VincenzoLingley comments on Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, part 15, chapter 84 - Less Wrong

3 Post author: FAWS 11 April 2012 03:39AM

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Comment author: Velorien 13 April 2012 01:49:46AM 3 points [-]

True. But that would have to be an extreme amount of acceleration, whereas in MoR it takes several casters just to fully counter the effect of gravity on one teenage boy. Also, it seems unlikely at best that the Hover Charm can accelerate people downwards - and if you lift someone high enough for a fall to kill them, you give them time to react while they fall.

Also, it's possible that the Hover Charm could be blocked by a pre-cast shield - in fact, this seems likely, otherwise people could just get around non-spherical shields by lifting the target and then shooting them from underneath.

Comment author: VincenzoLingley 13 April 2012 05:55:06AM *  4 points [-]

it takes several casters

Several first-year casters. Quirrell stuck 50 people to the ceiling. You might say that he has better ways to use his power - but the killing curse is not one of them. His killing curse is little better than anyone else's.

Also, it seems unlikely at best that the Hover Charm can accelerate people downwards

There's got to be a spell for that, and it it likely to work similarly to the hover charm, i.e. instant effect.

Also, it's possible that the Hover Charm could be blocked by a pre-cast shield

If by a specific anti-hover shield, then one needs to always keep up a large number of shields against various spells. If by a generic shield, well, that isn't in my mental model of shields, but I guess it's possible. In which case I agree that the killing curse is superior agains a raised shield, but it is still inferior against an unsuspecting enemy.

Comment author: Rejoyce 14 April 2012 09:42:18AM 3 points [-]

There's got to be a spell for that, and it it likely to work similarly to the hover charm, i.e. instant effect.

Ah. Hundreds of girls Summoning a Harry Potter into their arms?

Comment author: pedanterrific 13 April 2012 06:01:49AM 3 points [-]

If by a generic shield, well, that isn't in my mental model of shields, but I guess it's possible.

I imagine SPHEW's battles vs. the bullies would have looked different if Protego didn't protect against telekinesis.

Comment author: ahartell 15 April 2012 04:02:20PM 2 points [-]

An unsuspecting enemy can apparate when they realize they are being affected by the hover charm. When they realize they are being affected by Avada Kedavra... they're dead.

Comment author: Velorien 13 April 2012 12:37:21PM 0 points [-]

You make some excellent points. I can only conclude that the Hover Charm (and your proposed opposite) must have some built-in limitations, otherwise no-one would bother using anything else against unshielded targets.

I do suspect that the spells we think of as instant are actually very fast invisible missiles - this would account both for the fact that one aims them with a wand, and for the fact that the likes of Quirrell can sneeze away spells which have no visible missiles.