Why Does Krum Catch The Snitch?

[cynthiaanncoe at home.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 26585

> cynthiaanncoe at h... wrote:
>  
> > But why does Krum catch the snitch when he knows, or ought to 
know,
> > that Bulgaria would lose if he did it?  We have seen Harry hold 
other
> > seekers off of the snitch when he knows his team doesn't have the
> > points to win.  JKR must have something in mind here, but I must
> > admit that I have completely missed it.
> > 
> > Can someone straighten me out, please?
> 
Then Margaret Dean wrote:
> It's Harry himself who explains it, after Ron asks, "What did he
> catch the Snitch for?"
> 
> 	"He knew they were never going to catch up!" Harry
> 	shouted back over all the noise, also applauding
> 	loudly.  "The Irish Chasers were too good....  He
> 	wanted to end it on his terms, that's all...."
> 
> 

That's it?  I saw this explanation, but I dismissed it as 
misdirection or something.  I fully expected it to reveal a key part 
of Krum's character that would recur at some point in GoF.  I waited, 
and waited and waited and . . . nothing ever came of it.  

The expanation didn't seem very convincing because we had been told 
that Quiddich World Cup matches can go on for 5 days.  If Krum just 
hung in there for a day or two . . . well, you never know what might 
happen.  Also, we saw in a previous book that when a team 
(Slytherins) fell behind, they played dirty to catch up.  I don't 
understand why Krum would just surrender the fortunes of the team 
like this.

Was anyone else troubled by this ending to the World Cup Match?  

Cindy