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linkhyrule5 comments on Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, part 21, chapters 91 & 92 - Less Wrong Discussion

4 Post author: NancyLebovitz 04 July 2013 11:49AM

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Comment author: solipsist 04 July 2013 05:40:32PM 20 points [-]

Quirrell is trying to alienate Harry from his lifelines by manipulating everyone into being unhelpfully helpful. It's one of the core emotional triggers for the Harry, and the Defense Professor knows this.

Comment author: linkhyrule5 04 July 2013 11:38:39PM 13 points [-]

After this chapter I've updated heavily in favor of Quirrell being genuinely terrified and trying to run damage control. That means giving him more emotional lifelines.

Admittedly, it also probably means making Harry dependent on an information source Quirrell can trust not to say too much, i.e. himself, but...

Comment author: solipsist 05 July 2013 04:11:35AM *  1 point [-]

That does not seem to jive with the last lines of chapter 89, which are first-person accounts of Quirrell's feelings.

He'd felt the fury the boy had directed at some annoyance who was likely Dumbledore; followed by an unknown resolution whose unyielding hardness even he found adequate. With any luck, the boy had just discarded his foolish little reluctances.

Unseen by anyone, the Defense Professor's lips curved up in a thin smile. Despite its little ups and downs, on the whole this had been a surprisingly good day.

EDIT: I also updated in favor of Quirrell being genuinely terrified after chapter 92, but only slightly. The evidence from chapter 89 still dominates in my mind since 89 has an uncensored account of Quirrell's true feelings.

Comment author: gwern 05 July 2013 04:13:23AM 22 points [-]

And quite specifically, ironically, and counterpointedly placed before the prophecy.

Comment author: solipsist 01 March 2014 04:41:37AM 0 points [-]

Note for readability: I did not realize that the prophecy was dialog, said aloud by Trelawney, until I read this comment. I read the prophecy as Quirrell thinking to himself, narrating for the reader why he was happy.

Comment author: solipsist 06 July 2013 02:27:15AM 1 point [-]

From 93:

The Defense Professor watched them both, the woman and the crying boy. His eyes were very cold, and very calculating.

He did not think that this would be enough.

Woop. There goes that theory :-).

Comment author: kilobug 06 July 2013 07:21:18PM 1 point [-]

First time I read that, I interpreted it as "it would not be enough to prevent Harry from tearing the world apart". But there is another possible interpretation : if we consider that Quirrelmort was trying to turn Harry dark, and killing Hermione was part of that plan, then we can interpret it completely to the opposite : the killing Hermione won't be enough to turn Harry dark.

I don't give a high probability to the second interpretation, but it does stand on its own feet.

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