United Kingdom cover of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
United States cover of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is the fourth book in the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling. A film version of this book was released in November of 2005. This book is seen by many fans as the beginning of darker times in the wizarding world, as it shows the return of Voldemort as well as the death of a major character.
Synopsis
Harry Potter has been invited to come with the Weasleys to the Quidditch World Cup. One mention of his godfather, the "convicted murderer", is enough to convince Vernon Dursley to let him go.
While at the World Cup, Harry meets Winky the house-elf, a friend of Dobby's, saving a seat for Barty Crouch, who never shows up. Fred and George Weasley meet Ludo Bagman and bet him their life's savings on the game. After they win, Ludo reluctantly hands over the gold.
The night after the match, a group of masked Death Eaters torment some local Muggles. Harry, Ron and Hermione run into the woods, away from the event. About the time Harry realizes his wand is missing, they hear someone nearby incant "Morsmordre", and they watch the Dark Mark float into the sky.
The Ministry is quick to the scene, stunning anything that moves. After determining that Harry had nothing to do with the Dark Mark, they search nearby to find Winky holding Harry's wand. A quick spell proves that Harry's wand conjured the Dark Mark. Even though Harry doesn't think Winky did it, Barty Crouch publicly fires her.
With the start of the new school year, Professor Dumbledore announces that a very special event is going to take place at Hogwarts this year: The Triwizard Tournament. The Tournament calls for a single champion from each of the three largest wizarding schools in Europe to compete in a series of trials for the prize of one thousand Galleons. Before long, hosts from the two other schools, Beauxbatons Academy of Magic and Durmstrang Institute arrive, and it is announced that the three champions will be decided by the Goblet of Fire, an enchanted artefact that chooses the most worthy entrants from those students who submit their names. An age limit on entrants permits all underage wizards from entering the tournament, excluding Harry, Ron and Hermione from submitting their names.
The champions are soon announced: Cedric Diggory of Hufflepuff is to represent Hogwarts, Fleur Delacour for Beauxbatons, and Viktor Krum, the Seeker for the Bulgarian Quidditch World Cup team, representing Durmstrang. But then a fourth name is thrown from the Goblet of Fire: Harry Potter. Since Harry did not submit his name, nor could he have due to the age restriction, the assembly is dumfounded, none moreso than Harry himself. Although protests issue from the heads of the other schools against two Hogwarts champions, it is decided that the Goblet of Fire has spoken and that changes must be made accordingly. While many think Harry has somehow gotten around Dumbledore's age restricting barrier, the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, an ex-Auror named Mad-Eye Moody, suggests that perhaps someone entered Harry's name under a fourth school to ensure he would be included in the competition, hoping he might not survive the perilous tasks that awaited the other champions.
Harry's entry into the competition strains his relationship with Ron, who feels once again left in the shadow of his friend, the great Harry Potter. Ron is not alone in shunning Harry; a great many of the students from all three schools assume he somehow cheated his way into the tournament, making Harry's life miserable. As if that weren't enough, Harry develops a hopeless crush on Ravenclaw Seeker Cho Chang.
Though Ron refuses to speak to Harry, he does pass on a message via Hermione that Hagrid wants to see him. The Gamekeeper sneaks Harry into a meeting with Madame Olympe Maxime, Beaxbaxton's Headmistress, through which he reveals that the first task will involve dragons. Harry is also given advice from Moody on how to approach the task. Realising the other schools' champions know about the dragons, Harry tips off Cedric to make sure the contest is fair.
Harry, with a little help from Moody and Hermonie, manages to survive the dragon task, despite being up against the most violent of the four dragons, the Hungarian Horntail. Harry manages to summon his broom and fly past the dragon and catching the golden egg, the prize of the task.
Harry is told that opening the egg will give him the clue for the next task, but when it opens, only a screeching noise can be heard. With a hint from Cedric Diggory, in return for warning him about the dragon, Harry opens the egg underwater and realizes he must save someone he loves from under the water. Even with help from Hermonie and Ron, who has now forgiven him, Harry struggles to think of a way to breathe underwater for two hours. With a little help from Dobby, Harry discovers gillyweed, and manages to save Ron from under the water. He was, however, slightly side-tracked by making sure all the other captured loved-ones were saved, and when Fleur Delacour's sister is not saved, he drags her to the surface as well, Although this means he is over the time limit, his bravery and valor earn him extra points from the judges.
Later, Harry and the other champions are informed the next task will be in a maze, filled with magical obstacles, and while Victor Krum and Harry are discussing this, a rather mad looking Barty Crouch Sr emerges from the forest, asking for Dumbledore. Harry goes to retrieve Dumbledore, but when he returns, they find Krum has been stunned and Crouch is no where to be seen.
Not long later, Harry looks into Dumbledore's pensieve and into his memories, not only discovering the Bary Crouch's son was sent to Azkaban but that Snape was in fact, a Death Eater at the time of the First War.
At the third task, Harry successfully makes it through the maze, aided by Diggory, and they decide to grab the Cup simultaneously. Unknown to them, the Cup is actually a portkey that transports them to an old cemetery, in the village of Little Hangleton. Awaiting them is Peter Pettigrew, who is carrying what appears to be a deformed infant. This creature orders Wormtail to kill Diggory, who abolishes, leaving Harry in shock and angry. Harry is then stunned and tied to a tomb-stone. Here, his blood is taken by Wormtail, who also cuts off a hand and places both these things into a cauldron at the creatures command. The creature is revealed to be Lord Voldemort, and the potion made by Wormtail, has brought him back, with the new ability to touch Harry. This also means the magic of his mother has also been lifted, since now the same blood runs through both their veins.
