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Hyper Crab Tank posted:Another example of a senior teacher - in this case, Madam Hooch - being infinitely more experienced than Harry and not freaking out about everything, presumably because this happens every year and she instantly knows the difference between a fall that will seriously injure someone and one that will just leave them with a broken wrist, a sense of humiliation, and perhaps a touch more respect for the tools in the future. All in all, an inoffensive segment. And hell, anything short of dying from the fall seems to be curable. A broken bone can be mended in an instant, and even total bone loss in a limb takes a single night of discomfort to fix. Nonfatal nonmagical injuries are pretty much minor annoyances to wizards.
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Oct 30, 2015 19:10
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Zonekeeper posted:And hell, anything short of dying from the fall seems to be curable. A broken bone can be mended in an instant, and even total bone loss in a limb takes a single night of discomfort to fix. Nonfatal nonmagical injuries are pretty much minor annoyances to wizards. Counterpoint: http://i.imgur.com/wqZFfqc.png (The canonical presence of a one-eyed, one-legged guy implies there are some sorts of limits to medicine in Rowling's world. I honestly forget if Moody and his wooden leg had any explanation at all in a world with bone-regrowth an overnight procedure.) I think that a lot of Rowling's stuff was not written to be fun and easy for children to read and enjoy, not written to stand up to grown-up scrutiny and careful analysis - it was written with a primacy of story, with an eye to making each individual book as an individual and not necessarily a fully sensible series. Rowling was not making her stories by coming up with demographics, a fully functional economy and society, a perfectly understood magic, and extrapolating from these to a background world that coherently generates a story - she was writing a story and working in background details as necessary to make the story progress as she wished it to. A lot of the time, HPMOR responds to various apparent inconsistencies in canon by pointing out a bunch of areas where there is no immediate obvious explanation for things, and criticizing Rowling's world for not addressing those inconsistencies at all, and mostly just alleging these inconsistencies are due to wizards being oblivious idiots. There are a few times when Harry's criticisms of the Wizarding world's supposed incompetence is shown to be explicitly wrong, and there actually is a good reason for the canon details to be as they are, but it's few and far-between comparatively. I myself prefer stuff that mostly adds background details that make Rowling's canon world 'make sense'.
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Oct 31, 2015 20:54
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Moody's injuries were likely caused by dark magic, which canonically was often a lot harder to heal than regular injuries.
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Oct 31, 2015 21:12
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cptn_dr posted:Moody's injuries were likely caused by dark magic, which canonically was often a lot harder to heal than regular injuries. Yeah, it's even mentioned that the loss of George's ear would be fixable if it hadn't been removed by a dark spell like Sectumsempra. Snape was able to fix Malfoy after Harry used it on him, which makes sense because he invented that spell and would know how to reverse it.
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Oct 31, 2015 22:17
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Also moody's replacement bits are more functional than his original ones. He's a magitek cyborg.
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Nov 1, 2015 02:12
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Tunicate posted:Also moody's replacement bits are more functional than his original ones. His eye is anyway. He leg is never implied to be anything but a standard peg.
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Nov 1, 2015 03:07
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Stroth posted:His eye is anyway. He leg is never implied to be anything but a standard peg. It's moody. At the bare minimum, I expect that pegleg to be a fully functional wand.
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Nov 1, 2015 03:58
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Tunicate posted:It's moody. At the bare minimum, I expect that pegleg to be a fully functional wand. It's Moody, I expect it's filled with magic TNT and rigged to explode on the event of his death.
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Nov 1, 2015 04:11
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Also, Moody is sufficiently paranoid that he might not allow parts to be regenerated if he wasn't the one casting the spell.
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Nov 1, 2015 04:14
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Also I'd bet he loves the crazy scarred and disfigured old man look. How else are you going to strike fear in to the hearts of your enemies and anyone who might become your enemy?
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Nov 1, 2015 04:46
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Chapter 17 – Locating the Hypothesis Part Six quote:
Eliezarry earned that, in my opinion. His question was just an insult to Madam Hooch, no matter how you look at it. quote:
Neville Longbottom being the butt of every joke and the victim of every injury is consistent with canon, admittedly. quote:
To be fair to Eliezarry, he really was genuinely concerned for Neville’s well-being rather than take advantage of the situation to earn a few house points or to gain personal glory.
