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Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald is a Harry Potter prequel set in 1927, decades before the events of the original novels. Throughout the film, author and screenwriter J.K. Rowling alludes to the prior books and films with a number of audio and visual callbacks. These were supposed to be little winks at the dedicated fans. Instead, they've caused unnecessary headaches to everyone who cares in the slightest about continuity in the Wizarding World.

Granted, there's always been differences between the books and the movies--sometimes, events in the novels were cut for length, or characters such as Peeves were omitted entirely. But the essential story remained largely the same. This movie makes a convincing argument for splitting the book canon from the movie canon entirely. And in a world as detailed as the one J.K. Rowling has created, any disagreement over basic details is sure to reverberate throughout the fandom.

Here are the notable Harry Potter Easter eggs and references in Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald. Much of it contradicts what we've understood and believed about the Wizarding World for years. How much of it will become canon, and whether the Potter faithful will accept it as such, remains to be seen.

If you liked this gallery, check out our official review of the film. If you're about to see the film, read our breakdown of Gellert Grindelwald. And if you've already seen the film and are gobsmacked by the ending, read our explainer of the twist.

1. The American Ministry of Magic uses thestrals.

We first learned about thestrals--skeletal, winged horses only visible to those who have known death--during one of Hagrid's Care of Magical Creatures lessons in Book 5. Thestrals were used to drive the Hogwarts carriages from the train station to the castle. In the new movie, they're used to drive the prison carriage transporting Grindelwald.

2. We hear Hedwig's Theme at Hogwarts.

When we see Hogwarts for the first time, we hear the familiar strains of John Williams' "Hedwig's Theme" in the background--an extremely effective nostalgia trigger.

3. A portkey is used for overseas travel.

The first time we see a portkey is in Book 4, when the Weasleys and Harry use one to transport to the Quidditch World Cup. Newt and Jacob use one in the new film--it's a metal bucket--to illegally transport themselves out of the UK.

4. Nicolas Flamel gets a cameo.

Nicolas Flamel has a cameo in the film as a friend of Dumbledore who operates a safehouse in Paris. Flamel was first referenced in Book 1; he's the creator and owner of the Sorcerer's Stone, which grants its possessor immortality. In fact, when Flamel opens his safe in the new film, you can see the Sorcerer's Stone inside it for a brief moment.

5. Grindelwald possesses the Elder Wand.

Grindelwald is currently using the Elder Wand, which has a distinctive knotty appearance, to cast his dark spells. According to the books, Grindelwald was the owner of the most powerful wand ever made until 1945, when Dumbledore defeated him in a legendary duel.

6. Same spells and potions, different wizards.

Lots of spells and potions from the earlier films reoccur. For example, Newt takes Polyjuice Potion to impersonate his brother, a Ministry official. Also, Grindelwald and his followers kill several people with Avada Kedavra, as made evident by its green light.

7. The Boggart scene is a lesson plan.

The boggart lesson in Book 3 was seemingly improvised; there was a wild boggart lurking in a wardrobe, and Lupin took advantage of the situation to teach a memorable Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson. But in the new movie, Dumbledore is doing the exact same lesson, right down to the wardrobe. It's all a little too coincidental, and it retroactively makes the original scene in the book feel a little less spontaneous.

Dumbledore is the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor in the movie, even though it's been well established in the books that he's the former Transfiguration professor. Perhaps, after the ministry banned from teaching DADA for not fighting Grindelwald, he switched academic departments?

8. There's famous wizarding family names everywhere.

Rowling namedrops a whole bunch of Wizarding names that might sound familiar to a Potter reader: McLaggen, Lestrange, Travers, Rosier, Carrow. These names are associated with the older, pure-blooded families in the Wizarding World, who will later become Death Eaters and Voldemort's followers (and in the case of Cormac McLaggen, an insufferable jerk).

9. Professor McGonagall is teaching, somehow.

There's a prim and proper Professor McGonagall who teaches at Hogwarts in the film, even though the Professor McGonagall we're most familiar with isn't supposed to be born until 1935.

It can't be her mother, who would have been a child at the time of the film. And it would be a meaningless red herring for there to be a different Professor McGonagall by pure coincidence. So most likely, this was a mistake of the most obvious sort, though it'll probably get explained away by some plot device. They still have Time Turners, don't they?

10. Nagini has weird racist undertones.

So according to the new film, Nagini, Voldemort's eventual snake companion, wasn't always a snake. At one point, she was a blood-cursed woman in a magical freak show. In wizard-speak, she's a "maledictus," which means that eventually, she'll be permanently transformed into her serpent form.

So, we have Asian "dragon lady" (she literally becomes a reptile!) who is utterly subservient to the white men in her life: first to Skender, then to Credence. And then, at some point, after she transforms into a snake, and she becomes Voldemort's loyal pet. Yeah, pretty awkward.

11. The Whomping Willow might be there, and it shouldn't be.

This is speculation, but some outlets have reported that the Whomping Willow makes an appearance in the movie; it might be where teenaged Newt shows teenaged Leta the bowtruckle. If true, that's a direct contradiction of canon; in the books, the Whomping Willow wasn't planted until 1971, when Remus Lupin began attending Hogwarts and needed a place to safely transform.

12. The Mirror of Erised doesn't work how it's supposed to.

At one point near the end of the film, Dumbledore looks into the Mirror of Erised and sees Grindelwald. He also sees a vision of himself and Grindelwald making a blood pact.

There are multiple problems here. The first is that the Mirror is supposed to show the looker "the deepest, most desperate desires of our hearts," according to the books. That means it shouldn't be showing Dumbledore a past memory; that's what a Pensieve is for. It seems that in the service of plot expediency, the filmmakers conflated both magical objects as a single one.

Second, does this universe really need both a blood pact and an Unbreakable Vow? They feel thematically redundant. However, a blood pact is probably breakable (with difficulty), a plot convenience that will allow Dumbledore and Grindelwald to fight in upcoming films.

And the third, final problem is that Rowling has previously told us what Dumbledore sees in the mirror, and it's not his former lover. Rather, he sees his family, including his parents, his sister, and his brother "alive, whole, and happy." And speaking of brothers...

13. There's another Dumbledore sibling, probably.

The last minute plot twist of the new film is that Credence is Dumbledore's much, much younger brother. But mathematically, this doesn't add up, especially since Dumbledore's father Percival was imprisoned in Azkaban long before Credence was born.

If he's a half-brother, then perhaps Dumbledore's mother, Kendra, had Credence out of wedlock. But none of that explains why her pregnancy had gone unnoticed and unmentioned by either Albus or Aberforth for this entire time. Also, she supposedly died before the year 1900, which would put Credence at almost 30 years old. Perhaps we'll eventually get an explanation that lays this all out perfectly. But until then, it seems more like fan fiction than an official story twist.

Notice any other Easter eggs or references in Crimes of Grindelwald? Let us know in the comments below.