Don't get me wrong, it makes for excellent storytelling and fits the character, but the effect is really weakened by the fact that we've been told the punchline. The chapter is written so as to give the reader the impression that Quirrell could turn out to not be Voldemort, which doesn't make any sense when its been made perfectly obvious that he is Voldemort. Of course Eliezer could go back on his word not to intentionally give false information regarding the story and have Quirrell really be just a misguided good guy, but that doesn't seem like something either the character or the writer would do. I love how Quirrell seems genuinely saddened by Hermione's apparent innocence while trying to manipulate her like a chess piece. He's about as complex a character as you could find in fiction and serves as a perfect antithesis to Harry's rational optimism. It would be a shame for that to be ruined.
A large part of the point of Quirrel/Riddle/Voldemort in HPMOR is that he can assume any identity he wants to. His behavior being at odds with what you imagine a Voldemort would do is simply his deception going to a much higher level. He doesn't act like a Voldemort because he was never actually Voldemort any more than he is actually Quirrel.
The next discussion thread is here.
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 84. The previous thread has passed 500 comments. Comment in the 14th thread until you read chapter 84.
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.
As a reminder, it’s often useful to start your comment by indicating which chapter you are commenting on.
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: