I posted this as part of my review. I think it explains the wand thing. As so often happens in real life, we don’t see the workings of mind that lead to every decisive factor in an outcome. In real life, we get to the end of a problem and often don’t know why a particular mistake was made. …
A small disturbance dwelt in my mind for these days, for I had concluded that Eliezer had already contrived a clever solution for Harry, sealed off all other such pathways, and that a strong indicator of what that contrived plan was, was that Voldemort left Harry with his wand after the Vow. Curious, that, oui? Voldemort specifically forbade Harry to raise his wand, and told his servants to attack him in a flurry of eclectic attacks, the mere thought of which would inevitably have an emotional effect on Harry, clouding his mental acuity. Since, Voldemort has in his consciousness that Harry has his wand, and has no reason to let him hold it, the clear explanation is that Eliezer could only think of a way for Harry to win if he had his wand, so he made Voldemort make a stupid mistake, it was the best he could do. Still quite good; I did not begrudge him it.
Since victory depends upon the wand, and Harry can’t speak, the obvious answer is wordless, wand-based magic, the only such that Harry knows being transfiguration. Partial transfiguration. This also fits in with the heading of the first chapter, some very thin thing at night related to the sudden death of a great many people.
I notice I am confused.
Let me not be thought to brag, I grant it took me a solid 49 hours or so to so notice.
Voldemort just makes a stupid mistake? Eliezer just couldn’t come up with anything better than Voldemort somehow losing by stupidly just letting the enemy have his wand, when that enemy can cause pain and death to his current form by casting magic on literally anything Voldemort has cast magic on?
At last I notice I am confused.
I re-conceptualize the matter at hand. We’re going to assume one more time that Voldemort really isn’t stupid, no matter how many times the terrible villain ALWAYS and FRUSTRATINGLY is. If there’s anything to be learned from chapter 113, it’s that Voldemort REALLY is doing it all on purpose, and a bloody, clever purpose ‘e ’as, ‘asn’t ’e?
So. Voldemort obviously is aware of Harry having his wand. I WILL THEREFORE CONCLUDE! He wants Harry to have his wand. Why is that? It is not a mistake, it is a test. For Harry to submit when there is truly nothing to do, shows nothing. The evil are not good when only good they may choose, and the proud are not humble when only humiliation may they claim.
But! For Harry to submit, and this of his own free will, this despite his apparent Plot-Induced Loophole, this is a proof of his self-mastery, and of his rationality. For to submit for lack of spirit is not the same as to submit for the understanding of its ideal nature.
Voldemort shall ask Harry in Parseltongue at the end of their discussion if he tried trickery, if he concealed secrets. Only if Harry can answer no shall he show himself sufficiently impressed with the absolute dominance of Voldemort to be worth keeping around.
Harry shall disclose all secrets, I need not enumerate them specifically here. He shall at the end ask permission to drop his wand. … All that being said, Voldemort probably really DOESN’T know about partial transfiguration. While we do need a plausible explanation for him not forcing Harry to rid himself of his wand after the Vow, so that Voldemort isn’t stupid, we can still take advantage of his ignorance and pride. (The plan I gave involved exploding the DE’s, not cutting them, disabling Voldemort’s gun, not his hands, and neutralizing Voldemort by casting magic on everything Voldemort had affected, obelisks, Hermione, etc, forcing him by resonance to go snake form, to be kept there by having Harry’s magicked cloth on the snake at all times so it couldn’t transform without suffering from the resonance).
… Such was my review. As I consider the matter, transfiguration was the only wordless magic Harry knew, and without partial transfiguration, he could never have attained the wand contact with anything to transfigure. Was Voldemort really taking unnecessary risks, or is it reasonable to say that there was no danger to letting Harry keep his wand that Voldemort could reasonably have known about? Still, a thorough genius would have made sure, so there must have been at least some reason for which it was worth taking even an unimaginable risk, hence the reasoning given above.
Love the idea...
I think the key disconnect here is that (AFAICT) you mean that we should treat stupidity as a mental illness in the idealized way we’re trying to get everyone to treat the mentally ill (see this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0B5nfkaeplc)
We don’t think of mental illness in such an accepting way yet. Maybe when we do, saying that stupidity is like mental illness is like physical illness is like something that deserves sympathy and help will make sense, but right now it sounds more like prejudice.
I see what you’re saying and appreciate the insight, and will try to treat stupid people with sympathy instead of frustration, but think that this comparison doesn’t quite work yet.