'Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire' Almost Had a Different Title

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is a favorite for fans of both the Harry Potter book series and the films. We see a more mature outing for Harry and the gang, as the stakes are far more dangerous and the characters’ hormones are all over the place. The name Goblet of Fire is a pretty literal title, as that’s how Harry is forced into the Triwizard Tournament, despite his reservations about it. It’s a fair title and has a nice ring to it, but it was previously revealed that JK Rowling had other names in the running.

JK Rowling: A Bibliography 1997-2013 by Philip Errington reveals tons of unknown details about the Harry Potter series, so much so that Rowling herself called it “slavishly thorough and somewhat mind-boggling.” In it, it’s shared that Goblet of Fire had three alternative titles.

Harry Potter and the Death Eaters, Harry Potter and the Fire Goblet, and Harry Potter and the Three Champions were all working titles before the final decision was made. Well, to me, Death Eaters is far too depressing and scary to market as a children’s book, Fire Goblet just doesn’t sound as cool as Goblet of Fire, and Three Champions is far too boring and quite vague. Rowling and her editor definitely made the correct choice here.

The bibliography, which was published in 2015, goes in depth on Rowling’s correspondence with her editor through writing the Harry Potter series, so we assume there really are countless gems of unknown information in there.

This article also appears on Mental Floss.