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Plot Bunny Thread V2

Discussion in 'Fanfic Discussion' started by Antivash, Apr 20, 2011.

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  1. Alindrome

    Alindrome A bigger, darker mark DLP Supporter Retired Staff

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    I'd actually really like to see this, provided it wasn't crack. That would make for potentially quite an interesting and complex villain - something we don't often have in HP.

    I assumed that killing a version of themselves would make a character stronger only if they were the one who killed them: personally I'd love to see Voldemort be the lesser threat where Harry vs. Harry was concerned - so it wouldn't be a case of Harry then Voldemort, as that would be anticlimactic.
     
  2. Little Knee

    Little Knee Seventh Year

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    ....How if it's a Voldemort, not evil!Harry, that finds out about it? This Voldemort does the dimension hopping, killing many versions of himself and somewhat become Godlike. In one dimension, after he kills his counterpart, he decides to try his power and starts destroying those world.

    Then, this world's Harry somehow knows about the dimension hopping too. He knows he's the only one that can defeats the Godlike!Voldemort because of fate, destiny, prophecy or whatever. And to do that, he himself must do dimension hopping and kills many of his versions to become stronger and can match up with the Godlike!Voldemort.

    .

    But seriously. Truth is, I don't think an idea like this will work well. Except if the purpose of the story is to show awesome/badass duel scenes, or make a character-driven story, I think it's pointless.
     
    Last edited: Aug 3, 2011
  3. Perspicacity

    Perspicacity Destroyer of Worlds ~ Prestige ~ DLP Supporter

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    There are aspects of this in a Naruto story...
    ...by SharperV, Time Braid. At the end, Kyuubi eats Narutos from parallel universes and grows additional tails, turning into an 11-tailed beast that Sakura has to face down in the grand finale.
    As Sakura-wank stories go, it's one of the more enjoyable ones.
     
  4. Thaumologist

    Thaumologist Fifth Year ~ Prestige ~

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    The One!Harry could be an interesting idea, but it would probably turn into a super!Harry fic quite quickly. And how does he get more powerful?

    Does his magical core (it's common in fanfiction. Not a recommendation) get bigger?
    Is he able to draw magic quicker?
    Or does he just get awesome kung fu skillz?

    the problem with doing The One!Harry is that in The One, he gets superpowered, and so can use his martial arts to awesome effect. Harry doesn't have martial arts training, nor any real physical fitness training, and I don't really want to read karate!Harry.

    I'm not even going to touch the magical core issue. We all know the amount of magic you have is actually linked to either your total skin area, or the amount of scrotum you have (and women steal it through sex).

    An easy way to show Harry being more powerful would be to make his spells 'bigger', or longer lasting. Maybe his stunners wear off in ten hours, rather than the normal two. Maybe his conjurations don't ever go. Maybe only Harry can finite his spells.

    A perhaps interesting way to do this (and deviate from the plot of The One), would be to have evil!competent!Harry attack protagonist!Harry early on. But protagonist!Harry is actually competent, and manages to fend off and capture evil!Harry. Prot!Harry learns what Anta!Harry is doing, before Anta!Harry escapes (both holding cell and universe. Not dimension. Those are fields of movement). Then have Pro!Harry travelling around the multiverse for a while, track his interactions killing evil!Harrys, whilst Anta!Harry is killing any Harry he comes across. Sorta like Dimension Hopping For Beginners, but with two Harrys.
     
  5. Rym

    Rym Auror

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    You could always not include the power-up part of the plot, as I agree that would be difficult to pull off without turning the characters way too powerful.

    Just say that the evil HP learns of the multiple dimensions, and based on a misreading of the prophecy, thinks that if he kills the other versions of himself that he'll become a god (it doesn't have to actually work that way) - plus the prophecy actually says: The One with the power to vanquish the dark lord...
     