Voldemort reveals that he has a servant at Hogwarts who has ensured that Harry would win the tournament and be brought to the graveyard. After summoning his Death Eaters (Including Lucius Malfoy) , Voldemort challenges Harry to a duel. However, his wand and Harry's are "brothers". As the wands' streams interlock, a Priori Incantatem effect occurs, causing the spirit echoes of Voldemort's victims, including Harry's parents, to spill out from his wand. The echoes momentarily protect Harry, allowing him to grab the portkey and escape to Hogwarts with Diggory's body.
When he arrives back at the school, many of the students begin to cheer before they see the body of Cedric. Harry is then ushered away by Moody, and taken to his office where he sits in shock. As Moody probes Harry for information, he reveals he knows that Harry was taken to the graveyard. Realising that Moody is in fact the servant at Hogwarts, Moody attempts to kill Harry. Before he has the chance, the teaching staff burst in and slip Moody veritaserum where he reveals he is in fact Barty Crouch Jr, who was secrectly released by his mother from Azkaban, and has been using the Polyjuice Potion to disguise himself as Alastor Moody all year. Before Crouch can repeat his confession to the authorities, however, Minister for Magic Cornelius Fudge, who refuses to believe that Voldemort has returned, arrives at Hogwarts, along with a Dementor which sucks out Crouch's soul. Dumbledore quickly reinstates The Order of the Phoenix, and a memorial feast for Cedric is held, where Dumbledore tells the school what has happened in the graveyard.
Book chapters
- The Riddle House
- The Scar
- The Invitation
- Back to the Burrow
- Weasley's Wizard Wheezes
- The Portkey
- Bagman and Crouch
- The Quidditch World Cup
- The Dark Mark
- Mayhem at the Ministry
- Aboard the Hogwarts Express
- The Triwizard Tournament
- Mad-Eye Moody
- The Unforgivable Curses
- Beauxbatons and Durmstrang
- The Goblet of Fire
- The Four Champions
- The Weighing of the Wands
- The Hungarian Horntail
- The First Task
- The House-Elf Liberation Front
- The Unexpected Task
- The Yule Ball
- Rita Skeeter's Scoop
- The Egg and the Eye
- The Second Task
- Padfoot Returns
- The Madness of Mr Crouch
- The Dream
- The Pensieve
- The Third Task
- Flesh, Blood and Bone
- The Death Eaters
- Priori Incantatem
- Veritaserum
- The Parting of the Ways
- The Beginning
Deaths
| Character | Killed By | Cause Of Death | Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bertha Jorkins | Voldemort | Unknown | Unknown |
| Frank Bryce | Voldemort | Avada Kedavra | The Riddle house |
| Barty Crouch Sr. | Barty Crouch Jr. impersonating Alastor Moody | Unknown | Forbidden Forest |
| Cedric Diggory | Voldemort (Pettigrew in film) | Avada Kedavra | The Riddle House Graveyard |
Movie
In 2005, the movie version of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire was introduced to the ever so popular series. This movie was one of the longest "HP" films with an estimated time of 2 hours 22 minutes. This movie is the fourth of seven installments that shall come in the next few years.
Trivia
- The book presents the second instance in which the opening narrative is not delivered through a point of view close to Harry: Chapter 1 - "The Riddle House". The first instance is Chapter 1 of Philosopher's Stone - "The Boy Who Lived" which is told from the perspective of Vernon Dursley.
- Presents a greater international aspect to the wizarding community - World Cup, the Triwizard Tournament, two European schools of Magic (Beauxbatons and Durmstrang), and possibly two other international schools (The Salem Witches Institute and an unnamed school in Brazil).
- Mentions the name of a real person - Natalie McDonald, who was a terminally ill child. A friend wrote to Rowling, asking her to divulge the plot of "Goblet of Fire" as a favour to Natalie. With the exception of people of ancient times, such as Nicolas Flamel, this is the only Harry Potter book to so honour an individual.
- On page 697, US hardcover 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. . . .". The series has maintained 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.
- Mad-Eye Moody says there is no known way of blocking the Avada Kedavra curse. However, Harry blocks it with his own spell in the battle against Voldemort, creating the Priori Incantatem effect. Dumbledore also blocks the spell with physical objects in the following book. However, Moody may have been referring to a lack of any spell that can block the Avada Kedavra curse as opposed to physical objects or the Priori Incantatem effect, a rarity in itself.
- Dumbledore was said to have a "gleam of triumph" in his eyes when told that Voldemort had restored his body using Harry's blood, at the end of Goblet of Fire (Ch. 36). Rowling has confirmed that this is "still enormously significant". It turns out that this was very significant because when Voldemort used Harry's blood to revive himself he made it so that as long as he lived Harry couldn't die, as revealed in The Deathly Hallows.
| J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Philosopher's Stone | book | film | games | film soundtrack | game soundtrack |
| Chamber of Secrets | book | film | games | film soundtrack | game soundtrack |
| Prisoner of Azkaban | book | film | games | film soundtrack | game soundtrack |
| Goblet of Fire | book | film | games | film soundtrack | game soundtrack |
| Order of the Phoenix | book | film | game | film soundtrack | game soundtrack |
| Half-Blood Prince | book | film | games | film soundtrack | game soundtrack |
| Deathly Hallows | book | film 1 | games 1 | film soundtrack 1 | game soundtrack 1 |
| film 2 | games 2 | film soundtrack 2 | game soundtrack 2 | ||
| Cursed Child | script | play | |||
| Fantastic Beasts film series | |||||
| Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them | book | screenplay | film | game | film soundtrack |
| The Crimes of Grindelwald | screenplay | film | film soundtrack | ||
| The Secrets of Dumbledore | screenplay | film | film soundtrack | ||