wedrifid comments on Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread - Less Wrong

34 Post author: Unnamed 27 May 2010 12:10AM

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Comment author: wedrifid 03 July 2010 04:01:36PM 1 point [-]

Harry is overpowered

Really? Because he can transfigure parts of objects? I took that as the rest of the wizarding world being incompetent.

Comment author: WrongBot 03 July 2010 07:44:16PM 4 points [-]

This ability is at least as dangerous as the killing curse, if not more so. People are objects. Harry can now transfigure, say, a chunk of someone else's brain into steel, or glass, or water. Turning someone else into a ferret is scary, yes, but they'll turn back little the worse for wear.

This makes Harry very, very dangerous, especially because he hasn't realized it yet.

Comment author: wedrifid 04 July 2010 02:25:47AM 10 points [-]

I always thought the killing curse was overrated. Many of the spells that first years use in pranks on each other will get you a kill if you are carrying a knife in your pocket.

In 1 vs 1 combat stupefy beats avada kedavra. By about 3 syllables.

Comment author: ShardPhoenix 06 July 2010 03:08:08AM 5 points [-]

Don't forget that Avada Kedavra has the advantage that it can't be blocked/mitigated/etc, whereas spells like stupefy presumably can (or that advantage of AK wouldn't be worth noting).

Comment author: JoshuaZ 06 July 2010 03:31:37AM 1 point [-]

More specifically, most spells can be blocked by the "protego" charm. AK cannot be blocked in this matter although AK can be dodged or can have a large physical object block it.

Comment author: CronoDAS 03 July 2010 08:07:01PM 2 points [-]

It was already described in detail, when Transfiguration was introduced, that transfiguring a living thing kills it...

Comment author: lmnop 03 July 2010 08:50:00PM 0 points [-]

But does transfiguring a piece of a living thing kill it? I'm curious to see how that will work out.

Comment author: Vladimir_Nesov 03 July 2010 06:29:22PM *  3 points [-]

Presumably that at least allows him to break through any locks. Mastering this wandlessly will make it impossible to effectively restrain him while leaving conscious. The choice to make it possible is still on the author, because the Magic could make it impossible regardless, as it holds lots of conceptual knowledge already and can impose map distinctions of its own, however the wizard conceptualizes the situation.

Comment author: JGWeissman 03 July 2010 06:35:16PM 4 points [-]

Unless the restraints are protected against transfiguration.

Comment author: Alicorn 03 July 2010 07:55:06PM 6 points [-]

If the ability to transform just portions of objects is completely novel, those protections might or might not extend to it.

Comment author: NihilCredo 15 July 2010 12:38:26AM *  0 points [-]

In other words: rejoice, Eliezer! Whichever you choose will be plausible! (As long as you remember to be consistent)

Comment author: wedrifid 04 July 2010 02:40:54AM 3 points [-]

If you can prevent apparition by powerful wizards you can quite likely prevent transfiguration via a similar mechanism.