How The Fantastic Beasts 3 Trailers Lied To Us About Jacob

Think back to the early days of "Harry Potter" when the titular wizard went to obtain his first wand. Garrick Ollivander held his own shop in Diagon Alley, and whenever he presented a wand to a young witch or wizard, he would discuss both the material the exterior was made out of and the core. From phoenix feather to unicorn hair, this property becomes adeptly suited to the holder of the wand. However, an interesting caveat about the wand Newt presents Jacob in "The Secrets of Dumbledore" is that it contains no such core. It's made out of snakewood, but there's nothing inside, rendering it virtually useless. All Jacob can do is look moderately threatening when he later confronts Grindelwald (Mads Mikkelsen) at the dining ceremony. 

This is in sharp contrast to the trailers where we see Jacob seemingly performing wondrous magic with his wand. He creates a storm around Grindelwald and his minions, but of course, it's not actually Jacob performing the spell. Right before he thinks he's about to do something magical, Professor Lally Hicks (Jessica Williams) conducts a charm to make it seem like Jacob's the one doing the magic. It's all part of the illusion to make everyone believe an assassination attempt took place and was credible. 

At the end of the day, it makes sense. Jacob isn't a wizard, so there's no way he would be able to perform magic. Plus, it makes sense at the end of the film when he asks Dumbledore (Jude Law) if he can hang onto the wand. It's pretty much just a fancy piece of wood at that point, so Dumbledore doesn't see the harm.