Jacob Kowalski



"I want to be a wizard."

- Jacob to Newt Scamander in 1926

Jacob Kowalski was an American No-Maj who lived at 435 Rivington Street New York during the 1920s.

Jacob fought in the First World War in the 1910s. Returning to the United States, he found work in a cannery, but dreamt of becoming a baker. On 6 December 1926, he went to Steen National Bank to apply for a loan of $2300, but was turned down. While at the bank he met Newton Scamander, a British wizard who stopped in New York City on his travels to find and document magical creatures.

Early Life
Jacob was born around 1900. He fought in the First World War before he returned home to the United States of America in 1924 where he found work in a cannery despite hoping to become a baker. By late 1926 he was engaged to Mildred.

Meeting with Newt Scamander
While visiting the Steen National Bank to secure a loan to set up his own bakery, Jacob meets Newt Scamander when he arrived to find the Niffler that had escaped his suitcase. As Newt left suddenly to chase his Niffler, Jacob noticed that he accidentally left his Occamy egg behind. Before he could return it, Jacob was summoned to banker Gilbert Bingley's office. Jacob presented Bingley with his suitcase full of pastries, but Bingley questioned how Jacob would return the loan and pointed out that his proposed bakery would not produce the same revenue as a factory and thus rejected his application. As he left the office, Jacob noticed that the egg was about to hatch and called out to Newt, who pulled the egg, and Jacob accidentally, with a Summoning Charm and Disapparated them onto the stairwell near the bank vault. Just as Newt recaptured his Niffler, Bingley arrived at the vault and, seeing the pilfered deposit boxes, mistakenly assumed that Jacob was trying to rob the bank, and sounded the alarm. Newt quickly placed a Full Body-Bind Curse on Bingley and Disapparated himself and Jacob on the outside of the bank just as the guards arrived. Subsequently, Newt tried to Obliviate Jacob, but the No-Maj unknowingly grabbed the Newt's briefcase, hit him with it, and fled.

When Jacob returned home without a bank loan, his fiance Mildred left him. Shortly afterwards, Jacob placed the case down only to find something protesting inside. As Jacob approached it, the lid opened and loose several magical creatures escape, including a murtlap that attacked and bit Jacob. Following escaped billywigs back, Newt and Porpentina Goldstein arrived at Jacob's apartment, finding it half destroyed and Jacob unwell due to a reaction to the Murtlap bite. Newt restored Jacob's apartment to the original state, and Tina agreed to take Jacob with them to her place.

Retrieving the creatures
At Tina's house, Jacob met Queenie Goldstein who made them dinner and strudel. In the evening, he watched Newt walk down into his suitcase and followed him after Newt invited him in. He met Newt's collection of creatures and heard about how Newt hoped to care for them as they were rejected by the wizarding world. Jacob wandered through various landscapes as Newt did a headcount of each creature to see which he needed to find. Jacob found an Obscurus which Newt described as a dark entity and advised Jacob not to touch it. They decided they need to retrieve the missing Erumpent first and leave the suitcase.

However, Newt found out that the Niffler had escaped again. They returned to the bank where Jacob kept watch while Newt tried to get the Niffler to put back the silver and gold it had tried to steal. Newt and Jacob then found the Erumpent which chased Jacob but they were successful in returning it to the suitcase. However, when they got in the suitcase, Tina, who had followed them, locked them in and took them to headquarters of the Magical Congress of the United States of America, where they, including Tina, were arrested by Seraphina Picquery and Percival Graves.

Jacob was later saved by Queenie, who led him, Newt and Tina away from MACUSA. They journeyed to a wizarding nightclub where the friends met Gnarlack to find information about an escaped Demiguise. They were forced to flee when Gnarlack turned them in to MACUSA agents who mounted a raid.

They found the Demiguise and the hatched Occamy, which had expanded itself into the size of a dragon. Jacob helped to shrink it by luring it into a teapot with a cockroach.

Following a battle against Graves, Seraphina states that Jacob's memory needs to be erased, giving Newt, Tina and Queenie a moment to say goodbye to him. Jacob then steps into the Obliviating rain, with Queenie giving him one last kiss under a magical umbrella before leaving him standing there alone and confused.

Returning home
Jacob returned home where he set up his bakery (with Newt providing anonymous help by giving him some Occamy eggshells as collateral for the bank loan). There, he baked various pastries and confections of unusual shapes, surprising and delighting his customers. Only those in the know would realise that shapes bore an unusual resemblance to the same magical creatures he had encountered with Newt. One day, Queenie visited the shop, sparking Jacob to remember his time with her, Tina and Newt.

Behind the scenes

 * Dan Fogler is set to play the role of Jacob in the upcoming film trilogy Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. In an interview, Fogler stated his character will speak with a historical Brooklyn accent, similar to that of early 20th-century comedian Lou Costello. He has likened the relationship between Jacob and Newt as being akin to that of Holmes and Watson, or Don Quixote and Sancho Panza.

Notes and references
Jacob Kowalski Jacob Kowalski Jacob Kowalski Джейкоб Ковальски