Game of Thrones Star Exposes the Harry Potter Plot Hole Hiding in Plain Sight for 20 Years

Kit Harington just waded into Harry Potter discourse, and yes, he picked a favorite. While talking to Variety about recording the audiobook for 'Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince' — where he voices Gilderoy Lockhart, of all people — the 'Game of Thrones' star called 'Goblet of Fire' his top book and movie in the franchise. He also tossed in a very fair gripe about the Triwizard Tournament that fans have been side-eyeing for years.

Kit Harington loves 'Goblet of Fire'... mostly

Harington praised the story and that nasty, memorable ending — the one that flips the series from school adventure to full-on dark fantasy. But he also questioned how the tournament actually works as a school-wide spectacle when so much of it happens out of sight.

"It's good and it's got a great ending. I have some questions about the plot holes during the tournament. It's not a great tournament to watch, is it? Other than the dragon one, they don't get to see underwater and they can't see in the maze, so I don't see what's in it for the rest of the school?"

He is not wrong. The dragon task plays like the big-ticket set piece, then the students basically get stuck watching... a lake. And later, hedges. That disconnect — a huge event that barely anyone at Hogwarts can actually watch — is one of those nerdy details fans love picking apart.

The other 'Goblet' quirks fans keep circling

Harington's comment taps into long-running fan questions about the book, which remains beloved despite some rule-bending moments that only get weirder on a re-read. A few greatest hits:

• Harry getting selected in the first place pokes holes in Hogwarts' supposed safeguards. If the Goblet can be tricked that easily, what else can be?
• Barty Crouch Jr. spends an entire school year masquerading as Mad-Eye Moody without getting caught. It's a fantastic twist, but also a wild security fail for a castle full of magic adults.
• Veritaserum shows up right at the end as a truth nuke. If it exists and works that well, it raises the obvious: why not use it earlier during investigations?
• The Triwizard Cup turning out to be a Portkey quietly rewires what we thought we knew about magical transportation — convenient for the plot, murky in the rulebook.

Fans have been debating these bits for years across forums and Reddit threads, sometimes asking outright if 'Goblet of Fire' makes sense from a rules perspective. The short answer: it does... until it needs to bend a little to keep the story barreling forward.

And yes, this echoes 'Game of Thrones' too

If this all feels familiar, it is. Late-season 'Game of Thrones' got dinged for characters zipping across the map in record time and for storylines that never fully paid off. Those became standard fan talking points — not always dealbreakers, but enough to spark endless debate. Same energy here: the more sprawling the fantasy world, the more corners get sanded down to keep the plot moving.

Bottom line

Harington calling out the Triwizard Tournament as kind of a bad spectator sport is both funny and fair, and it plugs right into the fan obsession with how these worlds actually function. 'Goblet of Fire' still rules for its story and that chilling finale, but the little logical speed bumps are part of why people keep coming back to it and arguing about the details.

Which Harry Potter plot hole bugs you the most? Drop it in the comments.

For the basics: Harry Potter spans 7 main novels (1997-2007) by J.K. Rowling, adapted into 8 films (2001-2011) that grossed over $7.7 billion worldwide. Genre-wise, it blends fantasy, drama, and coming-of-age. In the U.S., all the movies are currently available to stream on Peacock and HBO Max.