Cedric Diggory was too good for the world of Harry Potter. He was kind, strong, intelligent, beautiful, and brave. He had a big heart and worked hard his entire life. He never expected things to just be handed to him freely without putting in any effort. Plus, everyone loved him – he was popular for all the right reasons. At the end of the day, Cedric was a serious catch and a really good person.
Cedric became a prefect at Hogwarts and Hufflepuff’s Quidditch captain. In Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Cedric decided to put his name into the goblet and was chosen to represent Hogwarts in the Triwizard Tournament, which just goes to show what a capable wizard he was.
In the movie, Cedric Diggory was portrayed by actor Robert Pattinson. While Cedric only makes a brief appearance throughout the series, his life (and death) went on to become a major topic of discussion among fans of the books and films. Later, Cedric even became a large part of the play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.
It was Cedric’s death that caused so much turmoil throughout the wizarding world. It was because of his death, caused by Lord Voldermort (via Peter Pettigrew), that so many things happened afterwards. However, Cedric was more than just his death.
Here are the 15 Things You Never Knew About Harry Potter’s Cedric Diggory.
15. Robert Pattinson Only Got the Audition Because the Casting Director Felt Bad For Him
It’s difficult to imagine the role of Cedric Diggory going to anyone else besides Robert Pattinson. That being said, Patitinson only got the audition in the first place because the casting director felt sorry for him.
In the 2004 movie, Vanity Fair, Robert Pattinson was cast as the older version Reese Witherspoon’s character’s son. It was to be his first official acting credit… or at least until he found out that he had been cut out of the movie all-together.
To make matters worse, no one told Pattinson that he had been cut from the movie until he showed up to the screening of it. The casting director felt so horrible about it, that she offered him the chance to audition for another movie she was casting: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.
Pattinson ended up being the very first person to audition for the movie because of this. While many other actors auditioned after him, he obviously ended up snagging the role.
14. Cedric’s Death Was the Real Reason Why Harry Could See Thestrals
There seems to be some confusion as to why Harry could see Thestrals only after Cedric’s death, since he technically saw his mother, Lily Potter, die in front of him also.
Thestrals are horse-like creatures who can only be seen by those who can appreciate death. At least, that’s what J.K. Rowling claims. Rowling states that just witnessing a death isn’t enough to see a Threstal. Therefore, while Harry saw Lily die in front of him, he was only a baby and couldn’t fully understand what had happened enough to see a Thestral.
When Harry was leaving Hogwarts at the end of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, he still can’t see the Threstrals even though he had been with Cedric when Cedric died. Many say that this was because Harry was still in shock and hadn’t fully come out of it yet to the point where he could fully understand the death and thus see a Threstral.
It isn’t until Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix that Harry could see the Threstrals because Cedric’s death had finally become real to him.
13. Fleur Used Her Veela Magic On Cedric When She Asked Him To Be Her Date For The Yule Ball
Cedric had stronger willpower than most. This is shown when he denied Fleur even after she used special magic on him. Fleur is part Veela. For those who don’t know or might not remember, this means that she has a special type of magic that doesn’t require a wand. Those who are Veela are usually very beautiful, like Fleur. Being part Veela, Fleur has a lot of influence on the boys at Hogwarts– specifically Ron.
However, Fleur had an interest in Cedric. She ended up asking him to the Yule Ball, but Cedric said “no” to her because he had already asked Cho. Supposedly, this shows how strong-willed Cedric was because not just anyone could say “no” to Fleur’s beauty and Veela charm. She had a magic ability to capture the attention of the opposite sex, after all.
When Cedric, the captain of the Hufflepuff Quidditch team, said “no” to Fleur, she ended up going to the Yule Ball with Roger Davies, the captain of the Ravenclaw Quidditch team. Davies was obviously much more vulnerable when it came Veela powers.
12. Cedric Was The Only Main Hufflepuff Student In The Series
There are plenty of famous Hufflepuffs, but Cedric was the only Hufflepuff peer of Harry’s who had any true significance throughout the series. While other students are mentioned throughout the novels, Cedric is really the only one who actually causes turmoil within the story line and has some form of impact.
According to a polling company called YouGov, only 16% of people actually want to be considered Hufflepuffs. This is probably due to the fact that: 1) everyone wants to be a Gryffindor for obvious reasons and 2) Hufflepuffs weren’t very active throughout the series– with the exception of Cedric.
Since Cedric is the only main influence in the series that is a member of the Hufflepuff house, it’s needless to say that Hufflepuff is the least liked house out of all of them. Even Newt Scamander, portrayed by Eddie Redmayne, hasn’t been able to influence anyone to join the badgers.
