Duncan comments on Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, March 2015, chapter 114 + chapter 115 - Less Wrong

3 Post author: Gondolinian 03 March 2015 06:02PM

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

Article Navigation

Comments (423)
Tags: fiction hpmor harry_potter fanfiction

Comments (423)

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

Comment author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 04 March 2015 05:50:47PM 8 points [-]

A lot of people think that Voldemort was going too easy on Harry, making this a "Coil vs. Taylor in the burning building" violation of suspension-of-disbelief for some of them. I am considering rewriting 113 with the following changes:

  • Most Death Eaters are watching the surrounding area, not Harry; Voldemort's primary hypothesis for how Time might thwart him involves outside interference.
  • Voldemort tells Harry to point his wand outward and downward at the ground, then has a Death Eater paralyze Harry (except heart/lungs/mouth/eyes) in that position before the unbreakable Vow. This would also require a retroedit to 15 or 28 to make it clear that Transfiguration does not require an exact finger position on the wand.

Submitting...

Comment author: Luke_A_Somers 04 March 2015 09:07:12PM *  29 points [-]

I would add a reason for Harry to have the wand.

Like, instead of, "You will not raise your wand", "You will only raise your wand when and how I permit it. Do not demonstrate a spell unless ordered."

That would imply that Voldemort was open to the possibility that Harry might demonstrate something, which would require arming him.

Comment author: Duncan 04 March 2015 09:18:47PM *  4 points [-]

Your phrasing makes it also look like a plausible mistake for someone in a new situation with little time to consider things.

Comment author: Luke_A_Somers 05 March 2015 02:23:10AM 3 points [-]

I'm not sure what you mean here.

Comment author: Duncan 05 March 2015 02:16:22PM 0 points [-]

Edited phrasing to make it more clear....

Comment author: Luke_A_Somers 05 March 2015 02:42:09PM 2 points [-]

I was aiming for it to be a mistake that someone could make even in a relatively familiar situation with ample time to consider.

Powered by Reddit Powered by Reddit