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Gondolinian comments on Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, March 2015, chapter 116 - Less Wrong Discussion

4 Post author: Gondolinian 04 March 2015 08:11PM

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Comment author: Gondolinian 04 March 2015 10:21:43PM *  28 points [-]

On /r/HPMOR, some have been speculating that Dumbledore coated the Philosopher's Stone with Bahl's Stupefaction, which you might remember from chapter 63:

"Bahl's Stupefaction," Moody said, naming an extremely addictive narcotic with interesting side effects on people with Slytherin tendencies; Moody had once seen an addicted Dark Wizard go to ridiculous lengths to get a victim to lay hands on a certain exact portkey, instead of just having someone toss the target a trapped Knut on their next visit to town; and after going to all that work, the addict had gone to the further effort to lay a second Portus, on the same portkey, which had, on a second touch, transported the victim back to safety. To this day, even taking the drug into account, Moody could not imagine what could have possibly been going through the man's mind at the time he had cast the second Portus.

This would explain why Voldemort let Harry keep his wand after swearing the Unbreakable Vow, and now also might explain Harry's recent actions.

Comment author: Baughn 04 March 2015 11:48:44PM 10 points [-]

That's a literal Idiot Ball reference, not to mention canon. I don't think we'll see it.

Comment author: Luke_A_Somers 05 March 2015 02:45:32PM 1 point [-]

But it's not an idiot ball if there's an actual legitimate reason for being stupid.

Like, in The Naked Time and The Naked Now, the initial infections were pure idiot ball.

The subsequent infections, and the crew doing spectacularly stupid and even suicidal things, were not.

Comment author: DanielLC 05 March 2015 02:41:27AM 3 points [-]

I kind of wish Harry just figured out how to escape earlier. It would have been awesome for him to end the Unbreakable Vow by transfiguring the other wand into a flashbang.

Comment author: shminux 05 March 2015 02:02:25AM 3 points [-]

I hope Eliezer pulls something like this to justify the Villain Ball.

Comment author: Astazha 04 March 2015 11:05:39PM 2 points [-]

I'm a fan of this.

Comment author: Decius 08 March 2015 12:05:53AM 0 points [-]

Voldemort, having spent more than five minutes looking into weaknesses, has figured out how to be immune to things that are common knowledge.