  6. FreakLord

    FreakLord Professor DLP Supporter

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    Or just let the evil!Harry kill the canon!Harry and completely fuck up JKR's canon :p

    Hmm... /me opens up a word doc
     
  7. InfernoCannon

    InfernoCannon Seventh Year

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    The easiest way to give Harry a boost would be the same in the move – greater stamina, reaction times, intelligence and the like. It neatly side-steps the idea of magical cores and spell strength, but also neatly powers him up at the same time. It would also mean that spells designed to harm people physically, like cutting or blasting spells could be shrugged off more easily, whereas spells like the Stunners and AKs are still work provided they hit.

    However, it may be easier to focus on the effects that it has on Harry and his friends. Harry becoming increasingly paranoid, wondering how much his friends are being influenced by his alternative self, and they begin to worry about him as he begins to resort to more desperate measures to try and fight his alternative self.
     
  8. Little Knee

    Little Knee Seventh Year

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    Sounds like typical indy!Harry, and I think it won't work well. First, the evil!Harry won't give Prot!Harry any chance to go to gym and do muscle build-ups. He meets him, blasts him, or curses him. Either prot!Harry dies or escapes, or (like Thaumologist said) defeats evil!Harry, that's it.

    Then, I also think it's ridiculous that someone can shrugs off cutting or blasting spells just by having bigger muscles. Blasting spells would still blasts you off when they hit, and the same works for cutting spells. Nowhere in the books does it say that by having superior physique someone can shrugs off any spells more easily.
     
    Last edited: Aug 3, 2011
  9. InfernoCannon

    InfernoCannon Seventh Year

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    I was going by how the 'power-ups' happened in the film, The One. In the film, the protagonist became more powerful -greater strength, intellect, pain tolerance- as his evil self killed off more of their alternatives. It required no input at all on the protagonist's behalf, and he had no idea why he was recieving these benefits without putting the effort in. So Harry doesn't actually need to visit the gym and do muslce build-ups - it's automatic and completely beyond his control.

    And I didn't mean that a superior physique would result in the spells being less effective, but rather that Harry's pain tolerance and resilience would increase as they did in the film. A cutting spell would still cut him, yes, but it wouldn't appear to be as painful as it would have done otherwise. As such, instead of being distracted by the rather intense pain, reducing his ability to fight, he's able to ignore the pain more easily and fight more effectively as a result.
     
  10. Little Knee

    Little Knee Seventh Year

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    Ah, I see. So the plot will be very similar to The One movie: an evil!Harry that kills so many version of himself, and targets the last Harry who also experiences increase in his ability for each Harry that evil!Harry kills. It all makes sense now, thanks.

    Still, I do think that the only way that will makes the story about The One!Harry really good is by making it more action-focused. It needs someone who's really good in writing battle scenes in a story to really brings this idea alive, and I believe many authors here are capable of doing that. But one thing that still bugged me is what would become of Voldemort in the middle of this? Would he be shrugged off while the two Harrys are doing their *epic* battle? Or would he meddle into their fight, and somehow kills one of the Harry, making the other Harry become The One?

    Suddenly, I'm becoming very interested in this idea.
     
  11. Jibril

    Jibril Headmaster

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    Or maybe alter!Harry is just desperate. He believes that only be uniting the Deathly Hallows he will be able to defeat Voldemort. But the problem lies in that, that in his universe the Hallows were destroyed. The Ring is a Horcrux. The Cloak burned down. And the power of the wand was broken when Albus Dumbledore died peacefully in his sleep in 1995. Discovering the means to travel to other dimensions he concludes that the Hallows from other universes could also give him the powers of Master of Death.

    Therefore he embarks on a journey to find a suitable universe, locate the Hallows and murder their owners so he can take their power. Unfortunately the first universe he wandered into was an dystopian Voldemort-run totalitarian regime with Voldemort as a living god. Alter!Harry quickly evacuates and goes into another universe but that also isn't to his liking (no-magic). And now he emerges in protagonist!Harrys' universe were he hopes to find all the Hallows.
     
  12. Portus

    Portus Heir

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    I had a similar plot bunny, and haven't posted it before now because I had once hoped to include it in the super-mega-ultra-epic story that was going to be the be-all-end-all of HP epics. I've barely started it, and the outline (such as it is) has been changed, shortened, lengthened, pared down and scrapped so many times, I don't know exactly what's made the latest cut. I'd hoped to write just one multi-chaptered fic and include all my ideas, but once I realized that was going to be (a) bloated and utter shit and (b) never ever completed, I decided to limit the scope.

