Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about the book. See Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (film) or Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (video game) for other formats.

Harry Potter Books
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Author	J.K. Rowling
Illustrator	Giles Greenfield (UK), Mary GrandPré (US)
Genre	Fiction
Publisher	Bloomsbury (UK), Scholastic (US), Manjul Publications (India)
Release date	2000
Number in series	Four
Sales	12.7 Million (US)(as of December 2006)
Dedicated to	"Peter Rowling, in memory of Mr Ridley and to Susan Sladden, who helped Harry out of his cupboard"
Story timeline	1994-1995

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is the fourth book in the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling. Published on July 8, 2000, the release of this book was surrounded by more hype than any other book in recent times — outdone only by its successors, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. At 636 pages (hardback British edition) it was fairly large for a children's book. The book attracted a lot of attention owing to a pre-publication warning from J.K. Rowling that one of the characters would be murdered in the book. This started a stream of rumour and speculation as to who the murdered character would be. The publication of Goblet of Fire caused unprecedented heights of Pottermania to be reached internationally.

This novel won a Hugo Award in 2001.

Contents 1 Editions 2 Prior to release 3 Plot overview 4 Detailed plot 4.1 The Quidditch World Cup 4.2 The Triwizard Tournament 4.3 Little Hangleton's graveyard 4.4 Young Crouch revealed 5 Points of interest 6 References 7 External links

[edit] Editions

Bloomsbury (United Kingdom, Australia, Canada etc.)

• ISBN 0-7475-4624-X Hardcover
• ISBN 0-7475-5099-9 Paperback
• ISBN 0-7475-6940-1 Hardcover (adult edition)
• ISBN 0-7475-7073-6 Paperback (adult edition)

Scholastic (United States etc.)

• ISBN 0-439-13959-7 Hardcover
• ISBN 0-439-13960-0 Paperback

See Harry Potter in translation for foreign editions

[edit] Prior to release

For a short while, the fourth book was titled Harry Potter and the Doomspell Tournament by numerous bookstores. J.K. Rowling expressed her indecision about the title in an Entertainment Weekly interview. "I changed my mind twice on what [the title] was. The working title had got out — 'Harry Potter and the Doomspell Tournament.' Then I changed 'Doomspell' to 'Triwizard Tournament.' Then I was teetering between 'Goblet of Fire' and 'Triwizard Tournament.' In the end, I preferred 'Goblet of Fire' because it's got that kind of 'cup of destiny' feel about it, which is the theme of the book."

[edit] Plot overview

Harry is allowed to spend his remaining summer holiday with the Weasley family and Hermione Granger before attending the Quidditch World Cup. One night, Harry has a nightmare that the Riddle manor's caretaker (Frank Bryce) is investigating a suspicious light inside the deserted house. In the dream, Lord Voldemort and Peter Pettigrew are discussing how to capture Harry. Voldemort intends for Barty Crouch Jr. to somehow get to him. Voldemort's giant snake, Nagini, informs Voldemort that the muggle is standing outside. Voldemort kills Bryce with the Avada Kedavra curse, causing Harry to suddenly awake with his scar throbbing in pain.

Harry, Hermione, and the Weasley family set off for the Quidditch World Cup and meet up with Amos Diggory and his son, Cedric. At the top of a hill is an old boot that is actually a portkey that teleports the group to the World Cup. The Diggorys and the Weasleys head for their respective lodgings. The Weasley party stay in tents that appear small and ordinary from the outside, but upon entering, magically open into large comfortable abodes. At the stadium, they encounter Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge and the Malfoys just before the match begins. That evening there is a loud commotion. Arthur Weasley rushes outside to investigate. Returning, he orders everyone to leave immediately; Death Eaters are attacking Muggle bystanders. Harry, Ron, and Hermione run into the woods to hide. There they see Draco Malfoy casually leaning against a tree and enjoying the ensuing pandemonium. The Dark Mark suddenly appears in the night sky, causing more terror and panic. Harry discovers his wand missing, although when it is found, it is implicated in conjuring the Dark Mark. (It is later revealed to have been stolen by Bartemius Crouch Jr, who was hidden under an invisibility cloak in the top box.)