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Nov 2, 2015 09:33
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Why do they call each other "Mr." when it never happened in the books or movies and sounds dumb as hell?
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Nov 3, 2015 01:35
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Chapter 17 – Locating the Hypothesis Part Seven quote:
It seems that not only is Quirrell a horrible teacher, he’s also a bad judge of character in general. In the last chapter (one day ago in story-time), Quirrell had praised Malfoy as someone who “knows who to strike and who not to strike, how to make allies and avoid making enemies”. Yet barely one day later, Malfoy is gratuitously provoking the entire first-year cohort of Hufflepuff for no discernible reason. quote:
And since when did Eliezarry start becoming concerned about obeying the rules?
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Nov 3, 2015 04:12
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When he's being outdone, Yud becomes super loving petty. This is in character.
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Nov 3, 2015 04:40
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Snape always called Harry Mr Potter super sarcastically, so I imagine someone who hasn't read the books might very well think they were all doing it.
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Nov 3, 2015 08:21
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Chapter 17 – Locating the Hypothesis Part Eight quote:
All Draco has to do is to appear “strong” is to command Goyle to return the object to Neville and reprimand Goyle, on the basis that Goyle had acted without Draco’s instruction and that discipline and obedience was of the utmost importance in a Malfoy minion. This is, like, the most elementary tenet of managing personnel and public appearances. How did Malfoy go for all his fancy lessons and tutors on “how to manipulate people” (as mentioned in Chapter 7) without learning this? quote:
Eliezer just can’t make up his mind about whether Draco is actually supposed to be good at manipulating people, can he?
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Nov 3, 2015 09:09
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As Umberto Eco said, by a constant shifting of rhetorical focus, Draco is made to appear both strong and weak
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Nov 3, 2015 09:24
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JosephWongKS posted:All Draco has to do is to appear “strong” is to command Goyle to return the object to Neville and reprimand Goyle, on the basis that Goyle had acted without Draco’s instruction and that discipline and obedience was of the utmost importance in a Malfoy minion. This is, like, the most elementary tenet of managing personnel and public appearances. How did Malfoy go for all his fancy lessons and tutors on “how to manipulate people” (as mentioned in Chapter 7) without learning this? It's not that he'd look weak ordering Goyle to return it, since he already was about to, it's that he doesn't want to look like he ordered Goyle to return it in RESPONSE to Ernie demanding it back, because he doesn't want to look like he's scared of a Hufflepuff.
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Nov 3, 2015 09:58
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Dabir posted:Snape always called Harry Mr Potter super sarcastically, so I imagine someone who hasn't read the books might very well think they were all doing it. McGonagall also refers to him as "Mr. Potter" (and others as Mr. Whatever, too). Dumbledore is too chummy for that most of the time, but he does call several students "Mr. Full Name" in formal contexts. It's pretty weird seeing Harry do it, though. At least Malfoy being an arrogant poo poo to everyone who isn't a Slytherin/pureblood is pretty much in character.
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Nov 3, 2015 16:33
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Chapter 17 – Locating the Hypothesis Part Nine quote:
Judging by the shenanigans that past and present students of Hogwarts were known to have carried out in the canon series without disciplinary consequences, I doubt that any student would be expelled from Hogwarts merely for getting into a fight with each other. quote:
I did identify a bit with that. The drive to conform with your peers is strong, especially among young children, even if conformity involves getting involved in a mass brawl. quote:
That’s not a bad idea for cutting through the tension, I suppose. quote:
He’s probably thinking of using his Time-Turner to pull off whatever he intends to pull off, but I can’t see how he’s going to get from Time/Point A to Time/Point B with everyone looking on. The last few times he’s used the Time-Turner, he was by himself.
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Nov 4, 2015 04:49
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JosephWongKS posted:He’s probably thinking of using his Time-Turner to pull off whatever he intends to pull off, but I can’t see how he’s going to get from Time/Point A to Time/Point B with everyone looking on. The last few times he’s used the Time-Turner, he was by himself. Possibility two: 
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Nov 4, 2015 07:44
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JosephWongKS posted:He’s probably thinking of using his Time-Turner to pull off whatever he intends to pull off, but I can’t see how he’s going to get from Time/Point A to Time/Point B with everyone looking on. The last few times he’s used the Time-Turner, he was by himself. Supposing he uses the TT, it would go something like: Harry and Goyle face off. Within a few seconds or a minute, Harry produces the Rememberall, ending the contest and moving on. Once that's done, he has all day to find a private spot, turn back time, and contrive a plan that will transfer the Rememberall into Past!Harry's possession. P!H doesn't have to do anything, much less use the TT during the contest itself. That's the beauty of time travel as a solve-all fixer. Eliminates every problem and every hint of tension.
