Professor Julian Womble (0:00)

Welcome to Critical Magic Theory, where we deconstruct the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Because loving something doesn't mean we can't be critical of it. I'm Professor Julian Womble, and today we are diving into Edward Cullen. I mean, whoops, wrong fandom. But you know where I'm going with this. I was told very early on, when I announced that we were going to be talking about this character, that I needed to make Twilight jokes, and I said, we're gonna start off with one. Okay. Just in case I don't get any more in throughout the episode. You got. You got your one. Okay. All right. We are going to be talking about Cedric Diggory, our Hufflepuff King. I'm so excited because I think many of you noted in your comments that we don't spend a lot of time with Cedric, but the time that we do spend with him, he leaves such an amazing impression about just what a kind and generous person he is. But then the traged that befalls him also sticks with us throughout a lot of the series, but particularly in Order of the Phoenix, where we see Harry really trying to navigate what it is to lose someone who is a friend, but not the kind of friend that we see. Harry kind of have a lot, right, which are people who he's known for a considerable amount of time and who play a really big part in the way that he lives his life. Cedric becomes somewhat of an acquaintance and then friend, and then right at the moment of this kind of burgeoning relationship, he is murdered by Lord Voldemort. And I think that there are a lot of lessons for us to learn and think about when it comes to Cedric. And many of you brought up amazing, amazing points in your responses for this episode survey. And so I'm really excited to dive in because I think that, as has been the case for us, characters that we don't spend a lot of time with also are the ones who tend to give us a lot to think about. And Cedric is no different. And your responses were no different. Have you ever wondered whether Cedric's death was heroically tragic or just tragic? Or if the quote unquote advice he gave to Harry for the second task was petty or fair? Or whether he's a good representative of Hufflepuff? We are getting into all of it today, and I couldn't be more excited because I'm pretty sure that Cedric is our first Hufflepuff, and we've had representatives from almost every other house, save Ravenclaw, I believe, so we're rounding out the houses, and I'm excited to talk a little bit about Hufflepuff and what it means to be in Hufflepuff. Me and the Chronic Overthinkers had a very cool conversation about Hufflepuff House. And so I'm excited to share some of what we discussed in there as we discussed whether or not Cedric is a good Hufflepuff. But before we get into any of that. Huh? Before we get into Cedric Diggory, we have to bop along to the theme song. If I didn't think I was gonna get sued, I would have done the Triwizard Champion theme music. But I'm not risking a lawsuit for y'all, so y'all are just gonna have to deal with the music that we normally bop along to, okay? Because I'm not. I'm not getting a letter from Warner Brothers. You're not doing that to me. No, no, no, no, no. See, I did all that interlude because I hope you are stretching, right? Because if you're in the United States, we're coming up, and you need to be ready. You need to stretch, because Thanksgiving is a marathon, okay? And you need to be pacing yourself, and you need to be limber, both to bop along to the theme song, but also to get ready for Thanksgiving. So I'm doing you a service today by allowing you to do this, so you're welcome in advance. And we are ready to bop along in 3, 2, 1, 1. Let's go. We need to talk about Harry Potter. I hope you danced, y'all. This is gonna be such a fun episode because there is some chaos, and you know how that thrills me. And I didn't expect there to be as much as there was, but I'm so happy that there is, because I think, you know, again, when we have characters that we don't spend a considerable amount of time with, some of us are like, oh, what are we going to talk about? Don't worry. We have plenty of things okay. To have a conversation about as it pertains to Cedric Diggory. But before we get into all of that, I just want to say welcome to any new listeners who may be joining us or people who have been catching up and are now caught up. Welcome to what is only going to be a really good time today. I'm in a much better headspace than I was when I recorded the last episode, so we are really firing on all cylinders. I want to thank those of us who joined in on the post episode chat on Patreon for the ministers of magic, it was a lot of fun, as per usual. And I also want to thank our new Chronic Overthinkers, Aaron and Kawan, who have joined the ranks. You know, me and the Chronic Overthinkers are having a Friendsgiving on Saturday and we're gonna be talking about Gryffindor House and it's gonna be a roast. I said it, okay? And it's gonna be fun. It's gonna be. We'll have a good time. I know that there are some of our Gryffindor siblings who are ready to fight and that's okay. You know, we love chaos. And so I'll be sure to report back on what was uncovered. If you are a Chronic Overthinker and can join us, please feel free to check the Patreon for when we'll be meeting up. And speaking of Patreon while we're here, while we're on the topic, if you are interested in joining us on Patreon for free to join in our post episode chats, which we have every after every episode, please feel free to do that again. Remember now, if you would like to join and subscribe for $5 or for $10, that for the sake of your wallet and your sanity, it's probably best to do it via your desktop@patreon.com criticalmagictheory it's a good time. We have a really good time. And now that my semester is coming to an end, I'll have some time to do some bonus episodes for us, which I've been meaning to do in scheduling and planning, but life has been lifing. Okay, but all is well. I just found out that my first book is coming out in February, which is crazy and wild, and that wasn't even like a flex, but it's just a wild situation. Okay? We're not going to get into it because I'm not going to Gilderoy Lockhart you all yet, but just know that it is coming. And so if you're interested in joining us on Patreon, please feel free to do so. If you follow me on social media, there's a link in my bio to the patreon Again, that's patreon.com criticalmagictheory if you don't follow me on social media, but you're like a social media person, join, join up. Roffwprofw on TikTok, rof jw on Instagram, y'all, it's a time, okay? It is a time. And if you do follow me There. If you're subscribed to this podcast, please feel free to, like, rate, Follow, subscribe all the things. And I have an announcement, and I'm excited to announce this because I think that it will excite many of you because, you know, when we were talking on the Patreon about what the next episodes were going to be and who the other characters, and there's one character that kept coming up over and over and over again, and I kept pushing back and being like, oh, you know, we don't know if that person is a pureblood. And it feels kind of weird. And I said to myself, julian, what would Edward Cullen do? No, I'm joking. I did not say