Title: Eternal Return
Author: Silver Pard
Rating: K+
Genre: General
DLP Category: The Alternates
Pairing: None
Words: 4,283
Published: December 19, 2008
Status: Oneshot
Summary: For the Greater Good. Harry understands this.
Link: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4726291/1/

Bad things happen to those who meddle with time. Harry knows this all too well. An interesting twist on the cookie-cutter "back in time" fic.



Checked by Minion, January 1, 2013

 

Very interesting and enjoyable one-shot!

Spoiler

In effect, Harry is Voldemort, and all those things he thinks are things he thought Voldemort said or did, are in fact things he said or did. At what point is he Harry Potter and is he Voldemort? Or does it even matter anymore, the difference so ambiguous so as to make any division arbitrary and meaningless?

This reminds me precisely of another excellent (longer) time-travel story in the "For Review" section right now: "Destiny Redefined." Harry has fallen prey to a "Predestination Paradox." His memories of how Voldemort acted ensures the way that he acts like Voldemort which ensures how Harry remembers them and ad infinitum.

And in a cruel, turnabout way, he has achieved immortality - so long as he continues the vicious circle, it will continue forevermore. Ergo, the title "Eternal Return."

5/5.

 

Read it, loved it. If this was a chaptered fic. it'd take the place of circular reasoning as my favorite time travel story. Even as a one-shot, though, it's still fairly awesome. Kudos on the find INBN. 5/5

 

It broke my mind a little.
5/5

 

A brilliant bit of business, here. 5/5

 

He writes some pretty good stuff doesn't he? Very good this. 5/5

 

Awesome oneshot, even if I've seen a few better. Starts off fairly understandable, but it really took a bit of thinking to comprehend it especially near the end. 5/5

 

Spoiler

It's reminiscent of Stephen King's Dark Tower series, but with a twist. The main difference is that Harry!Tom remembers, and Roland doesn't-- removing the conflict from the story and making it a writing exercise.

3 stars for a good show.

 

Blow my mind. I always thought someone would be writing up on this plot line sooner or later. This is wonderfully done and deserves a 5/5. The title was a fitting foreshadowing.

 

Very awesome oneshot. Depressing of course, but this author is reknowned for that. Focuses on antiParadoxical outlook. Loved it.

 

5/5

Possibly the best one-shot I've encountered, and one of the most thought provoking ones.

Reading through the reviews on FFN, it seems some misunderstood the fic (or maybe it was me).

Spoiler

The way I see it, Harry Potter is Lord Voldemort.

 

Pretty much yeah. At least, that's my interpretation of it.

 

Spoiler

It is because Harry!Tom remembers that gives the story its charm. Otherwise, there would be no conflict for the direction in which the author took the story.

5/5 for very tight writing and flow

 

A magnificent work, definitely one of the best one-shots I've seen. 5/5

 

I love stories like these. I love watching time, cause, and effect unravel. There is an added plus, that Voldemort's intentions are explained clearly.

I watched The Lake House the other day to amuse me with its bad plot. It was crap, way more than I thought it would be. It was a romance movie staring Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock who wrote to each other two years apart and fall in love because they live in the same house. Or something.
True, I knew it would be crap when I started watching it, (see Keanu) but damn.

Therefore I can't rate this... anything would get a 5/5 for me after watching The Lake House.

 

I could have sworn I read this more than a year ago. Oh well.

Really good, indeed. Not much more to say, actually...

 

I don't normally get into Oneshots, but this was a very nice read.

5/5

 

I'm going to be a sole dissenter.

The premise was given in the first few lines of the story. The rest was simply a writing exercise. You could have not read the rest of the story and still ended up with the same reaction.

The author took one idea and just extended to the end. It has no conflict.

4/5 for the writing, but 2/5 for originality and entertainment. It's well-written, but simply lacks a punch - the twist was given in the beginning and explained.

3/5

 

It's your own fault for watching anything - save Bill & Ted or the first Matrix movie - with Keanu Reeves in it. He has all the acting chops of a mannequin. I suppose the first Speed was okay, since it had Sandra Bullock and Dennis Hopper in it, since she's hot and Hopper is just cool as hell. Well, he was, before he started making Baby Boomer retirement commercials...

As for the story, I liked it, and it was unique in that Harry-as-Voldemort lived Tom Riddle's life as he had heard about it, on the premise that if he changed things, the ramifications might be even worse, according to what McGonagall or Hermione had told him. That indecision is what locks him into the cycle, presumably forever.

Depressing, really, but I thought it was well done and would highly recommend it.

 

From the reviews I was expecting something a whole lot better. It's decent but not ground breaking, it's been done before and a damn sight better.

3/5