Dumbledore Asked Calmly

About

Dumbledore Asked Calmly, also known as Did You Put Your Name In the Goblet of Fire, refers to a humorous discrepancy between a scene from 2000 fantasy novel Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and the corresponding scene from 2005 film of the same name. In the book, Dumbledore is described as behaving calmly, while in the film the character is shown interrogating the main protagonist Harry Potter in a highly agitated manner. The discrepancy spawned multiple memes and parodies in the Harry Potter community.

Origin

On July 8th, 2000, the fantasy novel Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by British author J. K. Rowling was released in the United Kingdom and the United States.^[1] In one passage, the character Dumbledore is described calmly questioning the main protagonist Harry Potter about how his name appeared in the titular Goblet of Fire.

"Did you put your name into the Goblet of Fire, Harry?" he asked calmly.

On November 18th, 2005, fantasy movie Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire based on the novel was released in the United Kingdom and the United States.^[2] In the film, Dumbledore is shown approaching and questioning Harry Potter in a highly agitated manner.

Harry! Did you put your name in the Goblet of Fire?!

Spread

Following the release of the film, the scene quickly gained notoriety in the Harry Potter fandom, with parodies, tributes and remixes posted online in the following years (examples shown below).

On April 21st, 2008, DeviantArt user Kelly "kellywormtongue" Lynch submitted a webcomic comparing Dumbledore in the Harry Potter books and movies.^[3]

On December 28th, 2011, Tumblr user the-last-enemy submitted a GIF from the scene with a humorously misspelled all-caps caption, also posting the original quote from the book in the post description.^[4][5] The post, since deleted, gained over 22,700 likes and reblogs in eight years.

In the following years, the post by the-last-enemy, usually paired with an image of the page of the quote, was circulated on Tumblr, Reddit and other websites. On March 28th, 2016, YouTube user Long John Slongson posted a comparison of the audio book narration of the scene and the scene from the film.^[6] The video gained over 4,9 million views in three years.

The trope gained significant recognition online, with multiple video parodies, comics and memes referencing the discrepancy posted in the following years.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References