Less Wrong (aka Eliezer Yudkowsky) has promised to finally complete his epic fanfic work, Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality, possibly as soon as this February. There are a lot of unanswered questions … so many in fact, I can’t even remember them all.
Some I can think of:
Why does Harry feel weird around Quirrell? Does Quirrell have Voldemort growing out of his head like in canon, or is it something else?
It’s been mentioned that Harry is clearly not a normal 11 year-old. What has made him different?
Who who who f-ing killed Hermione after framing her for the attempted murder of Draco?!
Is Dumbledore insane, or just pretending, or both at once? In particular, why did he insist Harry carry his father’s rock around with him? Yes, it proved useful as it turns out, but that doesn’t really answer the question.
Why did Quirrell want to rescue Bellatrix in particular from Askaban?
Is Quirrell generally good or bad? Does he have Harry’s interests at heart, or is he playing him?
Is there a way around the time turner limitation? I can’t remember it clearly enough to put it into words, but it’s why Harry couldn’t just go back in time to save Hermione.
I know I’ve forgotten some other points that were left mysterious. I may have to go back and reread it.
I read the first few dozen chapters quite diligently, but since I’ve never read the actual Harry Potter books, I quickly lost track of all the secondary characters.
Given Quirrell’s masterminding of the plot to break Belllatrix out, and his amazing combat ability (as seen during the Azkahban breakout), clearly he’s got SOMETHING going on. My WAG: Voldemort is in that head, and is also a rational thinker.
WAG: His stepfather’s influence (positive as opposed to the canon) and the attack on him as an infant which left a chunk of angry-but-highly-rational Voldemort in there as well, manifesting as Harry’s “dark side.”
Not sure Hermione was the target. The release of the troll was not exactly a laser-precision attack.
On this question, I am lost. I completely don’t get Dumbledore’s personality or actions here.
Wait, you guys haven’t figured out the whole Quirrel/Voldemort thing yet? I thought everyone knew that part, at least. I mean, I didn’t figure it out since I hadn’t read the canon books, but the second people pointed out all the hints from canon, I got it.
They are the same person. We know of at least two horcruxes–the things that became magically indestructible. We also know that Quirrell is not who he seems, and that he likes to pretend to be different people and has no identity himself. And we know there was something fishy about Voldemort’s death. We also know that Quirrel’s goal is to unite Magical Britain. Why not against a stereotypically evil villain? When that failed, maybe he conveniently “died.”
If you don’t want to read the spoiler, the hint I’ll drop is this. The author believes that, if you create a smarter protagonist, and don’t want to make them a Mary Sue, you have to also make the antagonist smarter. Voldemort is not the dumb stereotypical villain. He’s likely smarter than Harry.
Now to give my answers to the questions that I can without spoiling the Quirrell/Voldemort thing:
Why is Harry special?
Bricker’s got it close enough. Though you must also consider that there was no other consciousness inside of Harry when he was under the Sorting Hat.
Who killed Hermione after framing her?
The former is I guess tentative, but the latter we can identify to some extent. It’s the dark guy (probably Mr. Hat and Cloak) that she encountered that later changes into an Angel. It’s only after that where she started hating Draco. We also know that Quirrell tried to get her to leave, so he must at least know that something bad might happen to her, if not causing it himself.
Is Dumbledore insane?
No. We’ve seen him when he’s by himself, and he doesn’t act insane. And Harry himself says that he thinks that he pretends to be insane to throw off the scent of what he’s actually doing. He’s aware of his own actions, to the point of questioning whether he has crossed a moral line.
Why did Quirrell rescue Bellatrix?
Has to do with the connection between him and Voldemort. What Quirrell gave as his reason isn’t entirely untrue, either.
Is Quirrell good or bad?
He’s amoral. Good and Evil just don’t matter to him. Also, he’s not lying about being worried about Muggles attacking Magical Britain.
Is there any way around the Time Turner limitation?
DO NOT MESS WITH TIME.
Or, a little less glib: Any attempts at recursive loops break. We know from Dumbledore that information cannot be sent back further than 6 hours. So that’s a hard limit on the universe. If there’s a way to get around it, it involves manipulating either the universe or magic itself.
