GoF Chapter Seventeen

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

*Of course there can't really be four champions. Winning is what matters. Second champion is just another word for loser. The eternal glory will be ours!

*Would not want to be Harry here. Yipes. Though it's kind of funny to think how it was known that lots of underaged people were trying to join, so would everyone have laughed and cheered if Fred or George had gotten through? Or is it just that Hogwarts already has its champion that's the problem, besides the fact that Harry freakin' Potter gets everything?

*I wonder if that was part of Voldemort's evil plan: He'll be so embarassed walking up to that Head Table! It's eeevil!

*If it is part of the plan, it's the only part that worked out. Voldemort: the villain who causes acute embarassment! Mwahahaha!

*I love that Dumbledore's all not smiling at Harry, as if this is all Harry's fault and a serious bad thing Harry's done that's disappointed him and not perhaps a sign that his security measures were crap.

*Well, if nothing else at least Fleur's rediculooose accENT lightenz zee mood. Will Harry now be subjected to a French taunting? Your muzzer vas a hampster and your fazer smelt of elderberreez, 'Arry!

*The other champions are tall. Remember who our child hero is, folks. He is wee and gentle. Sympathy! Now!

*Oh, the age restriction was only imposed this year. Which perhaps explains why it's so badly handled. But I doubt it.

*No ducking out now. It's against the rules. If people say this enough times it will make sense in detail.

*Why is Snape brought in here? McGonagall is the head of Harry's house but Snape's just another teacher, isn't he? Does Dumbledore think Snape is really going to make this situation better? That Snape will provide some cool, objective advice? Maybe he wanted Snape to be the one to blame it all on Potter--oh, and there he goes.

*Dumbledore even asks Harry if he asked an older student to put his name in, like he knows it's that easy. The underaged beer-buying analogy is canon.

*Dumbledore says it's possible he made a mistake with the line "politely," to make it clear that of course Dumbledore could have made no such mistake and he's a great guy for allowing this insult. Despite the fact that, in fact, Dumbledore pretty much did make a mistake with the line in thinking it was effective. DD's great power is to act humble and responsible for his mistakes while always making it clear it was somebody else's fault. See the end of OotP for some of DD's best work in this area.

*Oops, Mr. Crouch accidentally turned on the Voldemort effect there--hee! I like it. It's so OTT.

*Binding magical contract. To do what, we're not really sure, but just go with it.

*Yes, I do love that Barty comes in and announces his plan, hiding behind Moody's paranoia. Though I am a bit disappointed that he doesn't actually suggest that Voldemort has put Harry's name in the Goblet in order to turn the prize into a portkey and whisk him off for a black magic ceremony so that Snape could then rattle off 101 reasons why that's a really dumb plan.

*Crouch is definitely in character here in risking people actually listening to Moody, of course. Luckily he knows everyone will be stupid about it and that even if Harry does believe him, he's not going to do anything so silly as to not play to win in the tournament.

*LOL! I love that Crouch practially has VOLDEMORT IMPERIO'D HERE flashing in neon on his forehead, not that you notice until you're reading it later. I wonder why his skin looks papery and he's got circles under his eyes, though. Isn't Imperio a pleasant curse to be under? You'd think he'd look kind of relaxed.

*Courage in the face of the unknown is very important to a wizard. Much more important than knowing stuff, in fact. Which is, I guess, why anybody chosen to play in this game doesn't have to take tests at the end of the year. (Um, so does Cedric just get awarded some NEWTS?)

*Weatherby is over-enthusiastic--hee. Oh, I mean boo, evil ambitious Percy! That is, boo ambitious-in-the-wrong-way Percy!

*Honestly, why is Fleur even in the contest? She doesn't play Quidditch, so hardly has the courage and skill to win.

*How could anyone think Harry would put his name in when he'd be facing competitors three years older than he is? Why do I think the entire school could write 12 inches on that subject by the following morning--18 if they're Slytherin?

*Worthy of note: when Harry wonders if anyone wants him dead he manages to come up with Voldemort's name (go Harry!) but forgoes the usual addition of Malfoy wanting him dead. (And he interestingly never that I recall thinks Snape wants him dead after first year, does he?)

*Heh. I love the way Harry thinks that Voldemort, the Evilest Wizard Ever, being miles away and feebly powerless, couldn't possibly have done anything so amazingly magificent as to enter Harry in a school contest!

*Gryffindor's a little slow on deciding to celebrate, for dramatic purposes.

*I like that Harry realizes it would be melodramatic to say someone entered his name in the tournament, "To kill me," despite the fact it's not all that far-fetched.

*As much as I love Ron resenting Harry for, he thinks, entering the contest without letting him in on it, his refusal to suspect somebody is out to get Harry is a little arbitrary. As arbitrary as Ron not having any interest in Malfoy in sixth year when they all know he's really up to something. Poor Harry, the lonely hero.

