pita
2012-10-21, 02:33 PM
Just starting an Harry Potter and the Methords of Rationality thread, because I don't see one and don't remember one, and I need to get some thoughts clear. I've read and reread it multiple times, I think it's brilliant. I'm not gonna review it here, but just need to say it.
Anyone who doesn't know what I'm talking about should go here (www.hpmor.com).
Here are some thoughts I've had that I'd like input on.
(ETA: The spoiler block may, in fact, be longer than the fanfiction. I'd apologize, but I've actually impressed myself.)
Here are some of the changes from Canon, causing the plot divergences, sorted into Pro-Harry changes and Anti-Harry changes, and a few neutral ones. Note that I'm not including plot changes (like Harry being a Slitherin just kidding Ravenclaw), because those naturally arose out of the following ones.
Pro-Harry:
1. Increased intelligence for Harry, Hermione, and Draco, as well as various side characters such as Blaise, Ernie, Neville...
2. The Invisibility cloak is much stronger than in the original novels, making the main character invulnerable to Dementors among other things... This makes a lot of sense to me. The Invisibility Cloak, in the novels, was the weakest of the Hallows by far, merely being a normal invisibility cloak with an enchantment that doesn't fade. Pretty good, but not as good as a wand that supercasts every spell or the Resurrection Stone, which would let a rational Harry get advice from everyone from Caesar to Grindelwald.
Anti-Harry:
1. A superpowered Voldemort. No need to add more here, but I have theories for later in the post.
2. Dumbledore became a poorly written madman. If I have one complaint about HPMOR, it's how Dumbledore is handled. He sways from Gandalf to Fred Rogers to the Mad Hatter to a parody of Canon Dumbledore with every paragraph. He is the single most inconsistent character I've ever had the misfortune of reading, and I really hate it. While there are some great moments (There's a quote that goes something like "Fortunately, the words of Insanity have been lost for centuries, so there's little chance of that happening"), the vast majority of Dumbledore chapters have been poorly written messes, especially in the beginning. Recent chapters have begun to remedy it, but it's still problematic. In any case, Dumbledore has become less of a force for good in this version.
3. Lucius Malfoy is much more powerful and intelligent, both politically and personally, than in Canon. He was shown to have a lot of power, but here he's shown controlling the Wizengamot, and being Voldemort's number 2 man. In the novels, Voldemort has Barty Crouch (Who really should be in this fic somewhere) and Bellatrix Lestrange, as well as Peter Pettigrew, all of whom have more importance than Lucius.
Neutral:
1. The backstory has changed quite a bit... Voldemort's war is much uglier, Grindelwald's war is WW2... Bellatrix has changed a ton, from a terrifying character to a tragic one, Aberforth is dead, Moody is a lot more psychotic...
2. Ron isn't there (ETA for clarification: Ron isn't functionally there. Yes, a character called Ronald Weasley has appeared in four chapters and had lines, but it's a parody of book Ron who doesn't do anything plot-wise). Due to the author's obvious dislike of the character, this isn't an intentional anti-Harry change, especially since Draco appears to be serving the same role. Still, this has to be mentioned, as Ron in the novels is both Harry's guide to the Wizarding World, and his good friend. Kind of a shame to lose such an important character like this...
3. Dementors. I don't know if this should be listed, but HPMOR answers a lot of questions that Canon doesn't ask. This could also be Anti-Harry, as Azkaban becomes much worse, but I don't know...
There's more, but it's under theories.
So regarding Voldemort, general theories:
1. Harry's Dark Side is Voldemort's Horcrux. I think this is a deviation from the novels, just like the Invisibility Cloak's prowess. This is just an observation, backed up by the fact that his Dark Side is absolutely terrified of death. Also, the Dark Side is frequently treated as another character, being smarter and more ruthless than normal Harry. There are various other small hints, but as it's the basis for my next point, I pretty much treat it as gospel.
2. Voldemort's motivation was, and is, war against the Muggles. While Dumbledore in this incarnation and canon in the original novels both say Voldemort just did everything for the evulz, this feels wrong for this incarnation of Voldemort: A highly intelligent, fully developed character, who has yet to act without a rational explanation. He's terrified of them destroying the world. I see proof of this in many things: He looks down on science, as shown by his reaction to Harry wanting to be a scientist. He admits at that point, also, his fear. Also, why would he ally himself with the blood purists, when he isn't a purist himself? Rowling would point to Hitler's brown hair, but I think it's simply that these were the only allies who would take his cause.
