Nornagest comments on Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, March 2015, chapter 118 - Less Wrong

2 Post author: Gondolinian 09 March 2015 07:05PM

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Comment author: Nornagest 09 March 2015 08:18:15PM 4 points [-]

McGonagall's wording ("trapped outside Time") suggested to me that she knows at least the basics of where Dumbledore went. There can't be too many spells or artifacts capable of doing that, or Dumbledore wouldn't have had to resort to an Atlantean relic in the first place.

Comment author: dxu 09 March 2015 10:10:38PM *  5 points [-]

Note that according to Dumbledore in Chapter 61, Atlantis itself was also "erased from Time" (paraphrasing here). Coincidence?

Comment author: Jost 09 March 2015 11:01:00PM 9 points [-]

So Dumbledore is not trapped but simply takes a well-deserved vacation in Atlantis!

Comment author: ChristianKl 10 March 2015 05:22:36PM 2 points [-]

The mirror is likely also the tool that erased Atlantis from time.

Comment author: DanArmak 09 March 2015 09:35:09PM 7 points [-]

McGonagall's wording ("trapped outside Time") suggested to me that she knows at least the basics of where Dumbledore went.

She's just repeating what Harry said in Chapter 116:

"Dumbledore's gone!" cried Harry Potter. "The Headmaster is gone, Professor McGonagall! The Dark Lord trapped him, he reversed some kind of trap the Headmaster planned and Dumbledore was caught outside Time, he's gone!"

Comment author: Nornagest 09 March 2015 09:41:12PM *  4 points [-]

I can't imagine she'd just accept that without asking for some kind of clarification, or putting the pieces together herself -- I get the impression that the presence and general properties of the Mirror were common knowledge among faculty (what with everyone in Gryffindor having run the dungeon), though the details of Dumbledore's plan couldn't have been.

But fair enough, I'd forgotten that bit.

Comment author: buybuydandavis 09 March 2015 11:40:02PM 0 points [-]

I wonder if Dumbledore briefed her on the trap.

Comment author: Nornagest 09 March 2015 11:45:37PM 8 points [-]

My guess would be no. Generally speaking it's a good idea to let someone else in on a scheme like that, so that you have someone to scrape you out when things go horribly wrong; but wizarding culture seems a lot more secretive and heavy on information control than ours, which indeed may not be such a bad idea in context. You can't Legilemens something that someone doesn't know.