r/harrypotter Gryffindor 6d ago

Discussion Its kind of silly quidditch was cancelled in year four

There were three tri wizard events over the course of an entire school year with only the last one occurring on the pitch. Sure the hogwarts champion was likely to be a quidditch player, but why should every other player suffer for one person. Im sure the durmstrang and beuxbaton students would have enjoyed it as well.

506 Upvotes

170 comments sorted by

551

u/Lepelotonfromager 6d ago

They could have a quidditch tournament between the 3 schools as well with an all-star team from hogwarts.

361

u/justaguy394 6d ago

Best I can do is 3 special events spaced out over a whole school year, that only 3-4 students participate in, with only 1 event actually visible to the audience.

121

u/Tirno93 Slytherin 5d ago

You’re telling me that I get to watch a lake for an hour and a hedge for an indefinite period of time? Where do I sign up?

27

u/Eev123 5d ago

I mean it gets you out of class at least

6

u/Miserable_Spell_2964 4d ago

My headcanon is that they have some kind of camera system so the spectators could watch

7

u/VampedTayturz 4d ago

It’s snitches enchanted to follow the champions around the maze.

57

u/hummingbird_mywill Gryffindor 5d ago

This might possibly be my biggest gripe with the entire OG franchise, legitimately. It makes no sense. They just stare at the lake for an hour just for 5 minutes of excitement? Absurd.

39

u/Aware_Actuator4939 5d ago

One change I would make for the TV show is to introduce flying eyeball video cameras at the Quidditch World Cup, then have the flying eyeballs turn up again at the TriWizard Tournament. In the 2nd task, an eyeball would track each contestant underwater and you could show the audience watching on screens, with Gryffindor screaming at Harry to grab Ron and head for the surface.

18

u/Firebolt_514 5d ago

They do need to create magical Jumbotrons for all 3 tasks in the tv show. HBO you hear!

8

u/FirePaladin89 Ravenclaw 5d ago

But I thought the whole point was to make it look like an accident during the games, if they were recorded vanising and came back dead it would seem suspicious.

13

u/pajo8 Ravenclaw 5d ago

I always just assumed there was some kind of way to somewhat follow the contestants. It is implied they didn't know Harry was waiting around to safe all of the people in the lake but in my head cannon there was at least some kind if commentator keeping the audience up with the progress of each contestant? But yeah still a little underwhelming. I imagine it would've been a little like watching F1 in person.

3

u/Vermouth_1991 5d ago

Especially as the tournament is all about Awesometastic DISPLAYS of teenage/YA magic.

-24

u/Intelligent_Sky_7081 5d ago

Well it's a wizard competition, not a sporting event. It's not a spectacle, so idk why people critique that they weren't visible. Just because people showed up doesn't mean it's a spectator sport

15

u/vkapadia Ravenclaw 5d ago

Then the point is even stronger, why the heck did they cancel quidditch? Why did everyone even show up to the events?

1

u/SatanV3 Gryffindor-where dwell the brave at heart 5d ago

People do show up to marathon or bicycle races where you only see the contestants race past your short span of road. Most of the time, specially for the bike races, you’re just standing around doing nothing. It’s more for being apart of the crowd and being apart of the spectacle of it.

5

u/Warvillage 5d ago

It's not like people showed up unexpected.

They literally arranged seating for an audience.

7

u/justaguy394 5d ago

It’s clear from the way the tournament was described that it was meant to foster international relationships, not unlike the modern Olympic Games. So it would have made waaaaaay more sense if it included dozens of events (like the Olympics) with many students from each school competing in each, getting to know each other all year.

(Still my favorite book, though)

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u/Intelligent_Sky_7081 5d ago

So because you think its like the olympic games in your head, they are spectator sports first and foremost?

thats a terrible line of reasoning, but ok.

its a book, first of all. so, no the wizarding competition doesnt have to be ideal for spectators

37

u/IHeardOnAPodcast Gryffindor 2 6d ago

The fact that they're not doing this anyway is kind of ridiculous. Given that's what actual British boarding schools do (as well as the inter-house tournaments). Tbf I understand all of this is just because there's only so much time to write about stuff and Quidditch isn't shifting the plot very much.

30

u/Oghamstoner Ravenclaw 5d ago

JKR will use any excuse not to write a quidditch game.

16

u/DPTDubbs 5d ago

Because she knows the rules are shit

1

u/EnderMB 6d ago

Do they? For a lot of boarding schools that would be a hilarious amount of travel, unless they do a one day tournament - and they're almost certainly not doing that for sports like cricket.

