Stone Defenses

[innermurk]

No: HPFGUIDX 57987

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "m.steinberger" <steinber at z...> 
wrote:
> The odd thing about the Ph. Stone's defenses is not that they were 
too easy, but that solutions were deliberately provided. I'm 
referring to the brooms in the key room. Why leave brooms there? And 
the riddle in the potions room. Why leave any clues at all? Any 
normal person setting up the potions defense would have left the clue 
to the potions locked in a safe elsewhere in the castle. And if you 
imagine that Quirrel nabbed the potions riddle and then left it with 
the potions, that doesn't explain why there were three (or more) 
brooms in the key room. Had Quirrel brought a broom in and left it, 
there would be only one.
> 

(I innermurk answer)
If you'll remember that Hermione (later in the challenge during the 
potions and logic one) says that a lot of wizards don't possess cool 
logic. I've always taken the brooms as a sort of red herring, or long 
way around this challenge.
Harry and the trio don't yet know the summoning charm, but you can 
bet most grown wizards do. Wouldn't it have been so much easier to 
summon each key to you than to chase it around on a broom?
Yet, if the brooms are there when you walk in, you'ld probably just 
hop on and go to it without thinking. A lot of time and effort could 
be wasted here while you chase the keys around. Maybe you'ld be so 
frustrated by not getting the correct key you'ld think about giving 
it up? It's actually a pretty smart thing to provide the brooms.


I have to agree with bboy_mn who said:
First, I'm one of those people who find it extremely annoying that
anyone taking an objective look would call the challenges leading to
the Stone easy.
<snip a long and good detail of each challenge>
7.) The Mirror - well, many many people have already said that the
Mirror alone was the most effective challenge in the group and could
have probably effectively guarded the Stone all by itself. Certainly,
a brilliant challenge. But I have to wonder if the Mirror didn't also
have some hazards added to it. For example (no cannon support), if you
tried to strike the mirror to break it, you might have been sucked
inside and trapped there. It would be the first 'fairytale' mirror to
suck people inside and trap them. The Mirror could have been an even
greater challenge that we know. Even without the additional implied
hazards, it was still pretty brilliant.

(I innermurk add):
I LIKE the idea of being sucked into the mirror! I wonder if the 
mirror did have a spell to protect it from being broken. I had 
pondered in the past that if one broke the mirror as Quirrell 
suggested, the stone might come tumbling out, but I like the idea 
that the mirror wouldn't allow itself to be broken in the first 
place, and would suck you in before you could do it.

I have to add my feeling that any wizard who tried to break through 
would not have the strengths in all the areas that HHR had put 
together. Who do you know that is brilliant at animals, herbology, 
heights, sports, chess, monsters (we'll say fear for practicality in 
the real world application), logic, riddles, and to top that all off 
is just brave enough, quick enough, and smart enough to pull it all 
off?
There's no one person alive that would be able to do all that without 
prior knowledge of what they'll be facing, and/or the knowledge of a 
bypass or "back door" as bboy_mn theorized about. I don't now, nor 
have I ever seen how anyone could call the challenges easy. Besides 
the challenges themselves, the teachers brilliantly included a lot of 
misdirection into the challenges (ie the brooms in the key room) They 
set up a formidable defense. 
HHR happened to have the skills between them to do what needed to be 
done. They also happened to have a LOT of luck getting them through.
HHR worked hard to get through them, and the bravery to try alone 
earned them all those points IMO.

Innermurk