NancyLebovitz comments on Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, part 4 - Less Wrong

3 Post author: gjm 07 October 2010 09:12PM

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Comment author: komponisto 22 October 2010 02:57:17PM *  3 points [-]

For me at least, even knowing the that Q=V, and seeing the clues, they don't intrinsically point to that. Most of them can be explained simply by the idea that Quirrell is subtle, evil, and likes corrupting people.

The Law of Conservation of Detail (TV Tropes warning) implies that an important character who is subtle and evil (or even just subtle) has a substantial probability of being the villain.

I hadn't read the original series either, and so at first I had no idea that Q=V except from the Author's Notes; however, I suspect that by this point in the story I would have begun entertaining it seriously as a hypothesis. (And of course as long as the story is still being written, there's always some chance Eliezer could change his mind.)

Comment author: NancyLebovitz 22 October 2010 03:27:53PM 2 points [-]

I wouldn't mind one little bit if the story is structured like Lensmen, with several layers of villains that have to be discovered.

Admittedly, this is less likely in the wizarding world-- the population is much lower than in a universe with multiple inhabited galaxies.

On the gripping hand, it would be really cool if Quirrel/Voldemort were a claw on a finger of a conspiracy of evil alien wizards. Presumably, Cthulhu is part of the middle layer.