That explains not finding pre-Azkaban Harry. If Harry makes it out of there, there should be a post-Azkaban Harry as well. They want to time it so that they return to Mary’s place at about the time they leave. Travel time means there should be three.
If the patronus found post-Azkaban Harry, then Harry would not have known to travel back in time to by found by it; another paradox that time-turners don’t cause.
For the sake of argument, let’s assume that in later chapters we will discover that Harry’s future goes according to the plan he lays out… that is, at T1 Minerva sends her Patronus, and at T2 Harry gets out of Azkaban and travels to T1.
So at T1 Harry is in Azkaban and in Mary’s Room.
If the Patronus finds Harry in Azkaban (as we’ve read), Harry travels to T1 in order to be found by Minerva, as you say.
But if the Patronus finds Harry in Mary’s Room (as you’re arguing couldn’t happen), then Harry travels to T1 for some other reason, or no reason at all.
“But then there’s no actual motivation for Harry’s action!”, I hear someone object. “No fair!”
Well, I agree. Similarly, by this theory, there’s no actual motivation for the Patronus’ choice.
“Because it would cause a paradox” is a little bit like “Because it would violate conservation of energy”… it’s a reason to predict one consequence over another, but it isn’t actually an explanation.
Think of the interference patterns of the double slit experiment. The wave-functions of universes with paradoxes cancel out to give zero probability to those collective sets of conditions.
I am not sure, I remember having the impression that Harry was making specific time travel plans in response to meeting the patronus. They had already travelled backwards in time, I am not sure how much time has passed. I will re-read the chapter later tonight.
Though if it was non paradox causing either way, then the patronus was acting in accordance with another global law of the HP:MOR universe: it was more awesome for the patronus to meet Harry in Azkaban and make the situation more complicated.
That explains not finding pre-Azkaban Harry. If Harry makes it out of there, there should be a post-Azkaban Harry as well. They want to time it so that they return to Mary’s place at about the time they leave. Travel time means there should be three.
If the patronus found post-Azkaban Harry, then Harry would not have known to travel back in time to by found by it; another paradox that time-turners don’t cause.
Er… really?
For the sake of argument, let’s assume that in later chapters we will discover that Harry’s future goes according to the plan he lays out… that is, at T1 Minerva sends her Patronus, and at T2 Harry gets out of Azkaban and travels to T1.
So at T1 Harry is in Azkaban and in Mary’s Room.
If the Patronus finds Harry in Azkaban (as we’ve read), Harry travels to T1 in order to be found by Minerva, as you say.
But if the Patronus finds Harry in Mary’s Room (as you’re arguing couldn’t happen), then Harry travels to T1 for some other reason, or no reason at all.
“But then there’s no actual motivation for Harry’s action!”, I hear someone object. “No fair!”
Well, I agree. Similarly, by this theory, there’s no actual motivation for the Patronus’ choice.
“Because it would cause a paradox” is a little bit like “Because it would violate conservation of energy”… it’s a reason to predict one consequence over another, but it isn’t actually an explanation.
Of course, I will admit that I am confused about what local laws could add up to the “no paradox” global law.
Something like a multiply-branching Universe in which those branches that turn out to contain paradoxes cease to exist?
Not “cease to exist”, simply won’t exist.
Think of the interference patterns of the double slit experiment. The wave-functions of universes with paradoxes cancel out to give zero probability to those collective sets of conditions.
I thought the plan was to have no gaps at Mary’s place—he’d travel back for that in any case to get back there/then.
I am not sure, I remember having the impression that Harry was making specific time travel plans in response to meeting the patronus. They had already travelled backwards in time, I am not sure how much time has passed. I will re-read the chapter later tonight.
Though if it was non paradox causing either way, then the patronus was acting in accordance with another global law of the HP:MOR universe: it was more awesome for the patronus to meet Harry in Azkaban and make the situation more complicated.
I think they were planning on going back anyway, so that it seemed like they had never left Mary’s room.
How are you counting to three?
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