I think it was implied that the memory wasn’t the cause for Harry being able to see Thestrals; Harry seeing Death in the form of a Dementor was. From Chapter 49:
“They are visible only to those who have seen death and comprehended it, a useful defense against most animal predators. Hm. I suppose that the first time you went in front of the Dementor, your worst memory proved to be the night of your encounter with He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named?”
Harry nodded grimly. It was the right guess, even if for the wrong reasons. Those who have seen Death...
Ok, so now updating, there is not evidence against the memory being implanted. Also, that fact that Quirrell suggests the memory makes it more likely he implanted it.
I think it’s stronger than that. Quirrell suggesting this memory can only have two implications that I can see:
Either 1) A baby remembering an event like this in the HPMOR universe is not, in any way that Quirrell would notice, unusual, and would even be expected. This seems unlikely and unsatisfying to me. No reason for the existence of this discrepancy between their world and ours has been shown, no excuse made. I also think “how does anyone know this story?” is the nagging rationalist doubt Harry experiences when he first hears of it. Especially—how would one remember a conversation in detail before having learned the language it is in, or any language at all? If anything he would remember tones, emotions, sights. His supposed recall is an extremely improbable feat for baby Harry.
Or 2) Quirrell knows both that the memory was implanted and its contents. This is consistent with Quirrell, particularly that he has made the right guess for the wrong reasons, as previously described in Ch.49, “Prior Information”. The main lesson from that chapter is that we should not assume that Quirrell’s (or anyone’s) seemingly extraordinary deductions are actually deductions, but look for other reasons why he would have that information.
The simplest explanation for #2 is that Quirrell knows because Quirrell placed the memories. I am assuming that the inability of Quirrell to interact magically with Harry is real because EY has called it a literary necessity, but Quirrel/Voldemort/Riddle/Monroe could have just placed the (unusually clear and detailed) memory into the infant Harry before turning him into a horcrux that he would then not be able to magically interact with (is this a thing that always happens with human horcruxes?) There would be no need to obliviate the real events afterwards, the 15-month-old babe would not remember anyway, but he could also just have Bellatrix do it. This would be part of some version of “Voldemort faked his own death.” There are a few of versions of how this might have happened, and I haven’t settled out what I believe yet.
The other possibility for #2 is that someone else, most likely Dumbledore, placed the false memories for reasons that are not clear to me and that Quirrell has come by this information somehow. If he had done it, and Minerva knew the secret she might be a weak occlumency link in the Order’s chain, allowing Voldemort’s legendary legilimency to obtain any information she has. She seems highly trustworthy but not particularly secure. I can’t think of any reasons why Dumbledore would do this, though. It seems to only disadvantage Dumbledore’s priorities.
It is possible, I suppose, that dementors have the ability to make their victims recall even the faintest of bad memories in stunning detail, or that Dumbledore has some inscrutable reason for faking the events of that night. Overall I think the most likely explanation is that Quirrell planted Harry’s memory of Godric’s Hollow.
3) Quirrell was pattern matching. People would see their worst memory when faced with a dementor, Harry needed to see a death to be able to see thestrals, and the murder of his parents was a likely candidate for his worst memory.
At that point, and perhaps at no point, did Harry tell Quirrell the details of what he remembered, so your objections about the detailed nature of the memory aren’t very strong. That a 1 year old could process Mommy being killed doesn’t seem like that much of a stretch.
You’re right that the elaborate nature of the memories does point them to being fakes, it’s just that Harry hasn’t told Quirrell how elaborate those memories are.
But the next few sentences are support for your theory.
“Did you recall anything of interest, thereby?” “Yes,” Harry said, “I did,” only that and nothing more, for he was
not ready as yet to make accusations. The Defense Professor smiled one of his dry smiles, and beckoned
with an impatient finger.
The Professor would make a poor poker player—he can never help smiling about his own cleverness. The book is full of such tells. I think EY makes these as purposeful tells.
Overall I think the most likely explanation is that Quirrell planted Harry’s memory of Godric’s Hollow.
I think it is highly unreasonable that Quirrell/Voldemort would have managed to get himself killed when he was alone with a 1 year old. Would a guy trying to protect his life with multiple horcruxes been so ridiculously sloppy about the child with a prophesied power to destroy him?
Pop in a henchman (bellatrix) and have her drop a large rock on Harry’s head. Done.
More likely, Quirrell left Harry alive and faked his own death for his own purposes.
My original theory is that Quirrell plans to take possession of Harry’s body at some point in the future, and so was setting him up, and is setting him up, as the slayer of the Dark Lord so that he can be that savior some day.
Dumbledore attempted to get Voldemort killed with a dark ritual, performed by Lily. Voldemort recognized the ploy, and played along, making it seemingly come true.
Lately, I’ve been wondering if Harry is Quirrell. Between time traveling and bodily possession, there are about a zillion ways that the Magical Link of Doom between Harry and Quirrell is actually the interaction of the same person time turned.
As for implanting the memory, see my previous EDIT upthread on Dumbledore doing it while Harry was demented.
Harry didn’t quite know how to describe in words the sense of kinship he felt with Professor Quirrell, except to say that the Defense Professor was the only clear-thinking person Harry had met in the wizarding world. Sooner or later everyone else started playing Quidditch, or not putting protective shells on their time machines, or thinking that Death was their friend. It didn’t matter how good their intentions were. Sooner or later, and usually sooner, they demonstrated that something deep inside their brain was confused. Everyone except Professor Quirrell. It was a bond that went beyond anything of debts owed, or even anything of personal liking, that the two of them were alone in the wizarding world. And if the Defense Professor occasionally seemed a little scary or a little Dark, well, that was just the same thing some people said about Harry.
