Unnamed comments on Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, part 2 - Less Wrong

13 Post author: dclayh 01 August 2010 10:58PM

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Comment author: gwern 02 August 2010 03:15:37PM 6 points [-]

The big speech by Quirrel troubles me.

I thought we had Word of God that Quirrel was in some way Voldemort (Quirrelmort), and that we should've become certain of that early on (especially with the Voyager horcrux implied).

But the speech doesn't make sense for me. If Voldemort was so close to winning, if it took a freak Black Swan to defeat him and his followers, if magical England is still utterly incompetent, if many of his followers are still at large (as we know from canon they are), if...

Given this situation, why doesn't Voldemort just start over? The plan worked perfectly the first time; why not just do it again, and put a little poison in Harry's drink or something? There are a bazillion ways Harry could be killed, as Harry himself demonstrates in the killer-instinct lesson. The magical protection he has is very weak indeed.

If a magical England all bearing a 'Light Mark' would be so unstoppable and take over the magical world, and by implication then can take over the mundane world, why doesn't Voldemort just take over magical England the way he planned to, and then impose the Light/Dark Mark on everyone?

Why is he instead apparently doing his damndest to prevent anyone from succeeding the way 'he' almost did, and apparently pushing Draco or Harry to become benevolent dictators?

I don't understand it at all. I can't reconcile Voldemort's past with Quirrel's past with Voldemort's past goals with Quirrel's future goals and so on. I am, as the LW phrase goes, confused.

Comment author: Unnamed 03 August 2010 07:29:05AM 6 points [-]

Another theory of Quirrelmort (which Psy-Kosh came up with) is that Quirrelmort identifies with Harry because he transferred part of himself to Harry when he gave him the scar, so now his ambition is for Harry to become a Dark Lord. In other words, Voldemort split into Quirrell and Harry, and now the one part is trying to make sure that the other part carries out his plan.

This theory is compatible with the wizard v. muggle war theory, if the plan is for Harry to become a Dark Lord and lead the wizards against the muggles.

Comment author: gwern 03 August 2010 09:00:18AM 2 points [-]

Hm... I suppose that might actually address the issues.

But wait, this doesn't explain why Quirrelmort would wait 2 decades for Harry to finish the job of taking over the world rather than do it himself, and then groom Harry without any distractions. I mean, Quirrelmort still seems to be quite competent, and we see ever less of zombie-mode. (Besides, isn't leadership all about delegation?)

Comment author: dclayh 04 August 2010 07:20:06AM *  2 points [-]

we see ever less of zombie-mode

A very good point. I wonder if that's intentional on Eliezer's part, or if he's simply forgotten to write about zombie-Quirrell because he (z-Q) is uninteresting.