that. But I'm just trying to get my Edward Cullen jokes in while I can think about them. I said to myself, the holidays are coming. And I said, you know what? There's no reason for us to not believe that this person isn't a pureblood. And we can get into that conversation in the episode, you see, and so then we can have a conversation which helps us bring together the theme that we've been working through for our character analyses thus far, while also giving you all what you want. See, because as you know, sometimes I'm a dictator, but this time it's giving democracy. And for that, you're welcome. And so our next episode is going to be on the one and only Luna Lovegood. And I don't know about you, but I am very excited, especially because I'm going to take a little bit of time off, because the episode that would come after the Luna episode is Christmas. And, y'all, I need to celebrate Christmas. I need to be with my friends and my families, you understand? And so we're gonna take a beat after that episode. So I figured, what's a good send off? Nargles. Hmm? Nargles are a good send off. And so that's where. That's how we're gonna end it. When I was thinking about one of my favorite Cedric moments, I realized that the moment that came to me the quickest and had the most emotional response was one that is my favorite. Mostly because it makes me roll my eyes every time. And I know many of you know exactly what I'm talking about, because it's a moment that many of you brought up in your comments. And it's the moment where Cedric finds himself, you know, being quote, unquote, helpful to Harry and just is like, go and take a bath and, you know, go use a prefix bathroom and mull it over in the Water. Now, here's the thing. I understand that, you know, this is a competition. And so it was generous of him to even, you know, offer that information up to Harry. But also, whatever happened to quid pro quo? I scratch your back, you scratch mine. Harry went up to Cedric and said, listen, the dragons, actual dragons, and we have to get past them. Like, no subterfuge, no guesswork, no, like, go sit in a fireplace and see what comes to you. None of that. This is what's coming. This is how it goes. And Cedric gives none of that. And it's a moment that I appreciate, one, because it makes me laugh, but also because I think. And this is something that many of you brought up and something that will then come into play when we discuss the words that best describe Cedric is that, like, I feel like Cedric's hufflepuffness allowed for him to go and be like, I have to kind of reciprocate what was done for me by Harry also simultaneously. And I'm not gonna just give you the answer, because that's not fair. And if you decide to do something that isn't fair or create a level of fairness. Right, because we know that Fleur and Crumb knew and Harry knew, so the only one out would have been Cedric. So we can imagine how in his mind, he would rationalize, like, well, that only makes it fair. But also would say, I'm not going to give you everything. Like, you got to do something, Harry. And while I find that very annoying, I also do think that it really does kind of sum up a lot of the way that we understand who Cedric is as a person. Right. He's a very principled person with very particular and specific boundaries. And I think we get to see a lot of that play out in the chapters of Goblet of Fire. And I really appreciate that moment because it is one that I think I don't know, encapsulates a lot of who he is. And I like that a lot. But it is a moment where I roll my eyes every time because I'm a Slytherin, and I'm like, no, no, no, no, no. I told you exactly what you needed to do. And so this whole mullet around also, sir, you're sending me to this bath. You don't know if I can swim. How presumptuous of you. And you're not telling me. Mull it over in the. Like, give me something. How about, you know, sink to the bottom and open up the egg? I mean, there were so many other options that were available to us, and you decided to go with the most ridiculously vague one that you could think of. And it's like, this is life or death, Cedric. There's no time for ambiguities. But I really do think it really does encapsulate a lot of that fairness that we talk about when it comes to Hufflepuffs. And I also do think. And we're gonna just move in without a musical interlude, just pretending what happened, because it dovetails so nicely with the words that best describe Cedric. And so the top three words were fair, kind, and brave. And this moment in particular, I think, encapsulates a lot of those qualities. Right. It takes a level of fairness to say, I will give you information as a way to reciprocate the information you provided for me, but there's a boundary, because I want to be fair. And I also recognize that this is a competition. And while I feel like it is the kind thing to do in telling you this, I'm not just going to divulge everything, because that's not the nature of this competition, which, to be fair, Harry, you shouldn't even be in. And I'm not going to hold it against you. However, also, and simultaneously, we are competitors. And while you did me a kindness, and I will reciprocate that kindness, there comes a moment where we are not going full tilt in terms of how much we're going to offer you. And I think we do see such a level of bravery from Cedric, but I think also from all of the competitors in this tournament, because it's treacherous. It's crazy what they had these students get up to. And he really does take it head on. And I think it is also brave to kind of be willing to forego your own glory in a willingness to share it with someone else because of that fairness, because of that kindness and understanding of, you know, what Harry did for him when he protected him from Crumbs who had been imperious. Right. And so I think that those words really do encapsulate a lot of the way that we understand Cedric as a person. But I also think that this moment, which many of us are frustrated by, also highlight exactly who he is and also kind of, what does it mean to be in Hufflepuff? Right. And I think that some of us will think about one of the big words is always loyal. And I think that loyalty doesn't necessarily have to come without boundaries. And I think that we do see Cedric exhibit loyalty and healthy boundary making. And I find that to be just A fascinating thing to think about as we live in this time where boundaries are really important and everyone has them or some people don't, but that everyone's talking about them. Right. And that there are toxic ways to employ boundaries and then there are ways that are reasonable and respectful as well. Right. And I think we see Cedric in this moment doing that and then really kind of showing us exactly how one can be a loyal person but not forego their principles. And that is really, really important. And it's something that I don't know that we necessarily see discussed a lot when we talk about Hufflepuffs. And so I'm excited for that particular question. But also I think these words do a great job at really tapping into something that we, we don't necessarily get to talk a lot about because we don't spend a lot of time with Hufflepuffs and we don't really get to spend that much time with Cedric. Now it is time for our arithmancy