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Eliezer Yudkowsky which is not supposed to be publicly available (which includes public statements by Eliezer that have been retracted).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Eliezer Yudkowsky which is not supposed to be publicly available (which includes public statements by Eliezer that have been retracted).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.

The triggers you propose wouldn't work, assuming that Dumbledore should be able to make a good estimate of Quirrell's speed and the time he spent traveling. I also think that Dumbledore should have noticed when Quirrell stopped, since by then he had already returned to Hogwarts.

Fred and George spent quite a long time fighting the troll; if Quirrell had started his mad dash when the troll reached the terrace, when Hermione had her legs bitten off, or when Harry, Fred, and George reached the scene, he would have arrived before the end of the fight. I guess, theoretically, his vast, previously-undetected spy network could have noticed the battle at exactly the right time, but that seems implausible to me, and it would seem similarly implausible to Dumbledore. Quirrell could also have been triggered by Hermione's death, but I suspect Dumbledore could falsify that one; if he had started when Hermione died, he wouldn't have been able to cut such a huge swath of destruction through Hogwarts in the time between Hermione's death and his stopping.

It's possible he was triggered by the troll's death, but that would make no sense; as far as he should know, the end of the troll means the end of the catastrophe. I suspect Dumbledore's first guess should be that Quirrell had put a ward on Harry (despite Dumbledore's orders otherwise) and he was therefore able to detect when Harry started to fight... however, if Dumbledore were to actually ask Harry about this, Harry would of course tell him that, no, Quirrell isn't able to cast any magic on him, which would probably be enough of a hint to lead Dumbledore to the correct answer.

It's hypothesized both in canon and in Methods that Harry and Voldemort might have a connection of some sort. So, it wouldn't exactly be unexpected and inexplicable; indeed, it seems like it's something that Dumbledore and McGonagall might rate as high-probability conditional on Quirrelmort theory. (And I can't imagine that psychic bonds are unheard of in Methods-world.)

assuming that Dumbledore should be able to make a good estimate of Quirrell's speed and the time he spent traveling. I also think that Dumbledore should have noticed when Quirrell stopped, since by then he had already returned to Hogwarts.

How would he? He was not with Quirrel nor was he presumably examining the Map (if he had it).

Fred and George spent quite a long time fighting the troll

Not really? They spent maybe 30 seconds at the outside - it doesn't take long to cast a bunch of spells and swing a sword once. In the real world, fights do not last... (read more)