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OnTheOtherHandle comments on Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, part 25, chapter 96 - Less Wrong Discussion

6 Post author: NancyLebovitz 25 July 2013 04:36AM

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Comment author: OnTheOtherHandle 25 July 2013 06:28:42PM 0 points [-]

Harry seems to have been aware of the Peverell brothers and the Deathly Hallows before all of this happened, and now it clicked for him that they made the Hallows in an attempt to defeat Death. But what I don't understand is, when exactly did Harry learn this story? If he ever heard the full story about the three Hallows, wouldn't that have been a big deal? He would have thought about it for a while and it would have been a major plot point right? EY has been really good about placing Chekhov's Guns long in advance of when they're fired, but I don't recall when Harry learned about the Peverell brothers for the first time.

Comment author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 25 July 2013 07:03:29PM 6 points [-]

I may attempt to go back and make it more explicit somewhere that Harry researched the Deathly Hallows (of course, he's not stupid) and found out at least the basic rumors. Hermione learned about the Cloak from An Illustrated Scroll of Lost Devices during their research, for example.

Comment author: OnTheOtherHandle 25 July 2013 07:25:30PM 4 points [-]

Thanks, I think it's just the fact that a lot of people who never really got into the canon are reading MOR, so plot points that can pretty much go unstated in regular fanfiction have to be re-introduced here. I know a lot of implications/references are lost on me because I'm reading fanfiction without actually being, well, a fan.

Comment author: UnclGhost 26 July 2013 01:52:04AM 5 points [-]

It can also be an issue even for canon-knowledgeable readers. A lot of the time readers are used to Harry's thought processes happening in the absence of certain key knowledge from canon (the Philosopher's Stone, etc.), so it's jarring when Harry learns major pieces of information offscreen (the Marauder's Map, etc.)

Comment author: BT_Uytya 25 July 2013 07:21:46PM 2 points [-]

I think you should at least give a link to the relevant Youtube clip in A/N. I'm not sure readers unfamiliar with canon fully understand what is going on concerning Peverell brothers.

Comment author: DanielH 28 July 2013 04:54:06AM 2 points [-]

For those who are here and are unfamiliar with canon, I believe BT_Uytya meant this YouTube clip, or a similar one like it; as far as I know, none of them are authorized by Warner Bros. or J.K. Rowling, but may be short enough to qualify as fair use in many jurisdictions. I am not a lawyer.

Comment author: NancyLebovitz 04 August 2013 01:17:29PM 0 points [-]

It's a gorgeous video.

Comment author: BT_Uytya 30 July 2013 08:16:15PM 0 points [-]

Yes, it was this video I had in mind.