3. Harry is deliberately a Horcrux, and Voldemort deliberately lost the last war, after observing that he doesn't have enough power to defeat the muggles with just 50 death eaters. While he could beat Wizarding England, he couldn't take on the world. Therefore, he needed respectability. He turned Harry into a Horcrux and disappeared, letting himself travel the world. It was at this point that he gained skills in a muggle Dojo, and other knowledge. This fits the whole "Learning how to lose" thing. Voldemort allowed himself to lose the war so he could take over the Wizarding World through a surrogate, Harry Potter. This is why he's helping him. This is why he freed Bellatrix. This is why he taught Harry to lose, and this is why he's trying to corrupt Harry. I think he wants to possess Harry... supported by Hermione's reaction after the Dementor "Quirrel wants it to eat your soul!"... but I'm not sure. I don't know how Harry and Quirrel will continue to play out, but it's becoming more and more clear that he's not after the Sorcerer's Stone, or reanimation by any means.
4. Something is very much off with Harry's doom sense. Canon-wise, for Voldemort to touch Harry would case a lot of pain and death, as Voldemort's soul is broken and Harry's soul is protected by his mother's love. In MOR, it appears to be the opposite - Or are the warnings whenever he approaches Voldemort coming from his dark side, trying to protect himself?
Questions I have, that I'm wondering if anyone has a valid answer for:
What's happening with Hermione? Who's Cloak and Hat, and what was the deal with the woman spirit? Did Cloak and Hat try to kill Malfoy, and if not, who did? Also, what's up with Snape? If he's Cloak and Hat, it makes a little sense, but what's his motivation? A far more likely suspect is Sirius Black, but seeing as he hasn't made an appearance other than what may be a Red Herring ("I'm not serious... I'm not serious..." in The Stanford Prison Experiment), and there are already a ridiculous amount of players setting things in motion here, this is also doubtful. I think Cloak and Hat is Snape, but I doubt he would go after Malfoy like that. What could be a possible motive is if Snape has gone completely insane, but there is so much evidence to the contrary (Harry's assessment of him as completely in control, for instance), and it wouldn't fit the theme of the book (Rationality). I can't see the insanity cop-out being used. As such, I notice I am confused, which is probably the intention of the author, and I can't find any facts that shed more light or may be false... Anyone got anything? On any of the questions I've got here?
I'd love reactions to any of this. Though there's obviously nothing against it, I'd prefer there not to be people saying "I hated this fic" or "I loved this fic", as I'm not trying to create a review thread for HPMOR, but a discussion of what's happening in it. If anyone wants to critique HPMOR, I'd appreciate there being another thread for it. Yes, I'm being a hypocrite.
Anyone who doesn't know what I'm talking about should go here (www.hpmor.com).
Here are some thoughts I've had that I'd like input on.
(ETA: The spoiler block may, in fact, be longer than the fanfiction. I'd apologize, but I've actually impressed myself.)
Here are some of the changes from Canon, causing the plot divergences, sorted into Pro-Harry changes and Anti-Harry changes, and a few neutral ones. Note that I'm not including plot changes (like Harry being a Slitherin just kidding Ravenclaw), because those naturally arose out of the following ones.
Pro-Harry:
1. Increased intelligence for Harry, Hermione, and Draco, as well as various side characters such as Blaise, Ernie, Neville...
2. The Invisibility cloak is much stronger than in the original novels, making the main character invulnerable to Dementors among other things... This makes a lot of sense to me. The Invisibility Cloak, in the novels, was the weakest of the Hallows by far, merely being a normal invisibility cloak with an enchantment that doesn't fade. Pretty good, but not as good as a wand that supercasts every spell or the Resurrection Stone, which would let a rational Harry get advice from everyone from Caesar to Grindelwald.
Anti-Harry:
1. A superpowered Voldemort. No need to add more here, but I have theories for later in the post.
2. Dumbledore became a poorly written madman. If I have one complaint about HPMOR, it's how Dumbledore is handled. He sways from Gandalf to Fred Rogers to the Mad Hatter to a parody of Canon Dumbledore with every paragraph. He is the single most inconsistent character I've ever had the misfortune of reading, and I really hate it. While there are some great moments (There's a quote that goes something like "Fortunately, the words of Insanity have been lost for centuries, so there's little chance of that happening"), the vast majority of Dumbledore chapters have been poorly written messes, especially in the beginning. Recent chapters have begun to remedy it, but it's still problematic. In any case, Dumbledore has become less of a force for good in this version.
3. Lucius Malfoy is much more powerful and intelligent, both politically and personally, than in Canon. He was shown to have a lot of power, but here he's shown controlling the Wizengamot, and being Voldemort's number 2 man. In the novels, Voldemort has Barty Crouch (Who really should be in this fic somewhere) and Bellatrix Lestrange, as well as Peter Pettigrew, all of whom have more importance than Lucius.