At Hogwarts, the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, retired Auror "Mad-Eye" Moody is introduced. Students also learn that the wizarding world's Triwizard Tournament will be held at Hogwarts. One student from each competing school (Hogwarts, Beauxbatons, and Durmstrang) will be selected as champions. Mr Crouch issues an announcement that students under age 17 are ineligible to compete. To enter, students place their names into the legendary Goblet of Fire. The Goblet selects Cedric Diggory, Fleur Delacour, and Viktor Krum, as the respective champions. Mysteriously, the Goblet also chooses a fourth champion, Harry Potter. He is magically bound to compete, even though he realises he has been deliberately put in grave danger. However, Ron, along with the majority of the school, believes he cheated to enter. Ron also becomes jealous over the constant attention Harry receives and stops speaking to him.

Hagrid reveals to Harry and Madame Maxime, Headmistress of Beauxbatons Academy that the first event involves battling a dragon to retrieve a golden egg. Igor Karkaroff, Headmaster of the Durmstrang Institute, also knows. Only Cedric Diggory is unaware, but Harry tips him off. Harry jointly wins the first task with Viktor Krum. After seeing just how dangerous the first challenge was, Ron realizes Harry did not cheat to get into the Tournement, and they reconcile.

At Christmas, students attend the Yule Ball. As a Tri-Wizard champion, Harry is required to have a partner for the opening dance. He invites pretty Ravenclaw student, Cho Chang, who he has a crush on, but she is already Cedric Diggory's date. He instead asks his classmate Parvati Patil. Ron impulsively invites Fleur Delacour, although he screams instead of asking, and runs away before she can answer. Eventually, Ron goes with Parvati's twin, Padma. At the dance, both boys, along with the rest of the school, are stunned to see a beautiful Hermione on Viktor Krum's arm. The first signs of Ron's feelings for Hermione become evident, and he is jealous of Krum. Fleur's partner is Ravenclaw Quidditch Captain, Roger Davies.

To repay Harry for helping him with the dragons, Cedric Diggory gives him a clue about how to solve the Golden Egg's riddle; it is needed for completing the second task. Each champion must rescue a friend who has been placed underwater in the Loch by the merpeople. Harry must rescue Ron, Hermione by Krum, and Cedric is to save Cho Chang. When Fleur Delacour is unable to reach her younger sister, Harry remains behind to also rescue her, earning Fleur's respect, but causing him to finish second. He is now tied for first place with Cedric Diggory.

The final event is a grueling maze within which the Triwizard Cup is hidden. Whoever retrieves the trophy first is the victor. Harry and Cedric reach the Triwizard Cup together. Because they helped each other and neither could have won without the other, they agree to grab the cup simultaneously. However, the cup is actually a Portkey that transports them to a graveyard. Awaiting are Peter Pettigrew and Lord Voldemort. On Voldemort's command, Pettigrew kills Cedric and then uses Harry's blood in a macabre ritual to restore Voldemort’s full body. Voldemort summons the Death Eaters and then engages Harry in a duel. But unknown to Voldemort, their wands are "brothers"—each contains a tail feather from Dumbledore's phoenix, Fawkes—and they will not work properly against one another. Voldemort has underestimated Harry's growing power as a wizard. Harry forces the wands' locked streams backwards into Voldemort's wand, forcing "echoes" of his victims to spill out, including Cedric and James and Lily Potter. The images momentarily shield Harrry, allowing him to escape through portkey with Cedric's body.

After Voldemort's plan fails, Moody attempts to kill Harry, but he is saved by Dumbledore, Snape, and Professor McGonagall. Moody is exposed as being young Barty Crouch, who imprisoned the real Alastor Moody in a magical trunk and used polyjuice potion to impersonate him. Moody was kept alive because his hair was needed as an ingredient for the polyjuice potion. Crouch entered Harry’s name in the goblet and ensured that he reached the Triwizard Cup. He is captured before he can harm Harry, and with veritaserum, forced to confess to Dumbledore, McGonagall, and Snape, but a dementor sucks out his soul before he can repeat his story to Cornelius Fudge, who refuses to believe Voldemort has returned.

