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Fuyu comments on Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, part 22, chapter 93 - Less Wrong Discussion

5 [deleted] 06 July 2013 03:02AM

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Comment author: Fuyu 06 July 2013 04:12:05AM 5 points [-]

" I’ll state outright that at the end of the story Hermione comes back as an alicorn princess."

Was this meant as an omake at the end of HPMoR? What is the appropriate reaction to this?

Comment author: Michelle_Z 06 July 2013 04:20:26AM *  23 points [-]

I'm going to go out on a limb and assume laughter is the appropriate reaction. It's a joke.

Comment author: Baughn 06 July 2013 10:22:14AM 9 points [-]

It's a joke, yes. MoR has been known to be hilarious at time, although not so much recently.

Given Eliezer's commitment to truth, however, I'd say there's about a 30% chance he was telling the explicit truth, though I wouldn't think she'll stay that way.

Comment author: Gabriel 06 July 2013 12:40:42PM 7 points [-]

The plot of HPMOR was planned from the start and Eliezer started writing it before FiM premiered. What reason would he have back then to consider putting horned, winged horses into the story? And I think that if Hermione does return, it won't be in a way allowing for some sort of cross-fandom referential side-joke added as an afterthought. I wouldn't give it 30%.

Which is all a great shame, because everything is better with ponies. ;)

Comment author: Baughn 06 July 2013 05:32:48PM *  4 points [-]

Planned out from the start, but there's bound to be blank spots.

I don't think there'll be any real ponies in here (which is a shame), but there's a good chance Harry won't be able to bring back Hermione until he's cracked magic to the point where people can take arbitrary forms, and Hermione becomes an alicorn for a few paragraphs just to test it out.

Actually, this sounds increasingly probable the more I think about it. Troll regeneration is.. a form of continuous self-transfiguration. Some combination of that and however-the-heck animagus forms work might be the key to bringing her back - the regeneration to fix the bodily damage, the animagus bit to get her mind back (or convince magic that it's back, I suppose).

Let's call it.. um, 20% that self-transfiguration is involved with her resurrection (a number that includes the chance of resurrection), and 30% that alicorns are at least temporarily involved.

Comment author: ChrisHallquist 06 July 2013 06:07:57PM 3 points [-]

I had a similar thought--"Harry cracks magic to the point where people can take arbitrary forms"--and actually, I'd put the probability at >50%. In fact, I am slightly worried Eliezer will be disappointed in everyone who didn't immediately realize he was almost certainly telling the truth. He doesn't strike me as the type to say false things as a joke without a clearer warning that it is a joke. Unless someone can find an example of him doing that previously.

Comment author: NancyLebovitz 06 July 2013 12:51:42PM 4 points [-]

I'm playing with the idea of a transhumanist angle on Hermione coming back-- does she come back as previous Hermione, or is she able to take whatever form she wants? A mind is entangled with its past and its body, but maybe going through as a large a change as being rewritten from the universe's memory includes the ability to be rewritten in more ways.

Comment author: ikrase 06 July 2013 07:14:40PM 0 points [-]

Possibly Hermione will end up coming back as an incorporeal form, like a ghost with self-awareness or maybe as an upload/sentient portrait.

Comment author: Fuyu 06 July 2013 04:29:59AM *  3 points [-]

Thanks. My first reaction was just this seems too surreal. Any other story in which Harry Potter does not kills dementor and there's a reasonable explanation and laughter would have been my first reaction.

Comment author: DanielLC 06 July 2013 05:22:11AM 8 points [-]

Or Professor Quarrel saves Harry from a horde of yaoi fangirls and there's a reasonable explanation.

Comment author: linkhyrule5 06 July 2013 05:52:39AM 16 points [-]

... Unicorn blood is known to be useful in life extension.

Alternatively, Harry sadly fails at resurrection and memorializes her in the wildly successful edutainment cartoon My Little Pony: Rationality is Magic.

Comment author: Mestroyer 06 July 2013 07:12:43AM 12 points [-]

While Harry is embroiled at Hogwarts, unbeknownst to the wizarding world, a muggle named Hanna is building an artificial intelligence to run a My Little Pony MMO, which will discover magic, hack time travel, and bring Hermione back to satisfy her values through friendship and ponies.

Comment author: Baughn 06 July 2013 10:19:04AM 3 points [-]

To anyone who sees the above comment and dismisses it with "Huh, that seems weird"...

It's actually a very good story, with good chances of being interesting to anyone reading this forum. It's been discussed here before, too, but I don't expect everyone to read every article.