Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, part 2

dclayh

Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, part 2 — LessWrong

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Voldemort's motives have been a mystery from the start - why would he become a Hogwarts teacher, and what does he want with Harry Potter? He must be working on some kind of plot, but what? It's not a sneak-in-and-kill-people kind of plot, judging by his behavior.

To me, the speech and the conversation with Harry afterwards aren't further mysteries - they provide some of the best clues we've gotten so far about what Quirrelmort is thinking. He sees a conflict between wizards and muggles and is trying to make sure that the wizards win. Coming to Hogwarts to teach battle magic and mentor Harry Potter could fit with that motivation, and ewbrownv does a pretty good job of filling in some more of the details.

Leonhart16y50

In canon, IIRC, LV actually did want to become a Hogwarts teacher.

Regarding personality shifts; is it possible that this is another point of departure, and we're looking at a LV who made fewer Horcruces? Again IIRC, there seemed to be a linear relationship depicted in canon between Tom Riddle's physical and mental decay and the number he created.

1NancyLebovitz16y

There seems to be a consensus that if there were war between wizards and muggles, the wizards would lose. This isn't obvious to me, but I might be assuming more intelligence (both information and skill at using it) on the wizard side than they've got. However, if we assume that wizards are reasonably competent (insert bitter laughter from anyone who's read the original books), what could they do? My impression is that wizards don't need human civilization. It seems to me that their ability to pass unseen and destroy memories would be enough to destroy a lot of infrastructure. Would it be that hard for wizards to rule what was left? What's the use of human weapons if you need magic just to enter wizard population centers? Anyone who remembers the books better than I do, go ahead and tell me if there's some way for humans to resist.

1Pavitra16y

Somehow I rather doubt that Quirrelmort believes what he says in public speeches to the unwashed masses.

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Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, part 2

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Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, part 2

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