4.8 KiB
[DC] Harry the Hufflepuff: The Boy Who Lounged Trilogy
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Author: u/daydev *
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URL: https://www.reddit.com/r/rational/comments/5s7ls1/dc_harry_the_hufflepuff_the_boy_who_lounged/
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Score: 22
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Created: 2017-02-05T14:27:13
Post:
https://www.fanfiction.net/s/6466185/1/Harry-the-Hufflepuff
https://www.fanfiction.net/s/7330591/1/Harry-the-Hufflepuff-2
https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10843543/1/Harry-the-Hufflepuff-3-Harry-s-Year-off
The premise of the AU is that Harry is lazy (and is sorted into Hufflepuff, but that's incidental, despite the title). But he's not "trivially" lazy, e.g. like Ron in the canon. He's driven to be lazy, and from that comes an amount of practical low-level optimization for less effort in life. That's not as good as grand efforts to figure out the Nature of Magic and end Death, but still I think this sub would enjoy it. Also, from Harry's very unconventional perspective comes humorous social friction somewhat similar in tone to Seventh Horcrux.
Unfortunately, I think it deteriorates a bit in the third book towards the more standard "crack fic hijinks" (still entertaining, but much less relevant to this sub).
Comments:
u/Bowbreaker [+19] Solitary Locust (4 hours later)
Read ~3.5 chapters before getting terribly bored. It seems like the author noted down three lines of characterisation and declared those to be Harry's new personality, then quickly went to all the canon moments he thought could show of that cardboard personality and wrote a few sentences for each.
Dare I say that the author's writing is lazy?
u/ToaKraka [+9] https://i.imgur.com/OQGHleQ.png (19 minutes later)
Compilation EPUB file (with proper
<hr/>line breaks)
u/Fredlage [+3] (a day later)
It was a fun read. I'd say it's rationalish.
u/None [+2] (7 hours later)
Only read the first chapter, it didn't catch my attention at all. I guess I can see how the premise might grow into something that fits this sub, but the quality of the writing is really poor.
u/Sailor_Vulcan [+2] Champion of Justice and Reason (a day later)
I read this before and I liked it it was hilarious.
u/blak8 [+2] (2 days later)
I think this is very relatable and did "rationality" in a more simple/straightforward way than HPMOR. The authority figures (e.g. Snape) value hard-work so much that they make up work where there is no need to (such as forbidding the use of elfs in a specific house) and look down on optimizations or alternative ways to solve a problem as "laziness", all of which I consider anti-rational.
u/VanPeer [+2] The shard made me do it (5 days later)
Thank you for the rec. It may not be rational, but I was laughing non-stop with tears of mirth. I am on part-2 now.
EDIT: it's also oddly inspiring despite not taking itself seriously.
u/thrawnca [+3] Carbon-based biped (4 hours later)
Belongs in the recommendation thread that just opened up.
u/torac [+1] (3 days later)
Regarding people reporting how bored they are by it: I think the OP presents this in a misleading light. Had I started reading it under the premise of Harry being vaguely rationalish, I would have been disappointed / bored as well.
For me this is one of the feel-good, think-little variety of fanfiction. There are interesting ideas in the story, and there is a lot of humor, but neither is great or really captivating.
I most enjoyed reading this in the the following mood: Lazy, perhaps a bit sleepy, but still alert enough to enjoy thinking a bit. It’s a bit of a break for me. Read like this, it’s been enjoyable enough that over the years I’ve already read it three times.
u/sparrafluffs [-2] (9 hours later)
For this to be a rational fanfic, harry needs ro be using his laziness for the good of all hufflepuff instead of being a loner. I.e. find people who can help him optimise daily life in a more wide ranging level. I.e. washing all school clothes at once, castle wide. Rational!hufflepuff!Harry would not be so self centred.
u/thrawnca [+17] Carbon-based biped (11 hours later)
Au contraire. Rational != selfless. Rational != humanist. If Harry is acting in the way most likely to achieve his goals, then he is acting rationally.
u/daydev [+5] (15 hours later)
But he's not a rational Hufflepuff. His main terminal value is to be lazy. Not a well respected value in the community, I know, but in principle values are independent from rationality. I'd say this Harry is somewhere between level 1 and 2 on the intelligent character scale. The Sorting Hat doesn't respect Harry's values either, so it puts him into Hufflepuff to "fix" him, like Neville in the canon (only in canon it eventually worked).