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buybuydandavis comments on Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, March 2015, chapter 117 - Less Wrong Discussion
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That's the "sad" ending?
The Disposable Male sacrificing himself for the Greater Good and wept over by the Fair Damsel is the classic "bittersweet", ennobling ending.
The Sad Ending is Voldemort taking over Harry's body and destined to rule Magical Britain, and the world. Or Harry being compelled by his Vow to twist the Universe to some Cthuluic purpose.
If Eliezer had written the antimatter ending, it would indeed have implied that Voldemort would later take over the world, since the antimatter would not have been able to destroy his horcrux network.
To follow up on this, the sad ending wouldn't be the sad ending because Harry had to sacrifice himself to win. It would be the sad ending because Harry failed, as a result of not being able to think of a clever enough way to stop Voldemort (reflecting our own failure to do so in the exam).
That's the "sadder" ending, which is precisely what EY promised.
True, but this is a fantasy story, and in fantasy stories where the villain has a seemingly foolproof way of guaranteeing his return (and especially if he's done it before), you can normally expect the hero to find a way to defeat it in N-20 +/- 10 pages, where N is the number of pages left in the book.