Triwizard Champion

A Triwizard Champion is a student chosen to represent one of three major European magical schools in the Triwizard Tournament, a legendary inter-school competition. The participating schools are Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Beauxbatons Academy of Magic, and the Durmstrang Institute. One champion is selected for each school by a powerful, impartial magical artifact known as the Goblet of Fire. The role of a champion is one of great honour, but it carries immense risk, as they must face a series of three perilous tasks designed to test their magical ability, courage, and ingenuity.

The selection of the champions is the formal opening of the Triwizard Tournament. The process, as demonstrated during the 1994 tournament, follows specific rules and magical principles.

• The Goblet of Fire: The Goblet serves as the sole, impartial judge for selecting the champions. Students wishing to compete must write their name and school on a piece of parchment and drop it into the Goblet's magical blue-white flame before the deadline.
• Age Restriction: For the 1994 tournament, the Ministry of Magic instituted a new rule, enforced by Barty Crouch Sr., that no student under the age of seventeen could enter. This was a safety measure due to the tournament's historically high death toll. An Age Line was drawn around the Goblet of Fire by Albus Dumbledore to prevent underage students, like Fred and George Weasley who attempted to use an Ageing Potion, from entering.
• Binding Magical Contract: Once a student's name emerges from the Goblet of Fire, they are bound by a magical contract to compete in the tournament. This contract is unbreakable, forcing the chosen champion to see the tournament through to the end.
• 1994 Anomaly: During the selection for the 1994 tournament, the Goblet of Fire unexpectedly chose a fourth champion, Harry Potter, despite his being underage and not having entered his own name. This was the result of a powerful Confundus Charm placed on the Goblet by Barty Crouch Jr., who had disguised himself as Alastor Moody. Crouch submitted Harry's name under a non-existent fourth school, tricking the Goblet into believing four schools were competing and thus requiring it to select a fourth champion.

The primary duty of a Triwizard Champion is to compete to the best of their ability in the three tasks on behalf of their school. Their performance is scored by a panel of judges, which in 1994 included the headmasters of the three schools (Albus Dumbledore, Igor Karkaroff, and Olympe Maxime) and two high-ranking Ministry of Magic officials (Ludo Bagman and Barty Crouch Sr.). The champion with the highest total score after the third task wins the Triwizard Cup, eternal glory for their school, and a prize of one thousand Galleons. Champions are exempt from end-of-year exams but are expected to keep up with their schoolwork.

The following students were chosen as the champions for the Triwizard Tournament held at Hogwarts in 1994.

• Cedric Diggory: The first champion selected for Hogwarts. He performed admirably, tying for first place with Harry Potter after the First Task. He was murdered by Peter Pettigrew on the orders of Lord Voldemort immediately after arriving in the Little Hangleton graveyard during the final task.
• Fleur Delacour: The champion for Beauxbatons Academy of Magic. She struggled in the Second and Third Tasks, being attacked by Grindylows and later stunned. She ultimately finished in last place.
• Viktor Krum: The champion for the Durmstrang Institute and a famous International Quidditch Seeker. He was placed under the Imperius Curse by Barty Crouch Jr. during the Third Task and forced to attack the other champions.
• Harry Potter: The unexpected and unwilling fourth champion, representing Hogwarts. Despite facing immense prejudice and danger, he tied for first place with Cedric Diggory. He witnessed Cedric's murder and was forced to duel Lord Voldemort before escaping back to Hogwarts.

The tasks of the revived tournament were designed to be incredibly dangerous, testing the champions in different ways.

1. The First Task: Champions had to retrieve a golden egg from a nesting mother dragon. The egg contained a clue for the Second Task. The dragons used were a Swedish Short-Snout, a Common Welsh Green, a Chinese Fireball, and the particularly vicious Hungarian Horntail.
2. The Second Task: Champions had to rescue a valuable hostage from the merpeople at the bottom of the Great Lake within one hour. Harry Potter was the only champion to understand the golden egg's clue without assistance.
3. The Third Task: Champions had to navigate a large maze on the Quidditch pitch that was filled with magical creatures and obstacles, including a Blast-Ended Skrewt, a Boggart, and a giant spider (Acromantula). The Triwizard Cup, which had been turned into a Portkey, was placed at the center.

• In the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, the visiting students from Beauxbatons are all female and the students from Durmstrang are all male. However, the book explicitly states that both schools are co-educational. Parvati Patil and Padma Patil are asked to the Yule Ball by boys from Beauxbatons, and Durmstrang's student body is mentioned to include girls, though none are named (film).
• The concept of a binding magical contract is a powerful and recurring theme in the wizarding world, similar to an Unbreakable Vow.