Hey, brother!
J, have you ever wondered why Harry had to compete in the triwizard tournament? Like obviously. Obviously
it is not fair for Hogwarts to have two entries in the game and yes, I know
binding magical contract, but what does that even mean? It's a contract between you
and a cup, what could possibly happen?
Today
we get to the bottom of it.
Hey Brother!
Okay, so magical contracts overall are kind of a weird thing like take house elves for example
their like enslavement is actually magically enforced
They must obey a direct order from their master.
So when Harry commands Kreacher to not insult Hermione, his mouth continues to keep moving
but no sound comes out.
It makes it sound like he would gladly break this command
but he magically and physically cannot produce the sounds.
Actually the same is also true of the Fidelius Charm - if you are not the secret keeper,
you are actually unable to speak the words of a location to another. But go back to house elves.
We know they can break the rules. Dobby does it all the time.
*Gasp*
[Hysterical grunts and yelps]
But not without consequence, every time Dobby breaks a rule he has to punish himself
But it's not entirely clear if the magic
contract is making him do this or if he is just doing it to himself. Because even after Dobby is free
it seems like he has to really fight the impulse to punish himself if he speaks poorly of the Malfoy's.
Sidenote, I have always wondered, is laundry like the one thing that house elves can't do for their masters? Wouldn't that like
technically be giving them clothes? Because the intention definitely doesn't matter
I mean obviously
Lucius didn't mean it to give Dobby a sock and it wasn't even his sock to begin with.
Honestly I can see why he was so annoyed.
You lost me my servant!
But rules of enslavement aside
It seems like in the case of house elves magic will
actually intervene when necessary to prevent an action from happening if it goes against the contract. The question is how far does that
magic go? Like if Dobby misbehaved enough times would he eventually just like have to kill himself? Is that the ultimate punishment?
Dang it, now I'm thinkin' about Dobby dying again
Honestly I could see that being the case because probably the most clear magical contract is the
unbreakable vow. The unbreakable vow of course binds a wizard to a promise
And if they break it
they will die.
We see Snape make such a deal with Narcissa Malfoy who promises to help kill Dumbledore in the event that Draco is unable.
A poorly worded vow by the way, Narcissa.
There isn't really a clear amount of time that Snape needs to attempt to kill Dumbledore within.
Oh, Draco failed! Don't worry, I will try
eventually.
Totally still keeping my promise. Do you think there's such a thing as like Wizard lawyers
and if it was determined that there was like an agreed-upon amount of time or in the
Opportunity Clause that Snape would just like die on the spot
But back to the Triwizard tournament and the magical contract that Harry unwittingly agrees to with a cup of fire.
If he doesn't compete like does he get
slapped with a
hefty fine? Does he die? I mean the very reason why they're worried about him competing is that he could die. Here is the actual
verbage: once a champion has been selected by the Goblet of Fire,
he or she is obliged to see the tournament through to the end. The placing of your name in the Goblet
constitutes a binding magical contract
What does it even mean by "through to the end"?
I feel like almost by design the tournament is supposed to be so difficult that many might not be able to complete it.
For example the second task - Fleur is unable to complete it. Could Harry have just like
Treaded water for an hour, and then the third task like just stood outside the maze until someone won?
Why didn't they just have him do that anyway? That way Hogwarts only has one person competing
May have been hard to just stand idly by in front of a dragon though.
But for that matter, they're not even supposed to know where or what the second task is so like
What if they don't figure out the riddle?
What do they wake up that morning and just like have a
compulsion to go towards the lake? Are they breaking the contract if they can't figure it out? Or like if he had
overslept for that matter would he just like, wake up dead?
How you gonna wake up dead? Also second task like worst spectator sport ever by the way,
What's the matter with 'im
I don't know I can't see 'em
And they dive!
Now...
we wait...
Gosh staring at surface of the water sure is... Oh is that?!
No, no, that was just a light breeze rippling the surface of the water.
But at least a third task took full advantage of the existing gigantically tall quidditch stands,
so they could look down in on the maze! Or wait, yeah, no, they didn't do that!
Why do that when staring at the side of a hedge maze is so interesting. Oh is that one of them?
No, no, that was just that light breeze again.
But you see the problem right? Like the contract makes no sense, like would the judges have found it
just impossible to give scores for anybody else until Harry competed?
Was competing and trying to win - part of this agreement? Which makes me believe that the punishment for
not competing must be death. Because the very thing they are afraid of with him competing is that he might die.
And yet they make him do it anyway, which almost means that by default the alternative must also be death.
Maybe death is better than definite death. Is a fact.
Seriously, why does everyone think this school is so safe? If death is the other option, the real irony
is that Voldemort's better plan would have been somehow getting him submitted into it and then not letting him compete.
But no instead he goes out of his way to make sure that he wins in a tournament where death is
basically eminent anyway. Voldemort has got to be the worst at making plans of anyone ever.
I guess he needed his blood but not really, he only needed his blood in order to touch him, and if he's dead
you don't need to touch him anyway
And why do you want to touch him to begin with?
You have a wand! And Dumbledore says he thinks that the reason Harry was able to return from the dead is because
Voldemort has Harry's blood inside of him which also carries his mother's protection.
Voldemort, you really screwed up, man!
Literally any other wizard would have been fine, all other wizards are apparently your enemy..ish kind of. Come on!
So in summary: breezes make water and hedge mazes more interesting, never hire
Voldemort to plan your wedding or anything for that matter.
Never enter into a deal with a cup because it might kill you. Kill you because you didn't play its game, a game that
could kill you if you do play it, but will definitely kill you if you don't. Cups and their evil games.
Guys, for my question of the day:
what do you think? What would have happened to Harry if he didn't compete in the tournament. Be sure to leave your thoughts in the
towel section down below. Also join us over on Twitter where today we have been pretending the color 'orange' and the 'fruit' don't exist.
Guys. thanks for watching as always be sure to like this video and subscribe to the channel if you haven't already if you'd like to see
some more
wizarding stuff that just doesn't make sense, you can click right here to see about how Quidditch can be fixed or right here to see
How rich Harry is. But, J, that's all I've got for you today, man. I will see you on Tuesday.