7.7 KiB
[RT] [FF] [C] Magical Contracts (harry Potter fanfic, oneshot)
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Author: u/Sirikia *
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URL: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/3941656/1/Magical-Contracts
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Score: 19
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Created: 2016-03-27T07:10:52
Post:
Comments:
u/eaglejarl [+8] (9 hours later)
So, Harry punishes people for killing, and then goes and kills two people.
The idea is great, and I like the plot analysis. I hadn't ever stopped to think about how the canon all fit together in terms of what people knew and when. It really puts things in a different light.
u/kaukamieli [+3] (10 hours later)
Well, at least he isn't just a machine of rationality there. :p
Dumbles did do a bit more than just killing, though. He manipulated his whole life for starters. Some emotional response is kinda expected.
u/Jiro_T [+7] (19 hours later)
One problem with this idea is that if there is an idea that would break the setting, and it hasn't actually broken the setting, that probably means that there's something wrong with the idea that Harry didn't know about.
Consider the muggle world analogy: You come up with this great idea that would let anyone make ten million dollars in the stock market. Will this idea work? Of course not. If it actually worked, someone would have found it and abused it and there wouldn't be a stock market any more.
All the easy munchkining ideas were already found and either don't work any more, never worked, or are such a part of our lives that we don't even think of them as munchkin. ("I have a great idea! If we use this thing called 'fire', nobody will ever get attacked by animals in the nighttime again! Nobody in the whole world....")
u/gabbalis [+4] (a day later)
If there is an idea that would break the setting, and it hasn't actually broken the setting, that probably means that there's something wrong with the idea.
Or that the setting is logically inconsistent. Which is actually the more likely possibility in fictional universes. If you've ever played a game of DnD with a lousy DM, you should know that just assuming the universe is logically consistent is objectively stupid, likely to miss you tons of opportunities, and a good way to get yourself killed.
u/Jiro_T [+1] (a day later)
But Harry Potter doesn't know he's in a fictional universe. So he should act as though there's probably something wrong with the idea that he doesn't know about.
u/vakusdrake [+2] (2 days later)
Even so that doesn't mean he shouldn't try at all, and then when he realizes he is probably the first person to figure this out, well then he should have some questions.
u/daydev [+3] (a day later)
You come up with this great idea that would let anyone make ten million dollars in the stock market. Will this idea work? Of course not.
Let's say instead I'm in the 1700s, and I came up with the idea that doctors should wash their hands and instruments between operations. And wizarding society is about 1700s in their way of thinking (replace Aristotle with Merlin and Founders).
u/Jiro_T [+0] (a day later)
Let's say that I'm in 10000 BC, and I came up with the idea of using fire to ward off animals....
There always has to be a first person to come up with some idea, particularly when the idea depends on something new (such as the scientific method in the 1700's). But being that first person s like winning the lottery. It is very unlikely and you shouldn't expect it unless it has already happened.
u/Transfuturist [+1] Carthago delenda est. (2 days later)
If it actually worked, someone would have found it and abused it and there wouldn't be a stock market any more.
No, the result is that the market is more efficient, not that there is no stock market. The efficient market hypothesis is clearly false in the first place, as bubbles form and burst because stock valuation is not done rationally. “The market can stay irrational longer than you can stay solvent.”
You are a perfect example of the old joke: I see a twenty dollar bill on the street and pick it up. An economist sees a twenty dollar bill on the street and assumes if it were a real bill someone would have picked it up already.
You additionally say that being the first person to come up with an idea is rare, and that you should expect ideas, even ones that depend on new things, have already been thought of. It's not. There are many many useful ideas, and the frontier has not been exhausted in the slightest.
I might agree with you in the case of this fanfic, which I haven't read and won't. But in general, no. Good ideas can not be assumed to be common knowledge.
u/Sirikia [+1] (19 hours later)
Ah, but apparently Harry is Voldemort's equal and it takes a powerful wizard to confound some things. It's possible that most people just don't have the power to do so, and further possible it has been exploited before in other ways- perhaps its simply immoral or illegal to most of the wizards with the power to do it. Edit: To say nothing about the knowledge being possibly suppressed, though that doesn't explain why the bloody spell is taught. Too important to maintaining the secrecy act possibly?
Voldemort... Well I can't explain why he doesn't write a contract for every blood traitor and muggleborn if this is the case, that part is a huge plot hole to my theory, unless deep down Voldy knew they needed the fresh blood/magic to prevent too much inbreeding and the muggleborn camps, instead of being deathcamps were sex camps, two muggleborns have a half blood, and 2 half bloods in this case would have a first generation pure blood; suitable to be either married or consorted to a real purebood?
u/DaWaffledude [+3] (4 days later)
I don't get where people keep getting this idea that Harry is insanely magically powerful from. He isn't. It's not that kind of story.
u/Gurkenglas [+4] (a day later)
In my imagination, HPJEV hears of such an incident with the Goblet on his first Thursday at Hogwarts, tries this, HPMOR
u/kaukamieli [+3] (8 hours later)
Nice.
u/noggin-scratcher [+3] I am a happy tree (14 hours later)
Magic Contracts
... and Magic expands?
(Sorry, misread the title on first sight, realised my error quickly enough though)
u/Sirikia [+1] (8 hours later)
Oh, and I should mention that Oma's Choice expands on this idea of abusing magical contracts quite a bit, in Harry deciding there's no evidence the consequences of broken magical contracts and oaths have to be negative, and tests it.
u/kaukamieli [+2] (11 hours later)
Thank you. And hey, spoilers!
u/Sirikia [+1] (11 hours later)
Well, didn't say if it works, chances are equally good it's a dud but he's simply scientifically minded enough to try it.
u/TennisMaster2 [+1] (3 days later)
I've read up to chapter 14; the munchkinning has mostly stopped, and now it's going to transition into Stargate. I find myself not really caring. Should I continue?
u/Sirikia [+1] (3 days later)
Oh.. well.. I wouldn't say the munchkinning stopped, more that it turns to technology rather than magic, ,so it's up to you but if you didn't like the first 14 chapters- or at least not enough to care what happens next, you may not want to keep reading, though the enemies in star gate are tougher for Harry than the traditional enemies were i believe.
u/VanPeer [+1] The shard made me do it (a day later)
Nice.