Harry Potter and Goblet of Fire is the fourth novel in J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter book series. Harry Potter is a book series about a young wizard who is trying to defeat Lord Voldemort. Lord Voldemort is a powerful Dark wizard who has killed many people, including Harry Potter's parents. However, when he attempted to kill baby Harry Potter, he failed and lost much of his power. The fact that Harry Potter survived Voldemort's attack made him a famous person in the magical world.
Years later, Voldemort has regained his health and is attempting to exact revenge on Harry Potter. In each of the previous novels of the series, Harry Potter successfully avoids Voldemort's attacks with the help of his friends and the headmaster of Hogwarts, Albus Dumbledore, the only wizard thought to be a match against Voldemort. In this fourth novel, Voldemort rises again and attempts to kill Harry Potter—this time, through the Triwizard Tournament, a competition full of dangerous tasks that could easily cover up a murder plot. Voldemort plots against Harry Potter with some of his loyal followers to make sure that Harry is entered into the tournament.
While the book was still in development, Rowling titled it Harry Potter and the Doomspell Tournament, referring to the Triwizard Tournament. In the end, she opted for The Goblet of Fire. Rowling has described this book as one of the most difficult of the Potter series to write because she noticed plot holes halfway through writing the manuscript. The ninth chapter, “The Dark Mark,” was rewritten more than thirteen times.
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire was the first book in the series to be simultaneously published in the USA and the UK, an indication of the series' growing popularity; both editions were published on July 8, 2000. The book was intentionally released on a weekend so that children could buy their copy as soon as they were available without interfering with school. During the first week over three million copies of the book were sold in the US. The fast-paced production of the book caused editing errors to appear in the first edition regarding the death of Lily and James Potter. This error was fixed in later editions.
The film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire premiered on November 18, 2005. The film stars Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter, alongside Rupert Grint and Emma Watson, who played the roles of Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. New to the cast were Ralph Fiennes, who played the evil Dark wizard Lord Voldemort, and Robert Pattinson as Cedric Diggory.
The events of the novel were revisited in the West End original play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, which debuted in London on June 7, 2016, and was published in script form on July 31, 2016.