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Nov 4, 2015 08:51
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Xander77 posted:One of us isn't quite following the "Time Turner" thing. Or to put it another way, it's the Bill & Ted rules of time travel.
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Nov 4, 2015 09:50
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Best outcome to this is him trying to grab a rememberall out of his pocket, and just getting a note 'I TOLD you not to mess around with time'.
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Nov 4, 2015 09:51
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Chapter 17 – Locating the Hypothesis Part Ten quote:
Yeah, I’d back away too. It was only one or two days ago that Eliezarry was talking about drowning enemies in the blood of Gryffindors, selling Ravenclaws’ for money to hire assassins, throwing Slytherins at sufficient velocity to crush enemies, and stabbing people with the sharpened bones of Hufflepuffs. Who can tell what devilish bloodlust this boy is planning to work, and how indiscriminate its effects are? quote:
Seems like Eliezarry’s housemates are thoroughly sick of his poo poo by now, and no wonder.
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Nov 5, 2015 03:06
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JosephWongKS posted:Yeah, I’d back away too. It was only one or two days ago that Eliezarry was talking about drowning enemies in the blood of Gryffindors, selling Ravenclaws’ for money to hire assassins, throwing Slytherins at sufficient velocity to crush enemies, and stabbing people with the sharpened bones of Hufflepuffs. Who can tell what devilish bloodlust this boy is planning to work, and how indiscriminate its effects are? More to the point, that assignment called for dangerous uses for objects in the classroom and it took him all of ten seconds to regard other people as objects. No wonder no one wants anything to do with him. Edit: also, I don't think they are backing away out of fear, as Yud would have us believe. Everyone must think Yud/Harry is creepy as gently caress. Furia fucked around with this message at 00:40 on Nov 8, 2015 |
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Nov 5, 2015 16:20
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Been watching this thread for a while, and I thoroughly enjoyed The Arithmancer when it was recommended. The accidental Animagus by the same author is good too. Is there any other quality fan-fiction similar to those? On MoR, I read it to about chapter... 60, I think? When I got fed up with where the story was going, and lost hope that it would improve anytime soon.
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Nov 8, 2015 16:29
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Lynneth posted:On MoR, I read it to about chapter... 60, I think? When I got fed up with where the story was going, and lost hope that it would improve anytime soon. Start again around chapter 100 or 110 if you really want to know how it finishes.
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Nov 8, 2015 20:01
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Lynneth posted:Been watching this thread for a while, and I thoroughly enjoyed The Arithmancer when it was recommended. The accidental Animagus by the same author is good too. Is there any other quality fan-fiction similar to those? Oooh boy. In no particular order: Circular Reasoning by Swimdraconian and Renegade Cause by Silens Cursor are two of my favourites and probably two of the best written fanfics I've ever read, Renegade Cause especially. They are not, however, remotely similar in tone to the Arithmancer. Renegade Cause is intricately plotted, filled with subtlety, some politics, and good action, and a suitably independent Harry who doesn't fall into all the standard cliches. If you want quality fanfiction, look no further because this is the gold standard. Circular Reasoning takes the 'peggy sue' concept (go back in time to fix it all!) and turns it right on its head. Starts out with a fantastic, 20,000 word depiction of a truly post-apocalyptic hellscape, so if you like post apocalyptic works you'll get your dose there. Then we return to the modern world and see the wizarding underworld in all its glory. Probably some of the best written action I've ever read. Starnlicht is also fantastic, with a very unique setting: wizarding Britain in 1590. All original characters of course, but it's really really good, complete, and fairly short as well. Stars Judith Fairweather and Rebecca Gryffindor, who are both really well done for original characters. Has romance, some comedy, plenty of drama, what more could you want? I really like this one. Besides those three favourites, Harry Potter and the Boy Who Lived is a classic, the premise being that Harry isn't the Boy Who Lived, and transfers to Durmstrang. If you like smart protagonists this is for you. Despite the kinda silly summary it's actually excellent, if incomplete. It was updated on the DarkLordPotter forums fairly recently if I recall. Midnight Blues is a post Hogwarts fic starring Harry and Ron as dark wizard hunters contracted to the Ministry. Absolutely hilarious, though not a comedy. Almost Bond-like in its sense of adventure, though it's a bit too funny for it to really be a spiritual successor. It's not comedy, nor is it even light-hearted, but