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roystgnr comments on Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, February 2015, chapters 105-107 - Less Wrong
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Comments (353)
I agree that Harry has been Harrymort from infancy. But I can't agree that the diary has no major effect:
Harry figures out Quirrell's identity almost immediately after Snape casts some sort of "Dispel Magical Confusion", yet the only character who would have the knowledge and incentive to magically confuse Harry about this is Quirrell himself, who seems to be incapable of directly using magic on Harry or Harry's magic.
I'm not sure exactly how Riddle's horcrux-diary would get around that rule. If two copies of Riddle can't use magic on each other normally, what does it matter if the two copies are Harry+Quirrell or Harry+diary?
But Quirrel does want to keep Harry confused about something, and then he gives Harry a fascinating book that resembles an object of Voldemort's which magically confuses someone in canon, and then Harry appears to lose focus regarding both the book and the questions that Quirrell wants him confused about, and then Harry appears to have been the subject of a magical confusion... The book sure looks suspect.
Yes, I could certainly believe that having the diary has had some effect on Harry's mental state (though I think he's been a bit oblivious to Quirrell since before he had it). But that's quite a different matter from saying that since getting the diary he's been subject to such a transformation that before he was Harry Potter and now he's Tom Riddle.
I seem to recall there being early evidence that McGonagall was influenced by Quirrell, one way or another, to ensure that he ended the school term as teacher. It seems out of character for her to knowingly enchant Harry, but I recall a line where she explicitly dismissed a felt sense of doom in a way that seemed out of character.