Chapter Discussion: Chapter Sixteen, Goblet of Fire: The Goblet of Fire

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 192274


> Geoff: 
> (Currently in Toronto in a snow flurry in battle with my son's 
> iPad which for me, even as a Mac user, is unknown technology)
> 
> Part of the above is to explain that I haven't got the book with me so I 
> am working from memory. I seem to recall that the TWT occurs about 
> every ten years or so  (?) and since the Wizarding World has been 
> otherwise occupied with Voldemort for some years, not everyone may 
> be up to speed, especially younger folk such as the student body.

Pippin:
IIRC (I haven't got my books either) the TWT hadn't been held for a very long time, due to the number of casualties. Hagrid says that he never thought he'd live to see one. I got the impression the last time was not within living memory. 

Dumbledore is indeed aware of the binding magical contract and warns the students beforehand that they must be very sure they wish to compete before they submit their names to the goblet. It is perhaps a bit contrived that no one asks what the penalty is, but after all we are witnessing it all from Harry's vicinity, and he has no reason to ask until it is too late. 

In any case, we are slowly being made aware, like Hermione, that the adults have been glossing   over the harsher aspects of life in the wizarding world. I have no problem believing that some angry wizard, disgusted, say, by the substitution of a ringer for a weaker contestant,  cursed the cup to do something terrible to anyone who withdrew.

There is something JKR wants us to notice about ourselves, IMO, and it is this: the mental machinery that delivers the buzz we get when wrongs are punished  does not concern itself  with whether the punishment is reasonable or just. We have to be trained to care about fairness and logic in this context, and it is clear that many wizards have not been.

But Harry may have had a brush with finding out what happens when he decided to rescue Gabrielle rather than try to win. It could be that if Dumbledore had not persuaded the other judges that this was in fact a competitive move, the goblet would have penalized Harry in some horrible way. 


Geoff:
> Secondly, I think that Dumbledore is aware of the binding contract but 
> has warned likely participants CFO the dangers and probably the 
> thought of Harry getting dragged into it hasn't entered into his 
> calculations unless you happen to subscribe to the manipulative
> Dumbledore club.

Pippin:
I think Dumbledore had realized at this point that his original plan for Harry  was not going to work, even if he had the heart to go through with it. There was more than one horcrux out there, maybe many more, and Harry was not going to be able to get them all before Voldemort figured out what he was doing and stopped him.  Triwizard champions might be useful.
>

Pippin