Barty Crouch Jr., while impersonating Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody, had Moody's Foe-Glass in his office during Harry Potter's fourth year at Hogwarts. Near the end of the book, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire , the Foe-Glass shows Albus Dumbledore, Minerva McGonagall, and Severus Snape just before they burst into the room to arrest Barty Crouch Jr. Barty Jr. had an entire year to learn about the Foe-Glass. He could have told Voldemort on any day that year about the Foe-Glass. If he did tell his master, I am sure Voldemort would have insisted on keeping the device for himself. Voldemort could use the device to find out if any Death Eaters near him are really enemies. Although the harrypotter.wikia.com page says the Foe-Glass is a dark detector, we know from this question and from the book itself that it shows the foes of whomever physically possesses it. There is no indication he ever told Voldemort about it. Why not? Answer Probably because it was not unique When ...

Years ago I read a book about a near miss by an asteroid or comet. I don’t remember the name or author but I remember three things. Travelers go to Chicago and find it empty and Lake Michigan had tilted and the flood ran through the city. Astronauts that were stranded came back and ended up landing their capsule in Disneyland. And at the very end, train travel was the best way to get around and two of the characters were on their way to the dedication of the new Capitol building in DC. Answer Could it have been Lucifer's Hammer by Larry Nivens and Jerry Pournelle? That book had massive destruction on Earth and many extreme right-wing political commentaries. (One character explicitly thinks that despite the deaths of billions, on the bright side feminism is gone).

A few questions regarding the Horcruxes. Had Voldemort actually succeeded in using a Horcrux, would he come back the same age (biologically and/or aesthetically) he was when he made the Horcrux, or the age he would biologically be if he had never died (half died)? If Harry was a Horcrux, then in the graveyard, when Wormtail added Harry's blood to the potion to bring Voldemort back, didn't that technically use up the Horcrux inside of Harry? So in Deathly Hallows when Voldemort kills Harry, shouldn't Harry have actually died rather than just have the Horcrux inside him destroyed, seeing as it was technically used in the Goblet of Fire ?

Everyone has their own opinions but to me Star Wars: The Force Awakens felt like it was previous movies stitched together. How many scenes are essential copy cat ideas of previous films (excluding A New Hope)? Possible scenes The Millenium Falcon being sucked up and Rey and Finn hiding under the bridge (same as Luke and Han Solo), the BB-8 essentially having secret information (R2-D2 & C3P-O had similar information), and the death planet being blown up (similar to the Death Star). This is rather similar although I am explicitly excluding "A New Hope" so it should be different. Answer To say the film is a patchwork or rehash of old ideas is to misunderstand the very nature of the narrative style employed in the overall scope of the main series to begin with. Rooted in eastern mysticism: its cyclical. The same themes, ideas, etc...will always be at play Certainly most of the comparisons will be with A New Hope because this is the first film in the new trilogy - however,...

I'm asking for a friend, a wizard who until recently worked at the Apothecary in Diagon Alley, but is really interested in banking, like his Muggle cousin who made millions of dollars working for a bank. Anyway, he's trying to stay local in DiagonAlley, and he wants to know if they employ non-goblins before he tries for an interview. Thanks! Answer Gringotts offers several jobs opportunities to non-Goblins, but they may not help your friend so much. Dragons They say there’s dragons guardin’ the high security vaults ( Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Chapter 5 ) Sphinxes GRIPE WITH GRINGOTT’S BANK Dear Sir, Am I alone in wondering why Gringott’s Bank has recently (...) I was taken aback to find one of these creatures standing guard outside my own vault on my last visit. (...) As I failed to answer every one of the sphinx’s riddles, I was unable to get past it to my gold. -- Mallory Twiddle ( Daily Prophet 1 , " Gripe with Gringott's Bank " ) Security...

I read a story a long time ago that I'm trying to find. My memory of this story is very tenuous, but I think it had the following elements: I think it was a short story There was some type of alien invasion, and the aliens created a base on the moon A young woman was the sole carrier of the knowledge of a forgotten weapon, and she was called the "Keeper of the AKKA" (or something similar) The weapon was easy to build with one hard-to-find component (some rare metal I think?), and she built it after obtaining this piece The weapon's active mode was very "boring" in the sense that it just sat there pointed at the moon, making no sound or visible motion A few minutes later the surface of the moon started glowing green and the alien base on the moon was destroyed There's a pretty good chance I'm misremembering some part of the above. Does this ring a bell for anyone? Answer You have described The Legion of Space , a novel (short by today's standar...

