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MarkusRamikin comments on Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, March 2015, chapter 114 + chapter 115 - Less Wrong Discussion

3 Post author: Gondolinian 03 March 2015 06:02PM

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Comment author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 04 March 2015 05:50:47PM 8 points [-]

A lot of people think that Voldemort was going too easy on Harry, making this a "Coil vs. Taylor in the burning building" violation of suspension-of-disbelief for some of them. I am considering rewriting 113 with the following changes:

  • Most Death Eaters are watching the surrounding area, not Harry; Voldemort's primary hypothesis for how Time might thwart him involves outside interference.
  • Voldemort tells Harry to point his wand outward and downward at the ground, then has a Death Eater paralyze Harry (except heart/lungs/mouth/eyes) in that position before the unbreakable Vow. This would also require a retroedit to 15 or 28 to make it clear that Transfiguration does not require an exact finger position on the wand.

Submitting...

Comment author: MarkusRamikin 04 March 2015 09:39:43PM *  2 points [-]

I voted for the change, but I don't feel these are crucial changes... I think a clearer problem is that it is not obvious, until Harry actually does it, that he could cast Transfiguration on his own wand. Or cast spells on his wand in general, it's a bit like a gun shooting at itself.

I say more on this and propose an easy solution here. Chances are you've seen it and didn't agree, but saying just in case.

Comment author: [deleted] 05 March 2015 08:59:21AM 1 point [-]

I would've had him transfigure a sliver of one of his fingernails, unless it has to be touching the tip of the wand.

Comment author: MarkusRamikin 05 March 2015 09:14:20AM 1 point [-]

Yeah, that would work too, as long as it had been established earlier in the story that it doesn't have to be the tip.

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