You're looking at Less Wrong's discussion board. This includes all posts, including those that haven't been promoted to the front page yet. For more information, see About Less Wrong.

solipsist comments on Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, July 2014, chapter 102 - Less Wrong Discussion

7 Post author: David_Gerard 26 July 2014 11:26AM

You are viewing a comment permalink. View the original post to see all comments and the full post content.

Article Navigation

Comments (370)
Tags: fiction hpmor harry_potter fanfiction

Comments (370)

You are viewing a single comment's thread. Show more comments above.

Comment author: solipsist 28 July 2014 12:03:52AM *  27 points [-]

I may be pointing out the obvious, but...

Professor Quirrell closed his eyes. His head leaned back into the pillow. "You were lucky," the Defense Professor said in a soft voice, "that a unicorn in Transfigured form... did not set off the Hogwarts wards, as a strange creature... I shall have to... take this outside the grounds, to make use of it... but that can be managed. I shall tell them that I wish to look upon the lake... I will ask you to sustain the Transfiguration before you go, and it should last long enough, after that... and with my last strength, dispel whatever death-alarms were placed to watch over the herd... which, the unicorn being not yet dead, but only Transfigured, will not yet have triggered... you were very lucky, Mr. Potter."

This is how the troll was smuggled into Hogwarts without the wards going off. In all likelihood, Quirrell had the transfigured troll on his person when Dumbledore identified to the Hogwarts wards "The Defense Professor stands within this circle". Trolls self-transfigure as a form of regeneration, so the transfiguration would not kill the troll or be detectable.

Comment author: solipsist 28 July 2014 03:33:14AM *  1 point [-]

Speculative:

Quirrell couldn't have made the troll sun resistant, since Harry touched the troll and he can't touch Quirrell magic. Explanations include:

  1. Quirrell legilimensed (say) Professor Sprout to jinx the troll
  2. Hat & Cloak (who is not Quirrell) jinxed and redirected Quirrell's troll towards Hermione. Quirrell had ulterior motives for releasing the troll (e.g. as a distraction so Snape could pull Philosopher stone mischief).
Comment author: ChristianKl 28 July 2014 02:00:51PM 2 points [-]

Alternatively there are some magic portions that can be used to make the troll sun resistant.

Comment author: Velorien 28 July 2014 05:51:36PM 0 points [-]

Do we know this, or is it speculation based on our knowledge of potions in general?

Also, is it safe to assume that potions work on trolls, given that trolls are constantly transfiguring into themselves (and thus automatically flushing out changes to their physical state)?

Comment author: mare-of-night 29 July 2014 05:03:50AM 1 point [-]

Hmm... Trolls are rocks (sort-of), the Philosopher's Stone is a rock, can the Philosopher's Stone turn you into a troll?

(This is probably a stupid theory, but maybe it's related to something more workable.)

Comment author: Velorien 29 July 2014 09:45:28AM *  4 points [-]

I don't think that Eliezer's trolls are rocks.

  • Quirrell states that sunlight freezes them in place, rather than that it petrifies them.

  • Quirrell states that a troll is constantly transfiguring itself into its own body, which means that the (apparently organic) form it's normally in is its true form.

  • The troll Harry kills doesn't turn to stone.

Comment author: mare-of-night 29 July 2014 04:43:50PM 1 point [-]

Thanks. I was getting them confused with Middle Earth trolls.

Powered by Reddit Powered by Reddit