The ritual references Doctor Seuss (explicitly), Lovecraft, Slayers, Hellraiser, and Warhammer. Edit: And Zelazny. Did I miss anything else?
And the example ritual which Quirrel references is if I’m not mistaken the failed attempt to summon Death in The Sandman. (Is that correct? I don’t have a copy on me, but the ingredients certainly sound similar to that. If not, what is this referencing?)
That was an amazing mix of seriousness, darkness, humor (especially the way end), and with a bit of rationality and psychology thrown in also. That chapter was amazing.
Edit: I’m a little worried. We know that a lot of fictional stuff in non-HP fiction turns out to be real in this universe. I hope Harry hasn’t accidentally triggered something.
Edit: Also, this does raise a serious question: Since Harry has read Lord of the Rings and Lovecraft and a fair bit of other stuff, how much of what he is making up is made by him from fiction he knows and how much is stuff that he happens to write that sounds good that happens to (at a meta level) reference fiction in our universe? For example, it is extremely unlikely although just potentially possible for Harry to have seen some version of Slayers. But this seems unlikely.
This chapter was great. I especially loved the following line:
Daphne abandoned all pretense of aristocratic poise and let her head fall to the desk with a dull thud, as she wondered whether going to the same school as all the other important families was really worth going to the same school as the Chaos Legion.
I’m so glad we’ll be seeing regular updates for a while.
I think you can add Buffy the Vampire Slayer to the list. “Acathla” was the name of the demon that the big bads were attempting to summon (or reawaken) at the end of Buffy season 2.
I don’t think the part about summoning Death is a reference to anything. After all, we already know what the incarnations of Death are in MOR. And it looks like the conterspell to dismiss Death is lost no more thanks to Harry...
It’s a good thing Harry didn’t follow that line of conversation; if it were me I could picture wondering out loud why nobody had tried the ritual, suddenly breaking off in realization and thereby giving myself away.
And the example ritual which Quirrel references is if I’m not mistaken the failed attempt to summon Death in The Sandman.
I immediately went to check when I read that passage and no, the sacrifical items don’t match at all (although the style is the same). Next I thought it might be from Terry Pratchett’s Mort, but it wasn’t that either, although this passage is strikingly germane:
The Rite of AshkEnte, quite simply, summons and binds Death. Students of the occult will be aware that it can be performed with a simple incantation, three small bits of wood and 4cc of mouse blood, but no wizard worth his pointy hat would dream of doing anything so unimpressive; they knew in their hearts that if a spell didn’t involve big yellow candles, lots of rare incense, circles drawn on the floor with eight different colours of chalk and a few cauldrons around the place then it simply wasn’t worth contemplating.
Edit: I’m a little worried. We know that a lot of fictional stuff in non-HP fiction turns out to be real in this universe. I hope Harry hasn’t accidentally triggered something.
I’m having difficulty parsing this. The only interpretation I can come up with is that people have often written (fantasy?) fiction which turns out to come true, and that doesn’t seem accurate.
The worry is that in the HPMR universe a lot of things which are fictional in our universe have turned out to exist. For example, McGonagall’s references to prior Defense Against the Dark Arts teachers included Professor Summers and Professor Blake. In some cases the situation looks even stranger since Harry has played Dungeons and Dragons (we found that out in the visit to Diagon Alley) but Draco has heard about creatures called mindflayers which are from D&D. Making things worse, we also know that Harold Shea is a real world wizard in Harry’s universe and his entire MO is to go into fictional universes from “our” universe.
The concern therefore is that there might be a creature or terrible thing that Harry thinks is fictional but actually exists. Thus it might well be that the Chaos Gods or Cthulhu or Yog-Sothoth actually exists. If so, Harry using them in a chant could have some very bad consequences.
Well, I’m glad someone got Zelazny, but that leaves at least three references I haven’t seen anyone decrypt yet, two obscure and one much more mainstream.
Ok. Wow. New chapter up.
The ritual references Doctor Seuss (explicitly), Lovecraft, Slayers, Hellraiser, and Warhammer. Edit: And Zelazny. Did I miss anything else?
And the example ritual which Quirrel references is if I’m not mistaken the failed attempt to summon Death in The Sandman. (Is that correct? I don’t have a copy on me, but the ingredients certainly sound similar to that. If not, what is this referencing?)
That was an amazing mix of seriousness, darkness, humor (especially the way end), and with a bit of rationality and psychology thrown in also. That chapter was amazing.
Edit: I’m a little worried. We know that a lot of fictional stuff in non-HP fiction turns out to be real in this universe. I hope Harry hasn’t accidentally triggered something.
Edit: Also, this does raise a serious question: Since Harry has read Lord of the Rings and Lovecraft and a fair bit of other stuff, how much of what he is making up is made by him from fiction he knows and how much is stuff that he happens to write that sounds good that happens to (at a meta level) reference fiction in our universe? For example, it is extremely unlikely although just potentially possible for Harry to have seen some version of Slayers. But this seems unlikely.
This chapter was great. I especially loved the following line:
I’m so glad we’ll be seeing regular updates for a while.
I think you can add Buffy the Vampire Slayer to the list. “Acathla” was the name of the demon that the big bads were attempting to summon (or reawaken) at the end of Buffy season 2.
I don’t think the part about summoning Death is a reference to anything. After all, we already know what the incarnations of Death are in MOR. And it looks like the conterspell to dismiss Death is lost no more thanks to Harry...
It’s a good thing Harry didn’t follow that line of conversation; if it were me I could picture wondering out loud why nobody had tried the ritual, suddenly breaking off in realization and thereby giving myself away.
I immediately went to check when I read that passage and no, the sacrifical items don’t match at all (although the style is the same). Next I thought it might be from Terry Pratchett’s Mort, but it wasn’t that either, although this passage is strikingly germane:
I’m having difficulty parsing this. The only interpretation I can come up with is that people have often written (fantasy?) fiction which turns out to come true, and that doesn’t seem accurate.
The worry is that in the HPMR universe a lot of things which are fictional in our universe have turned out to exist. For example, McGonagall’s references to prior Defense Against the Dark Arts teachers included Professor Summers and Professor Blake. In some cases the situation looks even stranger since Harry has played Dungeons and Dragons (we found that out in the visit to Diagon Alley) but Draco has heard about creatures called mindflayers which are from D&D. Making things worse, we also know that Harold Shea is a real world wizard in Harry’s universe and his entire MO is to go into fictional universes from “our” universe.
The concern therefore is that there might be a creature or terrible thing that Harry thinks is fictional but actually exists. Thus it might well be that the Chaos Gods or Cthulhu or Yog-Sothoth actually exists. If so, Harry using them in a chant could have some very bad consequences.
Ah, much clearer.
Well, I’m glad someone got Zelazny, but that leaves at least three references I haven’t seen anyone decrypt yet, two obscure and one much more mainstream.
May have got another- Dragonlance?