Goblet of Fire chapters 17-20 discussion

Here are this week's discussion chapters:

17: The Four Champions

18: The Weighing of the Wands

19: The Hungarian Horntail

20: The First Task

I'll be back with my thoughts later today, but meanwhile, discuss away!

Very silly that they're all arguing about how Harry got his name in, when the real question is how it was made to come out! OK, if was accomplished by putting down a bogus school name, why in hell

1) hasn't anyone ever thought of trying that before in 400 years, and
2) didn't Dumbledore notice it on the slip of paper?

They don't have security cameras, or the equivalent, in the wizarding world? They couldn't hang a portrait up next to the Goblet or something?

How is it a binding contract if they KNOW it was cheating?

Regardless, great big red alarum bells should have been ringing when an obviously bogus name came out, especially as it was Harry Potter, and they should have called off the tournament, or at least suspended the decision until they could do some investigations. They're putting young people's lives on the line here. More of Snape criticism of DD here--he's so willing to let Harry be bait.

Whatever, I know it's a suspension of disbelief thing, but it really isn't explained well and that is sloppy and it bugs me.

Happy Monday, y'all!

Actually what caught my attention was the "binding magical contract" thing. How binding is it? Is it like an Unbreakable Vow, where one MUST fulfill the requirements of the vow or die? Or is there any leeway?

Just my two cents.

It's like binding Harry to a contract he didn't actually sign. DD believes he didn't put his name in, so he shouldn't have to compete.

Yeah . . . Harry had to be in the tournament, but it does seem like a complicated way of setting it up.

What I wondered, during this read-through, is who comes up with the tasks? It seems like, if they were trying for a "safer" contest, dragons would not be the way to go. The second and third tasks seem more reasonable to me, but one of those dragons could have killed a champion long before anyone could have done anything about it.

Well, I presumed that the binding magical contract was binding and magical and had no escape clause. Whoever set up the magic in the first place didn't think about what should happen if someone cheated and it didn't seem like the humans involved had any choice. It would have been nice to know what would have happened if Harry had just refused to do it.

or if he had just done nothing to try to compete, like just stood there, ya know I wonder what would have happened if he hadn't shown up? Simple disqualification? But his own pride wouldn't let that happen I suppose.

Good point, Polly. I mean (skipping ahead here) he almost missed the second task. What would have happened to him then?

Do you guys feel like there's less to discuss in each set of chapters than there was in earlier books? I don't know about you, but I usually find one or two salient points where it seems like I used to find five or six. And the chapters certainly haven't gotten shorter. . . . What does everyone else think?

I think the lack of editing cojones is beginning to show.

Last-minute reminder: we start discussing chapters 21-24 tomorrow!