Horcrux Hunting - Time, Skill, Knowledge, and Harry

[M.Clifford]

No: HPFGUIDX 141626

bboyminn:
I know you are just speculating on the
possibilities but what I hear you saying is like asking why didn't
Dumbledore give Harry the winning lottery numbers. I mean it can't be
that hard, we all know the numbers will be between 1 and 50 (or
whatever).

Valky:
That's fair, must mean that I am saying it all wrong <g> 
Okay, first is to just express that I don't mean to ask why DD didn't
give Harry the winning numbers. What I mean to say is DD obviously
isn't hedging the bets here in terms of locating Horcruxes, because
the bulk of his lessons included generally imparting the information
that he himself was 'using up', so to speak. 

Now, IMO there are no more memories, Dumbledore gave Harry everything
he had. But on a slightly dislocated level, I think, there is a method
to it some of it probably rooted in the characterisation of DD and the
rest otherwise rooted in tight plotting of a deliberately laid puzzle.
The memories are disjointed but span a selectly usable sample of the
whole, this is the exact nature of a logic puzzle *exactly* the same
type as the Potions puzzle under the trapdoor. So I am saying that
Dumbledore wasn't splitting the task down the middle between himself
and Harry (as in you pick these lotto numbers, I'll pick those), he
was reciting the lines of the logic problem. 

It's very recognisable if you are into that kind of thing, I don't
know about others, but Logic Puzzles are my best game <bg> Has anyone
else here gotten those Logic puzzle books with the process of
elimination grids printed for you, and just done one after the other
after the other, like me.. ? ( no probably not many you geeky weird
girl Valky :-| ) well anyway.  The Pensieve memories are the same way.
They are like a list of facts that you use to eliminate down the
various aspects of each horcrux. 

bboyminn:
It's easy to say a Death Eater has /it/ or that /it/ is in London, but
that doesn't really matter because the hard part is for Harry to
DISCOVER which Death Eater has it and WHERE in London it is located.
And that discovery process completely ignores the knowledge need to
overcome the protections. So, it could be in London, but for all Harry
knows it could be in Paris, Frankfurt, Berlin, Amsterdam, or anyone of
a hundred other cities. Saying it's in London is easy, but Harry
discovering that is hard.

Valky:
That is why a cross reference grid comes in useful in a puzzle that is
like this one. To be frank, I know that you, personally have already
been involved in the threads that eliminated the Unknown Horcrux down
to a Ravenclaw Wand/Baton.  So the trick in Logic puzzles is to cross
reference that back to another grid where you've eliminated all but
one alternative. Harry is lucky in that respect since he has Hermione
on his side, it won't take her long to extrapolate an answer for him
out of a few facts like the ones we've been given. And the good thing
about Horcrux destruction is that it *is* just like a Logic puzzle in
that when you find one and destroy it you can cross out a whole
section of your referencing which eliminates you down even closer to
the rest of the answers. 

I can't say for sure that my conclusions are accurate, of course. My
method has been a tad bit haphazard, and for us it is left to sort the
genuine clues from the false ones. For example, as I percieve it, the
fact that Dumbledore did not locate the Hufflepuff Horcrux using his
extensive resources and given the amount of time he had to locate it,
is a clue to the nature of it's location, I don't think that I am
wrong, but it's still perfectly likely that I am.

Of course nobody really has to look at this the same way as me, it's
just the way I am looking at it. I see it all as a fulfillment of the
promise of the first book that the sixth book will come complete with
a logic puzzle where you need to identify and locate seven things, and
so finally little geeks like me come into their own <g> 


bboyminn:
The PROCESS of reaching
those outcomes is the hard part; that's what takes up all the time.
Find a Horcrux in London is easy once you've gone through the long
impossible task of /discovering/ that it is in London.

Valky:
Well this is what I mean by saying that Dumbledore/JKR is also
counting on what Harry knows and has at his disposal, as well as what
he has learned from Dumbledore in HBP. This is the point of the logic
puzzle foreshadowing, I think. In that scene under the trapdoor, Harry
and Hermione don't have the option of looking at it as a long
impossible task, its actually in the lines of Snapes 8*2 stanzas isn't
it? They cannot use trial and error because there is a good enough
chance that they'll be poisoned before they get the right one, and
they can't go out and gather additional information because they've
passed the threshold, so it's drink up or stay there, but *all* the
information they need to get through safely is right in front of them.
So it seems while some of us are afraid there's not enough time for Jo
to introduce the needed information, I think she has already
unambiguously told us that the information needed to move on *is* all
introduced already. And it only takes for some clever crossreferencing
logic by Hermione (coupled with Ron using his unique talents where
Hermione points him) and the next you know Harry is standing at the
doorway of a Horcrux location. IOW, I think we *are* told by JKR's
foreshadowings, and by Dumbledore in the Horcrux chapter that this
really won't take all that long, actually. 


bboyminn:
In a way, that's what scares me about the final book. JKR has set up
what seems to be an insurmountable task for Harry. In addition to this
insurmountable task, there are MANY unresolved plot issues. Many plot
issue that MUST be resolved, and many more that I WANT resolved. So, I
see a task that is not only insuperable* for the characters, but for
the author too.

Valky:
Well yeah, its definitely insuperable for Harry. But on a reread I was
reminded to my delight that he has told Hermione the last line of the
prophecy, add that to the fact that Harry has been describing in
detail all the things he's seen over the year in Dumbledore's lessons
to her and that she has already looked for RAB and eliminated a huge
section of the search area there, it is fair to say that Hermione has
already been working quietly on this stuff for six months, and we can
deduct that from the time required to locate the horcruxes in book
seven or thereabouts, right?

Valky
Who thinks Carol would also be delighted of the heads up that Hermione
is seen poring over Advanced Rune Translation shortly after Harry
tells her the last line of the prophecy <g>