[edit] Detailed plot

[edit] The Quidditch World Cup

After his usual unpleasant stay at the Dursleys, Harry Potter spends the rest of his summer holiday with the Weasleys before attending the Quidditch World Cup with them and Hermione. Disrupting this pleasant time is Harry's disturbing dreams of Voldemort and Peter Pettigrew (Wormtail) killing a muggle and plotting how to get to him. Harry, Hermione, and the Weasleys travel to the World Cup using a portkey, a seemingly ordinary object that is actually a magical transportation device. Accompanying them are Amos Diggory and his son, Cedric. During the meet, Death Eaters attack Muggle bystanders, but they flee when the Dark Mark - Voldemort's sign - mysteriously appears in the night sky. The mark is determined to have been conjured by Winky, although it was actually Bartemius Crouch Jr, a former Death Eater, who cast the spell using Harry's stolen wand. Winky is a house elf that serves Mr Crouch, a respected official at the Ministry of Magic who immediately fires Winky. Crouch's cruel treatment of Winky prompts Hermione to start campaigning for elves' rights.

[edit] The Triwizard Tournament

There is a surprise for Hogwarts students at the start of the new school year. The new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher is famed Auror (a wizard trained to fight the Dark Arts) Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody, an eccentric who manages to simultaneously terrify, awe and amuse the students with his combined paranoia and astonishing knowledge and intelligence. Also, the Triwizard Tournament, a centuries-old interschool competition that was banned due to its increasingly dangerous "tasks", is to be revived and held at Hogwarts. The prize is 1000 galleons. Students hoping to compete, place their names into a large cup - known as the Goblet of Fire - that will shoot out one name from each competing wizarding schools (Hogwarts, Beauxbatons, and Durmstrang). After choosing the famous Quidditch player and Durmstrang student Viktor Krum, the eerily beautiful Fleur Delacour of Beauxbatons, and Hogwarts Hufflepuff student Cedric Diggory, the Goblet unexpectedly also selects Harry Potter - even though he is underage and a Hogwarts champion has already been selected. Harry is deemed magically bound to participate, even though he never entered his name. He now suspects he is deliberately being put in grave danger. Many outraged students believe he cheated to enter, including his best friend Ron Weasley, who becomes jealous and resentful over the constant attention heaped on Harry. Deflecting Harry's attempt to avoid his new unpopularity is Rita Skeeter, a revolting and unethical journalist who writes bogus stories about him.

Hogwarts gamekeeper Hagrid reveals to Harry and Madame Olympe Maxime, the giant, elegant Headmistress of Beauxbatons Academy, that the first task involves battling a dragon and retrieving a golden egg from its nest. Igor Karkaroff, Headmaster of the Durmstrang Institute also spies the dragons. Only Cedric Diggory is unaware, and believing this is unfair, Harry informs him about it. Professor Moody not only praises him for tipping off Diggory but also gives him a hint on how to retrieve the egg. At the first challenge, the champions randomly draw numbered miniature dragons from a silk bag, indicating which species they will face. Harry will be last, having drawn the Hungarian Horntail, the most dangerous dragon. With the aid of his broomstick, Harry outmaneuvers the dragon and steals the golden egg. After seeing how terrifying the challenge was, Ron realises Harry did not cheat to enter.

The golden egg provides the clue to the Second Task, which takes place in February.

At Christmas, students attend the Yule Ball. As a champion, Harry is required to attend and participate in the opening dance, but both he and Ron have difficulty finding dates. Harry asks Cho Chang, but she is going with Cedric Diggory. After Ron makes a fool of himself by asking out Fleur, he off-handedly invites Hermione. She curtly declines, saying she already has a date, but won't say who. Harry eventually arranges for himself and Ron to take the beautiful Patil twins, Parvati and Padma.

On the night of the Ball, Hermione arrives as Viktor Krum's date, stunning everyone with both her unexpected attachment and her suddenly beautiful appearance. Seeing Hermione with Krum provokes jealousy in Ron, and he, along with Harry, spends the night ignoring his own date while glaring at Hermione and Krum. When an elated Hermione comes over to talk to Ron and Harry, Ron lashes out, accusing her of "fraternising with the enemy". Shocked and appalled, Hermione angrily tells him that the next time there's a ball to ask her "before someone else does and not as a last resort!" She storms off to the girl's dorms, leaving a stunned Ron behind.