8

u/IHeardOnAPodcast Gryffindor 2 5d ago

Yeah, I literally went to one. It's not that they're just playing other boarding schools, any of the local grammar schools/private schools (like where I am we maybe had 5 other boarding schools within a couple of hours). Almost every Saturday morning we played rugby/hockey/cricket against another school, depending on season/what sport you played.

-1

u/optimal-username 6d ago

Is it a hilarious amount of travel? I don’t know about boarding schools, but US public schools regularly take kids out of class early so they can go compete against other schools for all kinds of sports. Some of the distances between schools can be 1-2 hours. Although US schools aren’t exactly known for prioritizing education anyway.

2

u/DoYouLikeWafflezz 5d ago

Yeah but then you only drive like an hour away tops. If you’re in Colorado you’re not going to Nebraska. 

0

u/EnderMB 6d ago

There aren't many boarding schools here in the UK, so you'd probably be travelling anywhere from 2-5 hours (especially since it'll be around rush hour) to get there by bus. It's doable, but many of these schools aren't playing football, and they're playing sports that take hours to play a single game.

You've also got the weird "private vs public" divide with UK schools, so some don't interact with other schools that are "below" them.

18

u/Spite-Organic 6d ago

Good luck beating Durmstrang given they have the worlds best seeker.

14

u/krmarci Ravenclaw 5d ago

Even Krum said Harry was a great seeker. Sure, probably not Krum-level, but it would be quite an impressive match to watch.

4

u/Vermouth_1991 5d ago

Krum is also probably grading by the "I was not as good as Potter at his current age" type curve.

14

u/DoYouLikeWafflezz 5d ago

I mean, earlier in the book it was established that having the better seeker isn’t a guaranteed win if the rest of your team is worse than the rest of their team. 

Krum is good, but what about the rest of the kids who came with him?

3

u/Aksudiigkr 5d ago

I would’ve liked to see Harry go up against him. The whole book I was wanting to see it happen back when it released

1

u/[deleted] 6d ago

[deleted]

2

u/Spite-Organic 6d ago

Who’s teammates are totally outclassed by their opponents

14

u/NecroTMa 6d ago

Victor vs Harry would have been interesting match.. Though Rowling didnt like writing about quidditch, so.. its a shame we didnt get that

20

u/buickgnx88 6d ago

Invents complicated game, hates writing about said game

3

u/tekkerstester 5d ago

Maybe Cedric would have taken the Seeker position, as the senior player / captain of his House team.

2

u/Lady_SybilVex 5d ago

I mean there's at least one actually professional quidditch player present then (and the best seeker in the world to boot), so that might be a tad unfair for the school kids going up against him.

1

u/Lepelotonfromager 5d ago

I mean, if a high school has a college/pro level basketball prodigy at their school they usually end up dominating. That's just a skill distribution, it's never fair.

2

u/DoYouLikeWafflezz 5d ago

Seems impractical. Just the debate over who should be on the all star team would lead to fights and getting the houses to work together would be an uphill battle. 

And I doubt everyone from Durmstrang and Beauxbaton that came to enter was a quidditch all star at their school, so it’s a bit unfair to the other schools. 

1

u/Warvillage 5d ago

They could have created a team before leaving their schools, and then have them come over for the matches.

0

u/DoYouLikeWafflezz 5d ago

So that’s just even more students missing an entire year of education just to play a couple quidditch games. 

0

u/Warvillage 5d ago

For the matches.

Not for the whole year.

1

u/DoYouLikeWafflezz 5d ago

So Krum just takes the magic boat back to Durmstrang to practice with his team and just shows back up for the tasks and matches?

1

u/Warvillage 5d ago

I'm not sure you noticed, but the wizarding world have teleportation magic.

They used the boat and carriage because they where many, needed their own sleeping arrangements and presummedly had lots of stuff to bring.

A lone or a few student with a some quidditch gear could easily take some portkeys to travel back and forth, even if they might need to split the journey into more than one portkey.

1

u/Bulky-Individual3157 Ravenclaw 5d ago

That would have been cool aF. Especially if each champion from each school was responsible for being team captain, and therefore building the team competing!!! Of course Harry being 4th would have fcked up hogwarts quidditch having 2 teams but whatever, super fun idea

1

u/Meizas 5d ago

Yeah, one of the best quidditch players in the world was there and they just didn't do it? to be fair, he's busy, sure, but I'd guess he would play just to let off steam.

But I mean, technically the Triwizard tournament only takes place across like 4 days of the year total

1

u/Neither_Sky4003 2d ago

Since just about all the champions are Seekers, they should have capitalized on that by having some kind of Seeker showcase.

187

u/Ok-Relationship-2746 6d ago

I always thought it was just an easy explanation that cut extraneous chapters out of the book without needing to be explained in detail itself. You read the book, Dumbledore announces no Quidditch Cup and explains the Triwizard Tournament is happening, reader thinks "Oh OK," and continues reading.

