Technofiction Review of
by Roger Bourke White Jr., copyright Nov 05
Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire centers around two events: the Tri-Wizard Tournament and the restoring of Lord Voltemort into his body. Both of these events have some serious Technofiction problems.
The concept of a Tri-Wizard Tournament is fine. What fails is Rowling's execution of the concept. First off, Dumbledore has to tell us that this tournament is about lasting fame and glory. Tell us? This violates Rule One of writer-workshop 101! Why doesn't Rowling show us this fame and glory? Why doesn't she have Harry and friends wander through the Hogwarts Trophy Room and see a Tri-Wizard Trophy? Why don't they hear other students say, "Yeah, a Quiddich trophy is nice, but a Tri-Wizard trophy... that's something special." Why don't they meet some former Tri-wizard winners who are now famous people? Ideally, this introduction would have been done in a couple of the previous books. Then this competition would have some serious meaning. The hasty way it is presented in the movie means that it is just a plot device.
Second, why is the Ministry of Magic making this tri-wizard contest different? The explanation that, "It's dangerous." makes no sense. From Dumbledore's description, it is an ancient tradition, and it has always been dangerous. Has the Ministry of Magic "gone 90's" on us, and is now trying to make the magic world risk free? Or... is it yet another plot device?
The Tri-Wizard tournament needs some work before it becomes more than just a plot device.
In the world that J. K. Rowling is evolving in the Harry Potter series, Lord Voltemort is not a solo evil character, he has a following. Those who followed him are called Death Eaters, and some are influential people in the conventional magic community.
Rowling has a problem that she has been loath to face in her evolving story. The problem is: Why is Lord Voltemort popular enough to have lots of Death Eaters backing him? And, why are many of those backing him powerful and influential members of the conventional magic community?
Rowling has been loath to declare it openly, but she has de facto depicted her world of magicians as being wracked by civil war. On one side are the conservatives, lead by the Ministry of Magic, and on the other are the radicals, lead at times by Lord Voltemort. If she is deliberately following this civil war format, then the question she has to answer becomes: why would following evil, in the form of Lord Voltemort, be so attractive to so many influential members of the community?
She is not alone in being a writer who does not face issues such as these, but not facing this issue weakens her stories because her evil characters don't act in logical or consistent ways -- they become caricatures rather than characters. In the case of the Goblet of Fire: it is logical for Lord Voltemort to want this body back, but it is not logical for the Death Eaters to want him back. What is it they are missing from the status quo? What is Lord Voltemort offering them that they don't now have? (Rowling's depiction of magicdom is that it's a pretty happy and contented place, so this is a serious mystery.)
Lets look at Lucius Malfoy to see what the current motivation problems are: Lucius is already a prominent member of the magic community, and his son is already attending the best magic school in England. What is it that he wants that teaming up with Lord Voltemort is going to get him? Lucius is no fool, he not only stayed out of jail following Lord Voltemort's defeat, he kept his standing in the community. What is it he hopes to gain by supporting Lord Voltemort's return? What did he gain by supporting him the first time around? These unanswered questions are very important to explaining what Lucius will do next, and to what he will advise Draco to do.
Rowling doesn't have to tell us the answers, but she must know them in her own mind. One answer to these questions Rowling could have in mind is, "Oh, Lucius is just evil at heart." But this is a poor answer. If he's evil at heart, why does the rest of the magic community tolerate him being prominent, why don't they ostracize him? And, if evil is a state of being, then there should be a "detect evil" spell or potion.
Another explanation might be Voltemort is blackmailing Malfoy, but their relation is not presented in that fashion.
A third explanation is the "civil war" explanation. There is a deep disagreement within the magic community on dealing with some issues, and Voltemort is exploiting those issues to build a power base. This is what Rowling seems to be evolving, but she's not mentioning the divisive issues. What Rowling could be evolving is some equivalent to the "War on drugs" in the US community. In the War on Drugs, one side of the controversy, the drug using side, is popular, but can't explain itself well to the rest of the community. As a result of this inability to explain itself the community can put teeth in it's disapproval of drug abuse, but it can't end its popularity. Rowling's civil war in the magic community can be structured similarly.
A fourth possibility is that Lord Voltemort is offering Malfoy an even bigger carrot. If so, what is it? It has to be something that attracts many members of the magic community, and repels many others. One possibility would be conquering the muggle world in some fashion, another would be rectifying some perceived insult, such as doing something about the "mudblood problem" that Malfoy is sensitive to.
My point is: there has to be something. Just saying "Lord Voltemort is evil, and those who follow him are evil, too." is weak, very weak. It will not explain how clever people like Lucius and Draco Malfoy will act. It will not explain why they support Lord Voltemort's return. If being evil is the only explanation for their actions, then the Death Eaters should be the most enthusiastic supporters of keeping Lord Voltemort down so they can stay Kings of Evil in their own right.
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