Triwizard Tournament
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The Triwizard Tournament is a fictional tournament featured in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. It was established in the late thirteenth century and continued to the early fourteenth century as a friendly competition between the three most prestigious magical schools in Europe, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in Great Britain, Beauxbatons Academy of Magic in France, and Durmstrang Institute for Magical Study (presumably in eastern Europe, as one of its students, Viktor Krum, played for the Bulgarian National Quidditch Team). Its function was raising ties between the students. However, after the death toll mounted, the tournament was ended. Several attempts had been made over centuries but none had been too successful, including the injury of all three Heads of Participating Schools in 1792. After the last attempted revival of the tournament in 19th century, it fell into dormancy until its re-awakening in 1994 as noted below.
The Department of International Cooperation and the Department of Magical Games and Sports of Great Britain's Ministry of Magic re-established the tournament in the 1990s, this time with special precautions to avoid loss of life. The prize was a thousand Galleons.
The tournament was held in Hogwarts and consisted of three tasks taking place during the school year at intervals of several months. Each participating school would enter one contestant - called a champion - into the tournament. Entry was open to all students of at least 17 years of age and therefore legally considered adults in the wizarding world. Shortly after the other schools' representatives arrived in October, a powerful magical artefact known as the Goblet of Fire selected the champions, who were:
- Fleur Delacour from Beauxbatons
- Viktor Krum from Durmstrang
- Cedric Diggory from Hogwarts
- Harry Potter, also of Hogwarts and underage, rather inexplicably at first.
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[edit] Course of the 1990s tournament
[edit] The First Task
The first task was to retrieve a golden egg from a nest guarded by a dragon, to test the champions' ability to function under pressure. The participants were not informed of their task beforehand, or that was the idea, and they were graded on a scale of one to ten by a panel of five judges.
The breed of dragon varied from champion to champion. To determine the breed they would face, the champions drew lots. Cedric got the Swedish Short-Snout, Fleur got the Common Welsh Green, Viktor got the Chinese Fireball, and Harry got the Hungarian Horntail, the most dangerous of the four.
All four completed the task. Fleur used a sleeping charm, Krum knew that dragons are weak around the eyes and hit his with a conjunctivitus curse, Cedric utilised his talents in transfiguration to create a distraction, and Harry summoned his top-of-the-line flying Firebolt broomstick and used it to good effect to outmanuever his.
It should be noted that, contrary to the official rules, each of the four champions had, in fact, been informed about what the first task was going to be. Hagrid had received a hint from Moody to show Harry the dragons. Hagrid did indeed do this and brought Madame Maxime with him, who informed her champion, Fleur Delacour. Karkaroff had also seen the dragons, which is proven when Harry runs into him on his way back to the castle after seeing the dragons (Harry wore his Invisibility Cloak, thus preventing Karkaroff from recognising Harry). Harry later told Cedric Diggory about the dragons, seeing it as only fair since the other champions knew about the dragons as well.
[edit] The Yule Ball
The Yule Ball is held during Christmas, open to fourth years and older, though a younger student may be invited by an older student. (For instance, Neville invites Ginny, a third year.) Traditionally, the champions and their dance partners open the dance. Harry Potter's partner was Parvati Patil, Cedric Diggory's Cho Chang, Fleur Delacour's Roger Davies and Viktor Krum's Hermione Granger. In the film version, the Ball was presented as sort of a "wizard prom", with the dress robes of men resembling tuxedos.
At the Yule Ball, a violent row breaks out between Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, showcasing Ron's new found jealousy towards Krum, thus indicating for the first time his burgeoning attraction to Hermione.
[edit] The Second Task
The egg from the dragon had to be opened underwater for the next task to be revealed to them. The task was to retrieve something "valuable", which turned out to be a friend or relative, from the bottom of the Hogwarts lake. Harry's hostage was Ron Weasley, Cedric's was Cho Chang, Viktor's was Hermione Granger, and Fleur's was her little sister, Gabrielle Delacour.
All four contestants found a way of breathing underwater (Harry via magical herbs called Gillyweed, Cedric and Fleur by creating air bubbles around their heads, Krum underwent a rather distressing partial self-transfiguration into a half-shark). Potter reached his objective first, but stayed behind as Diggory and Krum rescued their hostages to ensure that all four got to safety. Fleur failed in her task, so Harry eventually returned with both his hostage (Ron) and Fleur's sister. Concerned about his brother's safety, Percy Weasley (who was acting as a substitute judge) wades into the lake himself just to make certain Ron is okay.
Grading was done in the same fashion as in the first task. Though Potter was technically a weak third, his actions were perceived as showing moral fiber instead of/in addition to being foolish, increasing his score. Harry and Cedric were tied in first place after the task.
[edit] The Third Task
The third task was to traverse a maze which had been created on the Hogwarts Quidditch pitch and populated with a variety of obstacles and creatures. The contestants were informed of this and given ample time to prepare. Instead of a scoring system, the champion who retrieved the Triwizard Cup from the centre would win. Champions were released into the labyrinth at intervals, depending on their scores so far.
The task was heavily manipulated; Fleur and Krum were eliminated because Krum was placed under the Imperius Curse (by fake Moody) and Stunned Fleur. Krum, still under the curse, tortured Cedric with the Cruciatus Curse and attempted to eliminate him also, but fortunately, Harry arrived and Stunned Krum. Cedric and Harry worked together to tie finish.
[edit] Where things went wrong
Despite the good intentions of the organisers, the Tournament was not the honourable and friendly event originally envisioned. It was wrought with corruption, including biased judges and the illegal pre-informing of the four candidates before each task.
The corruption was minor in comparison with Lord Voldemort's plan for Hogwarts. Barty Crouch Jr., disguised as Professor Alastor Moody, was charged with orchestrating Harry's victory. It was he who tricked the Goblet into forgetting that only three schools could compete, and he who entered Harry under a separate school. He aided Harry in acquiring the necessary objects for the first two tasks, and did his best to clear Harry's path of obstacles (and other competitors) in the third task.
Harry Potter and Cedric Diggory arrived to the centre together, having pooled their resources to get past the final obstacles. Unfortunately for both, Crouch/Moody had turned the cup into a portkey, which transported both champions to a graveyard where Voldemort and Peter Pettigrew lay in wait. Pettigrew unceremoniously murdered Cedric and took some of Harry's blood to use in Lord Voldemort's revival ritual. Voldemort was brought back to full power.
Harry grabbed Cedric's body and touched the portkey, returning them to Hogwarts, officially ending the Tournament.
[edit] An online Triwizard Tournament
An online version of a Triwizard Tournament was developed by the Harry Potter Dissendium web site, in association with Warner Bros, who provided promotion and prizes for what it claimed to be the "largest online Tournament of its kind to ever take place". Dissendium kicked off its online version of the Triwizard Tournament on September 1, 2005, attracting thousands of players. The event is scheduled to complete on 31 July 2006. The winners get the glory of knowing they have won the first ever tournament like it. Dissendium is also giving prizes to the most dedicated players.
