Hey everyone,
Welcome to another installment of Harry Potter Theory. In today’s video, we’re going
to be discussing the bride of Bill Weasley and French quarter-Veela, Fleur Delacour.
More specifically, however, we’re going to be discussing her performance during the
Triwizard tournament in the Goblet of Fire. Fleur was a talented witch and a student of
Beauxbatons, in fact she was chosen as her school’s champion- so why did she keep getting
the short end of the stick? What gives?
The triwizard tournament is a contest like no other- an event dating back more than 700
years that tests the intelligence, courage, and strength of those participating. Since
its inception, the contest has gone forward every 5 years- with a BRIEF 200 year pause
due to all three champions being injured in 1792.
Typically the tournament featured 3 champions - one from each of the three largest wizarding
schools in Europe: Durmstrang, Beauxbatons and Hogwarts. These school champions would
then take place in 3 brutal challenges. 3 participants, 3 challenges - hence ‘tri’
wizard tournament. The prize for the tournament was eternal glory, 1000 galleons, and the
famed triwizard cup.
However, Harry Potter sort of unintentionally broke this mould, as during his time at Hogwarts
his name was thrown in as an EXTRA participant. In the year that Harry participated there
were four: Harry Potter, Viktor Krum, Cedric Diggory, and the focus of this video: Fleur
Delacour. Accounts of the tournament vary a little from
book to film, but the general idea of the tournament was the same: 3 challenges. One
other constant was Fleur’s performance, which quite frankly- wasn’t there, as she
tailed behind the other 3 participants for the duration of the tournament.
The first challenge was to retrieve a golden egg from one of four immensely powerful and
dangerous dragons. Each champion was paired with a dragon- and ended up obtaining the
egg in their own unique way. Harry opted to take advantage of his flying skills, Krum
utilized a conjunctivitis curse, Cedric used Transfiguration, and Fleur- who faced a Common
Welsh Green- chose to enchant the dragon to sleep. Everyone was successful in obtaining
the egg, however, for some it was not without hiccups. Though Fleur’s enchantment worked,
and the dragon was put to sleep, she faced issues when the dragon snored- releasting
a jet of flame. This jet of flame set her skirt alight, but she was still able to put
the flames out and retrieve her egg. Fleur’s issues resulted in a fourth place finish - last.
The second challenge was at the great lake- a challenge involving water, merpeople, and
something that the participants would ‘sorely’ miss. The thing that the participants would
‘miss’, however, ended up being important people in their lives. Strangely enough, Hermione
was Krum’s ‘rescue-ee’, Ron was Harry’s, Cho Chang was Cedric’s, and Gabrielle-her
younger sister- was Fleurs. Given one hour, the participants were tasked with saving these
individuals, and once again- each ended up pursuing it in their own individual way.
Though Fleur figured out how to breathe underwater, she still had considerable difficulty with
the challenge. In fact, Harry ended up saving more than his own champion out of fear that
they would die if left un-saved
“Harry looked around, waiting. Where were Fleur and Krum? Time was getting short and,
according to the song, the hostages would be lost after an hour …”
Because Fleur hadn’t yet arrived to save her sister, Harry acted hastily- thinking
that she would die if he didn’t take action. Harry’s selflessness meant that he ended
up with a third place finish- however, that placing was later revised to ‘2nd’ for
showing ‘moral fibre’. Fleur, once again, finished in last.
Going in to the third task Harry and Diggory were tied for 1st, Krum was second, and Fleur
was in third- aka fourth- aka last. The third task involved a 20-foot high maze full of
obstacles, riddles and creatures. Participants would have to circumnavigate the maze, overcome
the obstacles, and claim the triwizard cup. From there the winner would bask in eternal
glory. Things didn’t look good for Fleur, however, as she went in to the third task
with 2 fourth place finishes under her belt. In the end, Fleur got last in this challenge
as well. Though I’m sure it could be argued that Cedric- the boy who died- that had the
biggest loss that day.
Because she was in last place entering the third task, she was last to enter the maze-
behind Cedric, Harry and Viktor. In the end Harry and Cedric raced to the triwizard cup
together- sharing 1st place-just before being transported to the Little Hangleton graveyard.
