= 27d567bc2d48d9f40e9ccc20ea370b15)
pangel comments on Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, part 17, chapter 86 - Less Wrong
You are viewing a comment permalink. View the original post to see all comments and the full post content.
= 783df68a0f980790206b9ea87794c5b6)
Loading…= b715d02e85f7b3b4ae65ca3d3e450868)
Subscribe to RSS Feed
Powered by Reddit
= f037147d6e6c911a85753b9abdedda8d)
You are viewing a comment permalink. View the original post to see all comments and the full post content.
Comments (606)
I took it as meaning that the orbs visited anyone mentioned in a prophecy before the Unspeakables sealed the Hall precisely to prevent people from learning of the prophecy they were in.
If you had to know that a prophecy was made involving you and travel to the Hall of your own volition, that would be essentially useless by Merlin's lights ('because knowing is half the battle!') since the only ones who would know this in advance would be the prophecy hearers and their allies, and what's the point of that? If you were setting up a system to screw with Destiny, you'd arrange for the system to tell all involved automatically!
We know that the glowy orbs are trapped because no one in the story mentions or see them happening: Snape does not mention globes coming to him nor does McGonagall nor anyone else, Voldemort has to be informed by Snape, neither Harry nor Quirrel nor anyone else receive orbs from Trelawney's second cut-off prophecy (perhaps the real reason that Dumbledore doesn't want to take Harry to the Hall), and Dumbledore has to personally take Harry's parents to the Hall to hear their copies.
Sounds right, but the present-day situation is the same: orbs may float to you if and only if you enter the Hall. So Dumbledore should know whether he is involved in the prophecy or not. Unless I missed something?
The easiest way to stop the floating is to stop the floating entirely, in which case entering the hall wouldn't necessarily help.
And we don't know Dumbledore has entered the hall or not, for that matter: he may not be willing to risk another break-in for anything short of Voldemort itself, Trelawney's second prophecy may seem benign, or he fears that hearing the prophecy may narrow down his options or some other harm.
Or maybe Trelawney stopped speaking after he teleported her away, and that proved the prophecy wasn't about him but about someone who was left in the Great Hall.
That's a good point. Actually, don't we have some vignettes of Trelawney under prophetic pressure after that incident? That would explain the lack of any Hall action, if the prophecy is not yet done.
Still leaves Dumbledore a mystery: if Trelawney stopped after teleporting away, and this proves it wasn't about Dumbledore, then what is stopping him from sitting in Trelawney's office and one by one summoning suspects until she suddenly bursts out the rest?