Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality

[LMNO]

Thinking in a purely pedestrian manner, couldn't he auction off his last shot?

[Kai]

Thinking in a purely pedestrian manner, couldn't he auction off his last shot?

How much time for that is there? There's less than a minute left in the battle.

[Kai]

That, and everyone else on the battlefield is asleep and can't respond.

[LMNO]

Magic, perhaps?

[Triple Zero]

question I was still planning on reading these, but checking the last couple of pages, I wonder if it's necessary to be familiar with the original HP novels?

cause I haven't read any of the books, just saw the first movie.

[Cain]

It can help, but the author himself hasn't read the entire series, so don't worry too much.  He actually addresses this, to a degree, in the notes for this chapter.

[Kai]

Sooooo.....not going to spoil for those who haven't read the chapter yet. But I was at least partially wrong. And it's a whole lot more crooked than I thought.

[Cain]

Speculation: Mr Hat and Cloak is not Snape, nor any other teacher at Hogwarts.  He may, however, be a former Death Eater who believes Quirrell presents a threat that only differs from Dumbledore in methods.  I thought Rookwood is possible, he worked for the Department of Mysteries, which sounds like it has quasi-intelligence duties, but he should be, according to the canon, in Azkaban.  Maybe Petter Pettigrew?  If he figured out that Quirrell is Voldemort then he has reason to hate both, and he was mentioned in the notes for this chapter...

[Kai]

Speculation: Mr Hat and Cloak is not Snape, nor any other teacher at Hogwarts.  He may, however, be a former Death Eater who believes Quirrell presents a threat that only differs from Dumbledore in methods.  I thought Rookwood is possible, he worked for the Department of Mysteries, which sounds like it has quasi-intelligence duties, but he should be, according to the canon, in Azkaban.  Maybe Petter Pettigrew?  If he figured out that Quirrell is Voldemort then he has reason to hate both, and he was mentioned in the notes for this chapter...

I think hat and cloak is Quirrell.

[Cain]

A better guess than Pettigrew.  He does know about the Basilisk, and his skill at magic would seem to be exceptional, as the memory charm suggests.  But then again, I only really discounted Snape because he was too obvious, and that's using narrative-logic, which this story only loosely adheres to.  Well, that and I can see no obvious motive for Snape to increase suspicion between the two unless he already suspects Quirrell as being Voldemort, and wants rid of him ASAP, instead of at the end of the year.

[Kai]

A better guess than Pettigrew.  He does know about the Basilisk, and his skill at magic would seem to be exceptional, as the memory charm suggests.  But then again, I only really discounted Snape because he was too obvious, and that's using narrative-logic, which this story only loosely adheres to.  Well, that and I can see no obvious motive for Snape to increase suspicion between the two unless he already suspects Quirrell as being Voldemort, and wants rid of him ASAP, instead of at the end of the year.

My thought is that Quirrell is pulling most of these strings to get the main players occupied in sidequests so he can set the stage for taking the prize.

There's also a thought (just by the way Quirrell acts) that Voldemort may be only partially controlling him and that Quirrell isn't fully aware, thus allowing Q/V to give both good and terrible advice to Harry. Or something. I'll admit I'm confused.

When does the troll get loose?

[Cain]

The troll was meant to get loose at Halloween, so I think we've missed that. 

The sidequests, I can see, but I still think V is in charge of Q.  Alot of his "advice" is dangerously double-edged, or advantageous for himself (ie convincing HP to not become a dark lord, since he then becomes a threat to Voldemort resurrecting his own plans).  It could also be that using Harry's inclination to chaos is part of his plan, causing enough confusion and disorder that it has the same effect as the various side-quests.

But, for some reason, both of those don't sound quite right.  So I'm not sure, all the hypothesis' I come up with aren't satisfactory in ther explanations.

[Cain]

There is a Twilight based spinoff by another writer for the Less Wrong Wiki

http://luminous.elcenia.com/

Havent read it yet.

[LMNO]

I'm getting dizzy from all the traitorous subplots.

[Kai]

I'm getting dizzy from all the traitorous subplots.

Yeah, it's pretty nuts. Is Less Wrong actually Yudowsky? Because, if it is, I can understand the craziness. Eliezer can handle all the different twisting threads.