*Maybe Harry should tell Ron he slipped both their names in the goblet and Ron just wasn't good enought to be champion. Ron would believe it.

*Woe is Harry! One of the only two people he felt sure would believe him! Gee, d'you think this is at all the way Ron feels when he's, like, struggling with his humiliation at Quidditch and no one gives him any help at all? Especially Harry or his brothers? Nah, it doesn't compare.





Box Picture
The poster can use that shot of all the Professors looking down at Harry in the room off the Great Hall.

IITS
Otherwise known as "It's in the binding magical contract!"

Idiot Picture
So any student could, indeed, ask an older student to stick their name in the Goblet?

Idiot World
Nobody has an alternate answer to Harry risking his life in the tournament? Really? Nobody?

Ken and Andrew’s Rule of Plot Holes
So why does everyone assume Harry must have gotten his name in the Goblet yet never question how that would explain two Hogwarts Champions?

McGuffin
I give you: The Tri-Wizard Tournament!

Misdirected Answering
Let's have a conversation about the rules of the tournament and just assume the kid somehow managed to trick the Goblet on his own. How his name got in there couldn't possibly be important. What's really important is that the age limit was just imposed this year.

"Watermelon, watermelon, cantaloupe, cantaloupe""
This chapter is the mother of all watermelon cantaloupes.

Final score: 8

Comments

[meritjubet.livejournal.com]

I wonder if that was part of Voldemort's evil plan: He'll be so embarassed walking up to that Head Table! It's eeevil!

In his unpublished memoirs, Voldemort would later claim that it was a good idea at the time (notwithstanding the vodka) and Wormtail stuffed it up.

I love that Dumbledore's all not smiling at Harry

Tetchy that he didn't go hiw own way? And that his security measure have been found... lacking in front of his peers?

Oh, the age restriction was only imposed this year

Because everyone knows it fosters good relations and friendships when the threat of constant danger is looming.

Honestly, why is Fleur even in the contest?

A girl was needed to balance all the boys. Plus, Fleur is portrayed as a temptress at 17. Brilliant female example. She probably had the own skills... which weren't really useful in the competition.

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

Tetchy that he didn't go hiw own way? And that his security measure have been found... lacking in front of his peers?

Here he loves Harry so much he's keeping the prophecy from him and Harry has the gall to mess this up?


A girl was needed to balance all the boys. Plus, Fleur is portrayed as a temptress at 17. Brilliant female example. She probably had the own skills... which weren't really useful in the competition.

Too bad there was no contest for how quickly they could do their hair or who had the fewest number of split ends.

[pacoman.livejournal.com]

Too bad there was no contest for how quickly they could do their hair or who had the fewest number of split ends.

Though Cedric, as the resident Handsome Man, would probably win that one.

[papier.livejournal.com]

LOL! I love that Crouch practially has VOLDEMORT IMPERIO'D HERE flashing in neon on his forehead, not that you notice until you're reading it later. I wonder why his skin looks papery and he's got circles under his eyes, though. Isn't Imperio a pleasant curse to be under? You'd think he'd look kind of relaxed.

I wonder if this is because of fake!Moody getting increasingly nervous throughout the exchange? He loses concentration for a moment and forgets to command Crouch to respond or act normally. Perhaps Crouch is starting to fight back a little?

Gryffindor's a little slow on deciding to celebrate, for dramatic purposes.

Love their 'every victory is worth celebrating' attitude, despite the fact that he (for all they know) cheated. Those Noble Gryffindors!

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

I wonder if this is because of fake!Moody getting increasingly nervous throughout the exchange? He loses concentration for a moment and forgets to command Crouch to respond or act normally. Perhaps Crouch is starting to fight back a little?

That sounds believable, actually. Go Crouch!

Love their 'every victory is worth celebrating' attitude, despite the fact that he (for all they know) cheated. Those Noble Gryffindors!

Silly, they couldn't have cheated! They're Gryffindors!

[(Anonymous)]

*The other champions are tall. Remember who our child hero is, folks. He is wee and gentle. Sympathy! Now!

It amuses me that Harry stays vertically challenged for as long as he needs to collect sympathy points, then starts shooting up like a weed because short adults = losers. Also that his gfs have been authorially selected for lack of height, like that early movie actor (Buster Keaton?) whose leading ladies had to be five foot nothing so he could tower over them.

DD's great power is to act humble and responsible for his mistakes while always making it clear it was somebody else's fault. See the end of OotP for some of DD's best work in this area.


I love this because it's true. Some characters who worship their own awesomeness are tolerable because they're also honest about their screwups – Poirot comes to mind. But DD seems truly unable to grasp the concept of being at fault. He thinks it means admitting that sometimes he cuts other, imperfect people too much slack, and did he mention being too noble for his own good?

- L