ph'nglui mglw'nafh J. K. Rowling wgah'nagl fhtagn
- note
- reference
A reference to the Cthulhu mythos, with Rowling replacing Cthulhu in the quote. The original quote is "Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn", which translates from the fictional language R'lyehian as "In his house at R'lyeh, dead Cthulhu waits dreaming." Interestingly, J.K. Rowling here replaces both Cthulhu and his resting place. So the translation would be "In his house at Rowling, dead J. K. waits dreaming." This is possibly a mistake, but more likely the author noted the similarity in pronunciation between R'lyeh and Rowling.
The implications for the true meaning of this author's note, and indeed the rest of the series, are clearly enormous.
"Wonder what's wrong with him."
- title-quote
- subtle
- spoiler
- speculation
A flash-forward to a student talking about Quirrell later in the chapter. Interestingly, all of the other title quotes thus far have either been from Harry's word's/thoughts, or else about Harry. So perhaps this is an early hint that Harry and Quirrell are actually kind of the same person due to Harry's mysterious dark side.
Alternatively, they may simply be the most interesting and thuse title-quote-worthy characters.
"Fine, I promised the Sorting Hat not to talk about most of it and the
rest is private just like yours was so stop asking."
- subtle
Clearly he didn't promise the Sorting Hat not to talk about any of it, or else he couldn't have told them about the promise. A good introduction to life in Ravenclaw house.
"Ssalutations from Sslytherin to Sslytherin: if you would sseek my
ssecretss, sspeak to my ssnake."
- spoiler
- original
This is a spell left on the hat by Salazar Slytherin. It speaks in parseltongue, which Harry can understand because his mysterious dark side makes him the Heir of Slytherin. It is giving Harry the first hint to the location of the Chamber of Secrets.
In the original, the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets is accessed by speaking Parseltongue to a snake-engraved sink in the second-floor girls' bathroom. The snake could refer to this, or to the basilisk itself, a snake-like creature guarding the Chamber of Secrets, which knows forgotten magics stored away by Salazar Slytherin.
And that if he could find some reliable way of swearing Draco to
secrecy so he could ask him about it, that would be an excellent time
to have some Comed-Tea handy.
- subtle
- spoiler
This may be the Comed-Tea influencing his mind, which is a hint that Draco's reaction to this event would include an event that would make Harry spit out his drink even if he was trying not to, which may be a subtle hint that this is a bigger deal than Harry is thinking at the moment.
No other name was called out after that, and Harry realised that
"Zabini, Blaise" did sound close to the end of the alphabet. Great, so
now he'd only applauded Zabini... Oh well.
- spoiler
Zabini plays a larger role in Harry's first year than he did in the original series.
A prospect which was sounding scarier by the minute.
And yet also, somehow, increasingly attractive. Part of his mind was
already visualising the minions' uniforms.
- spoiler
mysterious dark side
For the Comed-Tea to work, it would have to make Dumbledore say
something so ridiculous during his speech that even in Harry's state
of mental preparedness, he would still choke. Like, all the Hogwarts
students had to not wear any clothes for the whole school year, or
everyone was going to be transformed into cats.
- spoiler
This is probably the Comed-Tea influencing his mind, since he is about to be surprised by Dumbledore's speech.
...that meant that as soon as he learned a spell to temporarily alter
his own sense of humor, he could make anything happen, by making it so
that he would only find that one thing surprising enough to do a
spit-take, and then drinking a can of Comed-Tea.
- subtle
- callback
Interestingly, Harry is arguably making the exact same mistake that
Hermione made when she was investigating the Comed-Tea
(8/positive bias) -- He's only running tests that confirm his
Hypothesis that the Comed-Tea is omnipotent and altering reality
to make him laugh. In his defense, it's difficult to come up with a
negative test for that hypothesis.
we have a system for forcing people like you to eat
- spoiler
TODO: is this ever revealed? I think it might be
In every day, in every way, I'm getting Lighter and Lighter...
- reference
- link
A reference to Emile Coue's optimistic autosuggestion: "Every day, in every way, I'm getting better and better."
Harry couldn't help but feel the urge to drink another Comed-Tea.
- spoiler
This is, once again, the Comed-Tea affecting Harry's mind.
Anyone interested in reformulating the entire game of Quidditch should
contact Harry Potter."
- speculation
Dumbledore wasn't around to hear this. The two main hypothesis are
that he was observing Harry invisibly (for which there is some
speculative evidence at the end of chapter 6 (6/a last whisper from behind him), or that he has already used Legilimency (the mindreading
logic the Hat mentioned) on him
Why, yes. That sounded like a remarkably good idea once Harry had
actually thought of it.
So very obvious in retrospect, and yet somehow, Option 3c and Option
3d just hadn't occurred to him.
- original
In the original series, Harry and his friends consistently attempt to have adventures without informing adults, even when it would have been practical or advisable. While this is an expected departure from the original series, it is also a nod towards the sometimes-stupid heroism of its main characters.
It is guarded by an elaborate series of dangerous and potentially
lethal traps, and you cannot possibly get past all of them, especially
if you are only in your first year.
- original
One of the author's favorite side-games is taking things from the original series that made no sense and trying to change the world to be consistent with them.
In this case, the idea that Dumbledore would guard the stone with a set of traps that first-year students can circumvent is ridiculous, so it's instead turned into a sort of obstacle course for Gryffindors, with the actual defenses of the stone being somewhat more subtle.
"I hope all students will extend Professor Quirrell that utmost
courtesy and tolerance which is due his extraordinary service to you
and this school, and that you will not pester us with any niggling
complaints about him, unless you want to try doing his job."
- spoiler
There is a curse on the Defense against the Dark Arts position such that no teacher has lasted longer than a year, and they're hoping to at least get the full year out of Quirrell.
Harry caught a glimpse of the back of his head, and it looked like
Professor Quirrell might already be going bald, despite his seeming
youth.
- original
This is a departure from the original, where Quirrell had Voldemort's face on the back of his head, covered up with a giant turban.
Harry caught a glimpse of the back of his head, and it looked like
Professor Quirrell might already be going bald, despite his seeming
youth.
- original
- spoiler
Quirrell is still playing host to Voldemort in HPMOR, but it's unclear whether the mechanism is the same as in the original and simply hidden better, or if the mechanics of the Universe are different. (Regardless, this particular change was probably made because otherwise it would simply be too easy for Harry.)
Baba Yaga
- spoiler
- link
In HPMOR, Nicolas Flamel didn't create the philosopher's stone, but
instead obtained it from Baba Yaga, either by murdering her or
marrying her (108/Baba Yaga).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baba_Yaga
Harold Shea
- link
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Shea
Harry was swallowing hard, trying to suppress the sudden surge of
emotion that had overcome him when Professor Quirrell had begun
speaking.
It's possible this surge of emotion may also be related to his mysterious dark side.
Believe it or not, I have long wished to someday try my hand as the
Professor of Defence Against the Dark Arts here at the Hogwarts School
of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
- spoiler
- original
This is one of the first hints that Quirrell is still Voldemort in this universe, as this was one of Voldemort's desires in the original.
You are my long-awaited students
- spoiler
Voldemort has waited longer than one would assume by Quirrell's age.
Then the vigour and confidence seemed to drain away from Professor
Quirrell. His mouth gaped open as if he had suddenly found himself
facing an unexpected audience, and he turned with a convulsive jerk
and shuffled back to his seat, hunched over as if he was about to
collapse in on himself and implode.
- spoiler
zombie mode