Despondent, Harry and Ron take a break from the ball to hang out outside where they overhear Hagrid talking to Madam Maxime and learn that she and Hagrid are half-giants, which Ron finds unusual as giants are not exactly "nice".

The second challenge is fast approaching, but Harry is unable to solve the egg's riddle. To repay Harry for tipping him off about the dragons, Cedric gives him a hint. Harry solves the riddle and learns he must retrieve something taken by the Black Lake merpeople. Dobby gives Harry gillyweed which allows him to breathe underwater. At the task, each champion must retrieve someone close to them. These are: Ron (for Harry), Hermione (for Viktor), Cho Chang (for Cedric), and Fleur Delacour’s younger sister, Gabrielle, who have been put under protective spells and are tethered underwater. Although Fleur is quickly eliminated, Harry, Cedric and Victor reach the hostages easily. When Harry attempts to rescue both Gabrielle and Ron, the merpeople try to prevent him, but Harry threatens them with his wand. He surfaces with both and is awarded extra points for "moral fiber".

For the final event, the four competitors must navigate a maze filled with dangerous creatures and spells, within which the Tri-Wizard cup is hidden. Harry and Cedric reach the cup together, and because they helped each other, agree to grab the trophy simultaneously, ensuring a Hogwarts win.

[edit] Little Hangleton's graveyard

The trophy is actually a Portkey that transports Harry and Cedric to a graveyard - there they find Peter Pettigrew and Lord Voldemort. Voldemort orders Wormtail (Pettigrew) to kill Cedric ("Kill the spare!") using the Avada Kedavra curse. Harry's blood is then used as part of a macabre ritual to restore Voldemort to his full physical form and grant him protection from the charm that has shielded Harry since he was a baby. Voldemort then summons the Death Eaters and attempts to kill Harry in a duel to prove that "the boy who lived" will not be his undoing again.

However, because Harry's and Voldemort's wands are formed from the same core - a tail feather from Dumbledore's phoenix, Fawkes - a freak phenomenon known as Priori Incantatem occurs, in which the wands connect by a golden light. Harry uses all his power to force the stream backwards into Voldemort's wand which spills out ghostly echoes of its past victims - including Cedric, Frank Bryce, Bertha Jorkins, and Harry's parents. The echoes protect Harry as he escapes to the portkey which transports him and Cedric's body back to Hogwarts.

[edit] Young Crouch revealed

Harry returns to Hogwarts amid a swirl of confusion and grief caused by his disappearance and Cedric's death. To protect Harry from the intense situation, Professor Moody escorts him to the castle. But back in his office, Moody reveals himself to be a Death Eater and tells Harry it was he who entered his name into the Goblet and ensured that he succeeded throughout the tournament to be delivered to Voldemort. As Moody is about to kill Harry, Dumbledore fires a powerful stunning spell through the locked door and bursts in, followed by Severus Snape and Minerva McGonagall. With Snape's Veritaserum, it is revealed that "Moody" is actually Bartemius Crouch Jr who has been using polyjuice potion to impersonate the real Alastar Moody, who has been imprisoned in a magical trunk for the entire year.

Learning Voldemort has arisen, Dumbledore revives the Order of the Phoenix. Snape and the Durmstrang Headmaster are revealed to be ex-Death Eaters, although Dumbledore trusts Snape, who becomes an Order member. Before Bartemius Crouch Jr can repeat his confession to Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, his soul is sucked out by a Dementor via the Dementor's kiss. The Minister's refusal to believe Voldemort has returned results in Dumbledore being removed from several important posts within the wizard community, and his and Harry Potter's reputations are maliciously maligned in the next book.

[edit] Points of interest

This book contains what might be considered only the second instance of narrative not delivered through Harry's point of view - the first chapter, in which the murder of Frank Bryce by Voldemort is described. However, Harry is in fact aware of the events in the chapter to some degree, as they appear to him in a dream. [The first book of the series (Philosopher's Stone) described Uncle Vernon's encounter with various wizards while the sixth book (Half-Blood Prince), published in 2005, contained the next instance of narrative outside Harry's point of view throughout the chapters entitled The Other Minister and Spinner's End].

