--- ---  # Everything You Need to Know About Dumbledore's Family History for _Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald_  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Nov 16, 2018 9:41 PM UTC  Jude Law in Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald Jude Law in Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of GrindelwaldWarner Bros.  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Nov 16, 2018 9:41 PM UTC **Warning:** This post contains major spoilers for [_Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald_](http://time.com/5449944/fantastic-beasts-sequel-ending/). In the final scene of _Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald_, the second installment in [J.K. Rowling’s five-film _Fantastic Beasts_ franchise](http://time.com/4572382/fantastic-beasts-harry-potter-timeline/), dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald (Johnny Depp) reveals to Credence Barebone (Ezra Miller) that he is actually [Aurelius Dumbledore](http://time.com/5450165/fantastic-beasts-harry-potter/), the long-lost brother of Albus Dumbledore (Jude Law). For many _Harry Potter_ fans, this twist will likely come as a shock. But it becomes even more complicated once you compare it against the timeline that Rowling laid out in _Harry Potter and t_ _he Deathly Hallows_. Let’s check the math of the Dumbledore family tree to see if there’s any way Credence could actually be Dumbledore’s brother—or if this is just another [Rowling red herring](http://time.com/5449944/fantastic-beasts-sequel-ending/). We know that Dumbledore is around 46 years old in _Crimes of Grindelwald_ as [Pottermore](https://www.pottermore.com/explore-the-story/albus-dumbledore) lists his birth year as 1881 and _Crimes_ takes place just a few months after the December 1926 events of _Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them_. When we meet Credence in _Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them_, he is still living with his foster mother but nearing adulthood. If we assume that he is around 18 years old, that makes his birth year 1908 (give or take a year). But here’s where things get tricky. When Aberforth, Dumbledore’s only known brother, is relaying the story of their sister Ariana’s death to Harry, Ron and Hermione in the “Missing Mirror” chapter of _The Deathly Hallows_, he reveals that their father, Percival, was imprisoned in Azkaban, where he later died, in 1891 after attacking three Muggle boys who assaulted Ariana while their mother, Kendra, was accidentally killed by Ariana in 1899. Although the year of their father’s death is not directly stated, it seems highly unlikely that he fathered another child while imprisoned in Azkaban seeing as he was probably consumed with the whole Dementors feeding on his happiness thing. However, Rowling has been known to rework the math of the Potterverse. While she originally said in an [interview](http://www.accio-quote.org/articles/2000/1000-scholastic-chat.htm) that Dumbledore was around 150 years old when he died, we know from [Pottermore](https://www.pottermore.com/explore-the-story/albus-dumbledore) that he was actually around 115 years old when Snape fired the killing curse at him on top of Hogwarts’ astronomy tower. With three films left in the _Fantastic Beasts_ franchise, there’s clearly still more we don’t know. See the Dumbledore family tree below.  Warner Bros= Fantastic Beasts 2: Dumbledore Family Tree ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5457412/fantastic-beasts-2-dumbledore-family-tree/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5457412/fantastic-beasts-2-dumbledore-family-tree/"},"headline":"Everything You Need to Know About Dumbledore's Family History for Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald","datePublished":"2018-11-16T21:41:35.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:57:24.221Z","description":"Major spoilers ahead!","url":"https://time.com/5457412/fantastic-beasts-2-dumbledore-family-tree/","keywords":["movies","Fantastic Beasts"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbae02d97ac655518/69893f24e76ad20f71633821/crimes-of-grindelwald-dumbledore.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Megan McCluskey","jobTitle":"Staff Writer","url":"https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbae02d97ac655518/69893f24e76ad20f71633821/crimes-of-grindelwald-dumbledore.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Dumbledore in Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald","caption":"Jude Law in Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald","creditText":"Warner Bros.","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/movies/","name":"movies"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5457412/fantastic-beasts-2-dumbledore-family-tree/","name":"Everything You Need to Know About Dumbledore's Family History for Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald"}}]}] ```