lesson. This episode's arithmancy lesson had 343 responses. The first question is, is Cedric Diggory a good person? About 85% of us said yes, about 4% of us said no, and around 10% of us said don't know. Someone wrote, cedric is a kind wizard. We only get a brief time with him, but he seems fair beyond words. For instance, why doesn't he put up a fight to be the only wizard to represent Hogwarts in the Triwizard Tournament? His right to represent is right there in the name Tri T R I. For those of you who can't see, which is all of you, he still follows the rules and goes along for the ride in what will literally be his last hurrah. To further define his moral fortitude, he shared hints with Harry when he did not have to do so. Someone else wrote, I chose don't know for if Cedric is a good person because I don't think he knows yet either. As a high school teacher, I think he perfectly captures so many students who are about to graduate. He wants to be a good person, but is struggling to do so consistently in a way that I think is developmentally appropriate for his age. I think if he had been given the time to grow up and live through the travesties of war, he would have eventually chosen to be a good person. I just want to stick a pin in the notion of choice because it's going to come back a little bit later when we have our conversation in my reflection about choice and the circumstances they're in. So just think of this as a little tease to get you all ready and primed up for what I'm gonna talk about towards the end of the episode. And another person wrote, he gives off jock vibes like, I'm better than you, and don't even get me started on his dad trying to live vicariously through him. Signed, lovingly, A Hufflepuff that hates Cedric. Well, well, well, I told you. I said that this episode was going to be chaotic. And right off the bat, here we are. Cedric strikes me as someone who is really trying to be what he would consider to be normal, but was kind of raised to be this very special. Like, he's like, you know, his dad's special boy. Right. And so. But he has a level of humility that I think he tries to operate with not. And I think that that can sometimes come off as a put on because it doesn't feel or look genuine. But I think it is for Cedric. I think he's very uninvested in trying to be better than anyone. I think he just wants to be good. And I think I love this idea that he, in the midst of this journey, is trying to become a good person. And I think that part of that struggle is one that I think is true for a lot of our pure blood characters who are invested in trying to be seen in a certain way, particularly in a positive light. Right. Which is you're combating a lot of socialization that does tell you that you are superior to everyone. And so that last comment about, you know, this kind of I think I'm better than you because I'm a jock type vibe might just be the byproduct of, you know, a pureblood and a pure blood supremacist society who is trying to do better, but also doesn't necessarily have the tools. And so he's just kind of faking it till he makes it because he has a father who's like, why? Like, why do you need to do that? You're not a bad person. So is there a need to work this hard to be seen a very particular way? You're amazing. And I also do think that Cedric operates with a level of pretty privilege that also is invisible for him and everyone else recognizes it because everyone's running around here talking about, you know, pretty boy Cedric. But I think that there are a lot of invisible privileges that Cedric operates with. I think, though, that he, you know, it's in the concerted effort that he makes towards Harry. And, you know, that I think is really important, and I don't want to discount that. And I think. I think Cedric is a good person. I think it takes a very special kind of person to be willing to, as one of the other comments highlighted, you know, take on the fact that this other person who is already famous is joining in on a tournament that was only supposed to be three people. And you are a part of a house that is so easily forgotten. And now this person who's a part of the house that is the one who always gets all the glory has joined in. And while, yeah, I'm sure there was some kind of emotional negativity at work for Cedric, which makes sense because it's like, dude, Harry, like, can I have a moment, please? But at the end of the day, he's there and he helps Harry. He helps him in the second task where he's like, yo, we gotta go. And he taps that. He's like, we gotta get out of here. He is there for him when obviously he tells him about what the second task is and we know what happens with them in the third task. And so those moments of him not needing to do it and still doing it suggest to me that despite all the potential invisible privileges that operate for him, he still has a good heart and he operates with it, no matter how he may be feeling. And again, I think that this is part of the way that we can come to kind of understand not only the notion of fairness, but the idea of loyalty and all of the other attributes that kind of come along with Hufflepuffs. Right? Like, these people are not entering into Hufflepuff House with no kind of pre socialization at work. And I think we see Cedric having to negotiate a few things in order to kind of show up the way that he wants to show up for the people that he cares about and that he is growing to care about. Is Cedric Diggory a good son? 84% of us said yes, 0.3% of us said no, and 15.7% of us said don't know. Someone wrote, as for Cedric being a good son, I'm saying yes, Cedric does seem pretty embarrassed by his father's bluster. But it is clear that Amos absolutely adores his son and is extremely proud of him. Same for his mother for her brief moments. And they seem to have a good relationship. Someone else wrote, cedric makes his father proud. Even though Amos gets carried away sometimes, he recognizes when his father is being unnecessarily mean to other people, namely Harry, and has the courage to defend those People to his father. Even though Amos Diggory seems emotionally immature, Cedric doesn't follow along with his father's antics. He is his own person and has his own independent thought and does what he thinks is right. Sometimes being a good kid means recognizing your parents weaknesses and respectfully not letting them steamroll you or others. That's a word someone else wrote. I think he is a good son though, who loved his father and was doing everything he can to make his father proud. I think that this is one of the few places where we find a good amount of consensus. I think that what is clear is that for the relationship that we get to see between Cedric and Amos, there's a lot of love there. We also see though that Cedric is very aware of who his father is and the kind of antics that he gets up to and the way that he operates. And Cedric, again, as kind of put forth in the comment, does a very good job at really negotiating the relationship that he has with his father and who it is that he wants to be as a person and kind of making that, creating that distance because I think his father seems to be someone who has something to prove, you know what I mean? Like he wants people to know how great Cedric is. He wants. There's an insecurity that he