Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, part 24, chapter 95

palladias

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 95. The previous thread has passed 300 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, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24.

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Eliezer Yudkowsky which is not supposed to be publicly available (which includes public statements by Eliezer that have been retracted).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 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, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24.

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Yudkowsky which is not supposed to be publicly available (which includes public statements by Eliezer that have been retracted).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

I get the impression from the Defense Professor's dialog that it probably isn't permanent, but the way he hesitated before saying good day makes me wonder if even he is unsure about that after that last star spell.

I was also pleased to see that ZOMBIE! Quirrel still has the cognitive capacity necessary to crawl back toward the castle from the depths of the permitted forest. Although that's probably not that great; it'll probably suck to be the real Quirinus Quirrell very soon, and if he's had to be aware of all the further suckitude over the past year, that would probably have a net negative in utility.

For the past week or so, I've been occasionally imagining Harry running off after some important Voldemort event, and stumbling across the dead or dying Quirrell, just before coming across Voldy's new body, and being all concerned/confused in the few seconds it takes for him to figure out what's been going on. Considering that Quirrellmort is not an idiot, I kinda doubt this would play out like this (I'm imagining it at a graveyard, even), but it seems like we're close to the real Quirrell making some appearances, such as the one in this chapter.

Appearances by the real Quirrell? My impression is that the crawling zombie is the real Quirrell. Early in the story, Quirrell's non-Voldemort mode is a weirdo, but passable as a normal human. Since then, things have gotten steadily worse. My guess is that the dark magic Voldemort is using to possess Quirrell's body takes a heavy toll on the victim of the possession, with damage accumulating over time, and by the end of the Hogwarts school year, Voldemort will no longer be able to use the body and the real Quirrell will be dead or at least a vegetable.