Fleur Delacour -- Token Female?

While Hermione constantly reminds us that females can be strong and powerful, Fleur Delacour obliterates this message in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

When she is chosen by the Goblet of Fire to be a champion for her school, the reader (especially if they are girls) might get excited because there is a girl competing against the boys and she could possibly win.  As it turns out, however, Fleur's only strength is her beauty.


First Task - The Dragons

     While we do not have details about how she fared against the dragon, she was able to collect the golden egg. When we hear about the ranking at the Third Task, we are left to assume that Fleur, being in last place, did not do very well in this task.


Second Task - The Lake

      Despite working out the clue from the egg and successfully using the Bubble-Head charm, Fleur gets attacked and isn't strong enough to fight back against them, so she is brought up to the surface and disqualified. 

     Even worse, in the movie, Harry also comes across some grindylows and uses his wand to blast them far enough away that he can escape and complete the task. Where was Fleur's wand? Why didn't she find a way to fight back, especially since she is several years older and has more magical knowledge then Harry?

     Pathetic.


Third Task - The Maze

     Through no fault of her own, Fleur is also disqualified from this task as well due to Krum cursing her. But, once again, we hate to ask -- why didn't she fight back? 

     Also, in the movie, we see her running through the maze, clearly distressed and afraid. The boys, however, though possibly nervous, seem to be holding themselves together quite well as they navigate towards the Triwzard Cup.


So . . . why was Fleur competing when she clearly is outmatched by all her male competitors, including Harry who is significantly younger and less prepared than her?

I propose that Fleur was only there because Rowling found it necessary to have a girl character compete in the Tournament so that she wouldn't be labeled as an anti-feminist. But, really, making Fleur lose every task can arguably be used as proof that Rowling is anti-feminist because all she is is just another pretty face.

In the end, Hermione gets to be smart because she is plain looking and Fleur exists only to be a beautiful girl who somehow, by a miracle of God, became a Triwizard Champion.