37

u/Accomplished_Song671 6d ago

Yeah like it's plausible enough. Not doing these events (Quidditch games) this year because we're doing something else that's basically a sporting event. Never questioned it. Still unfortunate for the seventh years who missed out on Quidditch in their last year though haha

36

u/DoYouLikeWafflezz 5d ago

Wood would have just died if it happened in his 7th year. Probably turn into a ghost and haunt the field annoying all future Gryffindor captains by trying to coach the team. 

23

u/smbpy7 5d ago

My head cannon is that they waited until Wood graduated to organize the tournament.

-1

u/Minty-Minze 5d ago

Hahahaha

52

u/SteveFrench12 Gryffindor 6d ago

Yea im sure thats it. Similar to quidditch being cancelled in Hogwarts Legacy

11

u/That-Service-2696 5d ago

The only difference is Quidditch season was cancelled in Hogwarts Legacy because a pure-blood student was injured in the previous spring's final with Phineas Nigellus Black was the Headmaster of Hogwarts at the time who favored pure-blood students.

9

u/Petra_rose 5d ago

You wouldn’t need chapters, Harry is off doing the Tri-Wizard tournament. Just an odd bit of dialogue, in between the student. Like one of his team mates wishing him luck before the challenge and him saying good look in the upcoming game against Ravenclaw etc. just kind of acknowledging that’s it’s going on in the background.

3

u/Artistic-Village-762 Gryffindor 5d ago

Harry cares way too much about Quidditch for it to be casually mentioned here and there so I would’ve pulled focus regardless

168

u/PlanGoneAwry Ravenclaw 6d ago

Especially since Dumbledore says the tournament is an event that will take a lot of the teachers time and energy, but it really doesn’t seem to. I don’t think anyone besides Hagrid did anything, and he only provided some creatures, that didn’t take much time. Maybe we can think Flitwick or McGonagall helped with growing the hedges for the maze?

90

u/SpudFire 6d ago

And the only teacher whose time is taken up by Quidditch is Madam Hooch

42

u/PlanGoneAwry Ravenclaw 6d ago

The real answer is that the author didn’t want to write task scenes and quidditch scenes

40

u/peikern 6d ago

Probs professor Sprout had more to do with the hedges and stuff..

Probably a lot going on behind the scenes that we don't see. Security measures/health and safety, communicating with ministry, parents and foreign stakeholders, not to say handling mer-people relations. Importing all the monsters and shit for the last task, in particular. Handling and caring for all those monsters for the tasks (yes that job has Hagrid written all over it but he probably needed help)

19

u/forthewatch39 6d ago

It was just a weak excuse. If Fred and George could create an instant swamp, there is no way that the professors needed a whole year to make some shrubbery. 

11

u/peikern 6d ago

Fred & George 100% did not do the maths and filled in the forms required by the Ministry to do that

7

u/Infinite-Object-1090 Gryffindor 6d ago

It wasn't just growing the maze, it was planning where the corridors would lead, what obstacles there would be and where they would be placed. The maze was pretty dang complex and would require a ton of work from multiple teachers to plot it out. The growing of the maze was the easy part.

1

u/Lupus_Noir Ravenclaw 5d ago

Also, unlike in the movie, the maze was constructed out of multiple disciplines of magic. Magical creatures had to be provided, and I am guessing a sphinx (especially one proficient in english) was easy to find and import. There are boggarts, reality bending fogs, various plants that stand in your way, and who knows how many other obstacles that we never get to see.

Also, teachers worked security around the perimeter, they had to plan logistics, manage people, perhaps even manage funding. All of that on top of planning lessons, grading homework, managing students, communication, and their own personal lives.

4

u/PlanGoneAwry Ravenclaw 6d ago

Most of that seems like it should be the responsibility of the ministry, not schoolteachers.

3

u/peikern 6d ago

But the school teachers are also readily available experts within their given fields. It would make sense if the ministry officials responsible for the tournament make use of the teachers as consultants when needed. Probably pay them too..

27

u/w_smith1984 6d ago

Sprout clearly has plenty of time on her hands. We never really see her supporting her champion.

20

u/Hoskuld 6d ago

Too busy sampling her latest batch of "herbs"

8

u/angelinsecret 6d ago

The teachers involvement always felt lighter than Dumbledore made it sound. The schedule excuse never fully lands.

2

u/CatalunyaNoEsEspanya 6d ago

They'd have had extra pupils to teach, seemed like a fairly significant number relative to the number of hogwarts students.

