Communities

Writing
Writing
Codidact Meta
Codidact Meta
The Great Outdoors
The Great Outdoors
Photography & Video
Photography & Video
Scientific Speculation
Scientific Speculation
Cooking
Cooking
Electrical Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Judaism
Judaism
Languages & Linguistics
Languages & Linguistics
Software Development
Software Development
Mathematics
Mathematics
Christianity
Christianity
Code Golf
Code Golf
Music
Music
Physics
Physics
Linux Systems
Linux Systems
Power Users
Power Users
Tabletop RPGs
Tabletop RPGs
Community Proposals
Community Proposals
tag:snake search within a tag
answers:0 unanswered questions
user:xxxx search by author id
score:0.5 posts with 0.5+ score
"snake oil" exact phrase
votes:4 posts with 4+ votes
created:<1w created < 1 week ago
post_type:xxxx type of post
Search help
Notifications
Mark all as read See all your notifications »
Q&A

Post History

50%
+0 −0
Q&A How could the surprise-villain thread have been less contrived in "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone"?

Throughout Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Harry is certain that Snape is serving Voldemort, and bulling Quirrell into helping him. At the climax, we learn that Snape is protecting Harry,...

0 answers  ·  posted 12y ago by Standback‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Question plot fantasy
#4: Attribution notice removed by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-12T20:05:59Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/5154
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T02:14:11Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/5154
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by (deleted user) · 2019-12-08T02:14:11Z (almost 5 years ago)
Throughout _Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone_, Harry is certain that Snape is serving Voldemort, and bulling Quirrell into helping him. At the climax, we learn that Snape is protecting Harry, while Quirrell's master is Voldemort himself.

Unfortunately, Harry's misconception is built up through a series of unfortunate encounters which, in retrospect, are blatantly contrived. These include:

- Harry just happens to hear precisely the right portion of a conversation between Snape and Quirrell.
- Harry hears Quirrell being bullied, but conveniently nothing manages to disclose that Snape is nowhere around.
- Hermione thinks Snape is casting a hex on Harry during a Quidditch game; she just _happens_ to disturb Quirrell on her way to stop Snape, which conveniently stops the hex right when she was expecting.

These developments all depend heavily on being in the precise right place at the precise right time and noticing precisely the right things; when such events are the basis of a climactic plot twist, it smacks of author fiat.

What changes might be made to the story to let Harry's misconception feel better-justified and less contrived?

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2012-03-05T10:04:20Z (over 12 years ago)
Original score: 6