History Literature / HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire

* KangarooCourt: The trials in the PensieveFlashback are stacked against the defendants. Sirius says he didn't even get that much. However, Ludo Bagman managed to get off, largely because he was a popular Quidditch player, making him [[ConvictedByPublicOpinion acquitted by public opinon]]. We also find out later that [[spoiler:the Lestranges and Barty Crouch Jr. ''did'' deserve to be tossed in jail]].

* KnightTemplar: Barty Crouch Sr.

* It's the first {{Doorstopper}}, about twice as long as the books that preceded it.
* It's the point which CerebusSyndrome really sets in, as Voldemort returns to power and a significant supporting character becomes a SacrificialLion, all of which is set up by the events of ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndThePrisonerOfAzkaban Prisoner of Azkaban]]''.
* And finally, it's the first book in the series that arrived after Pottermania had gripped the world, making its release a major event in the year's entertainment calendar.

* BadassTeacher: Moody. [[spoiler:The fake one does a good job at acting the part, and the real one would have been one too if he'd actually been able to do the job.]]

* INeedYouStronger: The reason for [[spoiler:fake Moody's]] assistance to Harry in the Tri-Wizard's challenges. See XanatosRoulette.

* KilledOffForReal: [[spoiler:Cedric]]

* MoralGuardians: It was with this entry that they started coming out in full force against the series. Just as the series became a worldwide phenomenon, it also brought a wave of [[AddedAlliterativeAppeal parents, politicians, and preachers]] raging against the series, accusing it of glorifying witchcraft and Satanism to children, some having burnings of it. This [[NoSuchThingAsBadPublicity required them to buy copies to burn]].

* StrawmanPolitical: Averted or even subverted. Hermione, after seeing a house-elf get fired for the crime of being terrified, decides that house-elves are "uneducated and brainwashed" slaves and need to be liberated. But when she meets other, non-fired house-elves, they're quite satisfied with their way of life, claiming that [[GoodFeelsGood virtue is its own reward]]. Hermione comes out looking, not heroic, but instead distinctly foolish.

* XanatosRoulette: [[spoiler:The whole Tri-Wizard Tournament is hijacked by the scattered remnants of Voldemort's followers for the sole purpose of kidnapping Harry Potter by having him touch a object that would magically teleport him away to their SupervillainLair. Their overly elaborate plan hinges not only on manipulating the title Goblet of Fire to draw Harry's name -- an act that immediately draws suspicion since it violates half a dozen Tri-Wizard rules -- but also on Harry's '''winning''' (and, for that matter, surviving) a multi-stage tournament that culminates in an obstacle course through a large maze. Surely there had to be a simpler way to get to Harry.]]

* BeamOWar: A rare effect (their two wands have the same core from the same specific specimen of phoenix) makes Harry's and Voldemort's wands connect and results in an anime-style beam-of-war battle. Harry and Voldemort supply the page image for the trope.

The fourth book in the ''Literature/HarryPotter'' series. Published in 2000. Following the events of ''Literature/HarryPotterAndThePrisonerOfAzkaban'', Voldemort now has a loyal follower by his side and is making plans to become stronger and regain his body. Meanwhile, Hogwarts is hosting the Triwizard Tournament between three Wizarding schools in Europe, and Harry discovers that he has been selected to compete, even though he is below the age restriction and did not, as a matter of fact, actually apply as a candidate. He begins to fear that he's a pawn in someone else's plan, whilst becoming slowly more aware of the rising specter of Voldemort...

* StrawmanPolitical: Averted or even subverted. Hermione, after seeing a house-elf get fired for the crime of being terrified, decides that house-elves are "uneducated and brainwashed" slaves and need to be liberated. But when she meets other house-elves, they're quite satisfied with their way of life, claiming that [[GoodFeelsGood virtue is its own reward]]. There's a lot more details on all sides, but the point is that what ''could'' have been some sort of equal rights crusade gets pretty well deflated; if anything, ''Hermione'' ends up looking the fool due to her heavy-handed tactics, which the house-elves find amusing or even insulting. (Later books have Dumbledore pointing out that Hermione generally has the right idea, and Hermione [[CharacterDevelopment gaining a better understanding of house-elf psychology]].)

