Comment by graphene on Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, part 17, chapter 86 · 2013-02-24T18:52:11.706Z · LW · GW

"Voldemort seems like a fine bogey man to be destroyed by some hero, who is then crowned king"

Yes, and when Quirrell hears that Harry is being kept in Hogwarts due to the threat of Voldemort, Quirell specifically - and immediately - comes up with a plan to allow Harry to leave, by creating a "fake Voldemort" that Harry can defeat, ideally in a way that "leaves the [legend] open for future re-use".

So there may be an as-yet-unnamed Dark Wizard who has the personas of Voldemort and David Monroe. This Voldemort may either be him in disguise, or a person created by him, much as Bellatrix is an engineered persona. This person may have initially planned to be "crowned" after he defeated Voldemort, but it looks like he just "gave up" at some point.

He then hears about Harry, and is curious if Harry can help him "do it right" or if he can help Harry achieve a comparable success.