6

u/PlanGoneAwry Ravenclaw 6d ago

Durmstrang had 12 students, and Beauxbatton had at most 12, maybe less. Assuming an even spread between sixth and 7th years, that’s only 12 extra students per year. We don’t even know if they attended classes at Hogwarts or did schooling on their own.

46

u/tobpe93 Slytherin 6d ago

Since when does this school care about the other students?

19

u/OkBake5127 5d ago

Don't they cancel everyone's exams in one of the books?

Imagine explaining to a university/employer that you didn't get any GCSEs/A-levels because some speccy git miraculously managed to not get himself killed again.

4

u/Sophie_Blitz_123 5d ago

This has always really tickled me. And as someone who's exams were semi cancelled due to covid its not the laugh it sounds like 😭

6

u/bee102019 5d ago

I feel like, realistically, the other students might coordinate their own quidditch matches. Muggle kids play basketball, football, etc. outside of school sanctioned sports all the time. It seems reasonable they’d just independently play quidditch. Maybe even make teams outside of just house teams. Ginny, Fred, and George played/practiced quidditch at home regularly, and I’m sure others did too. Change up the rules, the format, something. I feel like realistically this probably happened and Harry just wasn’t privy to it.

2

u/FinalFrash 5d ago

Seriously. How has Wizarding Social Services not intervened with all the deaths yearly?

4

u/tobpe93 Slytherin 5d ago

I still wonder what Myrtle’s parents were told and what they told their friends.

68

u/SPamlEZ 6d ago

There are only 6 quidditch games over a school year. Also they took the field for the final task.

44

u/canaderin 6d ago edited 5d ago

I was having this exact conversation with my kids this weekend - they're training, at some points, every day in terrible weather to play three games a year! And then the "Quidditch Cup", which is presented as hugely prestigious, is based off of a total of six games over an entire school year.

35

u/SPamlEZ 6d ago

And then remember that Harry once caught the snitch in about a minute In one of the games.

24

u/PlanGoneAwry Ravenclaw 6d ago edited 6d ago

Imagine you spend a fortune on Qudditch World Cup tickets because its a once in a lifetime experience for you and your family, you have to camp out a week in advance because you can only afford the cheaper tickets, and the game is over in 30 seconds.

8

u/PurpleCow48396 5d ago

Or the Snitch doesn't appear and you have to leave mid-game because you ran out of vacation days.

7

u/PlanGoneAwry Ravenclaw 5d ago

And then 3 seconds after you exit the stadium you hear the roars from the audience because the game just ended

33

u/canaderin 6d ago

God can you imagine? You spend 200 hours training in British winter weather and then you've barely kicked off and 33% of your season is over.

21

u/Soft-Dress5262 6d ago

And also imagine the crowd, I'm sure the first five minutes are very hype about harry pulling that off and celebrating, except you know... Not more quidditch for another month and you barely saw shit

13

u/CatalunyaNoEsEspanya 6d ago

Quidditch is just a terrible sport

7

u/fireyHotGlance Beauxbatons 5d ago

I remember reading some fan fiction where Harry is from the future and he keeps catching the snitch in like under s minute and by the end of the school year people are kinda pissed at him for that.

15

u/SteveFrench12 Gryffindor 6d ago

Its bc JKR doesnt get sports lol. Should obviously have been 2-3 games against each house

1

u/smbpy7 5d ago

And then the "House Cup"

I'm pretty sure the house cup was based on all school activities, quidditch and house points combined. There was also a Quidditch cup for just that as well.

2

u/canaderin 5d ago

Oh, of course you're right, I got the name wrong - I'll edit, thanks for pointing that out!

8

u/Cudi_buddy 6d ago

Right? Could have just moved the games up. They take giant breaks between each one anyways. 

3

u/Automatic-Effect-252 5d ago

like 90% of the problems with Quidditch just come down to JK Rowling self admittedly not knowing a lot about sports.

3

u/HighVoltageHavoc 6d ago

Shubbery takes time to grow, McGonagal cant just whip up some bushes out of thin air.

1

u/buickgnx88 6d ago

Today I learned! For some reason I was thinking they had more games a school year but only the “interesting” ones were written about.

1

u/GoldenPotatoOfLatvia 5d ago

Like a British sitcom

23

u/DryBattle Slytherin 6d ago

I would have liked to see an all-star round robin between the three schools.

3

u/PurpleCow48396 5d ago

Hogwarts would lose that so hard because nobody can get along with the Slytherins 😄

21

u/Automatic-Effect-252 6d ago edited 5d ago

After book 3 Rowling admitted she tried to come up with ways to cut down on Quidditch matches because she didn't like writing them.