seemingly has and he's trying to make up for it through Cedric. And Cedric does what he needs to do to make his father be proud. But I think he also is like, yeah, but at a certain point again, there's this boundary, boundary setting that Cedric is able to accomplish. And it's even harder to do with your parents than it is to do with other people in your orbit because your parents only know you as this kind of boundaryless person, right? And then that there's this idea of if you kind of impose boundaries on your parents, sometimes it can be seen as disrespectful or ungratefulness. And Cedric does it in such a gracious way. But I think it does again, it highlights this notion of fairness that he has. And it's a fairness of just kind of the way he wants to be treated by other people and how he treats people, including his parents. And that feels so healthy to me. That feels so important. And I think that, you know, so much of Cedric's own understanding of who he is as a person he knows comes from his dad. But I think he's also very interested in carving out his own place in the world. But the moment that really stands out to me, I think in terms of really solidifying the Fact that Cedric is a good son is that minutes after dying, after being murdered by Voldemort, he tells Harry, take my body back to my parents. Like, you have just been killed. And your first thought that we are able to see is, I want my parents to be able to mourn and grieve me the way that they should. And I think for me, that tells us a very specific kind of story, not only just about who he is as a person, but the kind of son he is. And I think we also can see in the brief moment that we see Cedric's mom and dad talking to Harry about the winnings from the Triwizard Tournament, that he gets it honest, because his parents, despite all of Amos blustering, and that they are good people who just loved their kid and, you know, and he loved them. And so it is interesting to me because I think that Cedric is such an amazing character when we kind of allow ourselves to dive into him because what we're able to see is just how principled he is. And I don't know that those are words that we necessarily always associate with Hufflepuffs. I think that, you know, the way that the fandom, many people within the fandom, I should say not everyone, but many people kind of see them as the kind of fun loving, you know, if you need to go get a snack from the kitchen or maybe some sort of like, potion that's gonna make you giggle all night, then you go to the Hufflepuffs. And I'm sure that that's true, but that there is also this kind of very deeply moral aspect to them. Right. And it's a morality that includes, you know, inclusivity, but also really strong boundaries and sense of self. I feel like to be a Hufflepuff because of the way that the housing system is set up and the way that even the Sorting Hat talks about them. You have to know who you are and you also have to be open to allow yourself to be informed by the people around you, but also to know, you know, what are the aspects of your identity that are unshakable, no matter who is trying to shake them, even if it's your dad. And I think that Cedric gives us a sense of that. But his relationship with his parents is one that I just keep coming back to this, you know, take my body back to my parents. And I think it's just. It's a beautiful. It's a beautiful testament to their relationship and the love that is there. Is Cedric Diggory, a good Hufflepuff about 83% of us said yes, about 8% of us said no and about 9% of us said don't know. Someone wrote. The only answer I felt I knew for sure was whether Cedric was a good Hufflepuff. I was thinking of the scene in Prison of Azkaban when he catches the snitch after Harry falls off of his broom. Despite winning, he wants to redo the match, feeling it wasn't a fair win since Harry was unconscious. This exemplifies Hufflepuff's validation of fairness and hard work. Cedric didn't want an easy win, nor did he want to win when his opponent couldn't fight fair. Someone else wrote, this may seem like a hot take. Mmm. But for a good Hufflepuff, I had to say I don't know. When this house was bullying Harry, he said he asked them not to wear the badges, etc. But he didn't seem too concerned about the whole ordeal and only said it to Harry after Harry had given him the hint. How hard did he try to make them leave Harry alone? I don't think he would have even thought about helping to tip off Harry if the roles were reversed given how shocked he was that Harry was doing it. And he also gave a super vague hint for the second task later on when Harry straight up said, we have to square up to Dragons, bro. I don't think he's a bad person or anything, but I think he let his house go on how they did cause it inflated his ego. Maybe this is a moment that I have not thought about a lot but I do think is very interesting because it shows a number of things about Hufflepuffs. Right. I think that again there is this conflation between kind of loyalty and fairness and goodness and levity, right. That like Hufflepuff shouldn't be angry that the one time that they get the spotlight it is then snatched away by a Gryffindor who happens to be Harry Potter, who for the past three years has been in the spotlight for one reason or another. And I think that some of us may think like, oh, you know, puffs are very light hearted and easy and everything rolls off their back, but clearly it doesn't. And I think I kind of, I understand Cedric's frustration. I think that it's so clear to me that Cedric is someone who is ambitious. You don't enter into the Triwizard Tournament without having some level of ambition and a desire to elevate your own stature, but probably that of your house as well. And I guarantee you he was pissed off that Harry got in the tournament. And he even didn't believe Harry when he asked Harry, like, how did you do it? And Harry's like, I didn't. And he's like, yeah, okay, I see you. And I think that that also kind of reifies the notion of Cedric as someone who is ambitious, but also someone who's like, yeah, I am annoyed that you couldn't just sit this one out and let someone else and have another house get the glory for once. Right. And so, again, I don't condone the badges. I think that they're petty and a mess. But I can understand why Cedric would and why Cedric and other Hufflepuffs would be frustrated with Harry. And I do think, though, that that kind of fits into the way that Hufflepuffs understand fairness. I think that the fact that Harry enters a Tri wizard tournament and turns it into a quad wizard tournament is unfair. And I think that we are not used to seeing a Hufflepuff reaction to injustice or to a lack of fairness. And the fact that not only does Harry get to put his name in, but he gets to compete. And I just. It is unfair. And so I think that while I can understand why we might look at Cedric with a side eye because he didn't necessarily stand up for Harry as strong as some of us would have liked, I get it. And I also think that, you know, Cedric was carrying Hufflepuff House on his back and really wanted to bring them that victory and it got snatched away and we have to leave room for dissent now. I don't think it should devolve into bullying. I think that that's a problem. And I don't condone that. But