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"If you look down at those golden eggs you’re all holding, you will see that they open ... see the hinges there? You need to solve the clue inside the egg — because it will tell you what the second task is, and enable you to prepare for it!"
Ludovic Bagman explaining the purpose of the golden eggs[src]

The golden egg was a magical device and the goal of the First Task of the Triwizard Tournament. It was about the size of a regular dragon egg and placed among the female dragons' eggs, where Viktor Krum, Fleur Delacour, Cedric Diggory, and Harry Potter had to retrieve them. This was very difficult, considering that they only had Wands and their knowledge of spells.[2]

Description[]

"It was hollow and completely empty — but the moment Harry opened it, the most horrible noise, a loud and screechy wailing, filled the room. The nearest thing to it Harry had ever heard was the ghost orchestra at Nearly Headless Nick’s deathday party, who had all been playing the musical saw."
— The horrible noise produced by the egg when opened in open air[src]

The eggs contained disembodied merpeople voices singing a song to the champions, letting them know that they had to come to the lake and rescue something very valuable to them, which turned out to be a person very close to each of the champions. As the voices were those of merfolk, they could only be understood underwater.[1] If opened in open air, the egg would screech (like a banshee) and make a horrible racket.[3]

History[]

Harry Prefect's bathroom 1

Harry in the prefect's bathroom working out the clue of the Golden Egg

Harry Potter did not pay much attention to the egg the first weeks, the reason being him thinking he had hordes of time. He did not figure out the clue until he took the advice of Cedric Diggory and 'took a bath' with the egg. With the urging of Moaning Myrtle, Harry opened it up underwater. After some contemplation, he asked Myrtle if there were merpeople in the Black Lake. When she confirmed this information, Harry got out of the bath and headed back to the Gryffindor Common Room.[1]

When heading back to the common room, he fell through a trick step in the staircase and dropped the egg, after seeing 'Bartemius Crouch' on the Marauder's Map, which he assumed to be Barty Crouch Snr. Caretaker Argus Filch found the egg and, because Harry was under his Invisibility cloak, assumed that Peeves had stolen it. The egg was returned to Harry after 'Professor Moody', who was really Barty Crouch Jnr, secured the egg from Filch.[1]

The egg's clue[]

The Golden Dragon Egg 01

The Golden egg when it opens

Come seek us where our voices sound,
We cannot sing above the ground,
And while you're searching ponder this;
We've taken what you'll sorely miss,
An hour long you'll have to look,
And to recover what we took,
But past an hour, the prospect's black,
Too late, it's gone, it won't come back.

[1]

Behind the scenes[]

Film version[]

Come seek us where our voices sound,
We cannot sing above the ground,
An hour long you'll have to look,
To recover what we took.

[5]

  • The soundtrack for this is named 'Underwater Secrets' and lasts 2:26 minutes, although only half of that time is the merpeople's song from the Golden egg. The rest of the song goes:

An hour long you have to look
To recover what we took
Your time's half gone so tarry not
Lest what you seek stays here to rot.

Appearances[]

Wiki
The Harry Potter Wiki has 78 images related to Golden egg.

Notes and references[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Chapter 25 (The Egg and the Eye)
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Chapter 20 (The First Task)
  3. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Chapter 21 (The House-Elf Liberation Front)
  4. LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4
  5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (film) - Chapter 21 (Mischievous Myrtle)
The Triwizard Tournament
Triwizard Cup
Objects & Locations: Goblet of FireCasketGolden eggHedge MazeTriwizard Cup
Schools: BeauxbatonsDurmstrangHogwarts
1994-1995 Triwizard Champions: Fleur DelacourViktor KrumCedric DiggoryHarry Potter
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