Fleur, on the other hand, didn’t make it far in the maze at all- as FAKE Alastor Moody,
aka Barty Crouch Jr, couldn’t help but meddle with the tournament. Upon entering the maze,
Fleur was stunned by Crouch Jr- eliminating any chance she ever had of winning (not that
it was looking good anyway).
So- why did Fleur perform so badly? Well, it was for a variety of reasons.
In the first challenge Fleur simply got unlucky. Putting the dragon to sleep is a totally valid
way of approaching that challenge- and her ability to put the dragon to sleep in the
first place speaks volumes to her magical ability. I completely understand why she approached
the dragon challenge in that way, and in my opinion her mishap doesn’t indicate any
level of incompetence. So, challenge #1- Fleur was just unlucky, nothing more.
The second challenge however, was Fleur’s fault. She performed the worst there, and
that’s not because she isn’t talented, but it’s because SOMEONE has to perform
the worst- and the competition was fierce. The triwizard tournament has high stakes,
particularly the second challenge- where the participants were under the impression that
this was a life or death situation- at least, Harry was. Some people just crumble under
pressure, and I think that’s what happened to Fleur here. As far as she was concerned
her little sister was in grave danger, and I think that the pressure was just too much
for her. I think, if anything, the second challenge is the best indication of why I
think that Fleur deserves her last place finish. It’s not that she isn’t a good person,
or that she isn’t magically talented, but she simply performed the worst here.
However, with all of that said, let’s not ignore the elephant in the room here- Harry
had a lot of help. Not only that, but at this stage of the books Fleur had the weakest relationship
to Harry of all of the competitors, and had the least influence on the narrative. This
is where the Doylist or authorial perspective should be considered- the idea that the certain
plot points and the development of the story are largely influenced by the real-world motivations
of the story’s creator.
Harry was always going to win the tournament, I don’t think that you could argue that.
He’s the main protagonist, the books are named after him, and if he lost it’d all
be a bit tragic. This means that the only ‘unknown’ to the reader is who will take
2nd, 3rd and 4th place. In this sort of situation these next positions are, whether you like
it or not, influenced by how relevant the characters are to the story. Fleur getting
last doesn’t necessarily mean that she was the worst (though she may have been), it just
means that she had the smallest connection to Harry, our main protagonist, at this point
in the story.
Cedric was always going to tie for first with Harry, because Cedric’s destiny was pre-ordained,
he was destined to travel to the Little Hangleton graveyard alongside Harry, where he would
later die. Okay, so that now means that the 1st and 2nd slots are occupied. This leaves
only 3rd and 4th place- and these positions were basically decided by fake moody. One
of them was going to be stunned, and another was going to be put under the imperius curse-
and it just so happened that Fleur was the one who was stunned.
Bearing this in mind, let’s briefly look at the challenges once again. In the first
task Harry sort of has to win. Winning proves that Harry is a worthy competitor in the tournament,
and it just wouldn’t make sense for him to have come last. Cedric couldn’t come
last either, because in the eyes of Hogwarts- he was the ‘true champion’ the one truly
deserving of a placement in the tournament. If he had gotten last and Harry had gotten
first, it just wouldn’t have made any sense. This brings us to Krum. Krum was often described
and referred to as ‘impressive’. If the tournament had started and he kicked off things
with a last place finish, it would have been quite unusual. This leaves only Fleur, and
though Fleur had arguably the best METHOD of dealing with the dragon-putting it to sleep,
making her last sort of came out of plot convenience.
This same logic sort of carries on to the second challenge, where Fleur actually ‘fails’.
One champion had to fail and look bad so that Harry would be under the impression that people
were going to drown. If there wasn’t that same sense of urgency, then Harry wouldn’t
have acted in the way that he did.
As for the third challenge? Well, she just got unlucky. 3rd and 4th were reserved for
Krum and Fleur, and it just so happens that Fleur was the last to enter as well as the
one who was stunned by Barty Crouch Jr.
So, again, why did Fleur do so badly? Well, it turns out that by the time the Goblet of
Fire rolled around, her character had the smallest relationship to Harry and the tournament-
this almost meant that she was destined to fail. In a recreation of the tournament, she
actually could have done really well- but if she had, then it just wouldn’t have worked
as well for the story.
And that’s it for this video! If you enjoy the content please like the video and subscribe
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Until next time
YER A WIZARD ARRY