11. Henry Cavil Auditioned to Play Cedric
You might recognize Henry Cavil as Superman. However, before he found DC comic fame, Cavil was just a struggling actor just like the rest of them.
Cavil auditioned for the role of Cedric back when he had very little acting credits to his name. The audition went fine. It’s not as if Cavil blew it or anything, but, as it turns out, the casting director was more fond of Robert Pattinson instead.
This wasn’t the last time that Pattinson was picked over Cavil. When it came down to auditions for Twilight, Cavil was actually author Stephanie Meyer’s first choice to portray the part of Edward. Unfortunately, producers didn’t agree and thought he was too old of the role, thus they never even gave Cavil a proper audition.
Pattinson, on the other hand, wasn’t even that prepared for the Twilight audition, as he had bombed a different audition the day before. Nevertheless, he nailed it and landed himself the role.
10. Robert Pattinson Learned How To Scuba Dive Before Filming The Second Task Of The Triwizard Tournament
In order to prepare for the filming of the second task of the Triwizard Tournament, Robert Pattinson had to become comfortable in the water. The scene that required Cedric to cast the Bubble-Head charm came with a lot of training. Pattinson and the others involved in the scene had to get very comfortable in the water very quickly.
Pattinson says that, the week before filming, he had practiced scuba diving, but in a small tank. He was totally fine with it until he saw the tank that he would be filming in. He says that it was 100 times larger than the practice tank, which scared him a bit.
Since he was already a decent swimmer and had trained at scuba diving for the scene, Pattinson ended up doing great in the end. He says that, while it was intimidating at first, he got used to filming in the water very quickly.
9. J.K. Rowling Called Cedric’s Death “Senseless”
Cedric’s death made everything more real in the Harry Potter series. For the first few years, sure, the kids got themselves into trouble, but this was different. For the first time, an innocent student, who was nothing more than a kind, chivalrous, and intelligent friend, died merely because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Lord Voldemort was back in action and proved it by throwing away Cedric’s life like he was meaningless, which provided the students of Hogwarts, as well as readers, with a real sense of danger. J.K. Rowling has called Cedric’s death “senseless” due to how quickly it happened and why it happened in the first place. She says that there is no way around it, it was just absolutely horrible.
Rowling has always been heartbroken over the characters she has killed off, but always defends herself on why she did it. With Cedric, his death was obviously a turning point in the Harry Potter series and served a major purpose, which made it all the more shocking.
8. Cedric Was The Possible Descendant Of Eldrtich Diggory
While there is no guarantee to this, it’d be strange for Rowling to give a former Minister for Magic the same last name as another extremely important character. Eldritch Diggory was Minister for Magic between 1733 and 1747. He was extremely popular with everyone in the wizarding community and was the first Minister to establish an Auror recruitment program.
While working on figuring out a way to improve conditions at Azkaban and get rid of dementors for good, Eldritch Diggory died suddenly of dragon pox.
Many fans believe that Cedric and Eldritch were related. Cedric has a good heart and was also extremely popular, just like Eldritch. Cedric’s death is also one of the main things that leads to Dumbledore’s Army being created. There is also a strong connection between the DA and the Auror recruitment program that Eldritch created– both focus on defense against the dark arts.
Whether or not these two are related can be up for discussion, but it seems like the proof is already in the pudding given all the commonalities.
7. Robert Pattinson Stated That Cedric A Much Better Person Than Himself
When asked in an interview about the similarities between himself and Cedric, Robert Pattinson responded with, “I think he is a better person than me.” Pattinson went on to say that he doesn’t think of himself as being as nice as Cedric, saying that Cedric “tends to do the right thing all the time and I never need to do that.”
The only things that Pattinson says he has in common with Cedric is that they’re both “quite pleasant” and that they both have the same type of hair. Needless to say, Robert Pattinson doesn’t think he’s anything like the character that he spent almost a year of his life portraying. He obviously worked pretty hard at acting, since he’s so sure that he’s nothing like the character at all.
6. He Was In The Nintendo DS Version Of LEGO Harry Potter: Years 5-7… Even Though He Should Have Been Dead
There are plenty of video games out there revolving around Harry Potter and its huge universe. There’s one game in particular, though, that just doesn’t make sense.
Everyone knows that Cedric dies in the 4th book of the series– this is common knowledge at this point. However, the creators of the Nintendo DS version of LEGO Harry Potter: Years 5-7 didn’t seem to care and included Cedric in their game anyway.
With Cedric dying in the 4th Harry Potter novel, it wouldn’t make sense for him to be in a game that takes place years 5 later. Yet, Cedric is there and is an opponent in a Dueling Club minigame, even though he is supposed to be dead.
Cedric doesn’t show up in any other game after his death, as this one appears to be the only exception.
