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Michelle_Z comments on Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, part 20, chapter 90 - Less Wrong Discussion

9 Post author: palladias 02 July 2013 02:13AM

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Comment author: Qiaochu_Yuan 02 July 2013 02:32:19AM 13 points [-]

"Of course it's my fault. There's no one else here who could be responsible for anything."

The first time this sentence appears in HPMoR is in the italic text that begins Chapter 2:

"Of course it was my fault. There's no one else here who could be responsible for anything."

I'll assume the difference between "it's" and "it was" isn't significant. I'm inclined to refocus my attention now on the italic text that begins Chapter 1:

Beneath the moonlight glints a tiny fragment of silver, a fraction of a line...

(black robes, falling)

...blood spills out in litres, and someone screams a word.

I didn't know what to make of this when I first read it, and I still don't. Does this describe an event that has already happened? It's not Hermione's death, since that didn't happen in the moonlight.

Comment author: Michelle_Z 02 July 2013 07:09:33PM 5 points [-]

If a drop of blood is all that's required to summon fire that can burn through the walls of hogwarts, then what can liters of blood do?

Comment author: gwern 02 July 2013 09:40:28PM 8 points [-]

Actually, it's not a drop of blood, it's a drop of blood for the rest of your life. But under a reasonable interpretation, Quirrel is perhaps being a little paranoid in avoiding use of that spell.

If we interpret the requirement as it frustrates one drop of blood from coming into creation, well, blood lasts ~120 days; if one drop is 0.05 ml and Quirrel is middle-aged and can expect another 40 years of life (the question about wizard lifespans is relevant here, though), then that's 0.05 * (365/120) * 40 = 6.1 milliliters total loss.

Or if we interpret it as reducing the total capacity of one's blood, well, adults have ~5 liters or 5000 milliliters, so you could use that spell hundreds of times before appreciably reducing your blood content (200 * 0.05ml = 10ml, so you'd go from 5000 to 4990...).

Comment author: Fermatastheorem 02 July 2013 11:37:06PM 3 points [-]

The latter explanation was my assumption. I am curious whether this capacity loss transfers across bodies when one is possessing someone else or has been resurrected.

Comment author: ikrase 02 July 2013 09:54:06PM 1 point [-]

IDK... Hermionie managed to shatter Hogwarts masonry with an explosive spell, and the Troll smashed it with a club.

Comment author: Michelle_Z 03 July 2013 01:32:49AM 0 points [-]

Good catch. That slipped my mind. :o

Though, apparently the castle will be "scarred"...?

Comment author: ikrase 03 July 2013 03:39:47AM 1 point [-]

Presumably the cursed fire prevents regeneration, means that mundane repairs (magical or mechanical) will not properly integrate, or something like that.

Comment author: Decius 02 July 2013 09:25:49PM 1 point [-]

Sacrificing liters of your own blood is more than enough to kill you.