I can understand why a house that we tend to associate with, you know, levity and fairness and loyalty would devolve to that place. Because it's like, how many times have they been passed over and not considered at all? At a certain point, you reach. You reach a boiling point. And especially when you're dealing with someone like Harry Potter who gets all of the attention all the time and brings so much attention to a house that really doesn't need that much help in terms of Gryffindor because it's got Dumbledore out here just rigging the system left and right. You can understand why it is that they would be frustrated and you can understand why Cedric might feel like it is fair for them to feel that way and not necessarily check them as quickly and as effectively as we would like. But at the end of the day, I'm also like, yeah, but what happened was not fair. Now, it also wasn't Harry's fault, but nobody knew that at the time. And there's no reason to give Harry Potter the benefit of the doubt when literally everything always happens to him. And there's no reason to believe that, like, some sort of nefarious fiend came in here in the form of a teacher and rigged this, like, seemingly unriggable magical object. And so everything points to Harry just wanting to be the, you know, the star again. And I think that there is something about the desire for a little bit of retribution on the part of Hufflepuffs that makes sense to me. And I think that. That Cedric being fair enough to allow the dissent to manifest the way that it does, but also recognizing, again, that there's a boundary and there's a moment where it just needs to stop, and also recognizing that all he can do is ask. He can't force them to change. He can't force them to not be upset. And especially when I have no doubt that he understands why they're so mad. And in the midst of all of that, though, he still goes and helps Harry with the second task, and he goes and he helps Harry in the third task. And again, you know that I've already given voice to the fact that I find it very frustrating that he didn't, you know, go one for one in terms of the level of clarity that he offered the same way Harry did. But also, I think that, you know, what we're learning a lot about Cedric is fairness really means a lot to him. And that fairness does not always mean reciprocity, and that sometimes someone goes above and beyond, and that's good for them, but that may not be the thing that you feel compelled to do for you. And that's, I think, where Cedric is. And he's like, yeah, you did that. That was a choice that you made. And I'm going to make another choice because I believe in fairness. And I think that cheating in the competition, while historically prevalent, is not right. And so I'm gonna help you in a way that makes me feel as comfortable as possible. But I'm not gonna go above and beyond the way that you did because I'm not wracked with the same kind of guilt that you are. And you're navigating something else that's different than me. And to me, the more we talk about this, the more I'm like, this feels very Hufflepuff to me. I'm also seeing Hufflepuffs in a very different light because I'm like. Like, you know, fairness can sometimes look like being upset when the system does not yield what you believe it should yield. And then you're on the receiving end of things that you didn't want to receive, like a fourth champion. And now all of a sudden, you have to think about the fact that it was already hard enough when you had two other schools vying for this glory, and now you've got another person in there that's not fair. And it seems to me that what we're learning about Hufflepuffs is that when you start messing around with fairness, kindness goes out of the window, loyalty goes out of the window. Because what happened to Harry in the Quidditch match was beyond Harry's control. Right? Like, the Dementors came onto the Quidditch pitch and they affected him the way that they did, and that's why the match ended up the way that it did. That's not what happened in the Triwizard Tournament. And so we can see in these two moments when we juxtapose them, right, that Cedric's reaction in the Triwizard Tournament is very specific and contextual to his perception of what transpired and the fairness therein. And I don't know about y'all, and maybe, again, maybe I'm, you know, placing some of the Slytherin onto this, but I get it. I don't necessarily agree with how it was handled, but I absolutely understand why it was handled the way that it was. Ooh. That Hufflepuff question did exactly what I thought it was gonna do. But there's one more chaotic question. It's not this one that's coming up, but it's coming. Okay, this question. Is Cedric Diggory a good pure blood? About 53% of us said, don't know, 33% of us said yes, and 14% of us said no. Someone wrote with what little we know of him. Cedric is really just another example to Harry of pure blood superiority in the magical world, like the Malfoys. He has financial stability, is a successful student, and his father is reputable in the magical world. He's another person with a leg up on Harry because of his own pureblood status and his growing up in the magical world. I think it speaks volumes that despite Harry's age, Cedric didn't offer to help him until Harry helped him first. Someone else wrote for good pureblood. I said no. In terms of pureblood, I am sure he has some of those ideals in his head in the similar way to the Weasleys. But we do not see the Diggory's anywhere near as aggressive or malicious as the Malfoy. They like the Weasleys and hang with. Oh they like the Weasleys. Got it. They like the Weasleys and hang with them. I think we can assume they fall slightly on the slightly supremacist side. I say this because they don't actually stand up for others. While they may like others, they do not advocate for them and enjoy their position and the ability to gloat. Even as Cedric is more reserved than his dad, we can tell they are close and I think you can assume they have similar ideals. Okay, so this is a bit of a little bit of chaos because we don't have a lot about Cedric and so what this invites us to really think about is in a pure blood supremacist world what side do we err on? Do we err on the side of if we don't know a lot of information about you, we think that you are someone who probably subscribes to pure blood supremacy or do we err on the side of benefit of the doubt and it's like well we don't know a lot so we can't say. And I also think it's interesting that we have like our polls are the Weasleys and the Malfoys because I think one thing that they both have in common with one another is an ideology. It's the behavioral aspects of it where we get to see a bit of a difference. Right. Because again like we talked about over and over and over again like the Weasleys are not devoid of pure blood supremacist beliefs. They just don't necessarily manifest in terms of absolute violence and they don't necessarily think that Muggles and Muggle borns are beneath them but they do have a sense of superiority over them in a lot of ways particularly as it pertains to non magical people broadly construed And I think that that's important and interesting for when we think about what this means for Cedric. Right. Because we don't get a sense of where