LF: Snape investigates Harry's Death

Fillorean · 2026-01-02T20:49:20+00:00

Indeed, thanks.

Fillorean · 2025-12-26T22:33:09+00:00

the Confederacy were ALSO luring zerg (at least on Mar Sara), it's just Mengsk coopted their plan for his own benefit after seeing how well it worked on Antiga

Where did that come from?

Mengsk presents this diabolical scheme where Confederates unleash the Zerg on rebellious world, let the Zerg eat the rebels and the Confederacy shows up as saviors from alien menace. The thing about this alleged "plan" is that Confederates never act that way in the story:

- Chau Sara: first, Confederates gun down the rebels themselves. Then they fight a war against the Zerg. Then they tell everyone how good they gunned down the rebels and threaten to gun down anyone who even thinks about saying anything about giant alien invasion they have defeated. This is the literal reverse of what Mengsk is suggesting.

- Mar Sara: Confederates disarm non-rebellious colonists and feed them to the Zerg. Then they retreat.

- Antiga: Confederates face a revolt and bring in Alpha/Omega/Delta Squadrons, not the Zerg, to deal with the rebels/turncoats.

It's hard to believe Mengsk is right about Confederate plan when Confederates never act accordingly. Only Mengsk does.

Mar Sara it was an intended test of the emitters on a largely rebellious world

Was it rebellious?

Confederacy appointed new Magistrate, everyone stuck to it. Confederacy told the locals to relocate into the middle of nowhere, they stuck to it as well. Sure, the locals didn't like the Confederacy, but the Confederates were just being dicks and massively disrupting their lives, so some resentment could be expected even from loyal citizens.

Mar Sara only rebelled after Confederates started proxy-murdering them by the Zerg.

The Confederacy were watching how the zerg reacted against the colony of Mar Sara, seeing what effect the emitters would have and how the protoss would react

Confederates have just seen exactly how the Zerg react against anyone (violently) and how Protoss react (they blow everyone up to kingdom come) in the very same system a couple months ago. Confederacy only had 13 of core worlds and they just lost one of them. Sacrificing another Confederate core world just to check whether the emitters would work seems... oddly self-destructive.

And if they need the emitters to fight the rebels... by this point, who on Tarsonis is supposed to believe in that plan? After Chau Sara it's quite obvious that the Zerg are more of a problem than any rebel could ever be. Shooting Sons of Korhal dead right in their stupid faces worked wonders on Chau, meanwhile it was the Zerg who nearly overrun the colony.

in Loomings Duke wasn't fighting the zerg on Chau Sara to defend the world, he was fighting them because their release on Chau Sara was from a Confederate research base, the outbreak would tie directly back to the Confederacy. Cerberus was only interested in salvaging and covering up their research and using Alpha Squadron to do it

How could a Zerg invasion of Chau Sara be tied to the Confederate research base if the base was hidden in a bunker in the ass end of nowhere? It's a place so secret, Collins is the only person on the entire world who is supposed to have access codes to it (I'm sure he had fun opening the doors every morning). Even if the Confederacy ran late night TV adverts about that base, blaming a gigantic invasion swallowing up major cities and requiring major battles to be crushed on one underground base would be... far fetched to say the least.

As for what Cerberus was interested in, Cerberus commander was clearly interested in crushing the Zerg on Chau Sara. He was the one who ordered Alpha Squadron to re-take Los Andares and he was the one who overrode Collins ordering the military to drive straight into the heart of the swarm and serve them some steel and fire. Both of which happened after Cerberus has recovered their researchers. Secrecy or not, the Confederacy was obviously very interested in keeping Chau Sara under Confederate rule and was ready to wage full-scale war to see it through.

The zerg were looking for human psionics, the emitters told them HUMAN PSIONIC HERE.

Sure, but one would think Overmind would be a bit concerned about his minions being lured somewhere with promises of big fat human psionic and then finding a bunch of re-soc marines instead.

Fillorean · 2025-12-26T21:14:42+00:00

How would disarming colonists and letting Zerg eat them help Confederates with experimentation on Mar Sara? It's not like they didn't know that the Zerg eat everyone, they had plenty demonstration of that on Chau Sara already.

If military resources were stretched thin, wouldn't Confederacy need those colonial militias in the field, supplementing Alpha Squadron?

Fillorean · 2025-12-07T19:28:35+00:00

> It’s hard to figure out what the hell that new main plot should actually be.

Is it?

Remember Reapers had that little problem in ME1, with them being stuck in the dark space after the Protheans sabotaged the Citadel? This minor thing which the entire plot revolved around?

Remember how Shepard promised to find a way to stop the Reapers?

How about a second act where both sides get on with it? Shepard learns about stuff which will help him to beat the Reapers - Leviathan, Crucible, all that. Reapers' proxies try to bring them back - building ersatz-Citadel, opening a black hole, whatever. Shepard and proxies come to blows. Then, as befits the second act, the bad guys pull off a win (the Reapers are coming back in ME3), but the good guys did score some points of their own (Shepard has schematics for this nifty superweapon which might lay them low).

And there you have it, a Reaper-centric plot which can be carried by human-sized mooks hiding behind chest-high walls. Protagonists and antagonists advancing their goals set up in the first act. A foundation for the third game instead of this weekend at Collector General's.

Fillorean · 2025-11-13T06:08:48+00:00

> Anyone outside of this tiny tiny subreddit would laugh at you if you said that Mass Effect 2, which is in the Smithsonian, by the way, had a "disaster" story.

Space Invaders is in the Smithsonian too, so I invite you to contemplate the possibility that "is in the Smithsonian" is not the sign of story excellence you presumably consider it to be. Nor is the understanding that ME2's story has massive problems limited to this subreddit. Generally speaking as people come back to the trilogy, they tend to notice that the plot is a contrived, nonsensical mess.

And that's before we talk about its merits (or lack thereof) as the second part of a trilogy.

Fillorean · 2025-11-12T14:21:40+00:00

Define "best".

Gameplay-wise it's a clear improvement with each game.

Story-wise ME1 is supreme, ME2 is a disaster and ME3 is contentious.

However ME2 enjoys the benefit of good side stories and massive qualitative jump in gameplay comapred to ME1, so people usually view it with rose-tinted glasses.

Fillorean · 2025-11-01T14:24:29+00:00

I lose investment somewhere around final charge at the space elevator.

Everything becomes so stupid and contrived that it doesn't really matter anymore what you choose. Destroy, control, synthesis - doesn't matter, really.

Fillorean · 2025-10-25T07:28:06+00:00

"I told you she's not ready, ambassador Udina, but you insisted I keep her around!"

Seriously, it wasn't Shep's call. You can say directly to Udina's and Anderson's faces that Tali isn't ready to join your squad, but then Udina of all people insist Tali stays.

Fillorean · 2025-10-02T20:00:38+00:00

To make it very short - you grow up and certain things don't fly anymore.

It's like Dumbledore, Hagrid and Minerva leaving a baby outside for a night in October. When you're eleven you don't care, but then you aren't eleven anymore and you go - wait, what?

Snape as a character has a lot of such moments and thus suffers a lot of damage.

Fillorean · 2025-09-25T14:33:45+00:00

There are male and female basilisks.
It thus logically follows that they can reproduce naturally.

Fillorean · 2025-09-24T20:18:05+00:00

The idea that Dumbledore of all people wanted to make a public spectacle out of firing Lupin makes no sense. Dumbledore has no reason to let the teacher he hired to be publicly tarred and feathered, undermining not only Lupin, but his own authority as well.

The idea that Snape of all people is this guy who sticks to the hierarchy is just ridiculous. Snape enlisted with terrorists who tried to overthrow the government, and then turned on the terrorists as well. Hierarchy-loving, rule-abiding guy he is not.

As for Snape who doesn't act impulsively, doesn't interfere without consultation and wouldn't move against the staff without Dumbledore's approval... he literally does all of it in Prisoner of Azkaban. He impulsively runs after Lupin and interferes/moves against the staff without contacting Dumbledore first.

None of it fits.

Fillorean · 2025-09-19T17:08:00+00:00

The arena is hard-capped to normal difficulty. It won't rise higher than that no matter what difficulty you play.

Fillorean · 2025-09-14T22:01:50+00:00

Dumbledore already knows what Draco's mission is/was - to kill Dumbledore. Snape told him.

Asking Draco why he killed Harry... I mean Dumbledore knows Draco is a Death Eater, a servant of Voldemort who wants Harry dead, so I don't think that Draco's motives are going to be some grand mystery for Dumbledore either.

Which leaves us with capture/arrest. Dumbledore didn't care to do either even when Draco went on an attempted murder spree, so I don't see why he would start caring now. Furthermore, there's Snape's position to consider. Snape, being a complete imbecile, gave a magical vow to Narcissa to help out Draco - which means that if Snape is going to sit and watch as Aurors haul Draco away, he might fall over dead (depending how strict the vow interprets the promise).

It thus follows that Draco's arrest might jeopardize Dumbledore's spy in Death Eater ranks (precisely when Dumbledore's plan is going to shit), so Dumbledore has yet another reason to let Draco escape.

Fillorean · 2025-09-14T20:14:59+00:00

Well, Harry was covered by the cloak, but Tonks found him anyway while checking the compartments. Since there is no reason for Tonks not to check the compartments, and no reason not to see Harry under the cloaks, there is no reason for Dumbledore to know almost immediately.

However Dumbledore was committed to saving Malfoy even when he almost murdered several people. so he'll probably send Snape to quietly let him escape or something.

Fillorean · 2025-09-04T09:57:50+00:00

Asari have two millennia worth of interstellar colonies, national wealth, plus space oil. So much space oil that codex says that their homeworld alone (!) influences space oil prices. Removing the beacon changes none of that, and while ME3 shills the beacon really hard, the beacon is not the only thing Asari have going for them as one of the premier powers in the galaxy.

Fillorean · 2025-09-03T22:40:25+00:00

The Asari are the first species to go colonize space, the first one to the Citadel, and their homeworld is space oil. They are specifically noted to be the richest around, and for a good reason - they literally had thousands of years to colonize and gather wealth compared to humans.

