[HPforGrownups] Re: Champion choosing (WAS: Fleur Delacour And Bill Wease...

[yellows at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 59483

In a message dated 6/6/2003 3:14:34 PM Eastern Standard Time, Grey Wolf 
writes:

> The three 
> champions that were selected (Harry was selected by default, since he 
> was the only representant from his school - I wonder what name 
> Crouch!Moody used) have one thing in common: they are admired in their 
> school. Krum because of his Quidditch achivements, Fleur and Cedric in 
> part due to their good looks and, from what could be appreciated during 
> the tournament, also because of a well developed magical ability and 
> power (although Fleur didn't do a good job at facing the Grindilows in 
> the second task).

I'm skimming through the GoF pages and wondering to myself:

1) Is Grey Wolf's assumption correct? 
2) Why *did* Fleur get chosen?

Let's begin with the second, as it seems a bit easier to digest.  :)

In the first task, Fleur "was trembling from head to foot (GoF, Chapter 20, 
pg. 352 US edition)," when she went to fight the dragon, and it took her ten 
minutes to complete the task (shorter time than Cedric, who took 15 minutes). 
Later we learn that she did a succesful charm to put the dragon to sleep, but 
the whole plan got a little botched when it snored fire onto her skirt. Harry 
tied for first place in the task with Krum. Fleur presumably came in third, 
since she didn't take as long as Cedric. (GoF, Chapter 20, US edition)

In the second task, Fleur came in last place because she failed to complete 
the task at all. She was awarded 25 points, but said, "I deserved zero (GoF, 
Chapter 26, pg. 506, US edition)." Cedric got 47 points, putting him in first 
place for that task, Krum got 40, and Harry got 45 points, coming in second 
place for the second task, and tying for first place with Cedric for the entire 
tournament. (GoF, Chapter 26, US edition)

The third task, of course, is a different situation altogether. But on page 
624, Chapter 31 of my US edition, Fleur was the first to be disabled in the 
maze.

I find from these examples that Fleur did not measure up to the other 
champions. Krum came on top once and so did both Harry and Cedric. Fleur, on the 
other hand, never did as well as second place. 

So why was she chosen? Can we assume that the rest of the contestants from 
her school were worse than she? Or is there something to the Goblet that we 
don't yet understand?

This brings me to my first question: Is Grey Wolf's assumption correct? Did 
the Goblet select them because they were admired in their schools? 

I believe Krum may have been admired in his school, at least by Karkaroff. 
But I wonder if some of the students resented him for the attention he got. When 
they first arrived at Hogwarts, we saw Karkaroff fussing over Krum. 

"... Should I send for some mulled wine from the kitchens?" 
Harry saw Krum shake his head as he pulled his furs back on.
"Professor, *I* vood like some vine," said one of the other Durmstrang boys 
hopefully.
"I wasn't offering it to *you,* Poliakoff," snapped Karkaroff, his warmly 
paternal air vainishing in an instant. "I notice you have dribbled food all down 
the front of your robes again, disgusting boy -- (GoF, Chapter 16, pg. 257, US 
edition)"

I wonder if the other students really admired Krum when they were treated 
this way and they saw Krum treated very differently, or if they actually resented 
him. 

There is little evidence of what Fleur's schoolmates thought of her. In fact, 
I got an eerie impression that they had no personalities at all. 

(It makes me wonder, on a little tangent, how the finalists were chosen for 
each school. At Hogwarts, anyone of age could drop in his or her name. But the 
other two schools brought a small sample of their student body -- am I correct 
about this?. How were those students chosen? Could they have been chosen to 
ensure that one particular student would be the champion because the 
headmaster/headmistress wanted it to be that way?)

And regarding Cedric, while we've heard of him before and we know he was 
attractive and cool, I never had the impression early on that he was the 
most-respected student at Hogwarts. I only noticed him getting such attention when he 
became the school champion.

And also, if the Goblet is told of certain school qualities that must be 
upheld, what if Harry's name was put in under a school name whose qualities he did 
not represent at all? Would the Goblet still have chosen Harry as a default?

I think there must be something more to the Goblet. I also think that if it 
is an "impartial" judge, as it is called a number of times, then weighing out 
popularity or specific schools' opinions of good qualities would not work. 
Those things seem to require the judge to be partial. 

Perhaps the Goblet selects champions based on something else. It clearly does 
not choose based on whether the champion can survive the tournament; we know 
that past champions have been killed. 

Perhaps the champions who are chosen are *not afraid to die in the 
tournament.* It may select the people it can tell are the least concerned about death. 

This is just my little guess, with very little canon to support it. Anyone 
care to support it for me? Or shoot it down?  :)

Brief Chronicles


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