Is there any indication of what the Structural Integrity Field is actually made of?

I remember reading a book around 1990 that was a first-in-series story in which the World Health Organization released a formula into the global food supply that resulted in every child who hadn't yet reached puberty being made effectively immortal. They still grew up, but never aged. I remember that the protagonist had a brother a year older or so who barely missed having the formula take effect on him. All of the affected children were gathered into communes for their own protection (jealous older people sometimes murdered them otherwise). Eventually the mortal population died off as the immortal generation worked to govern themselves. The implication at the end of the first book was that humanity was in trouble because immortality made people less interested in progress and enlightenment. Also, there was a child with strong sociopathic tendencies who was being set up as a future villain in the series. I think the author was a woman, but I can't recall her name, and I have no...

Under the marvel-comics tag I have seen many questions on earth-616. Are there any other versions of earth as well? How do they differ from each other? Answer There are many, many more - there is a list of them on the Marvel wikia . The main ones are: Earth-616 - Main Marvel Universe Earth-1610 - Ultimate Marvel Earth-148611 - New Universe (Home reality of Justice, Nightmask, Star Brand and Spitfire and the Troubleshooters.) Earth-555 - newuniversal (reboot of the above) Earth-45828 - Razorline (Clive Barker's Razorline imprint) Earth-88194 - Shadowline (Home reality of Doctor Zero, Power Line, and St. George and origin of Terror) Earth-93060 - Ultraverse (Malibu Comics) Earth-818793 - Army of Darkness Earth-8311 - Larval Universe (spider-ham etc) Earth-928 - Marvel 2099 Earth-295 - Age of Apocalypse Earth-982 - MC2 Earth-92131 - Marvel Animated (X-Men: The Animated Series) Earth-199999 - Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) Earth-2149 - Marvel Zombies More difference detail on wikip...

In the original trilogy, the Empire Officers are mostly older men. However, as we see in The Force Awakens, most of the officers are much younger. Does this have to do with casting, or does the First Order have some reason for all of younger people in high positions? Answer First of all, let's dispense with the uber-obvious out-of-universe reason: Darth Mickey and their commercial strategy (including target demographics); and skip straight to the interesting in-universe stuff. I would also like to point out that other top-flight commanders aren't always old: from out-of-universe Alexander the Great and his Companions; to in-universe, just-starting-Empire's 25 year old newly minted Darth Vader and reasonably young Tarkin. It's hard to say "why" in general - other than my general impression from bits and pieces is that First Order isn't all that huge [1] so the human resource pickings may be slimmish - BUT: General Hux : According to Visual Dictionary (p...

Identification of young adult dystopian novel, possibly written in 1960s, where all inhabitants of a city lived under glass dome and wore id tracking bracelets.

Is there anywhere (in canon) where the Doctor's real name is ever revealed? I know that several people do know it or learn it at some point (like the Master, River, and Clara for example), but is it ever revealed to us? Answer The Doctor's name is unknown. The true name of Doctor Who is one of the great mysteries of the series (e.g. see here ). Steven Moffat, the executive producer, has said the Doctor's real name is Mildred , but this is generally assumed to be a joke. (Rule #0: the Moffat lies.) In Series 9, the Doctor tells Osgood that his first name is Basil , but this is presumably also a joke. (Rule #1: the Doctor lies.) In Series 10, it is claimed that his real name is Doctor Who : BILL: So, why do you keep calling yourself Doctor Who? MISSY: Because I'm pretending to be him. Because that's the whole point of this ridiculous exercise. [...] BILL: Yeah, but he's called the Doctor, so MISSY: He says, I'm the Doctor, and they say, Doctor who? See, I...

Does Hogwarts have its own anthem or song? If yes, what are the lyrics of that song? I want to know that if anything about a song or anthem is mentioned in the books. Answer As seen in the book Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone , Hogwarts has a school song . Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hoggy Warty Hogwarts, Teach us something please, Whether we be old and bald Or young with scabby knees, Our heads could do with filling With some interesting stuff, For now they’re bare and full of air, Dead flies and bits of fluff, So teach us things worth knowing, Bring back what we’ve forgot, Just do your best, we’ll do the rest, And learn until our brains all rot. It's sung to whatever tune you want, at whatever volume you please, and presumably sounds horrible. ‘Everyone pick their favourite tune,’ said Dumbledore, ‘and off we go!’ And the school bellowed: There's also a distinct lack of meter. Everybody finished the song at different times. At last, only the Weasley twins were left sin...