If it helps, my personal theory is that magic is much more powerful than we’ve observed, and that limits were placed on it. (That’s the reason for the hint about Atlantis destroying itself.) These limits seem arbitrary because they aren’t natural. And I think it’s very likely that Harry is going to exploit these limits. It’s kinda like getting root access on a computer.
Finally, I left out one of the hints in my spoiler above:
We’ve encountered at lest two horcruxes, items that have become much harder to destroy.
I want to apologize if I appeared snobby here. I’ve been discussing this with much more rabid fans, which is probably why I feel much more confident in my understanding of the work. These are all still my opinion, of course. The ones that sound like I’m lecturing are just the ones I’m more sure about.
I feel like I was acting like a teacher that tells you students what the symbolism in literature is. That was not my intent.
because he knows he’s dangerous, above the law, and already demonstrated he’s willing to kill. Harry doesn’t know he killed Rita Skeeter but he’s aware of the what happened at the prison.
He’s a bit of a sociopath. He sees himself intellectually above the law and demonstrates that with his medical help of Quirrell.
I suspect she may resurface. It’s a story about magic after all.
test of skill.
He’s Valdermort and he’s been trying to recruit Harry and learn from him.
playing him. He knows Harry is a sociopath who will live by his own rules. All through the book Harry realizes he’s capable of great evil and tries to keep it in check. But his medical gift to Quirrell shows he will ignore all convention if it seems reasonable to him.
Yes, he could have turned her into an inanimate object and thus preserved her until he can figure out how to revive her.
Can’t remember but I was thinking Harry kept his patronus a secret from Quirrell. Is that the power the dark lord knows not?
BigT, where are your discussions with rabid fans? I’d be interested in seeing those if they’re online. I agree that “hat and cloak” man is the one who frame Hermione and the prime suspect for her murder. Who is he/she/it though? Quirrell? Possibly, if he’s not also Hermione’s murderer. Quirrell seemed genuinely intent on preventing that, and dismayed by his failure. So, then who killed Hermione?
One general theory of the Potter-verse I’ve seen (and like) is that spells, potions, and everything else taught at Hogwart’s is essentially a user interface on magic, possibly created by Merlin. That explains why goofy Latin-like words and random gestures are needed to trigger particular effects. (Something that seems maddeningly illogical to tMoR Harry.) That means the average wizard is like a computer end user, i.e., basically unaware and unconcerned with how magic actually works. The great wizards work out their own interfaces.
The theory is that Quirrell is fighting for control of Harry. He just wanted both of his friends out of the way. His plan was entirely just to remove her and Draco from Harry’s life. He was only trying to save her because he didn’t want to have to kill her.
Whether he knew they’d try to send her to Azkaban is highly contentious. Personally, it seems out of character for him. He thinks that whole system is horrible. And if he’s willing to let her be tortured, why try to prevent having to kill her? Some guess that, in the case where Harry didn’t save her in some way, he’d have intervened in a secret rescue plan with Harry, logically having to put her someplace “safe” where she still couldn’t influence Harry.
Quirrell’s goal, before his body dies, is to get all of Magical Britain united under his protege. His protege that is likely
A piece of his soul torn from his body, replacing the original Harry’s soul. That’s why there’s only one. Harry was raised in actual love, so Voldy’s original nature only comes out when he gets angry. This time he really is a living Horcrux, made intentionally.
The author’s personal website and the TVTropes pages and forum post are the main ones I frequented. There’s also a subreddit where I’ve participated–though they were more often behind. Still, they knew about Q/V.
My first post was actually arguing against Q/V being definite, but I’ve acquiesced since then. The author doesn’t even act like it’s a secret.
Nope. It was why they did the whole Azkaban thing. Quirrell was one of the few who saw it when it first happened.
I think it’s funny that you missed a lot, but even you figured out what was in my spoiler. And what almost certainly happened to Hermione.
Your mention of patronuses is part of the reason I think she has to come back. A big deal was made where Harry left her a note on how to make one, yet that has not come to fruition.
Harry is going to defeat Death, like the prophesy foretold. Unfortunately, that’s also what the prophesies of “doom” are about.