Neutral:
1. The backstory has changed quite a bit... Voldemort's war is much uglier, Grindelwald's war is WW2... Bellatrix has changed a ton, from a terrifying character to a tragic one, Aberforth is dead, Moody is a lot more psychotic...
2. Ron isn't there (ETA for clarification: Ron isn't functionally there. Yes, a character called Ronald Weasley has appeared in four chapters and had lines, but it's a parody of book Ron who doesn't do anything plot-wise). Due to the author's obvious dislike of the character, this isn't an intentional anti-Harry change, especially since Draco appears to be serving the same role. Still, this has to be mentioned, as Ron in the novels is both Harry's guide to the Wizarding World, and his good friend. Kind of a shame to lose such an important character like this...
3. Dementors. I don't know if this should be listed, but HPMOR answers a lot of questions that Canon doesn't ask. This could also be Anti-Harry, as Azkaban becomes much worse, but I don't know...
There's more, but it's under theories.
So regarding Voldemort, general theories:
1. Harry's Dark Side is Voldemort's Horcrux. I think this is a deviation from the novels, just like the Invisibility Cloak's prowess. This is just an observation, backed up by the fact that his Dark Side is absolutely terrified of death. Also, the Dark Side is frequently treated as another character, being smarter and more ruthless than normal Harry. There are various other small hints, but as it's the basis for my next point, I pretty much treat it as gospel.
2. Voldemort's motivation was, and is, war against the Muggles. While Dumbledore in this incarnation and canon in the original novels both say Voldemort just did everything for the evulz, this feels wrong for this incarnation of Voldemort: A highly intelligent, fully developed character, who has yet to act without a rational explanation. He's terrified of them destroying the world. I see proof of this in many things: He looks down on science, as shown by his reaction to Harry wanting to be a scientist. He admits at that point, also, his fear. Also, why would he ally himself with the blood purists, when he isn't a purist himself? Rowling would point to Hitler's brown hair, but I think it's simply that these were the only allies who would take his cause.
3. Harry is deliberately a Horcrux, and Voldemort deliberately lost the last war, after observing that he doesn't have enough power to defeat the muggles with just 50 death eaters. While he could beat Wizarding England, he couldn't take on the world. Therefore, he needed respectability. He turned Harry into a Horcrux and disappeared, letting himself travel the world. It was at this point that he gained skills in a muggle Dojo, and other knowledge. This fits the whole "Learning how to lose" thing. Voldemort allowed himself to lose the war so he could take over the Wizarding World through a surrogate, Harry Potter. This is why he's helping him. This is why he freed Bellatrix. This is why he taught Harry to lose, and this is why he's trying to corrupt Harry. I think he wants to possess Harry... supported by Hermione's reaction after the Dementor "Quirrel wants it to eat your soul!"... but I'm not sure. I don't know how Harry and Quirrel will continue to play out, but it's becoming more and more clear that he's not after the Sorcerer's Stone, or reanimation by any means.
4. Something is very much off with Harry's doom sense. Canon-wise, for Voldemort to touch Harry would case a lot of pain and death, as Voldemort's soul is broken and Harry's soul is protected by his mother's love. In MOR, it appears to be the opposite - Or are the warnings whenever he approaches Voldemort coming from his dark side, trying to protect himself?
Questions I have, that I'm wondering if anyone has a valid answer for:
What's happening with Hermione? Who's Cloak and Hat, and what was the deal with the woman spirit? Did Cloak and Hat try to kill Malfoy, and if not, who did? Also, what's up with Snape? If he's Cloak and Hat, it makes a little sense, but what's his motivation? A far more likely suspect is Sirius Black, but seeing as he hasn't made an appearance other than what may be a Red Herring ("I'm not serious... I'm not serious..." in The Stanford Prison Experiment), and there are already a ridiculous amount of players setting things in motion here, this is also doubtful. I think Cloak and Hat is Snape, but I doubt he would go after Malfoy like that. What could be a possible motive is if Snape has gone completely insane, but there is so much evidence to the contrary (Harry's assessment of him as completely in control, for instance), and it wouldn't fit the theme of the book (Rationality). I can't see the insanity cop-out being used. As such, I notice I am confused, which is probably the intention of the author, and I can't find any facts that shed more light or may be false... Anyone got anything? On any of the questions I've got here?
I'd love reactions to any of this. Though there's obviously nothing against it, I'd prefer there not to be people saying "I hated this fic" or "I loved this fic", as I'm not trying to create a review thread for HPMOR, but a discussion of what's happening in it. If anyone wants to critique HPMOR, I'd appreciate there being another thread for it. Yes, I'm being a hypocrite.