he is aligns politically or ideologically and we don't get the opportunity to. We can assume that he is not pro Voldemort. Right, but what does that mean in terms of his everyday life? I think again, you know, Cedric is one of those people who I think really does represent a lot of the people that we will meet in the Magical world whose politics we are just unaware of where it's very unlikely that they are, you know, Death Eater or even Death Eater adjacent. But they do reap the benefits of living in a society that benefits Pure Bloods or people who pretend to be Pure Bloods or are presumed to be Pure Bloods. Right. And when the side, when society gives you that option, why question it? You know, especially when you're coming of age during a time when, you know, pure blood supremacy is quote, unquote, over because Voldemort is vanquished. And so you can just be Pure Blood and not feel bad about it. And, and so it stands to reason that, you know, Cedric is. Is absolutely, if nothing else, the beneficiary of pure Blood supremacy. And whether or not he absolutely subscribes to it is one thing. But I do think that he isn't going to be someone who goes up against the system if the system isn't looking like Death Eaters and, or Voldemort. I don't think that he or his dad or mom would think it's necessary to do that in the same way that the Weasleys are fighting against Voldemort, not Pure Blood supremacy. And so I think that this is one of these moments where we kind of have to grapple with what it means to be in a system that promotes a certain ideology and that many of the characters that we've talked about thus far have actively fought against or for Pure Blood supremacy but we have a couple of characters who kind of fall somewhere in between or are just passive and exist in the space and receive the benefits but don't necessarily do anything to mitigate those benefits or to try to upend the system as it is. And I think that that's where Cedric falls here. But I think that his sense of fairness and justice would have, if given the opportunity, really pushed. We would have seen him fighting against Voldemort in the Second Wizarding War if given the opportunity. Because I think that, that his kind of compulsion for fairness and justice would have really pushed him to do that. But again, fighting against Voldemort doesn't necessarily mean fighting against Pure Blood supremacy. And that's where things get tricky. And I actually don't have an answer. I think I would have answered don't know for this. I think I would have answered don't know because I think there are a lot of moving pieces. But I think Cedric represents for us the norm of people in the magical world and that is disconcerting. But I do think that that's kind of where he sits. Is Cedric Diggory a good friend? 70% of us said yes, 5.2% of us said no and 24.8% of of us said don't know. Someone wrote, cedric is a great friend. I think he's a good friend to Harry, for one. And if he wasn't a good friend, I don't think he would be as well liked by other Hufflepuffs and the rest of the school. Someone else wrote, the thing that frustrates me most about Cedric is that he was not an equally good friend to Harry as Harry was to him. Harry gave him explicit information on the first task but Cedric giving Harry a really confusing hint about the egg in response. It wasn't an equal exchange. Also, he says he told others not to wear the Potter Stinks badges. But he could have done a lot more to stand up for Harry. Honestly, from what I've seen of him, I question if he's a good friend or person. He's not necessarily a bad person a friend, but he could be a lot better. And frankly, isn't that true for all of us? You know, I think that people's willingness, I think Hufflepuff's willingness to defend Cedric the way that they did suggests me that he is beloved. And I don't think that because of what we've learned in our discussion thus far about Hufflepuffs that people, they just give that level of reverence and care to just anyone because it seems like it's something that you have to earn for them. And I think that that comes down to fairness. I think that comes down to loyalty. And so I think it's fair to say that it least to the Hufflepuffs, Cedric is a great friend. I also do think though that when we see him in moments where times get hard, right when they're in that maze and Harry and he are running and they decide together, like, we'll just take the cup together and we'll split it. I think in that moment it becomes very clear the kind of person that Cedric is. And yeah, like we talked about these other instances of him not being very forthcoming with information about how to solve the egg or him not stopping other Hufflepuffs from, you know, from the badges. But I do think that there has to be something about him that people like. Now, maybe it is pretty privilege and maybe it is the fact that he's just very talented and his exceptionalism, both aesthetically but also scholastically play a really big part in the way that people see him. But I also do think, and I wonder about whether or not, you know, because we are getting this from Harry's perspective, some of our perceptions of Cedric are skewed in the way of having expectations of him that are completely unfair. Because I think that I'm not convinced that we would have been as effusive in our expectation if the tables had been turned and Harry had been rightfully chosen as a champion and Cedric had gotten it. I think Fred and George would have absolutely lost it and I think that they would have probably done something a lot worse to Cedric than make badges. I think that we would have expected Ron to just be absolutely incorrigible and I think we would have probably been okay with it because our guy got it and so. And I don't think that we would have said that, you know, if the tables had been turned that Harry was a bad friend to Cedric. I also think it's important for us to think about the fact that like, are Harry and Cedric even friends? Friends, like I think by the end they've established a relationship. But to go so far as to call them friends, maybe that's just my own metric. But I think like so much of the reason why they are in relationship with one another is born out of competition and then it's born out of survival and then it's born out of trauma. And obviously those can be things that lead us to friendships. But I'm not convinced that at the they're friends. I think that it's Harry wanting to be a fair person, which I think Cedric appreciates, but I don't think it's a friendship. I think that so much of their relationship comes from a place of competition. And please feel free to correct me in our post episode chat, but I don't know that I would say that they're friends. I think that they could have been. I think they would have been if not for what happened to Cedric. But I don't think that I would walk away from the interactions that they had while Cedric was living and say they are friends. I think I would say that they are friendly to one another. I think I would say that they are acquaintances. I think I would say that they are co champions. I don't know that I would say that they are friends though. And that feels like an important distinction because I think that when you think about it in those terms, your expectations for what Cedric