Maybe Ridvolquir interpreted the prophecy as saying he can't defeat Harry until Harry becomes a Dark Lord???
For Harry to be the Dark Lord in the prophecy, and Voldemort the one with the power to defeat him, would require Voldemort to be born to those who thrice defied Harry. Taken literally the prophecy requires the one with the power to defeat the Dark Lord to be younger than him.
Quirrell's explanation of his motives for breaking Bellatrix out of Azkaban (she might know something useful, also a whim, see Ch. 60) aren't terribly satisfying
Yeah, they're not satisfying to me either. If Bellatrix knew any rare and dangerous magic, I'd expect Dumbledore to have learned whatever he could from her by whatever means are within his moral restraints, and then Obliviated her to stop anyone else from doing the same thing. This puts some restraints on Quirrill's magic usage, too: if he uses any magic that he taught to Bellatrix, Dumbledore will recognize it.
I think that was a hypothetical alternate interpretation of "and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal", actually.
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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 85. The previous thread has long passed 500 comments. Comment in the 15th thread until you read chapter 85.
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