Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

''Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire'' is a fantasy novel written by British author J. K. Rowling and the fourth novel in the ''Harry Potter'' series. It follows Harry Potter, a wizard in his fourth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and the mystery surrounding the entry of Harry's name into the Triwizard Tournament, in which he is forced to compete.

The book was published in the United Kingdom by Bloomsbury and in the United States by Scholastic. In both countries, the release date was 8 July 2000. This was the first time a book in the series was published in both countries at the same time. The novel won a Hugo Award, the only ''Harry Potter'' novel to do so, in 2001. The book was adapted into a film, released worldwide on 18 November 2005, and a video game by Electronic Arts.

Plot

Background

Throughout the three previous novels in the ''Harry Potter'' series, the main character, Harry Potter, has struggled with the difficulties of growing up and the added challenge of being a famed wizard. When Harry was a baby, Lord Voldemort, the most powerful dark wizard in history, killed Harry's parents but was mysteriously defeated after unsuccessfully trying to kill Harry, though his attempt left a lightning-shaped scar on Harry's forehead. This results in Harry's immediate fame and his being placed in the care of his abusive Muggle (non-magical) aunt and uncle, Petunia and Vernon Dursley, who have a son named Dudley.

On Harry's eleventh birthday, he learns he is a wizard from Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and enrols in Hogwarts. He befriends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger and confronts Lord Voldemort, who is trying to regain power. In Harry's first year, he has to protect the Philosopher's Stone from Voldemort and one of his faithful followers at Hogwarts. After returning to school after summer break, students at Hogwarts are attacked by the legendary monster of the Chamber of Secrets after the Chamber is opened. Harry ends the attacks by killing a Basilisk and thwarting another attempt by Lord Voldemort to return to full strength. The following year, Harry hears he has been targeted by escaped mass murderer Sirius Black. Despite stringent security measures at Hogwarts, Harry encounters Black at the end of his third year and learns Black was framed and is actually Harry's godfather. He also learns that it was his father's old school friend Peter Pettigrew who betrayed his parents.

Overview

In a prologue, which Harry sees through a dream, Frank Bryce, Muggle caretaker of an abandoned mansion known as the Riddle House, is murdered by Lord Voldemort after stumbling upon him and Wormtail. Harry is awoken by his scar hurting.

The Weasleys invite Harry and Hermione Granger to the Quidditch World Cup, to which they travel using a Portkey. After the match, masked Death Eaters, followers of Voldemort, attack the camping site. The Dark Mark is fired into the sky, causing mass panic. Harry discovers his wand is missing. It is later found in the possession of Winky, Barty Crouch's house elf, and was used to cast the Dark Mark. Barty Crouch fires Winky.

At Hogwarts, Professor Dumbledore announces that Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody is the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. Dumbledore also announces that Hogwarts will host the Triwizard Tournament, in which a Hogwarts champion will compete against champions from other wizarding schools. The Goblet of Fire will choose the champions from names dropped into it. Only students 17 years old and above can enter. Harry is under the age of majority in the wizarding world, and barred from entering. The Goblet of Fire picks Fleur Delacour from Beauxbatons Academy, Viktor Krum from Durmstrang Institute and Cedric Diggory from Hogwarts. Unexpectedly, it chooses Harry as a fourth champion, forcing him to compete. Many students, including Ron, believe Harry cheated to enter solely because he wants more fame. A rift develops between Harry and Ron.

Hagrid covertly reveals to Harry that the first task involves getting past a dragon and retrieving a golden egg. Harry struggles with how to accomplish this until Moody suggests flying. Hermione helps him perfect a Summoning Charm, which he uses to summon his Firebolt broomstick and fly past the dragon to retrieve the egg. The egg contains a clue to the next task, but when opened it shrieks loudly. Following Cedric's tip, Harry discovers he must recover something valuable from Merpeople at the bottom of the lake in the castle grounds.

In the weeks before the second task, Harry does little to prepare and has no idea how to survive underwater. On the day of the task, Dobby, who now works at Hogwarts, gives him Gillyweed to breathe underwater, having heard about it from Moody. Harry finds Ron at the bottom of the lake. However, he refuses to leave the other "hostages" behind. Krum retrieves Hermione, but when Fleur fails to appear, Harry also takes her sister, Gabrielle. Harry finishes last, but is awarded high marks for 'moral fibre'.

While talking near the Forbidden Forest, Harry and Krum encounter Crouch, who had stopped appearing at work. Seeming insane, he claims to have done something terrible, and begs for Dumbledore. Leaving Krum with Crouch, Harry fetches Dumbledore but returns to find Krum stunned and Crouch gone. Moody tries and fails to find Crouch. Harry later has a dream involving Voldemort punishing Wormtail for a mistake. Harry goes to tell Dumbledore about it. While waiting, he stumbles upon a Pensieve in Dumbledore's office. With it, he discovers that Crouch's son, Barty Jr. was a Death Eater and sentenced to Azkaban, where he supposedly died.

Harry prepares for the final task, a hedge maze filled with dangerous obstacles, the goal being to reach the Triwizard Cup at the centre. Inside the maze, Harry and Cedric reach the Cup, and agree to touch it simultaneously. However, it is a Portkey that transports them to a graveyard. There, Wormtail appears, kills Cedric on Voldemort's orders, and performs a ritual involving Harry to restore Lord Voldemort to a body.

Voldemort summons his Death Eaters, berates them for believing him dead, and mentions that he has a servant at Hogwarts, who has led Harry there. He tortures Harry, then challenges him to a duel. However, when he and Harry fire spells at each other, their wands' streams connect, as they share a core, causing echoes of Voldemort's previous spells to appear, including manifestations of Cedric and Harry's parents. These echoes help Harry escape with Cedric's body to the Cup and return to Hogwarts.

Amid the panic caused by Harry's sudden arrival and Cedric's dead body, Moody takes Harry to his office. He reveals himself to be Voldemort's servant, having put Harry's name into the Goblet, and guided him throughout the tournament to ensure he would touch the Cup. As Moody prepares to kill Harry, Dumbledore, McGonagall, and Snape intervene and stun Moody. Moody is revealed to be impersonated by Barty Crouch Jr., Crouch Sr.'s son who was presumed dead, via Polyjuice Potion. Using Veritaserum, they learn that Crouch Sr. had rescued his son to fulfill his dying wife's wish. Crouch Jr. was kept at home until Winky convinced Crouch Sr. to allow him to attend the Quidditch Cup, where he escaped, stole Harry's wand, and conjured the Dark Mark. Voldemort discovered Crouch Jr. and plotted to install him at Hogwarts, abducting the real Moody. Crouch Sr. was imprisoned by Wormtail, and when he escaped to Hogwarts, Crouch Jr. killed him.

Dumbledore announces Voldemort's return to the school. However, many people, including Minister for Magic Cornelius Fudge, refuse to believe it. The Dementor's Kiss is performed on Crouch Jr., rendering him unable to testify for Voldemort's return. Dumbledore puts plans against Voldemort into action. Not wanting his tournament winnings, Harry gives them to Fred and George to start a joke shop, and returns to the Dursleys for the summer.

Development

''Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire'' is the fourth book in the ''Harry Potter'' series. The first, ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', was published by Bloomsbury on 26 June 1997. The second, ''Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets'', was published on 2 July 1998. The third, ''Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban'', followed on 8 July 1999. ''Goblet of Fire'' is almost twice the size of the first three books (the paperback edition was 636 pages). Rowling stated that she "knew from the beginning it would be the biggest of the first four." She said there needed to be a "proper run-up" for the conclusion and rushing the "complex plot" could confuse readers. She also stated that "everything is on a bigger scale," which was symbolic, as Harry's horizons widened both literally and metaphorically as he grew up. She also wanted to explore more of the magical world.

Until the official title's announcement on 27 June 2000, the book was called by its working title, 'Harry Potter IV.' Previously, in April, the publisher had listed it as ''Harry Potter and the Doomspell Tournament''. However, J. K. Rowling expressed her indecision about the title in an ''Entertainment Weekly'' interview.
"I changed my mind twice on what he titlewas. The working title had got out — ''Harry Potter and the Doomspell Tournament''. Then I changed ''Doomspell'' to ''Triwizard Tournament''. Then I was teetering between ''Goblet of Fire'' and ''Triwizard Tournament''. In the end, I preferred ''Goblet of Fire'' because it's got that kind of ''cup of destiny'' feel about it, which is the theme of the book."

Rowling mentioned that she originally wrote a Weasley relative named Malfalda, who, according to Rowling, "was the daughter of the 'second cousin who's a stockbroker' mentioned in ''Philosopher's Stone''. This stockbroker had been very rude to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley in the past, but now he and his (Muggle) wife had inconveniently produced a witch, they came back to the Weasleys asking for their help in introducing her to wizarding society before she starts at Hogwarts." Malfalda was supposed to be a Slytherin and was to fill in the Rita Skeeter subplot, but she was eventually removed because "there were obvious limitations to what an eleven year old closeted at school could discover." Rowling considered Rita Skeeter to be "much more flexible." Rowling also admitted that the fourth book was the most difficult to write at the time because she noticed a giant plot hole halfway through writing.

Themes

Jeff Jensen, who interviewed Rowling for ''Entertainment Weekly'' in 2000, pointed out that bigotry is a big theme in the ''Harry Potter'' novels and ''Goblet of Fire'' in particular. He mentioned how Voldemort and his followers are prejudiced against Muggles and how, in ''Goblet of Fire,'' Hermione forms a group to liberate Hogwarts' house-elves who have "been indentured servants so long they lack desire for anything else." When asked why she explored this theme, Rowling replied,

She also commented that she did not feel this was too "heavy" for children, as it was one of those things that a "huge number of children at that age start to think about."