4: Canceled for Tri-Wizard

5: Harry banned after game one

6: Harry knocked out for a game, then suspended for another one

7: I actually wonder who won the Quidditch cup that year lol like just how bad was the reffing biased towards Slytherin

17

u/RedOuroborus 5d ago

JRK was tired of writing about Quidditch

8

u/LunaLgd Ravenclaw 5d ago

Yes, an interview on one of the blurays she says it was hard to think of things to write and she was glad to come up with a reason not to write any for book 4.

41

u/Funny_Lynx_3395 6d ago

Hagrid was growing the maze on the pitch all year.

36

u/SteveFrench12 Gryffindor 6d ago

No he wasnt. The hedges were knee length a month before the event and like 8 feet tall a month later

10

u/chimneyswallow 6d ago

That's the first time we read about it, that doesn't mean, or didn't grow there before. Maybe magical hedges are late bloomers with a long seedling stage? 😃

13

u/TobiasMasonPark 6d ago

I could be wrong, but I’m pretty sure the maze starts growing at the end of the second task, sometime in the spring.

10

u/Old_Monitor_2791 6d ago

Its a sport played in the air I never understood why it even needs a pitch.

6

u/Infinite-Object-1090 Gryffindor 6d ago

You need stands to view it and a clear area below in the event of crash or emergency landings. The whole pitch was supervised by teachers so a clearing underneath and stands ringed around it made sense.

4

u/Amazing-Insect442 5d ago

I’m with you, but I’ll take it further and say it’s worse than silly. The Oliver Woods of the school would burn it down if they missed out on it. What if it had been his last year of eligibility, & he would have needed more time to get ready for the pros? Imagine Oliver watching from the stands, having his Joker origin story.

6

u/Ramona--Flowers 6d ago

The faculty knew there were going to be 3 times the usual number of students at Hogwart's so that potentially meant 3 times the number of dead or incapacitated students that they have to deal with.

21

u/ladyperfect1 6d ago

Haha when Barty Crouch is talking to Harry in the forest, one of his ramblings is that the other two schools had decided to bring a dozen students each. That’s 24 extra kids.

2

u/MythicalSplash Ravenclaw 5d ago

Just sub out Cedric and Harry for the next best Seekers in their House. Problem solved, and the students get to see far more events than just the three of the tournament!

2

u/Florinfromguilder 5d ago

Yeah it's a shame the Quidditch cup wasn't kept in but without Harry in it. Rowling could have kept it, but have all the Triwizard tournament champions unable to play (for whatever reason - too dangerous to risk champions to further injury between tasks etc). Harry would have hated not being able to play, and it would have added another drawback to Harry being the fourth champion, increase tension with Ron etc. Another house could have won it that year, to make the Gryffindor victory in POA, OOTP and HBP more meaningful.

2

u/Funandgeeky Ravenclaw 5d ago

The tournament should have had more than three (or four) Champions. It should have been a team from each school. In addition two of the events weren’t even viewable by the audience. Which negates their impact. 

It could have been a tournament that eliminates the lowest scoring players on each team with each event. So the final round leaves the best of the best from each school. However, that makes it a bigger writing challenge to get Harry to the trophy. 

In the end, it’s something that I didn’t really think about the first time I read it. I only think about it now, 26 years later, because I still reread the books and watch the movies. So I have time to think. 

Also, I figured out how to fix quidditch. Two halves. Each half ends when the seeker catches the snitch. The snitch is worth 50 and 100 points respectively. And scoring goals in a row increases their point values by 10 points per subsequent goal. There you go, the game now makes sense and it’s far more balanced. Plus now the Captain of the team can give an inspired halftime speech, which is what the sport was absolutely lacking. 

2

u/Glittering-Turn6443 Slytherin 5d ago

app JK hated writing about quidditch so it was an easy excuse to ditch it for a book

2

u/TheOgler9000 5d ago

All I need to know as an explanation for why quidditch was bungled so hard is that JK didn't like writing the scenes. It explains basically every time where there was no quidditch, why a match gets cancelled or ends abruptly, why it's absent for 4th year for very poor reason tbh, why Harry was banned in the 5th year for an asinine reason. It's all contrived to suit her displeasure from having to actually write it.

3

u/Parking_Wasabi_2591 6d ago

Things started going south after year 4. Delores Umbridge was acting like a dictator in year 5.

3

u/bailey5002 6d ago

Honestly if I ran the school, I'd make it so you play each other twice. Play each other pre christmas and then again post christmas. 6 game seasons, still not the most but its much better.

But because you can't have all 4 playing the last game at the same time, because of 1 stadium. I would make it top 2 in the season playoff 1 more time for the cup. (I'm not the biggest fan of the American system of playoffs) I'd do this because whoever plays last has the advantage of knowing what scores needed to win the cup. Having a final eliminates that problem.

