Avalanche Software’s Hogwarts Legacy has a wealth of inspiration to pull from, such as certain spells, creatures, or characters that may make an appearance and spark nostalgia from Harry Potter fans. Instead, the argument could be made that while it exists within the same intellectual property, Hogwarts Legacy could be crafting a new continuity for its wizarding world with the lens of a different time period in a familiar and beloved location from the franchise.
Because not much has been shared or shown with regard to Hogwarts Legacy besides its action-RPG genre, speculation has pondered whether fan-favorite inspirations from the source material will be featured. The opportunity to freely roam throughout Hogwarts’ castle grounds, for example, would be pleasantly met with recreational and academic activities and social simulation features in Hogwarts Legacy. However, there is another substantial event in Harry Potter that would also make for a remarkable gameplay and narrative experience in Hogwarts Legacy: the Triwizard Tournament.
How a Triwizard Tournament Could Fit Into Hogwarts Legacy's Canon
The Triwizard Tournament is a perilous and magical competition in Harry Potter. The tournament is traditionally composed of three trials that qualitatively assess each contestant’s courage and wits. One student each from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Durmstrang Institute, and Beauxbatons Academy of Magic is selected randomly from the willing participants who enter, and thereby represent their school in the contest as a Champion.
The tournament’s three trials present daunting tasks for its Champions to compete in; for example, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire's depiction of the tournament tasks Champions with eluding a dragon while trying to retrieve a golden egg, finding a way to survive while submerged beneath the Black Lake and freeing select hostages, and traversing a magical hedge labyrinth to locate the Triwizard Cup. It is stated that previous tournaments had different tasks, however, so Hogwarts Legacy would not canonically be tied to its modern interpretations of the contest.
According to supposed lore surrounding the fictional Harry Potter franchise and its associated wizarding world, the first Triwizard Tournament was allegedly held in circa 1294, and then discontinued in the 18th century until it was reintroduced in the late 20th century. This would effectively mean that, in the 1800s, Hogwarts Legacy would take place in the century gap where no tournament was held, and that it would not logistically make sense for one to occur in Hogwarts Legacy’s framework.
If this lore is factual, such inconsistencies would surely bother some Harry Potter purists who are adamant about lore continuities being sustained. But perhaps a step away from the source material and its controversial author is precisely what the franchise needs as it proceeds forward. This may or may not be possible from a legal standpoint depending on who owns the franchise’s rights and how much involvement J.K. Rowling still has in the content derived from it, but it could potentially be the best strategy for Hogwarts Legacy and the content it offers.
What a Triwizard Tournament Could Offer as Hogwarts Legacy DLC
Hogwarts Legacy could evade superfluous continuity inconsistencies if it chooses to wholly eschew the existing lore of established characters and events. If Avalanche Software and Warner Bros plan to extrapolate from the existing lore, Hogwarts Legacy could subvert Rowling’s foundations and create a new canon independent of Harry Potter’s exploits. On the other hand, it would not be uncharacteristic of Rowling to suddenly and dramatically retcon or alter established details in order to accommodate for the content in new entries.
Perhaps if it were in service of a monumental DLC expansion to Hogwarts Legacy where players could experience the tournament themselves, it could be forgiven if a Triwizard Tournament creates a departure from obscure lore. Of course, popular events such as Triwizard Tournaments or Quidditch matches being included in Hogwarts Legacy would be steeped in personal biases toward how they should look and play. It might be impossible to fully dissociate the wizarding world from its source material due to 25-years worth of an established fan-base and its undeniable impact on fantasy.
At the bare minimum, Hogwarts Legacy taking place further in the past could dissociate it from any inspirations that would naturally preclude the franchise, and Avalanche could simply choose to retain the fantastical aesthetics, creatures, locations, and witchcraft and wizardry that have endured as the franchise’s staple underpinnings. Further, Avalanche could have the complete creative freedom to explore three unique tasks for players in Hogwarts Legacy’s 1800s environment and atmosphere.
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire portrays the different ways that Champions thought to overcome each task compared to the fortuitous luck and friendships Harry has that secure him his own improvisational strategies. This could play into Hogwarts Legacy’s role-playing elements and create optional ways for players to prepare for each task, playing a narrative role in exploring the castle to obtain what they need for a task.
DLC Could Help Stave Off Hogwarts Legacy's Crunch and Development Issues
Hogwarts Legacy’s Triwizard Tournament would be best relegated to post-launch DLC for a few reasons. Reserving a Triwizard Tournament for post-launch DLC would ensure that Avalanche could concentrate solely on the quality of its base game’s launch, which already has insurmountably high expectations from excited fans. Avalanche has already likely experienced crunch or will be met with the expectation of crunch due to recent statements from Warner Bros clarifying that Hogwarts Legacy is still planned for a 2022 release.
This seems aspirational and not clearly defined, particularly due to a current lack of officially showcased content or gameplay. Hogwarts Legacy runs the risk of a lackluster launch similar to Cyberpunk 2077, which was rushed for release. If need be, Avalanche should submit to fans’ temporary disappointment and announce another delay, so long as the final product is of the highest possible quality when it does eventually release.
Delays may also benefit other aspects of the game, such as the other activities that players may have access to. Other extracurricular events in Hogwarts Legacy could and should feature a fully fleshed out Quidditch mini-game, where players choose the position they would like to play as and represent their House on the pitch. But if Hogwarts Legacy is expected to have such an immense breadth of content at launch, it will need a significant amount of development time to achieve it. As such, holding back a potential Triwizard Tournament for DLC could be the best case scenario for the base game's content and the Tournament itself.
Hogwarts Legacy is currently scheduled to release in 2022 for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