there's plenty of banter and witticisms. Highly recommended. Hogwarts Battle School obviously draws heavy inspiration from Enders Game and some later parts of MoR, without Orson Scott Card's homophobia and without Eliezer's insanity. Well written (which goes without saying for this list really), if you can suspend your disbelief a tad. Check it out, see if you like it. If you like action and politics, this fic has both in spades. For something fairly similar in structure to the Arithmancer, Alexandra Quick and the Thorn Circle by Inverarity takes place in wizarding America with a completely new cast. Truly incredible worldbuilding, good characterization, and best of all 4/7 books are already completed. I really like this one as well, but it's pretty different from the standard fare. On the subject of things different from the standard fare, Harry Potter and the Wastelands of Time is a truly epic in scale adventure with a rather sisyphean protagonist. Very much a classic, very action-adventure-y, and is a wild ride from start to finish. A bit rough in patches, rather reminiscent of The Edge of Tomorrow (though it predates the movie), but it's a lot of fun and you don't get more, well, epic in scale than this. For a dash of horror, look no further than Deathly Hallowed. The premise is that Lily Potter dabbled in magic she shouldn't, and it gets pretty freaky. In the words of the author: quote:The Tale of Three Brothers was not a legend. It was a warning. No one cheats Death. And luckily for Lily Potter, the promise of the Cloak's return in exchange for her son's life was a fair deal. Stare into the abyss, Harry Potter, and we will see who blinks first. quote:This story is a psuedo Cthulu-mythos cross with the premise that Lily figures out what James' Cloak is before Dumbledore does, and makes a deal with eldritch abomination Death in order to break the prophecy. The problem is, the method she used to call Death has long lasting consequences and isn't restricted to calling just Death over. Check out the first chapter and see if you like the tone. Unfortunately it hasn't been updated for quite some time, but it's creepy and scary and fascinating in all the right ways. For some other works that are also good: Applied Cultural Anthropology takes the less absurd than you'd think concept of a Slytherin Hermione and runs with it. Actually pretty original and quite good, and despite the summary, Hermione isn't an 11 year old copy of Voldemort by any means. Harry Potter and the Time of Green Angel Vespers, originally by Andro and now continued by Greenseer Tethlis, tells the story of a victorious but dying Harry, who wakes up in a world where 15 year old Elise Potter is the Girl Who Lived. Not much to it so far at 40,000 words, but worth keeping an eye on. Learn to love fanfiction.net's "follow" feature is what I'm saying here. Forging The Sword. Fascinating story that's all about the characterization of the golden trio and the exploration of magic. Probably the most similar to the Arithmancer out of this entire list in some ways, though very much not in others. Ectomancer is by all reports one of the best, bar none, fics in the Harry Potter fandom. I've not read it, but I'd be remiss if I didn't mention it. AntiHyphen I've not read in awhile, but I remember it being good, short and sweet. I'll let the summary speak for itself: quote:The watchful eyes of the adoring public are locked on to the girl-who-lived-to-be-frustrated-by-society rather than where they ought to be: on her scheming twin brother. A Changed Destiny Involves a Slytherin Ginny who joins the Death Eaters to spy for them. Guilty pleasure in a lot of ways - it's not really well written and the author overuses bold and italic flags. Probably the worst fic on this list in terms of actual writing quality, but I enjoyed it well enough. Edit from a month and a half later: so I tried to reread this and holy poo poo it's absolutely awful nevermind everything I said. I'm frankly baffled at how unspeakably terrible a changed destiny is, because Good God it's unreadable. Leaving it on the list as a testament to my shame. Now very few of these are similar to the Arithmancer thematically, but they're all quality fanfiction. Circular Reasoning and Renegade Cause can get a bit dark at times, Circular Reasoning more than Renegade Cause. Both are still very well written, and Circular Reasoning is, frankly, good enough I've actually recommended it to other people IRL, and they liked it. My top three would definitely be Renegade Cause, Circular Reasoning, and Starnlicht, but I definitely recommend all of these to one degree or another. The Iron Rose fucked around with this message at 10:29 on Dec 27, 2015 |
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Nov 8, 2015 22:41
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Cat Army 
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Chapter 17 – Locating the Hypothesis Part Eleven quote:
As Xander77 said, “That's the beauty of time travel as a solve-all fixer. Eliminates every problem and every hint of tension”. quote:
To be fair to Eliezarry, I’ve stated that any “weirdness” he sees around him can be explained by “It’s magic” and that after having seen McGonagall literally turn into a literal cat and after a full week in Hogwarts, he should have learned to deal with it. So Eliezarry is entitled to use the same argument on his classmates.
