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In Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, it is often shown that Igor Karkaroff heavily favors Victor Krum. Was there fraud prevention to ensure that there would be another name in the Goblet of Fire as a Durmstrang candidate besides Victor Krum?

For example, Karkaroff could have forced all his students to write down Krum's name as well.

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    I suppose he could have also forced them not to have put anything into the goblet...
    – TheLethalCarrot
    Oct 24, 2018 at 10:14
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    @Sir.Hedgehog the twins was Dumbledore's age restriction, not the Goblet (at least in the book)
    – Armin
    Oct 24, 2018 at 11:05
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    hmmm true. but still he said that the goblet cannot be fooled. And if you remeber the conversation at the dungeon after harrys name came out. It was barty crouch if i recall correctly that said that as well. that the goblet cannot be fooled by simple magic rather than a slight of hand. Oct 24, 2018 at 11:06
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    @Sir.Hedgehog yeah, and Karkaroff forbidding his students to enter the tournament for real is what kind of magic?
    – Armin
    Oct 24, 2018 at 11:07
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    "Did the Goblet of Fire have fraud prevention?" Clearly not enough, given what happened with Harry's name.
    – JAB
    Oct 24, 2018 at 13:35

2 Answers 2

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Submitting only one name from a school probably wasn't fraud

In Hogwarts any student above 17 could put their name in the Goblet, but other schools could not come with all their students, so there should have been some sorting procedure which probably was influenced by the headmasters. Hence, Karkaroff was able to pick the students he wanted to participate at the first place. Was it fraud? I do not think so. He could bring anyone he wanted for the Tournament and apparently there is no strict rule of how many students from every school should put their names in the Goblet, as we learn from Mr. Crouch:

... and then send another owl to Madame Maxime, because she might want to up the number of students she's bringing, now Karkaroff's made it a round dozen...

So technically he could have brought only Krum and that would still not be against the rules. I would say Karkaroff influencing other students to get Krum as a champion would be unfair towards those students, but would not be fraud in terms of the schools competition. After all, the Goblet is to choose the best candidate for the school, so if Karkaroff would try to choose the champion himself he could just end up losing the Tournament. I do not think that making your own chances slimmer can be seen as fraud here.

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  • But Karkaroff did seem to especially like Krum and detest the rest. There was one scene, where Karkaroff asked Krum if he wanted some tea but Krum denied. Some other student said he wanted to have some but Karkaroff was extremely unfriendly and told him that he wasn't asked. Regarding your answer, you might be right.
    – Armin
    Oct 24, 2018 at 16:39
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    @Armin He favored Krum for sure, and apparently he wanted him to become the champion. Or maybe Karkaroff favored Krum exactly because he believed Krum was the best anyway and he took other students just to make it look nice. But in any case I do not think he would risk the victory in the Tournament because of his own preferences.
    – Shana Tar
    Oct 24, 2018 at 16:53
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    @Armin it was wine. “Professor, I vould like some vine”
    – user101565
    Oct 24, 2018 at 18:03
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I don't think it would be fraud to have everyone write down the same name. Additional tickets with your name on it do not increase your chances of getting picked, because the Goblet of Fire is not a lottery. The goblet picks the best candidate regardless of any other factors. Since no one is obligated to enter the tournament in the first place, they are not subverting any rules by putting someone else's name in (except, arguably, where the other person did not want to enter, but that's not the case under discussion here). So having everyone submit Krum's name would be no worse than having Krum as the only candidate in the first place.

However, it is also possible to use fraud to ensure that Krum gets picked. This is in fact exactly what Barty Crouch Jr. did with Harry. You simply have to submit his name under another school so that he is the only candidate and will thus automatically be picked. This would be fraud because it is inventing a new school that is not part of the tournament, and it requires confunding the goblet.

Either way, Karkaroff could have ensured Krum getting picked if he really wanted to. One way would apparently be technically legal while the other way would not, but either way Krum would have to compete once he's picked.

Thus, there was no real fraud prevention built into the goblet that couldn't be subverted. But there's still the fear of getting caught which might deter most people.

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