kilobug comments on Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, part 25, chapter 96 - Less Wrong

6 Post author: NancyLebovitz 25 July 2013 04:36AM

You are viewing a comment permalink. View the original post to see all comments and the full post content.

Comments (524)

You are viewing a single comment's thread. Show more comments above.

Comment author: CAE_Jones 25 July 2013 10:37:26AM 1 point [-]

It occurred to me while reading Chapter 96 that Voldemort is a descendant of Cadmus Peverelle, and Ignotus Peverelle is buried at Godrick's Hollow. My first impulse was to wonder if Voldemort would pop up and stab Harry at the end of this chapter (I quickly discounted it because of what Eliezer said about there being padding before the final arc and about ending on this sort of cliffhanger, rather than the in-universe reason of it being the wrong brother). Now I'm wondering if anyone knows where Cadmus is buried. I know Moody and Snape figured Voldemort disguised his father's actual grave, but that would have set off the Little Hangleton residents' vandelism alarms, unless he memory charmed everyone that knew anything about the graveyard (I suppose that's not beyond Voldemort, but if he knew of a better grave that no one else knew of...?).

Of course, it's entirely possible that "bone of the father" implies patrilineal descent, in which case Cadmus (and Salazar, for that matter) are disqualified and only a Riddle is viable.

Comment author: kilobug 25 July 2013 11:43:53AM *  1 point [-]

Voldemort using the "bone of the father, flesh of the servant, blood of the ennemy" ritual is a fear of Dumbledore and Moody, but I don't think it's what he really is about. There would have been plenty opportunities for him to collect blood from Harry before. We don't know exactly what, there are several theories (like, making Harry lord of magical Britain and then possessing or controlling him), but Voldemort in HPMOR seems to have a much more complicated and ambitious plan about Harry than killing him/using his blood for a resurrection ritual.

Comment author: Benquo 25 July 2013 12:37:39PM 13 points [-]

He's already collected Harry's blood, but there's little point in performing the ritual before he's used up his current body.

"Give me that," said Professor Quirrell, and the newspaper leaped out of Harry's hand so fast that he got a paper cut. [Ch. 26]

Comment author: tondwalkar 26 July 2013 03:28:49PM 6 points [-]

Does Harry even count as an enemy in MoR? Seems like he'd need the blood of someone on Dumbledore's side, and if he's just as arrogant and greedy as he was in cannon, then he'd go for the blood of Dumbledore himself.

Comment author: 75th 27 July 2013 10:19:30PM 3 points [-]

This again.

"He does have other avenues to life, should he perceive this one blocked," Snape said dryly, uncapping a fourth bottle. "And before you ask, it must be the original grave, the place of first burial, the bone removed during the ritual and not before.

I think all the sacrifices, including the blood of the enemy, must be made during the ritual.

Comment author: Sheaman3773 03 September 2013 02:26:42AM -1 points [-]

That is supposition. Reasonable supposition, but supposition nonetheless.

It's worth noting that this quote also occurs in the same chapter.

I simply can’t imagine hearing that you’d hurt someone you had not made a deliberate decision to hurt.

Comment author: Aureateflux 09 August 2013 09:25:42PM 0 points [-]

I wonder why the Order is taking the course of poisoning the grave rather than just relocating all the suspected graves? Given that it isn't absolutely certain that this will have an effect (though it seems likely given what Harry learns about potions), wouldn't it be better to just ensure that the ritual won't work at all? At least that way there are fewer avenues of resurrection to defend against.

Comment author: kilobug 10 August 2013 08:03:27AM -1 points [-]

I guess they are hoping that if he attempts the ritual with poisoned bones, it'll backfire and makes it harder for him to come back using whatever means. But it seems futile to me, Quirrelmort probably already secured a bone, way before he started teaching at Hogwarts.

Comment author: Gurkenglas 13 August 2013 01:26:45PM 0 points [-]

The bone has to be freshly removed at the site of the grave.

Comment author: kilobug 13 August 2013 02:22:52PM -1 points [-]

Hum, are you sure ? Any evidence for that ? But then, I guess he would have moved the grave to a secure and secret location. What defines "the site of the grave" ? Just where the bone lies ? Tombstone ?

Comment author: Gurkenglas 16 August 2013 11:34:53AM 3 points [-]

Chapter 63:

"He does have other avenues to life, should he perceive this one blocked," Snape said dryly, uncapping a fourth bottle. "And before you ask, it must be the original grave, the place of first burial, the bone removed during the ritual and not before. Thus he cannot have retrieved it earlier; and also there is no point in substituting the skeleton of a weaker ancestor. He would notice it had lost all potency."