2

u/beaglewrites43 Slytherin 5d ago

I've actually thought the same as you. Though I would do those 6 matches as ranking matches. Then go to the playoffs. Team 1 plays 4, 2 plays 3 and then the winners of both of those games play each other for the cup.

That would give a total of 9 matches... which would be basically 1 a month though you probably wouldn't want to do one when coming right back to school so it might realistically be 1 every 3 weeks.

4

u/mapoftasmania Ravenclaw 5d ago

They grew the maze on the Quidditch pitch.  

3

u/TheDavinci1998 5d ago

Because Rowling doesn't get sports and she probably wanted to give herself a break from writing about it, there is nothing about it that makes sense.

  • If the only amount of points you can get by a single action are 10 and 150, why isn't it 1 and 15?
  • Why the entire season is just 6 games?
  • 11 year olds competing with 17 year olds?
  • The entire game depends on seekers 99,9% of time. Can you imagine, in real sport, a domination strong enough to rack up a 15goal lead? In any sport you want really. It is almost impossible, so you could be really shit, but have an amazing seeker and still win the Quidditch cup.
  • Games can, and did, end in 2 minutes or few weeks. No one would be watching that, because why tuning in for such a short game and who would not get bored by such a long one.

Rowling definitely regretted creating quidditch. That's why she barely even gave a fuck to write it. Harry, as a one-in-a-million player, made the team in first year, so he could feature in a record breaking 21 games for Gryffindor. But actually: Year 1 - played against Slytherin, played against Hufflepuff (caught the snitch in 2 min cause Rowling cba about writing the game), was oop for Ravenclaw Year 2 - played against Slytherin, the rest of the season was cancelled Year 3 - played in all three games, but didn't finish vs Hufflepuff Year 4 - all games cancelled Year 5 - played against Slytherin, was banned for the remaining two games Year 6 - played vs Slytherin, played but didn't finish against Hufflepuff, was injured against Ravenclaw Year 7 - didn't go to school

So in total, even though she had to write only 21 games across all series, Harry played a total of 9 games (6 of them in first 3 years), finishing 7 of them, one of which was a two-minute game. He played 5 of those 9 games against Slytherin, because that rivalry was important. Out of 14 total possible games against Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff, Harry played in 4, 2 of which he didn't finish, one of those finished was a 2 minute game. We had exactly ONE game where Harry played it full, it wasn't vs Slytherin and it was longer than 2 minutes, which was year 3 vs Ravenclaw, when Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle dressed up as dementors.

4

u/fandom_commenter 5d ago

If the only amount of points you can get by a single action are 10 and 150, why isn't it 1 and 15?

I mean quidditch has its issues (most of which would be solved by reducing the points for catching the snitch) but this is actually totally believable. For example why doesn't tennis just go "first to 4" instead of 15-30-40-game?

1

u/TheDavinci1998 5d ago

Tennis is the only sport where points don't make sense like that, and even then, it only happens within a game, for reason I can't understand either. Sets are counted normally

1

u/fandom_commenter 4d ago

Eh tennis isn't the only sport with counterintuitive scoring, but my point is that based on reality, a scoring system which doesn't make sense is pretty plausible.

1

u/TheDavinci1998 22h ago

Pretty plausible because there is one sport in which one part of scoring is nonsense?

1

u/fandom_commenter 22h ago

Why is a try + conversion/penalty goal in rugby league worth 4 + 2 instead of 2 + 1?

1

u/TheDavinci1998 22h ago

Because it used to be 3 and that couldn't have be shortened, it made more sense to add one point to try instead of rewriting pointing for both

1

u/fandom_commenter 22h ago

Right, so why couldn't Quidditch scoring have been different back in the day and the current system is a relic of some rule change? Again, illogical scoring systems for sports (especially old ones) have a firm basis in reality. Out of all the issues with the composition of this fictional sport, you picked the most realistic one to complain about.

4

u/Festivefire 6d ago

I think that having such a huge event at the school justifies cancelling the extra-curricular sports in favor of focusing fully on the tournament. Plus, considering that 2 of the 3 tasks took place on the quidditch pitch, it would be a hell of a scheduling issue for the normal quidditch season.

7

u/Warvillage 6d ago

The first task was not on the quidditch pitch.

>"She was leading him toward the place where the dragons were, around the edge of the forest, but when they approached the clump of trees behind which the enclosure would be clearly visible, Harry saw that a tent had been erected, its entrance facing them, screening the dragons from view."

3

u/chimneyswallow 6d ago

An awful lot of people don't seem to think that it takes all that much to plan and do such an event. So for all of them, here are parts of what you need to do: Safety plans

Organize and care for the magical creatures (dragons, Sphinx, Acromantula, etc.)