should and could have done shifts, at least they do for me. I just, I'm not convinced that they had that kind of relationship. And I. And I wonder how much of Harry's own feelings about Sedgwick are the byproduct of, you know, witnessing his murder and what that means for kind of the way he understands their relationship. But I don't know. What do you all think? Do you all think that they are friends? Sound off on the Patreon, because I'm intrigued by this. It's time for some chaos. And not the sparkly vampire kind of chaos, because that is chaotic. No, this is the kind of chaos that comes with our last question, which is, is Cedric diggory a hero? 44% of us said no, 39% of us said yes, and 17% said, don't know. Someone said, for hero. I had to say no. I'm sorry. Bless him, but he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. His death was super sad, but he didn't do anything heroic during the time that we saw him. Harry had to save his ass in the maze, not the other way around. RIP Cedric, though. Overall, I think he was a good person, but I hate to say nothing too special for me personally. Too harsh. Another person wrote to me, he's sort of in the vein of our discussion on Neville. He has a quiet sort of heroism. He speaks up for those who need him in a way that I think is very heroic. He represents the best of what Hufflepuff can be. I think what pushes me into the yes answer on this for me is his insistence on fairness and the fact that he speaks up for Harry and others. On more than one occasion, one more person wrote. Anyway, I will say this with my chest, that Cedric was not a hero. He was an ordinary boy who was murdered. The first instance of collateral damage in the Second Wizarding War. I don't think he did many heroic things to warrant the title. That's not to say he's a bad person. Not at all. Actually. I think him reaching out to Harry to tell him about the egg, albeit in a convoluted way, demonstrates his good nature. This one was hard for me, y'all. For many of the other characters that we've talked about thus far, it's been fairly easy to be like, absolutely hero. Absolutely not villain. Right? Like, we have been able to kind of operate in this dichotomy. And as was the case with good Pure blood, it strikes me that Cedric is just a person. He's just a boy, you know, who was in the wrong place at the wrong time. And I think that in these books in particular, we look at all of the deaths that we experience, and they all seemingly are happening in outlandishly heroic ways or for people who we recognize as heroic, Right? I'm thinking about Hedwig. I'm thinking about Dabi. I'm thinking about Tonks and Dalupin and all of these other people who we see kind of risk their lives for Harry. And I think I just come back to the horrific line, kill, despair. And as callous as it is, I think it also speaks volumes about the circumstances that led to Cedric's death and the extent to which we place upon him the notion of heroism because he died, but it doesn't. It's hard for us to kind of recognize the fact that he was murdered and he is collateral damage and he is the byproduct of kind of what happens when Lord Voldemort returns and that, you know, he just was someone who was in the way and there was nothing heroic about what he did. I was on Reddit for some reason, I don't even know, but someone said something that I think. Think really spoke to me. This person. This was eight years ago, and their handle was Fred Bright Frog. And they write, cedric wasn't doing the right thing or making the hard choice. He was just a nice boy participating in a school sporting event, and he got killed anyway. And I think that that's it, right? Like, there are so many people who. Who we recognize die in these books, and normally their deaths are the death of a hero. There are a few people who die just because. But Cedric is one of those people. And I think that especially as we move into the latter books, right, like, we begin to associate death with something meaningful. And Cedric's death was awful, but it didn't mean anything. It was a senseless murder. It meant something to Harry. Yes, of course. But in terms of, you know, the larger plot and our understanding of it, Cedric was collateral damage. He was in the wrong place at the wrong time. He placed his faith in a system that was meant to protect him and didn't. We'll talk about that in a bit. But there's nothing heroic about what happened to him. It's just tragic. And I think that that's an important lesson for us to learn, right? I think we lose a lot of people in the latter parts of these books, and I think every single one of them that hits us hard were made to believe and to sense that this was a meaningful, necessary death that occurred because they were fighting against the forces of evil. That's not Cedric. That's not what happened. He was just there with Harry, who was the target, and he was in Voldemort's way, and Voldemort removed him. And I think we just have to grapple with that reality that that's just the truth of it. And we can't give him more than he deserved. And he deserved a lot more. A lot more. But to place the mantle of hero on him, I think diminishes the absolute travesty of what happened to him. Him. Right. Because dying in the heat of battle connotes a choice that was made by the person who is lost. Cedric did not choose to do this. Cedric touched a cup that he thought was going to transport him back to his family, and it didn't. And I think that by trying to make a hero out of him in this moment, we diminish what his loss means. Because when we look at heroes and we're like, well, you made a choice choice, and you knew the cost and you did it anyway, and that's heroism. But in this case, that's not what happened. And there's a senselessness that comes with war and a senselessness that comes with violence that can yield absolutely awful things like the death of innocent people. And Cedric is one of those people who was innocent. His crime was wanting to be fair and split the win with Harry, not knowing that Harry was caught in the crosshairs of a plan and a plot that would completely upend everything. And so I would have voted no here, and I would have struggled to answer this question. But I think at the end of the day, there are instances where people die senselessly and we are not doing them a service and trying to make them more than what they are, because it diminishes what their loss means and how absolutely horrific the acts that took them from us, what they mean. Because I think in this moment, right, like, it would be one thing if Cedric had stood up and said, you know, I'm gonna fight you, Voldemort, and then died. But that's not what happened. Voldemort snuffed him out. Because Voldemort is heartless. And by trying to make him out to be a hero, you are minimizing the absolute depravity and lack of humanity that Voldemort has. And that's. To me, that feels like a thing that. That we need to always remember. We've reached the portion of the episode where I am going to reflect on what we discussed about Cedric and just what my own thinking about him as a character. And I. I want to start this reflection with a quote that Dumbledore gave at the very end of Goblet of Fire. And he writes, remember, Cedric, remember, if the time should come when you have to make a choice