Underwater basket weaving, more like.

 

Doesn't Percy Weasley mention an international ban on duelling in in GoF?

 

I always assumed that referred to Wizard’s duels, like what Malfoy challenged Harry to in Philosopher's Stone, duelling as a formalised method as dispute resolutions. Duelling as a sport or a self-defence style (like we see in Chamber of Secrets) could still remain legal. It’s just like the real world. ‘I challenge you to a dual’ style duelling is illegal in most of the world (hell, some US states have it written into their Constitutions) but we can still have fencing competitions.

 

You mean like JBern did in "The Lie I've Lived"? I don't see why Santi wouldn't at least consider this route; but I feel like he's got something else planned.

 

Santi has shown he has stuck mostly to canon regarding Nathan, maybe tweaking the task is why Santi has looked forward to this year so much.

 

Wouldn't something like this have been announced when the tournament was announced?

That said, the tournament can still be the focus of the story but it's less about how Harry would compete and more about how he helps Nathan and Viktor.

 

Percy did say dueling was banned but like it was mentioned before it was probably a ban on "honor" duels where one person had to kill the other.... also it was mentioned in canon that Professor Flitwick was a dueling champ when he was younger so maybe they have dubels as a sport or something?

And it doesn't have to be dueling..... in my opinion one of the reasons harry wanted to enter the tournament was to show everyone in hogwarts how talented he was and I don't see how he can do that by just helping Nathan and victor.... and I want to see some ravenclaw students get embarrassed by harry too.... lol

 

Showing his talent is easy to do. Aside from helping Nathan with the Tournament he still has to work on his final projects. All of which will be beyond Hogwarts standard.
Also if there is a Death Eater DADA Harry could make a little ruckus and everyone would be talking about that.
Being friends with Dumbledore, Flitwick and Snape also might help.

 

Does the Santi even read this thread anymore?

 

Probably not, even i barely read it now since it's all crap.

I wonder what happened to the new year post.

 

He won't be updating for a few weeks unless he can pull a bit of time out of his ass.

 

Back on topic..
Besides the Dark Arts, and flying what qualifies Viktor to be the Durmstrang Champion? From what we've read he's an average student at best, I mean, there has to be better candidates from Durmstrang, even if Harry didn't get the nomination. I understand the argument that Viktor is famous and that he would bring the most publicity to the tournament but the Goblet of Fire is an impartial judge that would be unaware of Viktor's fame.
Also, I'm interested to seeing how Fleur is depicted in this story, Santi has proven that he can create deep, believable characters and rarely do we see a Fleur with such a diverse personality.

 

If I remember correctly Santi broached that subject by suggesting that Viktor has chosen to follow the will of his fans and his school and compete in a life threatening tournament, when in fact he really didnt want to. That made him seem champion material. Well, something like that anyway.

Also I think Santi estabished that Viktor was progressing very well under Harry's tutelage and is a much stronger student than at the start of the Harry's time at Durmstrang.

 

Out of the batch that actually went to Hogwarts? Probably not - we already heard about the deficiencies of the people that volunteered as candidates (and Randeemy's point about Victor's improved skills). I really don't think the cream of the crop went to Hogwarts.

After all, they don't get taught by Durmstrang teachers - it's basically a year of self-study (unless they want to go to classes that are teaching material that Durmstrang covered 5th & 6th year). Not to mention the subjects that aren't even taught there and the restricted resources. Even those students that have finished 7th year in a particular subject and are already doing self-study wouldn't have access to their profs to help direct their studies.

If they're preparing for their future and it appears a bright one (if they're talented/powerful), why would they waste a year at Hogwarts? Especially if they have to compete against THE Victor Krum? lol

I suspect the more talented of the bunch... and I mean the ones with the most potential, were the younger students that weren't allowed to go. Advanced in a subject or two, not nessesarily weak in others - but because of their age they haven't progressed as far as some 7th years. There might be a 'weaker' members among that number too... but ones with less spotty records.

Plus I imagine the parents paying the tuition wouldn't be so happy to let their kid goof off for a year at Hogwarts...

 

Did Santi mention tuition at Durmstrang?

 

I think people write off flying, especially a high level, as something that can be taken into account. It takes a certain kind of courage to plummet down at the ground at breakneck speeds, and it's possible that courage is something the Goblet values.

 

Honestly, why people insist on making these comments I'll never know. This thread has always been filled with rampant speculation and wild off topic ramblings. Go back and read the entire thread and you will see that.

As for flying, I really don't think it is relevant. I wouldn't even call it courage given what we know about what magic can do to heal people. Pretty much any sport that wizards participate in would be considered ridiculously dangerous by normal standards. Most of them are rendered much less dangerous due to what is possible with magic.

 

The pain still exists though. All that the magic takes out is the recovery time really.

 

This, this is precisely what I’ve been thinking for the past few updates. ‘Cos it’s like I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve seen Fleur Delacour written with character depth, and even if I counted I’d probably have one or two fingers to spare.

She’s one of the more interesting characters to play with, and if Santi is going to continue with the high quality storytelling (as I have every confidence he’s going to,) we might get to see some interesting interaction with Fleur, which is independent of who happens to be trying to interact with her sexual organs.

…

Overall though, I think people have been jumping to far too many conclusions with regards to the “failed Tri-Wizard” thing… I mean come on; Santi said straight out that he’d intended this from the outset, so we should at least have a little faith that the guy isn’t a total lunatic…

…and I’d go as far to say the decision to do so is a unique one I didn’t see coming.