In this book, Harry's world expands both physically and figuratively. He goes to places he has never been before (the moor where the World Cup is held, the graveyard). In Goblet of Fire, Harry once again exemplifies his valiant bravery. From his battle with the Hungarian Horntail dragon, to his bold undertakings in the frigid waters of the 2nd task, and to his extraordinary duel with Lord Voldemort in the graveyard, these acts prove the main character’s courage. Harry also meets a vast number of people of various nationalities and all types. He learns some profound lessons about good and evil, and the difficulty in distinguishing between the two. This is particularly exemplified in the fake Moody, but other characters like Bagman, Crouch and Karkaroff are all examples of various degrees of evil, or evil and good mixed in strange and unpredictable ways.

In many ways, this book can be seen as the turning point of Harry's transition into adulthood (which is in fact the topic of this whole series). Harry has certainly left childhood behind – for example, he "discovers" girls in this book. But he also encounters far more unpleasant aspects of adulthood, from unwanted and malicious publicity to the death of a schoolmate.

The magical world takes on an international aspect in this book, with the introduction of the World Cup and the Triwizard Tournament, including the two other large European schools of Magic, Beauxbatons and Durmstrang. The crisis caused by Voldemort's return in the end also, in a way, helps to bring the world together.

J.K. Rowling promised the Goblet of Fire would be the longest book in the Harry Potter series, but broke this promise when Order of the Phoenix was released. However, Order of the Phoenix has now been said to be the longest book Rowling will write, but this was not confirmed by Rowling.

This book mentions the name of a real person, Natalie McDonald, who was a terminally ill child who wrote to Rowling asking her to divulge the plot of "Goblet of Fire". With the exception of people of ancient times, such as Nicolas Flamel, this is the only book to do so.

Some readers claim that during the final chapter (when the horseless carriages appear) an inconsistency occurs between facts mentioned in previous novels. At this time, Harry has witnessed a death, so he should be able to see the thestrals pulling the carriages. However as J.K. Rowling pointed out later, to see the thestrals means to have seen and accepted death. As Harry has not quite fully accepted the death of his classmate yet, the thestrals remain invisible to him until the following year. The only previous deaths during which Harry was present occurred when he was a baby (his parents) and when he was unconscious (Quirrell); therefore, Cedric's is the only death Harry has fully witnessed and comprehended by the time he returns to Hogwarts for his fifth year.

On page 450, US Edition(Scholastic), Dumbledore states, "If, however, the owners of the wands force the wands to do battle... a very rare effect will take place. One of the wands will force the other to regurgitate spells it has performed - in reverse. The most recent first. . . and then those which preceded it. . . .". It is written many times in the series that James Potter was murdered before Lily. Therefore, logically, Lily, the more recently killed of the two, should emerge from Voldemort's wand before James during the Priori Incantatem scene. However, in the original edition of the book, James Potter comes out first, and says, ["Hold on, your mother is coming and wants to see you."]. Rowling had originally written that Lily emerged from the wand first. However, her American editor, in the rush to edit the book, incorrectly pointed this out as an error, and Rowling "changed it without thinking."^[1] Subsequent editions of the book corrected the mistake, and Rowling's original order (Lily appearing before James) stands as canon.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire extended information
• Fans of Fantasy, One of the largest Fantasy sites on the web with Eragon, Potter, and much much more.
• Book Summary: Goblet of Fire
• Errors & Mistakes: Goblet of Fire
• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire publication history at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database

J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series
Philosopher's Stone	book	film	game	soundtrack
Chamber of Secrets	book	film	game	soundtrack
Prisoner of Azkaban	book	film	game	soundtrack
Goblet of Fire	book	film	game	soundtrack
Order of the Phoenix	book	(film)	(game)
Half-Blood Prince	book	(film)
Book Seven	(book)
Other books			Other games
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them			Harry Potter: Quidditch World Cup
Quidditch Through the Ages
Plot – Characters – Places – Spells – Translations – Fandom – Related articles - Quidditch