between what is right and what is easy, remember what happened to a boy who was good and kind and brave because he strayed across the path of Lord Voldemort. Remember Cedric, Diggers? And one of the things that this. That strikes me about this quote is this invocation of choice, right? The notion that the choices we make define us. And I think Cedric in some ways stands in the face of this particular belief because again, just like Fred Bright Frog said, Cedric wasn't doing the right thing or making a hard choice. He was just a nice boy participating in a school sporting event and got killed anyway. And it just made me think, you know, that in life there are choices that we as individuals make and then there are circumstances that make our choices for us. And I think that. That for Harry, we get both right? Like, obviously, we see him throughout these texts make many choices about what to do but ultimately the ultimate choice that makes him the boy who lived that make him the chosen one is not a choice he made. Like Voldemort made that choice and created a circumstance under which Harry then really didn't have much of a choice because neither can live while the other survive. And I think, you know, this quote from Dumbledore is one that I think is beautiful but also fraught for me because it somehow suggests that, like, you know, when you have to make the choice between what is right and what is easy. And it's like, Cedric didn't do that. Cedric didn't make that choice. Cedric was someone who. Who was caught up in a circumstance that he had no choice to be in and it was beyond his control and he died. And I think, you know, part of the reason why he felt so comfortable making the choice to split the win with Harry was because he had faith in the system. He had faith that he was protected. He had faith that a school sanctioned, ministry sanctioned event like the Triwizard Tournament was not going to end up with his death. And I think that, you know, for me, this speaks volumes about the way that we understand, you know, this kind of fallacy of safety that we were talking about in the last episode. And we really, through Cedric, get to see the ills of that fallacy. And I think that, you know, one of the things that also stands out to me as we talk about Cedric is, you know, and particularly thinking about him as like, a good, pure Blood or not is that, you know, part of the benefits and the privileges of being pure blood in a pure blood society is the belief that, like, you're going to be all right and that, you know, the system was created to protect you. So why should you worry? Why should you be concerned about everything that's going on? You know, why would you be concerned that there might be something nefarious afoot now that we have this fourth person put in who's underage, who said he didn't put his name in. Right. Like your initial belief is that Harry is lying because you believe everything that you're being told, because why wouldn't you? Your dad works for the ministry. You have benefited from a structure that exists. You have never felt unsafe. And so why would this be any different? And so this, the fallacy of safety fosters a world where Cedric becomes an example of what happens when that safety isn't actualized. And it has nothing to do with the choices that he made, but the circumstance in which he found himself. And he did not have a choice. Choice to be in. And so I don't disagree with the idea of, you know, sometimes you have to choose what is right and what is easy, but this is not one of those circumstances. And I think that sometimes, like, the leveraging of that is manipulative because there are moments in your life where you don't have a choice at all. And I think that that is this. The truth is that there are moments where you don't have a choice. And Cedric didn't. Cedric did not have a choice. Cedric was in the wrong place at the wrong time and put his faith in a system that was meant to protect him and it couldn't and it didn't. And I know that this is a beautiful scene both in the movie and in the book, but it feels a bit exploitative to me because it seems to suggest that this. There was a level of bravery and intention that Cedric made to end up where he ended up. And maybe I'm just misinterpreting it, or not misinterpreting it, but interpreting it differently than some of you. And if that's the case, please let me know. But it just strikes me that, you know, this isn't placing the, like, the blame where it needs to be placed. It's like, yes, obviously Lord Voldemort was a problem here, but there's also lapses on the part of Dumbledore for not recognizing that Mad Eye Moody wasn't Mad Eye Moody for not. For not, like, pushing them to not let Harry compete at all. There are lapses on the part of the Ministry for all of the different things that went wrong during the tournament and that this really has nothing to do with making a choice between what is right and what is easy and everything to do with making sure that you place your faith in a system that actually is meant to protect you. And that's hard to do when everything around you has often reinforced the idea that you are safe. And so I just. I keep thinking about the choices that, you know, are invoked here, and I just don't think that this is the right. It's right. I think in a lot of ways, this quote is. It feels manipulative to me. It feels like. Like leveraging the tragic and horrific death of a student to try to galvanize people into recognizing that Voldemort is back without acknowledging the fact that it was the fault of a lot of adults that led to what happened to Cedric, and none of Cedric's choices led to this place. And that just feels like a theme that kind of happens in these books. But I read that quote again and I just thought, no, no. Like, Cedric didn't choose what was right or what was easy. Cedric had faith in a system that failed him. That was his choice. And he didn't really have a choice, because what's the alternative? We did it, y'all. We made it through an episode talking about our sparkly king, Cedric Diggory. And I even included a fair amount, I will say, of Twilight jokes. So you're welcome to those who made demands. As you all know, the next episode will be on Luna Lovegood. The survey will be up on Friday. I cannot wait. Because if Luna's going to bring anything, it's going to be chaos, and I can't wait for that. And so I hope that you all are excited. If you're on the listserv as well, you will also get it on Friday. Oh, I cannot wait. Our Ravenclaw Queen, Nargles. Nargles. Nargles. Every single place. Everywhere. Okay, this has been another episode of Critical Magic Theory. I'm Professor Julian Womble, and if you liked today's episode, first of all, thank you. Please feel free to, like, rate, subscribe, follow, do all the things that one does where pods are cast. If you want to join us for our post Magic episode chat, please feel free to do so@patreon.com critical magictheory. You'll find that and a lot of more fun things happening. Hold on, we gotta bop a little bit again. A special thanks to all of you who participated in this survey. I always forget to do this. A special thanks to Mark Miller and N. Niles Luther for the music. I can't wait to talk to you all about Luna Lovegood. Until then, be critical and stay magical, my friends. Bye.