If comprehending the nature of Dementors is required to see Thestrals, how does Quirrel—or anyone else—see them? Quirrel seems to accept that “seeing Death” means simply seeing someone killed, perhaps someone dear to you.
I would assume that understanding the nature of Dementors isn’t required to be able to see Thestrals, it’s just that it’s possibly sufficient to see them.
I think it was implied that the memory wasn’t the cause for Harry being able to see Thestrals; Harry seeing Death in the form of a Dementor was. From Chapter 49:
Thanks, that’s a good one.
Ok, so now updating, there is not evidence against the memory being implanted. Also, that fact that Quirrell suggests the memory makes it more likely he implanted it.
I think it’s stronger than that. Quirrell suggesting this memory can only have two implications that I can see:
Either 1) A baby remembering an event like this in the HPMOR universe is not, in any way that Quirrell would notice, unusual, and would even be expected. This seems unlikely and unsatisfying to me. No reason for the existence of this discrepancy between their world and ours has been shown, no excuse made. I also think “how does anyone know this story?” is the nagging rationalist doubt Harry experiences when he first hears of it. Especially—how would one remember a conversation in detail before having learned the language it is in, or any language at all? If anything he would remember tones, emotions, sights. His supposed recall is an extremely improbable feat for baby Harry.
Or 2) Quirrell knows both that the memory was implanted and its contents. This is consistent with Quirrell, particularly that he has made the right guess for the wrong reasons, as previously described in Ch.49, “Prior Information”. The main lesson from that chapter is that we should not assume that Quirrell’s (or anyone’s) seemingly extraordinary deductions are actually deductions, but look for other reasons why he would have that information.
The simplest explanation for #2 is that Quirrell knows because Quirrell placed the memories. I am assuming that the inability of Quirrell to interact magically with Harry is real because EY has called it a literary necessity, but Quirrel/Voldemort/Riddle/Monroe could have just placed the (unusually clear and detailed) memory into the infant Harry before turning him into a horcrux that he would then not be able to magically interact with (is this a thing that always happens with human horcruxes?) There would be no need to obliviate the real events afterwards, the 15-month-old babe would not remember anyway, but he could also just have Bellatrix do it. This would be part of some version of “Voldemort faked his own death.” There are a few of versions of how this might have happened, and I haven’t settled out what I believe yet.
The other possibility for #2 is that someone else, most likely Dumbledore, placed the false memories for reasons that are not clear to me and that Quirrell has come by this information somehow. If he had done it, and Minerva knew the secret she might be a weak occlumency link in the Order’s chain, allowing Voldemort’s legendary legilimency to obtain any information she has. She seems highly trustworthy but not particularly secure. I can’t think of any reasons why Dumbledore would do this, though. It seems to only disadvantage Dumbledore’s priorities.
It is possible, I suppose, that dementors have the ability to make their victims recall even the faintest of bad memories in stunning detail, or that Dumbledore has some inscrutable reason for faking the events of that night. Overall I think the most likely explanation is that Quirrell planted Harry’s memory of Godric’s Hollow.
3) Quirrell was pattern matching. People would see their worst memory when faced with a dementor, Harry needed to see a death to be able to see thestrals, and the murder of his parents was a likely candidate for his worst memory.
At that point, and perhaps at no point, did Harry tell Quirrell the details of what he remembered, so your objections about the detailed nature of the memory aren’t very strong. That a 1 year old could process Mommy being killed doesn’t seem like that much of a stretch.
You’re right that the elaborate nature of the memories does point them to being fakes, it’s just that Harry hasn’t told Quirrell how elaborate those memories are.
But the next few sentences are support for your theory.
The Professor would make a poor poker player—he can never help smiling about his own cleverness. The book is full of such tells. I think EY makes these as purposeful tells.
I think it is highly unreasonable that Quirrell/Voldemort would have managed to get himself killed when he was alone with a 1 year old. Would a guy trying to protect his life with multiple horcruxes been so ridiculously sloppy about the child with a prophesied power to destroy him?
Pop in a henchman (bellatrix) and have her drop a large rock on Harry’s head. Done.
More likely, Quirrell left Harry alive and faked his own death for his own purposes.
My original theory is that Quirrell plans to take possession of Harry’s body at some point in the future, and so was setting him up, and is setting him up, as the slayer of the Dark Lord so that he can be that savior some day.
Dumbledore attempted to get Voldemort killed with a dark ritual, performed by Lily. Voldemort recognized the ploy, and played along, making it seemingly come true.
Lately, I’ve been wondering if Harry is Quirrell. Between time traveling and bodily possession, there are about a zillion ways that the Magical Link of Doom between Harry and Quirrell is actually the interaction of the same person time turned.
As for implanting the memory, see my previous EDIT upthread on Dumbledore doing it while Harry was demented.
One of the many Harry=Quirrell passages.
If comprehending the nature of Dementors is required to see Thestrals, how does Quirrel—or anyone else—see them? Quirrel seems to accept that “seeing Death” means simply seeing someone killed, perhaps someone dear to you.
I would assume that understanding the nature of Dementors isn’t required to be able to see Thestrals, it’s just that it’s possibly sufficient to see them.