Necromantic Inferi were recently revealed for the upcoming Hogwarts Legacy, and they may be a hint that Gellert Grindelwald will have a cameo in the game. Hogwarts Legacy is an action game set in the Wizarding World universe and developed by Avalanche Software. The most recent trailer shown at Gamescom 2022 showcased the Inferius as another magical creature in the game. Inferi are akin to Zombies, which also exists in the Harry Potter universe, and are closely linked with notorious dark wizards Lord Voldemort and Gellert Grindelwald. The latter’s obsession with Inferi, and their inclusion in the game open an opportunity for an appearance, since Grindelwald is alive during Hogwarts Legacy.
Hogwarts Legacy is set in the wizarding world of the Harry Potter franchise in the late 1800s. Inferi are terrifying, undead bodies controlled by magic. In the book Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Inferi play a horrifyingly memorable role as a magical trap to guard one of Voldemort’s Horcruxes. The latest Hogwarts Legacy footage shows the game’s characters breaking into vaults, experimenting with dark magic, and encountering Inferi. It seems likely that Inferi will play a similar role that they did in the book series, acting as an obstacle to players. This also potentially deepens the connection to the Harry Potter series, since Hogwarts Legacy‘s villain is related to Death Eaters.
Inferi have a strong connection to Grindelwald and may foreshadow his appearance in the game. Grindelwald was one of the magical world’s greatest threats prior to the rise of Voldemort. Grindelwald was born in the early 1880s, roughly a decade before Hogwarts Legacy takes place in 1890. Though Grindelwald was a student of Durmstrang, it wouldn’t be unreasonable for him to appear in the game during his research into the Dark Arts. Grindelwald was expelled from his school shortly around the age of 16 for conducting “twisted experiments,” according to Rita Skeeter’s in-universe biography The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore. Even more specifically, Dumbledore (potentially a student during Hogwarts Legacy) tells Harry in Deathly Hallows that Grindelwald wanted to raise an army of Inferi when they were young, though Hogwarts Legacy‘s start date makes Grindelwald either 7 or 8 years old.
Hogwarts Legacy’s Inferi Foreshadow Grindelwald’s Rise
Based on the most recent Hogwarts Legacy trailer, the Dark Arts will play an important part in the decisions that players make. Seeing monsters like Inferi will no doubt have an impact on the young characters in the game. Depending on how many years the story spans, a very young Grindelwald could have his first encounter with Inferi around the same time as the player’s. Featured Slytherin, Sebastian Sallow, could even be the person that Grindelwald first learns about Inferi from. Given how the timeline lines up, though, it would be odd if Grindelwald was near Hogwarts while still enrolled in his first couple years at Durmstrang. However, the player’s moral choices in Hogwarts Legacy leading Grindelwald to imagine his army of Inferi would be quite a compelling turn.
Hogwarts Legacy is now known to feature Inferi, and the magically revivified corpses are intertwined with the history of the wizarding world through Grindelwald. Grindelwald would be a welcome cameo in Hogwarts Legacy, and while he may be too young at the time to accurately reflect the franchise’s timeline, the Inferi are the biggest indicator of his potential appearance so far.
Source: Wizarding World/YouTube