Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, part 19, chapter 88-89

Vaniver

This is a new thread to discuss Eliezer Yudkowsky’s Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality and anything related to it. This thread is intended for discussing chapter 88-89. The previous thread has passed 500 comments.

There is now a site dedicated to the story at hpmor.com, which is now the place to go to find the authors notes and all sorts of other goodies. AdeleneDawner has kept an archive of Author’s Notes. (This goes up to the notes for chapter 76, and is now not updating. The authors notes from chapter 77 onwards are on hpmor.com.)

The first 5 discussion threads are on the main page under the harry_potter tag. Threads 6 and on (including this one) are in the discussion section using its separate tag system. Also: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18.

Spoiler Warning: this thread is full of spoilers. With few exceptions, spoilers for MOR and canon are fair game to post, without warning or rot13. More specifically:

You do not need to rot13 anything about HP:MoR or the original Harry Potter series unless you are posting insider information from Eliezer Yudkowsky which is not supposed to be publicly available (which includes public statements by Eliezer that have been retracted).

If there is evidence for X in MOR and/or canon then it’s fine to post about X without rot13, even if you also have heard privately from Eliezer that X is true. But you should not post that “Eliezer said X is true” unless you use rot13.

Spoiler Warning: this thread is full of spoilers. With few exceptions, spoilers for MOR and canon are fair game to post, without warning or rot13. More specifically:

You do not need to rot13 anything about HP:MoR or the original Harry Potter series unless you are posting insider information from Eliezer Yudkowsky which is not supposed to be publicly available (which includes public statements by Eliezer that have been retracted).

If there is evidence for X in MOR and/or canon then it’s fine to post about X without rot13, even if you also have heard privately from Eliezer that X is true. But you should not post that “Eliezer said X is true” unless you use rot13.

From the POV of Dumbledore, there are several unexplained things about Quirrel's behavior:

Quirrel not only homed in on the troll. At some point he suddenly became so frantic that he blasted his way through Hogwarts. (He didn't do so immediately; indeed when the he goes to look for the troll with the rest of the Professors, he exhibits nothing like this kind of urgency.) This happened just as Harry encountered the troll.
Then, without having reached the troll, he suddenly stopped and said there was no more need to rush. Just as Harry killed the troll and Dumbledore arrived to secure the scene.
All the explanations that say he was tracking the troll and not Harry, imply he should have reached the troll before Harry did. After all, he left before Harry, he was probably moving faster (two-person broomstick vs. three-person), and he was moving in a straight line, blowing holes through the castle. Instead, he didn't even arrive by the time Dumbledore did.

Now let's consider your suggestions: I think some are plausible but most are not.

the school wards;

Dumbledore would know everything the wards reported. If they alerted Quirrell to the location of the troll, why not Dumbledore (or McGonnagal)? And when they reported the death of Hermione, this should have caused Quirrell to hurry more, not to proclaim there was no more danger.

troll tracking skills as part of the Defense professor's esoteric & eldritch lore

Then why didn't he find the troll before Harry did? (See above)

spy devices planted throughout the school

Moderately plausible. But: spy devices which are better than the Hogwarts wards? Or, which allow him to remotely look at any area instead of merely being alerted when a condition is triggered? I don't think Dumbledore approve of him taking such power. And Dumbledore would of course check his story - so the spy devices would need to actually exist, and not have been detected.

Eye ("constant vigilance!") or other snooping devices; [...] supernaturally good hearing;

Not foreshadowed, hence bad storytelling.

the Marauder's Map;

Then why hadn't he consulted it right away before the professors left to hunt the troll, and see Hermione was out there?

It suspends disbelief that Quirrel wouldn't do so - without a particular reason, but just because he forgot - and then apparently two minutes later he would remember to do so, and so find Harry.

And if he was following the map, why did he declare that "The crisis is over"? I don't know if the troll would show up on the map, but regardless, even though he saw Dumbledore appear, he also saw Hermione disappear. Surely he wasn't so optimistic as to assume that disappearance (alone) was something other than death.

Also, what plausible excuse could he present for having the Map while the Twins are Obliviated? Dumbledore is the one main character who definitely knows of the Map, so Quirrel would want to hide it from him.

tracking charms placed on Harry (IIRC, didn't Quirrel already do just that with Draco?);

Then, against, how did he know when "The crisis is over" and he could stop hurrying towards Harry?

information from the future (if notes can be passed about bullies, why not trolls?);

With future intel, why hadn't he prevented the disaster entirely? Why hadn't he warned anyone? Why had he still gone out to search for the troll, in such a hurry that he burned through walls to get to it, if he knew he wouldn't make it in time? Why didn't he share the future intel with the other professors hunting the troll? That doesn't sound like a time-loop.

ghost/poltergeist/painting messages;

Possible (although can paintings or ghosts move quickly enough to deliver the message in time?) but again, why did he stop?

From the POV of Dumbledore, there are several unexplained things about Quirrel's behavior

Most of those can be explained away with reference to the others and the poor information available to Dumbledore. What stops Quirrel from saying he blasted off when he detected Hermione had been trapped on the terrace and the troll was immune to sunlight? There are no atomic clocks here. Similarly, if he had some surveillance system, he can say he stopped when Hermione died and there was no more need to hurry (alas); between the wards and the soulsplosion, there's ... (read more)