massive contradiction in the fact that this worked. 

While it is reasonable to believe the ‘Ministry is inept’ theory, and that they wouldn’t think to monitor vault 711 for any activity like a competent government agency on a man hunt, as Rowling will spend the next three books outlining How Very Foolish the wizarding government is as a whole, we still have to characterize goblins as being easily bamboozled 

– which we know is not canonical with their structure. 

From day one we learn that Gringotts breaches are punishable by death and that it has the best security in the world ‘except for Hogwarts’ and yet

– we are expected to believe that Notorious Mass Murderer Sirius Black’s vault gets an order for a top of the line racing broom from “Harry Potter” and they just

– paid it out? Seriously? 

I don’t think so. The goblins would not withdraw from Sirius Black’s vault without Sirius Black himself signing off on it

– the order to the broom company being in Harry Potter’s name makes sense, but the withdrawal of money itself would have absolutely required Sirius Black to authorize it. 

Meaning the goblins knew, full well, that it was Sirius Black who ordered the racing broom for Harry Potter, and they paid it out anyway. Without informing the intended recipient of the broom, without informing the aurors or the government, without saying a damn word to anyone about the nature of the order, they fulfilled their role and made the payment as according to their client’s wishes. This stands in line with the fact they do not interfere with wizards

– though how it plays into them still working within wizarding law is a bit of a stretch but:

Unless you are expressly authorized by the Bank to do so, you must not allow any unauthorized person to have access to books, papers or electronic records of various kinds belonging to the Bank, nor furnish extracts thereof, nor give information of any kind relating to the business of the Bank. 

– Bank of England, Declaration of Secrecy

Apart from when they are preventing serious injury to life or property, the police must have reasonable grounds for believing that the person they are looking for is on the premises in order to enter without a warrant.

–

citizenadvice.org.uk, Police Powers

Now, friendly reminder here. Sirius Black was never given a trial. This means he was never lawfully convicted of his crimes. Which, by extension, means that the wizarding government doesn’t have a leg to stand on in the demand for information on Sirius Black’s vault activities by the very strict technicality that their ‘reasonable grounds’ are unlawful and the goblins have no need to acknowledge them.

In short, goblins care more about rules and following the law than the actual fucking lawmakers do, and also, any means of harassing, frustrating and just plain making life difficult for these overbearing assholes that seem to be under the impression they get to dictate the rights, roles and social structures of other functioning societies by deeming them ‘creatures of near human intelligence’ is probably something Gringotts employees deeply enjoy partaking in, which is why when they received an order from Sirius Black they followed through on their duties to their client without a single fuck to give about the Ministry, and honestly I think that is delightful. 

Gellert Grindelwald: Going Forward

I have spent the entire night pouring over Gellert’s verses and redesigning my approach to the FANTAB franchise strictly from Gellert’s standpoint. Frankly he is my only “elder muse” directly affected by it and due to that he is my only source of ferocious contention  –  with new muses like Abernathy and Jacob I can run around as I need with new releases and fix things in two seconds flat. 

However with Gellert, I have my own character integrity to keep in mind. I have been writing him for years prior to the release of these films and while I want to be fandom relevant – I refuse to do so at the cost of the character I’ve poured so much of my heart and soul into. 

So in order to compensate and compromise without straight up saying fuck you to new interactions because I am so not okay with my Gellert being compared to, aligned with, or even remotely treated like the man we see in the films, I have completely altered his verses tab and drawn up a whole new approach to the franchise — while still keeping all the effort made from 2016 onward, because that has lead to a lot of interactions with my friends that are deeply important to me now. Here’s how they are split:

Main Arc 

The main arc of this blog is based on the canon I built for Gellert before the Fantastic Beasts franchise began. While inserts have been added for FB:WTFT and for throwing the entire canon of CoG out the window, they are heavily divergent and will require you to read the cliff notes on the links page. 

Otherwise, the overall story spans from 1898 – 1998 and will not be incorporating anything more from the film franchise beyond the adjustments made in 2016 and a minor follow up to how that story ended for 2018. 

For a more canon approach to Fantastic Beasts ( and for Percival Graves players in particular ) the following arc is used:

 Fantastic Universe

This is the default setting for the Fantastic Beasts canon franchise. In short – Deppwald is an impersonator and my Gellert is positively confused by his very existence. My lad and his wife play more like background Slytherins than active participants. That said, these verses are compatible with Percival Graves players, and designed for easy adjustments as Fantastic Beasts films are released.

These verses can be as involved or as distant as threads and plots demand and require. There are fix it alternatives included and it is overall a giant self indulgent side story where Gellert’s wife lives, because she is literally the only thing in this universe that would keep him from turning Deppwald into a potato and burying him six feet under ground rather than letting the franchise continue lmao. 

What This Means

I am pulling back on the ‘restricted muse’ idea because frankly – I don’t want to stop writing Gellert with new people because some people are unkind or unwilling to treat canon divergence respectfully. Gellert is now arranged in a way that I feel comfortable with – while his main arc is for older partners and people I’m used to writing with, his Fantastic Universe is open to everyone. 

Me: In the unlikely event that Abernathy would end up in a ship with a woman —

Kitty: *shows up with her Queenie in tow*

Me: – icb he would buy her slippers cause her feet are cold and she’s a blanket hog but he loves her anyway and in conclusion we stan