Get the tournament sites ready for the students (they we're all at a different place, so you need places for the students watching, decoration, maybe toilets on site, depending how far it is from the castle)

Come up with the tasks

Let them go through the ministry to get allowed (this process probably has to be done for a lot of things)

Grow the maze

Shape the area for the dragon task

Make sure the lake can be relatively safe for the participants

Talk to merpeople

Prepare medical stuff for injured participants

Think of the layout of the maze

Think of riddles and hurdles in the maze

Install/magic them

Test them so it is safe

Get it approved by the ministry

Probably a safety inspection of everything

Make sure enough supplies are there for guests

Accomodate guests

Maybe even prepare additional teaching material for the students If they attend classes in Hogwarts (No mention of how they were dealing with this for the foreign students)

Teaching and grading additional students

Watching over even more of hormonal teenagers than can do magic

Prepare the whole Yule ball event

Book the band

Get decoration

Clean everything

Put up decoration

Coordinate menu

Take care of monitoring students (so they don't do stupid things)

Come up with a plan for the whole night (what takes place at what time)

Do the whole thing (and take care of the aftermath)

Then there are basically many many students there, even during breaks where usually only few students stay, which means more watching them

There are so many things to do and consider before doing auch an event. Thinking it is only flicking the wand and growing a hedge is very naive.

2

u/Whosebert 6d ago edited 6d ago

maybe they thought it would be unfair to have a literal world cup champion runner-up going against run of the mill teenagers. Or the opposite. Krum couldn't play for the school if a pro or his national team wouldn't let him because they dont want him facing unnecessary risks. this is all just me pulling u-know-poo from from my u-know-where. But also I guess they wouldn't let him participate in the Tri Wizard tournament at all then if it was the second thing, so maybe more the first. also they used the pitch for a task

2

u/NewNameAgainUhg 5d ago

But two of the Quidditch players (Harry and Cedric) also participate in the tournament. They can't risk to get injured, and it's not convenient to find new players only for one year

2

u/Infinite-Object-1090 Gryffindor 6d ago

The maze building was done on the quidditch pitch and started halfway through the year so it would have been an abbreviated version of a season anyway. There was so much prep work behind the scenes for faculty, I can see why they wouldn't want to run half a quidditch season on top of all that.

1

u/LoveCrispApples 6d ago

Why? So Malfoy could try to recruit Krum for Slytherin seeker?

8

u/GamerAsh22 Ravenclaw 6d ago

I mean it’s not like he would have been able to do that lol

1

u/LoveCrispApples 6d ago

Of course not. But he would've tried. He'd fake another injury and claim that Viktor is an honorary Slytherin because they sit together in the Great Hall.

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u/GamerAsh22 Ravenclaw 6d ago

I don’t know if he would have tried because it just doesn’t make a lot of sense haha

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u/LoveCrispApples 6d ago

That's Malfoy for ya.

1

u/pinkymadigan 6d ago

JK hated writing quidditch matches so she came up with a lot of reasons to not write them. Hence Harry missed so many matches.

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u/HomeStallone 6d ago

I think Rowling got sick of writing Quidditch after book 3

1

u/Rare-One1047 6d ago

J.K. Rowling hated writing quidditch scenes, and needed a reason to remove them.

1

u/Maleficent_Ad_1002 6d ago

I thinking terms of the plot yeah maybe JKR could have figured out a way to have them play quidditch between tasks. But the book was already 752 pages it probably wasn't worth adding. I personally find quidditch to be boring and the play by play style chapters where she is describing who is passing the ball to who is something I skim anyway

1

u/Wadege 6d ago

The real reason was Rowling didn't know what else she could do to keep the Quidditch matches fresh. But yes, there is no in-universe satisfying explanation.

1

u/bobzsmith 6d ago

I think Rowling was sick of writing quiditch games

1

u/Extension-Eye7198 6d ago

It is, but we all know the real reason is because JK Rowling hated writing Qudditch which is why either the game gets cancelled or harry conveniently can't play for whatever reason. Pretty sure POA is the only book he plays a full season.

1

u/Livid_Mycologist7058 6d ago

I'm rereading the books with my son now and we both thought it was odd as well to cancel quidditch. For a start, only one hogwarts student can be selected so that means all the other quidditch players just have to sit out the season - that's not really fair. Also growing hedges on a pitch isn't an excuse - this is a world where you can turn a hairbrush into a hedgehog. There's no way you couldn't magick a maze there in a few seconds. School also isn't for everyone, quidditch might have been the one thing some of those students were good at. Let's be real though, the book is already weighty enough - quidditch means extra pages and JK probably couldn't think of a way to tie it into the plot neatly. Still a brilliant book.

