i often think about the fact that newt and leta were the closest and loved one another (either platonically or romantically) at a time when newt and theseus’s relationship was incredibly fraught, and newt was perhaps the furthest in theseus’s shadow that he’d ever been
(i headcanon that theseus joining the war was actually very complicated, and him becoming a war hero was also contentious, just based off the divisive politics at the time and the fact it makes little sense for wix to deal with veterans of that war the same way Muggles did…so by that time, theseus is already less perfect, less of what newt is expected to be. but by 15, theseus was already given the responsibilities of a man and expected to be fully moulded into what the family needed; so newt at the same age would face the most pain about it, i think, especially considering its such a tender and emotional age).
i think newt would be forced to talk about theseus as a somewhat good brother, not necessarily because he feels that way, but because he feels guilty he isn’t normal and because everyone /knows/ theseus. and also, while theseus is flawed, in many aspects he is doing what’s expected of a good brother — being protective, being physically caring (eg., when we see him carefully bandage up newt’s hand as if he’s done it many times before), giving advice and being firm, being able to generally moderate himself when he knows he’s being too much (eg., when they argue, we see theseus cuts himself off, gentles his tone, but is still visibly frustrated). it should be good but it doesn’t feel right.
because newt hasn’t found his place in the world and newt isn’t allowed to exist separate from his brother. as an autistic boy in a school of that era, I imagine the comparisons and punishments and self-directed frustrations would be endless. he can’t sit quietly and be still and pay attention, he can’t remember all the tasks and responsibilities, he can’t be presentable, he can’t be friendly to people, he can’t be well-liked, he can’t operate in the microcosm of wixen society Hogwarts seems to be…
so newt gets to know leta entirely without her knowing theseus at all, I’d imagine. neither of them ever really leave Hogwarts for the holidays and we know from the films that while theseus sends newt letters, newt doesn’t reply. newt is trying to escape and avoid his family context as much as he can. so leta and theseus don’t meet until leta’s mid-twenties… and leta only knows theseus through what newt tells her
and even then theseus himself is more of a footnote to the shadow he casts over newt. newt is able to show leta that sadness, loneliness, frustration, insecurity he feels from having a brother and their relationship, and together they are one another’s first recognitions of the person outside of the family name and expectations weighing them down.
I don’t think newt can survive the three of them being a trio without healing from that old trauma first. I don’t think newt can cope easily with a world where leta loves theseus, because newt’s relationship with leta was once the one thing outside of newt being defined by what he wasn’t, and what his brother was.
I often think about how leta must have felt, getting to know and falling in love with theseus, and what reservations or surprises she had in the process. how theseus was different or similar to the myth. the resentment I also think she might have had, the childish memories of being a comrade-in-arms against this 23 year old theseus they remember.
it also makes me feel very sad for newt. because theseus is a good person, and tries to be a good brother, but it doesn’t mean it wouldn’t have hurt. theseus could have been perfectly nice (and I’m sure he wasn’t) and newt would have been judged so badly by society, judged for being autistic, judged for his choices to be less conventional anyway. in that way i think they were always going to be doomed by other people.
it’s just the images they all carry of one another, you know? and I think at some point in their adult lives, newt and theseus have a significant reconciliation, mostly newt recognising theseus as a full person, too, and theseus having to finally acknowledge all the pain he’s caused newt and commit to changing quite unconditionally. and then there’s leta, who holds everything at once
I’m not even sure where I’m going with this, but I was working on a fic and just thinking. they’re all so interlinked 🥹
