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buybuydandavis comments on Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, part 24, chapter 95 - Less Wrong Discussion

6 Post author: palladias 18 July 2013 02:23AM

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Comment author: buybuydandavis 20 July 2013 07:55:30AM 5 points [-]

Can't say what exactly Quirrell did, but he seems to be aging quickly. Search for "bald" and you'll find rapid balding in Quirrelll, where early on he may have been balding, to increasing indications of baldness. After Azkaban, as Quirrell recovers in the infirmary, Harry notes:

stared into the pale blue eyes, and thought that Professor
Quirrell looked...
...older.
It was subtle, it might have just been Harry’s imagination, it might have been the poor lighting. But the hair above Quirinus Quirrell’s forehead might have receded a bit, what remained might have thinned and greyed, an advancing of the baldness that had already been visible on the back of his head. The face might have grown a little sunken.

Comment author: NancyLebovitz 20 July 2013 02:11:03PM 0 points [-]

Could this be a result of very frequent time-turning?

Comment author: gwern 20 July 2013 03:15:17PM 5 points [-]

Not unless Quirrel is using some sort of super-Timeturner. 6 hours per day over an entire school year of ~180 days is still only (180 * 6) / 24 = 45 days. Most people don't age visibly over just 45 days - unless, of course, there were some sort of massive ordeal & trauma.

Comment author: buybuydandavis 20 July 2013 08:14:34PM *  2 points [-]

I don't see the increased again being accounted for just by increased hours of living through time turning either.

If the argument is that too frequent time turning has a damaging effect in itself, I can't see them giving out such a potentially health damaging item to children without at least warning of that specific effect. Also, if EY is keeping the same basic timelines for Dumbledore, he is holding up better than average for his chronological age despite his time turning adventures.

Meanwhile, Quirrell explicitly talked about the advantages of ritual magic, and how it allows greater power than otherwise possible. He has greater power. He is aging rapidly. And by many indications, he is traveling host to host over time. If you could do that, the natural thing would be to use up the host and travel to a new one when you use it up, since your supply of bodies is in effect infinite, while it's a finite resource of 1 body for everyone else.

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