Among the biggest twists in the universe of Harry Potterthere is obviously the moment when we discover that Alastor Moody is actually Barty Crouch Junior in the Goblet of Fire and that he is the reason Harry had to participate in the Triwizard Tournament. But actually, how was the Death Eater able to put the young wizard’s name in the Cup? Explanations.
[MAJ : cet article a été publié en juin 2023 et mis à jour en mai 2024]
In the fourth opus of the saga Harry Potter, the scarred hero is forced to participate in the Triwizard Tournament when his name comes out of the famous Goblet of Fire. This draw is also a shock for everyone given that the minimum age for participation in the competition was 17 years old.
Albus Dumbledore himself drew a magical line around the Cup to prevent anyone under this age from placing their name on it. The Weasley twins paid the price by thinking they could fool this line – and Dumbledore’s genius – by drinking an aging potion. We are then entitled to ask ourselves: how did Barty Crouch Junior, in the guise of Mad-Eye Moody, manage to deceive the Cup to place Harry Potter’s name on it?
Alastor Moody, the threat that no one saw coming
In Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Dumbledore decides to hire the former Aurora, Alastor Moody, as a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher in order to provide additional protection to his students. Peter Pettigrew having escaped at the end from Prisoner of Azkaban and the former Death Eater, Igor Karkaroff being the director of Durmstrang, this choice is far from trivial. However, what Dumbledore doesn’t know is that Voldemort has a well-laid plan to find his body and it involves Harry.
We discover at the very end of the fourth film that the man we thought was Mad-Eye Moody is actually Barty Crouch Junior (David Tennant), a Death Eater still loyal to the Dark Lord. And that he was the one who put Harry Potter’s name in the Goblet of Fire. However, in Mike Newell’s film, the explanations stop there. We must therefore turn to the writings of JK Rowling for more details on how the impostor succeeded.
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone
First of all, Barty Crouch Junior had no trouble passing the age check line, considering he is well over 17 years old. Then, the false Moody explains, under the influence of Veritaserum, that he used a confusion spell on the Cup and entered Harry’s name under another school, thus making it appear that four schools and not three participated in the Tournament. Harry being the only student of this fictitious school to have put his name, the Cup had no other choice but to select him.
For those who wonder why it was – seemingly – so easy for the Death Eater to confuse the Cup, one must also take into account the fact that Dumbledore saw him as an ally and could not imagine at any point that this scenario would take place. For the headmaster of Hogwarts, the only precaution to take was that of age. Because, trusting all the adults present, he could not anticipate that such a ploy would be put in place to force a student to participate in the Tournament.