5. Cedric’s Last Name Might By Based On Digory Kirke From The Chronicles of Narnia
J.K. Rowling is a major fan of C.S. Lewis’s work. This is why many fans believe that she named Cedric Diggory after The Chronicles of Narnia character Digory Kirke.
Professor Digory Kirke was only a kid when he witnessed the creation of Narnia. He also saw the destruction of it, as well. He was portrayed by Jim Broadbent in the film version of the story, who went on to portray Professor Slughorn in Harry Potter.
Having first read the The Chronicles of Narnia as a young child, J.K. Rowling often references it as the book that showed her true magic. It provided her with a lot of motivation, leading her to believe that she could create a world filled with spectacular magic herself.
So, of course, this explains why many fans connect Digory Kirke with Cedric Diggory. Rowling has a special place in her heart for Digory Kirke and created the character of Cedric to be pure and kind hearted. It thus makes a lot of sense why people believe that Cedirc is named after Digory.
4. Cedric Grew Up Near Ottery St Catchpole
One of the main reasons why the Weasley family (and tag-along friends) join the Diggory family before travelling to the Quidditch World Cup is because of they are essentially neighbors.
Ottery St Catchpole is a small town in England. While a lot of muggles live there, there are also plenty of wizarding families there too. Specifically the Weasleys, the Diggorys, and the Lovegoods, who all live either in the town or just outside of it.
Though they all livednear each other, none of them ever actually hang out together– this may be due to the fact that their families are all extremely different, to say the least. Harry didn’t even meet Luna until Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, and he was always at the Burrow. While Harry did already partly know Cedric, they weren’t exactly friends from the beginning.
Harry, Hermione, and Ron walk by a small cottage near the Burrow later on in the series that is deserted, most likely because whoever lived there had gone into hiding. There’s a good chance that the house they walked by belonged to the Diggory family.
3. Ollivander Called Cedric’s Ash and Unicorn Hair Wand “Pleasantly Springy”
Cedric’s wand is 12.25" and is made up of ash, with a unicorn hair core. During the inspection of the wands at the beginning of the Triwizard Tournament, Garrick Ollivander showed up to take a look at every champion’s wand.
Ollivander called Cedric’s wand “pleasantly springy” and told him that the unicorn hair inside of it was from a specifically “fine male unicorn.” Because, of course, Ollivander remembers everything about the wands he makes.
Ash wands are very devoted and loyal wands. Since Cedric died, the wand is most likely no longer usable, as ash wands tend to lose their power once used by a different person. Cedric was most likely buried with his wand.
Another Hogwarts student who also had an ash wand was Ron Weasley. However, this wand didn’t last very long. Ron’s second wand also had a unicorn hair core, though, just like Cedric’s, so perhaps Ron and Cedric had a lot more in common than fans realized.
2. Cedric Diggory’s Quidditch Robes From Prisoner of Azkaban Were On Display In Harry Potter: The Exhibition
Robert Pattinson was only in one movie: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. That being said, Cedric was always around, especially since he was Hufflepuff’s Quidditch team captain.
Cedric Diggory’s Quidditch robes were seen in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban when Gryffindor played against Hufflepuff. The match was originally intended to be Gryffindor versus Slytherin, but Malfoy got the Slytherins out of playing by complaining about being attacked by Buckbeak. Therefore, his team didn’t have to play in the horrible weather conditions.
Cedric was a seeker, but he was large for the position. Seekers are usually smaller, like Harry, as this gives them the advantage of being more agile and quick in the air. However, Cedric was still a fantastic seeker despite this advantage of smaller players. He caught the snitch before Harry did during the game, but tried to have a re-do once he learned that Harry had been set off course by the dementors.
Even though Cedric played a minor role in the movie, to the point where another actor portrayed him later on, his Quidditch robes were put on display at Harry Potter: The Exhibition, a travelling museum showing off props from the movies.
1. Cedric Made An Appearance In Puffs
If you hadn’t heard of Puffs, then you’re completely missing out. Puffs is an off-Broadway play about everyone’s least beloved Hogwarts house: Hufflepuff. Puffs calls itself “a play for anyone who has never been destined to save the world.” While Harry and Gryffindor might have received all the attention back in the day, this musical focuses on those who aren’t really heroes.
However, when you think about it, Cedric is kind of a hero. Therefore, he isn’t the true main focus of the show, though he is the best Hufflepuff there is. He can be seen on stage as the student who works very hard to ensure that Hufflepuff places 3rd in the House cup.
Puffs is a pretty hilarious and entertaining show that proves the legitimacy of the Hufflepuff house– just because they’re quiet, doesn’t mean they should go ignored.
Do you know any other interesting facts about Harry Potter’s Cedric Diggory? Let us know in the comments!