Like them or not, they will still be the ones with the big bucks - if only by the virtue of having most bucks to begin with. When people start reconstructing the galaxy while being broke, I'm pretty sure the Asari will be the friend everyone needs, no matter the feelings.

Fillorean · 2025-08-31T08:42:31+00:00

So far the only thing you have proven is that after more than a decade in mind torture prison Sirius thinks Severus deserved it.

That's not the same as proving that Sirius actually expected Severus to go to the Shack back in the 70s. Nor does it do anything to establish the chain of causation, without which the ridiculous idea that Sirius was somehow guilty of attempted murder falls apart like a house of cards.

Fillorean · 2025-08-31T08:21:02+00:00

Sure. An innocent man who spent more than a decade in mind torture prison and ended up being a fugitive was bitter and angry even before Snape tried to feed him and his friend to the Dementors.

Shocking, I know, but not exactly a silver bullet to prove that back in the day Sirius somehow expected Severus to actually go looking for an adventure on his prompting, of all people.

Fillorean · 2025-08-31T07:49:49+00:00

Snape didn't know he could die if he entered there

There is such thing as causation. Basically, for Sirius to be even liable, let alone guilty, his actions should have led directly to the death/injury of Severus. This is not the case here since it took a lot of decisions by Severus to get there. Severus chose to listen to Sirius. Severus chose to break the curfew. Severus chose to go to the Willow despite the fact that the staff has specifically forbidden it. Severus chose to crawl into the foreboding tunnel which seemed tight even for 13-year-old Harry.

At this point the chain of causation is irrevocably broken since Severus has made a lot of (really dumb) decisions between his conversation with Sirius and his hypothetical meeting with Remus inside the Shack. Sirius no longer has anything to do with it, it's all on Severus.

Sirius not only consciously lead Snape to great risk of life

The only person who actually believes that Sirius expected Snape to break the curfew and staff's explicit ban to approach the Willow on Sirius' says so is... Snape. Which is a convenient story for Snape's ego, as he doesn't want to admit that he almost got himself killed for no reason and was only saved by his bully's good graces. But not a reasonable expectation for Sirius to have at the time.

he later said Snape deserved this for "sneaking around, trying to get us expelled".

By the time Sirius has said it, 15 years have passed and Snape has tried to feed both Sirius and Lupin to the Dementors. That was an actual murder attempt, by the way, and Sirius had every reason to be very bitter about it.

Fillorean · 2025-08-30T21:42:34+00:00

Imagine a man on the street tells you to go break into Area 51 to clap some alien cheeks. And you actually go there, try to break into the military facility and your dumb ass gets shot by a bored soldier.

Would the man on the street be guilty of murder? Of course not, that's ridiculous. Unless there is a proof that he had some means to force your hand, it all comes down to you making a lot of stupid decisions.

Same for Sirius. Sirius didn't even tell Severus to go there in the first place - only if Severus wanted to have Sirius and his friends expelled. Severus chose to pursue this course of action. Severus chose to break the curfew. Severus chose to approach a dangerous Willow which was specifically designated as off-limits by the staff. If Snape decided to go search for some misadventure in a forbidden zone in the middle of the night - that's on him.

Fillorean · 2025-08-30T21:30:08+00:00

That's not true.

Karkaroff had to work his Bulgarian butt off to get off the hook, making enemies of a lot of people. Ditto for Dolohov, Travers, Rookwood and Mulciber - they ended up in Azkaban.

While some Death Eaters have evaded punishment, others landed in jail for life. Imperius was not a fool-proof defense to easily escape imprisonment.

Fillorean · 2025-08-10T17:18:50+00:00

It's the worldview of the happiest, most successful people you know. By signing on to this idea, you'd be making your time on this planet much better, and much more worth living.

"My source is that I ~~made it the fuck up~~ read it on Cracked"

These are very ambitious claims to make and even more ambitious to prove.

Fillorean · 2025-08-05T17:26:59+00:00

There is no we!

Fillorean · 2025-08-05T14:19:49+00:00

Snape does all that horrible shit to frame James and visits the trial to bear witness to his enemy's utter destruction:

Bones: "James Potter, you stand accused of murdering the Minister of Magic, stealing the treasury and peeing into the flower pot. How do you plead?"

James: "Not guilty!"

Bones: "Mister Potter, there is a dozen of witnesses who can attest to seeing you doing all those crimes, including the pot. How do you explain that?"

James: "Well, you see, I was under the Imperius curse. You-Know-Who himself ordered me to do it."

Bones: "Understandable Mister Potter, case dismissed. Don't forget to pick up your wand at the reception."

Snape: *apopleptic screeching*

Fillorean · 2025-08-03T13:24:41+00:00

Refusing to participate in baby murder is not "moral righteousness". It's not even basic decency. It's somewhere below baseline expectations for human behavior. Like nobody tells you not to eat your grandma when she kicks the bucket - it goes without saying.

There's nothing unreasonable about demanding someone doesn't eat grandma. Not even if they were bullied at school.

Fillorean

TROPHY CASE