    My idea was similar to the one above, but would have revolved around the Norse tales of the Nine Worlds of Nordic and other mythologies, because a finite number of worlds appealed to me.

    The idea for me was things played out exactly as in canon through DH, and afterward, Harry decides to not become an Auror, because that's just dumb for someone trying to remain undefeated and break the power of the Elder Wand. (Note: I don't buy that whole spiel about the Wand, but that's the bunny so far.) Harry does, however, study magic as he never has before, in the anticipation of being at the top of the "To Do" list of every ambitious young (and old) wizard on earth in search of power.

    Cue the original plot line (which I won't divulge here, since it's still may main focus of what's left of the large story), but thrown in the mix is the appearance of some very strange people, all looking for the Hallows. A very different - and very much alive - Remus shows up, having crossed over from his home dimension in search of a storied wand, as a last-ditch effort to allow the prophecied but gravely injured Harry from his world to defeat his Voldemort. A plus would be an extra subplot of there being no Teddy in that other world, and perhaps a dead Tonks.

    A darker and more cynical Harry arrives from another world to retrieve the Stone, hoping to resurrect his dead Dumbledore to help defeat *his* Voldemort. The Harry from canon knows this is a fool's errand, but also knows that letting cynical!Harry have the Stone would at least break up the Master of Death thing in his own world. (Note: again, I don't like the MoD as anything but a metaphor, but this is the bunny.)

    Perhaps Sirius or maybe even an alive! James and/or Lily appear in hopes of taking one or all the Hallows to assist their prophecy burdened son/godson against their world's Voldemort. Canon Harry would be even more conflicted on this one, especially if he doesn't believe in any special power of the Hallows.

    An author could go several ways with the rest of the Nine Worlds, having an alive!Tonks be the John Connor from another world come looking for the Hallows, and perhaps learn of the fate of canon Remus and herself, as well as Teddy, or have her meet alt!Remus from above, or even have the story veer off towards Honks.

    Could go with several more alt!Harrys, an alternate Hermione, Ron, even Mr. Weasley or, for maximum badassery, alternate Dumbledore or Moody (my favorite options). Maybe Harry is actually dead on one or more worlds, or maybe he's not even The Chosen One there. Lots of possibilities.

    My feeling for this bunny - and for limiting the worlds - was that (1) you can limit the number of alt!characters you have to keep track of, and (2) that the canon Hallows only actually existed in one of the Nine Worlds, and did actually contain some unknown power when wielded by one person. No one knows what that power is, and there are perhaps different myths about the Hallow(s) for some worlds than others, leading someone like the cynical!Harry to only seek the Stone, etc.

    One idea for the "power" of the Hallows was that the owner of all three could travel to any of the other worlds at will, whereas the Hallows Seekers (a cheesy name I came up with) were only able to travel from their own world to the world where the Hallow(s) actually are, and could only travel back after getting the Hallow(s) they were after.

    I felt the stress of all these people wanting the same thing(s) but for several different agendas would make for a lot of tension in the story. Suppose canon Harry - suddenly in possession of some great and unknown power (again) - decides he can't just ignore it all and agrees to help. Who does he help first? Remus, whose Harry is dying and hopelessly outclassed? Sirius/James/Lily, since the attachment there would be so great? Tonks, if it's a Honks-leaning fic, or just because of Teddy? Even more dramatic tension as this ragtag band of folks embark on a LOTR-style jaunt to walk into several Mordors, so to speak.

    I can imagine alt!Remus or alt!Harry being less than enthused about waiting their turn or slowing down to help a wounded, say, alt!Hermione when leaving her to die might get the rest of the team to his own home world faster. You know, that whole the-clock-is-ticking-bitch situation.

    If anyone wants to run with it, feel free. I might try to write it as its own story someday, if I ever give up on my other story or, y'know, even finish it...
     
  13. Rym

    Rym Auror

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    If you don't write that story you're talking about, Portus, I'll be really disappointed.
     