Publication and reception

UK/US release

''Goblet of Fire'' was the first book in the Harry Potter series to be released in the United States on the same date as the United Kingdom, on 8 July 2000, strategically on a Saturday so children did not have to worry about school conflicting with buying the book. It had a combined first-printing of over five million copies. It was given a record-breaking print run of 3.9 million. Three million copies of the book were sold over the first weekend in the US alone. FedEx dispatched more than 9,000 trucks and 100 planes to fulfil book deliveries. The pressure in editing caused a mistake which shows Harry's father emerging first from Voldemort's wand; however, as confirmed in ''Prisoner of Azkaban'', James died first, so then Harry's mother ought to have come out first. This was corrected in later editions.

Launch publicity

To publicise the book, a special train named ''Hogwarts Express'' was organised by Bloomsbury, and run from King's Cross to Perth, carrying J.K. Rowling, a consignment of books for her to sign and sell, also representatives of Bloomsbury and the press. The book was launched on 8 July 2000, on platform 1 at King's Cross – which had been given "Platform " signs for the occasion – following which the train departed. En route it called at Didcot Railway Centre, , the Severn Valley Railway, (overnight stop), Manchester, Bradford, , the National Railway Museum (overnight stop), Newcastle, Edinburgh, arriving at Perth on 11 July. The locomotive was ''West Country'' class steam locomotive no. 34027 ''Taw Valley'', which was specially repainted red for the tour; it later returned to its normal green livery (the repaints were requested and paid for by Bloomsbury). The coaches of the train included a sleeping car. A Diesel locomotive was coupled at the other end, for use when reversals were necessary, such as the first stage of the journey as far as Ferme Park, just south of . The tour generated considerably more press interest than the launch of the film '' Thomas and the Magic Railroad'' which was premiered in London the same weekend.

Critical reception

''Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire'' has received mostly positive reviews. In ''The New York Times'' Book Review, author Stephen King stated the ''Goblet of Fire'' was "every bit as good as Potters 1 through 3" and praised the humour and subplots, although he commented that "there's also a moderately tiresome amount of adolescent squabbling...it's a teenage thing". ''Kirkus Reviews'' called it "another grand tale of magic and mystery...and clicking along so smoothly that it seems shorter than it is". However, they commented that it did tend to lag, especially at the end where two "bad guys" stopped the action to give extended explanations, and that the issues to be resolved in sequels would leave "many readers, particularly American ones, uncomfortable". For ''The Horn Book Magazine'', Martha V. Parravano gave a mixed review, saying "some will find twide-ranging, compellingly written, and absorbing; others, long, rambling, and tortuously fraught with adverbs". A ''Publishers Weekly'' review praised the book's "red herrings, the artful clues and tricky surprises that disarm the most attentive audience" and saying it "might be her most thrilling yet." Writing for ''The New Yorker'', Joan Acocella noted that "where the prior volumes moved like lightning, here the pace is slower, the energy more dispersed. At the same time, the tone becomes more grim."

Kristin Lemmerman of CNN said that it is not great literature: 'Her prose has more in common with your typical beach-blanket fare and the beginning contained too much recap to introduce characters to new readers, although Rowling quickly gets back on track, introducing readers to a host of well-drawn new characters.' Writing for Salon.com, Charles Taylor was generally positive about the change of mood and development of characters. ''Entertainment Weekly'' reviewer Kristen Baldwin gave ''Goblet of Fire'' the grade of A−, praising the development of the characters as well as the many themes presented. However, she did worry that a shocking climax may be a "nightmare factory" for young readers.

In 2012 it was ranked number 98 on a list of the top 100 children's novels published by ''School Library Journal''.

Awards and honours

''Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire'' won several awards, including the 2001 Hugo Award for Best Novel. It won the 2002 Indian Paintbrush Book Award, the third after ''Philosopher's Stone'' and ''Prisoner of Azkaban''. The novel also won an Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Platinum Award for one of the best books, who claimed it was "more intense than the first three books". In addition, ''Entertainment Weekly'' listed ''Goblet of Fire'' in second place on their list of ''The New Classics: Books – The 100 best reads from 1983 to 2008''. The Guardian ranked ''Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire'' #97 in its list of 100 Best Books of the 21st Century.

Adaptations

Film

''Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire'' was adapted into a film, released worldwide on 18 November 2005, which was directed by Mike Newell and written by Steve Kloves. The film grossed $102.7 million for the opening weekend, and eventually grossed $896 million worldwide. The film was also nominated for Best Art Direction at the 78th Academy Awards.

Video game

It was also made into a video game for PC, PlayStation 2, Nintendo DS, Nintendo GameCube, Xbox, Game Boy Advance, and PlayStation Portable by Electronic Arts. It was released just before the film.

References

External links

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2000 British novels
2000 children's books
2000 fantasy novels
Bloomsbury Publishing books
British novels adapted into films
Fiction set in 1994
Fiction set in 1995
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Hugo Award for Best Novel-winning works
Patricide in fiction
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Scholastic Corporation books
Children's fantasy novels