* WhiteMansBurden: Hermione's house-elf liberation subplot is this. Somewhat unusually for this trope, it's portrayed in-universe as a bad thing, and she gets called on it by practically everyone. Even an attentive reader can notice the inherent [[{{Hypocrite}} hypocrisy]] of her cause: launching a house-elf freedom campaign on her own for the benefit of other elves without so much as ''asking'' for their help, forcing them into unwanted freedom. She also bases her view of house-elves on Dobby, whose views on freedom, payment and clothing are quite different than the average elf. And she [[ComicallyMissingThePoint completely misses the point]] about why house-elves are unhappy -- their working conditions, not the work itself or lack of pay.

* WitchHunt: The trials, or lack thereof for Sirius, of suspected Death Eaters at the Ministry.

* BondVillainStupidity: Near the end of ''Goblet of Fire'', Harry has been disarmed, gagged, and tied securely to a gravestone. Rather than simply killing Harry after using his blood to regain his body, Voldemort not only has Wormtail cut him loose and give him back his wand, but insists on fighting him in a one-to-one duel and forbids interference from any of his Death Eaters, for no other reason than to prove, once and for all, that he is the stronger of the two. Of course the final result of this is that Harry manages to escape Voldemort's attempt on his life, once again through luck, and warn everyone of his resurrection. It was reasonable of Voldemort to assume that Harry was no longer protected by love, but he was unaware of the twin cores. [[spoiler:However, Voldemort does use Harry's escape to his advantage in ''Order of the Phoenix''.]]

* JerkassHasAPoint: Malfoy is basically right about how it's a bad idea to keep blast-ended skrewts around. Hermione admits this in a private moment.

* MoralGuardians: It was with this entry that they started coming out in full force against the series. Just as the series became a worldwide phenomenon, it also brought a wave of [[AddedAlliterativeAppeal parents, politicians, and preachers]] raging against the series, accusing it of glorifying witchcraft and Satanism to children, some having burnings of it. Of course, this [[NoSuchThingAsBadPublicity required them to buy copies to burn]].

** [[spoiler:Igor Karkaroff]] basically spends the whole book acting as suspiciously as possible. For readers GenreSavvy enough to know it would never be someone so obvious, [[spoiler:[[BewareTheNiceOnes Ludo Bagman]] ]] is made a viable suspect with evidence against him occasionally brought up, but nearly always dismissed by the characters as irrelevant.

* WhiteMansBurden: Hermione's house-elf liberation subplot is basically this. Somewhat unusually for this trope, it's portrayed in-universe as a bad thing, and she gets called on it by practically everyone. Even an attentive reader can notice the inherent [[{{Hypocrite}} hypocrisy]] of her cause: launching a house-elf freedom campaign on her own for the benefit of other elves without so much as ''asking'' for their help, forcing them into unwanted freedom. She also bases her entire view of house-elves on Dobby, whose views on freedom, payment and clothing are quite different than the average elf. And she [[ComicallyMissingThePoint completely misses the point]] about why house-elves are unhappy -- their working conditions, not the work itself or lack of pay.

* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: [[spoiler:Bartemius Crouch, Jr. so ''very'', ''very'' much.]]

** [[spoiler:Dumbledore gets "an odd look of triumph" after learning that Harry's blood was used in Voldemort's ressurection spell. It's not until very late in the final book that this pays off.]]

** Snape continues the role from the previous books, but really reaches his peak in this book, not even trying to hide his favoritism for his Slytherin students and his bias against the students from the other houses. This is most notable when he not only lets Malfoy off scot-free when he hits Hermione with a charm that makes her front teeth grow huge but then tells her he "sees no difference", causing her to run off crying, then has the nerve to take points from Griffyndor, and then give Harry and Ron detention when they get angry over this. Fortunately, in the next book, Umbridge appears, replacing him in this role and making Snape look not nearly as bad by comparison.

* PensieveFlashback: The TropeNamer. This book is the first time they're used, at least directly (as Harry notes, the exact same concept previously drove the diary flashback in ''Chamber of Secrets'').

** While Harry, Ron and Hermione are confronting Fred and George in the Owlery about their "blackmail" conversation [[spoiler:over Ludo Bagman scamming them at the World Cup]], George says to Ron: "Carry on like this and [spoiler: you'll be made a prefect."]] In Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, [[spoiler:Ron is made a prefect alongside Hermione.]]