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Nov 9, 2015 06:54
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The Iron Rose posted:Oooh boy. In no particular order: And here I thought I'd have free time this month.
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Nov 9, 2015 07:35
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Personally I like Potter Who and the Wossname's Thingummy which despite sounding awful as a premise actually manages to make it work. Chiefly by keeping the doctor who down to near-homeopathic concentrations, and just using it as an excuse to dial up the whimsy and pull in a bunch of jokes about history or philosophy or whatever. Basically, spends a lot of time exploring the setting, but without sneering at it like MoR does. Tunicate fucked around with this message at 08:09 on Nov 9, 2015 |
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Nov 9, 2015 08:07
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The Iron Rose posted:Oooh boy. In no particular order: Suddenly I'm glad I took most of November off from work. Getting through those is gonna take a while. Thanks for the recommendations.
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Nov 9, 2015 13:58
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Chapter 17 – Locating the Hypothesis Part Twelve quote:
Yeah, that is a pretty memorable name. I recall that Blaise’s gender wasn’t mentioned in the earlier books, and some Harry Potter readers thought Blaise was a girl and were upset when it was revealed that Blaise was a boy in the later books. Or was it the other way around? quote:
Why should Draco take anyone’s promises on face value? Don’t the Malfoys have to maintain a public image of toughness and ferocity? Wouldn’t it hurt Draco’s reputation to concede defeat so easily? quote:
Since when were the Potters a “Noble House”? quote:
Wasn’t Eliezarry complaining earlier this chapter that “There couldn't possibly be anything he could master on the first try which would baffle Hermione, and if there was and it turned out to be broomstick riding instead of anything intellectual, Harry would just die”? Why is he now taking pride in being athletic or being good at physical activities?
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Nov 11, 2015 02:10
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JosephWongKS posted:Yeah, that is a pretty memorable name. I recall that Blaise’s gender wasn’t mentioned in the earlier books, and some Harry Potter readers thought Blaise was a girl and were upset when it was revealed that Blaise was a boy in the later books. Or was it the other way around?
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Nov 11, 2015 02:37
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JosephWongKS posted:Wasn’t Eliezarry complaining earlier this chapter that “There couldn't possibly be anything he could master on the first try which would baffle Hermione, and if there was and it turned out to be broomstick riding instead of anything intellectual, Harry would just die”? Why is he now taking pride in being athletic or being good at physical activities? What matters to him is being good at it. He didn't expect to be good with a broom so he pre-soured those grapes. If he thinks he's good at anything, even if it's something he poo poo on earlier, he'll strut like crazy.
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Nov 11, 2015 03:19
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JosephWongKS posted:Why should Draco take anyone’s promises on face value? Don’t the Malfoys have to maintain a public image of toughness and ferocity? Wouldn’t it hurt Draco’s reputation to concede defeat so easily? Because he asked harry to fix the situation in the first plaace? And well, having a close enough relationship with the Boy-Who-Lived is its own sort of political win.
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Nov 11, 2015 12:36
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The Iron Rose posted:Oooh boy. In no particular order: Just read (what there is of) Applied Cultural Anthropology and it was a lot of fun, thanks for the recommendation. Don't know if it'll ever be finished though...
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Nov 12, 2015 17:42
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If there were a Wikipedia article with an actually well-written ==Plot summary== (i.e. spoils everything but doesn't get lost in the weeds of detail) of HPMOR, what would that summary say?
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Nov 15, 2015 09:39
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divabot posted:If there were a Wikipedia article with an actually well-written ==Plot summary== (i.e. spoils everything but doesn't get lost in the weeds of detail) of HPMOR, what would that summary say?
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Nov 15, 2015 10:52
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