  14. Ray

    Ray Second Year

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    I am getting massive Unlimited Blade Works vibes from this.

    "I am you, Harry Potter! I am the pinnacle of your dream!"

    Harry clenched his fists. "No... no, I will not lose to you! I don't mind losing to someone else... but I can't lose against myself!"

    *theme song*
     
  15. Jormungandr

    Jormungandr Prisoner

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    Heh, Blade!Harry.

    Huh...just watched the first film about an hour ago.
     
  16. Ray

    Ray Second Year

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    Plot idea ("bunny" just sounds so fangirlish and trite): An HP story based on the plot of Umineko no Naku Koro Ni (the parts of it that aren't about genitally mutilated incest-babies and unmarried women going to hell, anyway).

    Not sure if I'll write it, but I want to get the idea out of my head. It branches off with Voldemort's death by assuming that he didn't make Horcruxes, which means he's killed for good. Harry's parents still die, and the plots of books 1-4 proceed as normal with a few changes - Quirrell was merely a psychopath, instead of possessed, and Crouch Jr.'s actions were independent of Voldemort and merely a terrorist action meant to take revenge against Harry and Dumbledore for the death of his master. Cedric still died, at Crouch's hands. Beyond that, canon is mostly the same.

    This has a purpose - there is going to be an important central villain to all of this, and no new villain can really be worked in comfortably if Voldemort is still around.

    Another central assumption is that Dumbledore loved Ariana even more than canonically stated (perhaps to the point of obsession), and has (or believes he has) enough magic to try to bring her back from the dead. The idea also assumes that Ariana was (or that Dumbledore believes she was) a much more controlled, powerful witch than in canon.

    The whole thing begins at the start of year 5 on a stormy night that ensures most of the students are inside the castle. Dumbledore contemplates an unmoving portrait of Ariana in his office, and sets his plan into motion.

    Meanwhile, Harry, Ron, and Hermione (alternatively, it's Harry and Luna; with Ron and Hermione inside the castle) were caught by the storm in Hagrid's hut. It's still before curfew, so they decide to try and wait out the rain inside, chatting with Hagrid while the man chugs a bottle of wine. Hagrid reveals to them that the centaurs have been jittery of late, complaining about a strange kind of solid ghost wandering the forest and scaring the unicorns. He theorizes it's just a poltergeist that migrated to the Hogwarts grounds when the building it was haunting got demolished.

    As soon as he says that, though, something slams against the door of his hut, hard. Fang loses his shit, and starts barking like crazy. Hagrid opens the door, and the group finds a large bloody sack.

    Inside is a mutilated corpse. It could be anyone. I'm thinking a minor character like Ernie McMillan, since the first murder is the least important, but if anyone has an idea of what could make an impact, feel free to speak.

    Of course the situation turns sour, then. Hagrid rushes Harry and company into the castle, then orders them to their common room while he goes to fetch Dumbledore.

    Shell-shocked and with few other options, Harry's group moves to their common room, but are attacked by a massive beast (perhaps a giant goat-man, as a reference to the original inspiration?) in the corridors. They try to fight it off, but it pushes them into the Great Hall.

    There, the doors slam shut. Harry and co., along with a group of students earlier trapped there (likely including Malfoy and his cronies) are stuck in the Hall.

    But not for long. Soon enough, the doors open, and a young woman in a long, elaborate dress steps in. She's flanked by two of the goat-men. Harry here would notice that there is something odd about her that reminds her of Tom Riddle's memory back in CoS - she appears to physically exist, but when examined closely her outline is fuzzy, as though she weren't quite real yet.

    The woman identifies herself as Ariana (without a last name given, this would be a completely meaningless name for Harry at this point). She claims to be a powerful witch who had been banished long ago, but has finally gathered enough power to return to the physical world, albeit with limited influence. However, she will be able to fully resurrect by taking the blood and flesh of the many students in the castle (this supposedly explains why the bodies found are all so thoroughly mangled).