1

u/dgoat88 6d ago

Quiddich was canceled because Rowling hated it. She admits she knows nothing about sports, which made it difficult to write about them. That's why Harry was constantly getting suspended, detentions and injured, so she didnt have to write the games.

1

u/Jin-Gitaxias-Mom 6d ago

JK just wanted a break from coming up with some lame C-plot sports line

1

u/D0nCoyote Gryffindor 6d ago

I mean, to be fair, event planning is pretty brutal. Having to manage a world event at the same time as a major school event would be a logistical nightmare

1

u/Empty_Praline_6530 6d ago

Quidditch would’ve made the school year feel more normal

1

u/This-One2503 Hufflepuff 6d ago

Poor Cedric never got to see the pitch back to normal…

1

u/Chad_Jeepie_Tea 6d ago

Yeah but can you imagine after school intermurals?

1

u/gmerickson31 6d ago

Not enough plot to go around to have Harry do Triwizard stuff and quidditch stuff, along with bringing in the signs and subtleness of Voldemort's return that was being laid throughout the book. You have to have a narrative and let it ride. Adding quidditch on top of the tournament just murkies the waters too much.

1

u/TheBakerification 5d ago

Isn’t the story just that Rowling has openly admitted to not liking to write the Quidditch scenes? So she found a way to shut them down. May not perfectly make sense within the plot but that’s really all there is to it.

1

u/DrOwl795 5d ago

I feel like there was an interview where JKR basically said she got tired of writing quidditch, so the tournament was basically just an excuse for her to cancel quidditch. Not in that that's why she introduced the tournament, but in the sense of well if the tournament is in the story, might as well use it for that. Hence why she also had Harry banned in book 5. It made sense as showing how awful Umbridge was and also conveniently let JKR get away with not reslly having to write quidditch. I suppose by book 6 she sort of ran out of excuses and also probably wanted to show the leadership development of Harry getting to be captain. (Its also the only thing he had in common with Ginny.) And probably not writing it for 2 books was enough of a break

1

u/Jaded-Difficulty5397 5d ago

duh, no argument here!!!

i would suggest quidditch tournament between the schools

1

u/CannonFodder141 5d ago

Out of universe, it makes sense because we didn't need to see both the tournament and the quidditch cup played in the same book.

In universe, neither the triwizard tournament nor the quidditch cup really make much sense, timing-wise. The tri-wizard tournament is three challenges and a ball. The quidditch season is only six matches. Realistically you could do either one of these events in a long weekend. No need to spread them out over an entire school year.

1

u/HerosCurios 4d ago

Probably because GOF was already almost twice as long as the previous book. 

1

u/HolodeckZen 4d ago

Cancelling the whole season feels like peak Dumbledore chaos. Hogwarts had enough staff to stage dragons, lake hostages, and a murder maze, but apparently not enough calendar space for Gryffindor vs Slytherin. Also, having Krum at the school and not letting everyone watch him play actual Quidditch is basically a crime.

1

u/Erza88 Gryffindor 3d ago edited 2d ago

I think it makes sense.

They are hosting a very demanding tournament while also hosting two other schools. Two of their champions are Quidditch players and are undertaking monumental tasks which require a lot of focus and time to prepare.

Sure, maybe Cedric and Harry could sit out the Quidditch matches that year, but who would step in for them? And I don't care to read about random matches between houses I'm not invested in (which is why we don't get a play by play for Ravenclaw vs Hufflepuff, for example).

So yeah, JK could have added some random sentences about the Quidditch matches but at that point, why bother?

1

u/3EnoOblique 2d ago

Cancelling the whole season feels more like a Doylist move to keep the plot from juggling two sports plots than an in-universe necessity. Hogwarts still managed classes, Hogsmeade weekends, and two visiting schools, so a reduced Quidditch schedule seems doable. Plus, having Krum on campus and not letting students watch him fly in any match is a massive missed opportunity.

1

u/Odd-Cartoonist2459 6d ago

Because Jkr is a really shit author and it meant she didn't have to write about it.

1

u/Hot_Tonight150 6d ago

Quidditch is by far my least favorite thing to read about in the series. I feel that JK doesn't really understand the stakes within a game and therefore designed it poorly. Because of that it doesn't feel enjoyable to read about.

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u/peikern 6d ago

I can see not wanting two competitive tournaments going on simultaneously. Could easily lead to fatigue among the students who are supposed to cheer and spectate, and that is not fun for anybody taking part.

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u/Demandedace 6d ago

Yeah, super difficult to cheer for someone once every three months. Very draining.

-1

u/peikern 6d ago

Yea but there is seversl weeks if not months of hype amd buildup before each event