Let’s discuss that mirror in a bit more detail. A fantastically powerful artifact that’s trying to avoid the destruction of the world shouldn’t be outside discussion when you (or Voldemort) are trying to avoid the destruction of the world.
First let’s get away from suggestions like “Harry should convince Voldemort they’re in the mirror”. If Harry believed that were true, he wouldn’t want to make Voldemort aware of it because Voldemort being trapped inside the mirror is good. If Harry believed they were not in the mirror, he couldn’t claim he believed they were.
But still, that mirror is mightily suspicious. At the very least, Harry might point out that this artifact could be an ally for Voldemort in reference to the particular goal of avoiding destruction of the world. The mirror seems to be at least a source of information, and Voldemort knows he lacks information about how to avoid the prophecy. Voldemort should at least make sure Harry won’t cause the apocalypse by dying. The mirror needs to reflect Harry to divulge information about him, so Harry shouldn’t be destroyed immediately because then the information would be lost. Instead, Harry should be brought before the mirror. (This buys another couple of minutes—so shouldn’t it count as a solution?)
The obvious best way to convince Voldemort there’s something about the mirror that Harry understands and he doesn’t would be to supply a translation of the “Words of False Comprehension”. And that certainly feels doable, there are a bunch of clues and the search space can’t be that big. edit:Good discussion of this.
Beyond that, there’s a blinding amount of possibilities involving that mirror. I don’t see how Voldemort can be sure he isn’t inside that mirror, given that he knows that he doesn’t know how the mirror works exactly. Harry could suggest tests: For example, since the mirror has “all its consequences severed from Time” maybe time-turners shouldn’t work inside it. (This has the advantage that testing it should take another hour.)
Let’s discuss that mirror in a bit more detail. A fantastically powerful artifact that’s trying to avoid the destruction of the world shouldn’t be outside discussion when you (or Voldemort) are trying to avoid the destruction of the world.
First let’s get away from suggestions like “Harry should convince Voldemort they’re in the mirror”. If Harry believed that were true, he wouldn’t want to make Voldemort aware of it because Voldemort being trapped inside the mirror is good. If Harry believed they were not in the mirror, he couldn’t claim he believed they were.
But still, that mirror is mightily suspicious. At the very least, Harry might point out that this artifact could be an ally for Voldemort in reference to the particular goal of avoiding destruction of the world. The mirror seems to be at least a source of information, and Voldemort knows he lacks information about how to avoid the prophecy. Voldemort should at least make sure Harry won’t cause the apocalypse by dying. The mirror needs to reflect Harry to divulge information about him, so Harry shouldn’t be destroyed immediately because then the information would be lost. Instead, Harry should be brought before the mirror. (This buys another couple of minutes—so shouldn’t it count as a solution?)
The obvious best way to convince Voldemort there’s something about the mirror that Harry understands and he doesn’t would be to supply a translation of the “Words of False Comprehension”. And that certainly feels doable, there are a bunch of clues and the search space can’t be that big. edit: Good discussion of this.
Beyond that, there’s a blinding amount of possibilities involving that mirror. I don’t see how Voldemort can be sure he isn’t inside that mirror, given that he knows that he doesn’t know how the mirror works exactly. Harry could suggest tests: For example, since the mirror has “all its consequences severed from Time” maybe time-turners shouldn’t work inside it. (This has the advantage that testing it should take another hour.)