    However, the terms of her resurrection ritual prioritize equivalence, as she thoroughly believes in fair play. She gives any student who dares an objective, or perhaps a puzzle, that will require them to make their way through the school while avoiding the death and chaos she is visiting on it.

    If they manage to fulfill the objective, or solve the puzzle, they will have beaten her, and she will stop the massacre and grant a boon to the 'hero'.

    If they fail, the whole school gets turned into blood kool-aid and is absorbed by her resurrection.

    There is no one to help the students but themselves. She claims Dumbledore's office is sealed shut, and the teaching staff has been put out of commission - either trapped somewhere, or dead.

    Harry, of course, takes the challenge and tries to stop her, and the story kicks off.

    What do you guys think?
     
    Last edited: Aug 4, 2011
  17. T3t

    T3t Purple Beast of DLP ~ Prestige ~ DLP Supporter

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    It would make for a pretty interesting (lengthy) one-shot, but probably not a full story. Or, I suppose, something resembling a short 6-episode serial. But yeah, the idea is pretty interesting, though figuring out how to take Dumbledore/everybody else out of the picture would be tricky. Even if Dumbledore was obsessed, I find it difficult to believe that he would act so rashly as to miss something that could have such results.
     
  18. Zeitgeist

    Zeitgeist High Inquisitor

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    Plot Bunny (Solaceon's Third) - The Diadem as an Object of Corruption

    Has anyone written a story in which somebody obtains the Diadem before DH? It occurs to me that it's merely sitting in the Room of Requirement; there were plenty of opportunities in the earlier books for a character to stumble upon the thing without knowing what it was. HBP is particularly striking, since Draco would have had plenty of chances to spot it, as he alludes in DH, and even Harry could have spotted it when he tried to dispose the Prince's book.

    The potential of the Diadem is scary; it seems innocuous enough, and unlike the Diary, exposure is pretty easy: just put it on.

    I personally like to think that the Horcrux magics wouldn't have tampered too much with the intrinsic powers of the Diadem, which probably involve the granting of knowledge.

    The Diadem, imo, is probably one of the easier ways to corrupt Harry. o_O;; Dark Lord Potter, anyone?

    EDIT: A very horrifying idea. What if Luna stumbled upon the Diadem? She would have known what it was, because of her father, and would be therefore more likely to give it a quick try... A Dark!Luna: twice the craziness of Bellatrix with added serenity.
     
    Last edited: Aug 4, 2011
  19. T3t

    T3t Purple Beast of DLP ~ Prestige ~ DLP Supporter

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    Yes, I believe JBern's "Inner Eye" has that as a plot point. Not exactly a spoiler because it's pretty obvious from when it appears. Also, Seratin started a story - Diadem, but we never got to the point where we see how important it is.
     
  20. Oruma

    Oruma Order Member

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    Try Jbern's Inner Eye of Harry Potter. The victim's Padma in his fifth year.
    /ninja'd

    I also had a bunny, I think I placed it here before; basically at the end of GoF, Harry defeated and vanquished wraith!Voldemort, which caused all remaining Horcruxes to activate.
    Dumbledore, while investigating to ensure that Voldemort is truly dead, found and was caught by (though he fought the effects of) the Ring; Sirius found and was possessed by the Locket; Griphook (everyone's favourite Goblin) the Cup from the Lestrange Vault, Nagini mutated into a serpentine female creature, and Luna found the Diadem while looking for her things in the RoR. Cue multi-Voldemorts VS Harry and each other.
    ----------
    Another idea that at the moment, only had the start but no plot to attach to:

    During DH on the run, the trio ran into Dean Thomas, Ted Tonks and co. Instead of spying on them Harry invited the group to join them; in their excitement Harry and Hermione forgot to get the Locket off Ron, and a link was forged between Ron and the Locket, even when he took it off later. Now the group got bigger but also, more unstable due to semi-possessed Ron, as well as the self-serving goblins in the mix.
    One important event would be the actually planned break-in of Malfoy Manor to rescue Luna, Ollivander & struck a blow against the Death Eaters, but like I said, I don't have a decent plot to attach to it. Suggestions, criticisms, etc please?
     
    Last edited: Aug 4, 2011
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