A group of people are exploring a huge spaceship. They are worried about supplies until they find cubbies that duplicate anything put into them. They discover this by someone placing their hand inside one of the cubbies and it duplicates their hand. Specifically, once something is placed in the cubby, whenever it is removed it is immediately replaced. So there's now always a hand in the cubby. Definitely True Everything in the above paragraph Read it more than 10 years ago. I think... I read it approximately 15 years ago. I have no idea how old it was when I read it. The ship was discovered in a glacier, or the arctic or something, which was reflected on the cover. It may have not been a spaceship exactly. I think there may have been interdimensional/tranporting doors and they were unable to go back the way they came. I did not finish the book and would like to now, so I will not be able to answer clarification questions about later plot points and would prefer to avoid spoilers. ...

Written in 1989 or before, overall, the novel is about a world where people can have various minor powers and the more powerful ones have control over elements and they are called elementals – fire, etc. The most powerful and very rare ones have the power over all the elements. The novel starts off with a boy playing in the woods and he hears noises and screams from his village being destroyed. He goes on the run and is rescued or protected by an (adult female?) archer perhaps called Archer . The archer has the minor power ability to steer or adjust the aim of her arrows with her mind. Later in the book when the boy gets scared and is stuck in a cave or tunnel I think he manages to produce a small flame on the palm of his hand – therefore he realizes he is a fire elemental. I think the cover of the book is an illustration of a hand with a flame over it. He doesn't have much control over it but throughout time her gets more control over the power and eventually discovers he is a fu...

The everyday infantry droids in the Star Wars prequels and The Clone Wars TV series are dumb as rocks. They are constantly confused, hoodwinked and bamboozled by paper-thin schemes, when they aren't tripping over their own feet into disaster. Yet more advanced droids, like assassin droids, protocol droids and astromechs like C-3PO and R2-D2 are highly intelligent, and referred to as "a dime a dozen" by Obi-Wan (Downfall of a Droid, Clone Wars 1-6). Is there an in-universe explanation of why the Separatists don't equip the infantry droids with better programming? Answer B1 battle droids are less intelligent because they didn't need to be smart, nor were they designed to be. As a matter of fact, they were originally designed to be coordinated by a Droid Control Ship which would coordinate and direct their strategy, fire patterns and overall tactical movement. B1 Battle Droid's Role in Combat The B1's role in combat was to keep blaster fire in the air, abs...

I've looked, but I haven't found any evidence indicating that one needs to be of the Targaryen name (or even of the Targaryen blood) to hatch a dragon. You need fire and (a sacrifice of) blood, as the House words describe, but that's where the relation to House Targaryen appears to end. That being said, the whole immunity to fire thing probably makes raising said dragon much, much easier. Answer No one doesn't need to be a Targaryen. In ancient Valyria, Targaryens were one of forty Freeholder families who all owned dragons. Targaryens were one of the most minor Valyrian families. Before Doom of Valyria, they fled to Dragonstone and escaped the fate that befell the rest of Valyria , with her proudest dynasties. So since all of them had dragons, it should be clear that being a Targaryen is not needed. In Westeros, Princess Rhaenyra's sons Lucerys , Jacaerys and Joffrey successfully hatched dragon eggs even though all of them were Velaryons 1 . It was rumored th...

Did Sauron's Cave Trolls that roamed about under the shadows in and around Mordor turn to stone when shadows were lifted? Are all Trolls affected like Bert, Tom, and William in The Hobbit? Answer There are different types of trolls, and for each their reaction to sunlight may be different: From what I've read Stone Trolls turn to stone, and from that I can only guess so might cave trolls; I can only find ambiguous information. Olog-hai are the troll equivalent to Uruk-hai, and the only ones who are explicitly stated not to turn to stone whilst 'under the sway of Sauron's will'. Either: Cave Trolls behave like Olog-hai, and whilst controlled by Sauron they do not petrify. Cave Trolls do not turn to stone in sunlight, regardless of Sauron's control. My reading of Tolkien, An Illustrated Encyclopedia seems to imply that all trolls, besides Olog-hai are crafted from the same spell Melkor cast in the first age of starlight (before the age of sun), and thus they...

I was always under the impression that a cyborg was a being, partially robotic partially flesh. Wikipedia backs me up here : A cyborg, short for " cybernetic organism ", is a being with both biological and artificial (e.g. electronic, mechanical or robotic) parts. The term was coined in 1960 when Manfred Clynes and Nathan S. Kline used it in an article about the advantages of self-regulating human-machine systems in outer space. In another question & answer session here on SE, a comment alerted me to the point that Terminator's always refer to themselves as cyborgs. I'm aware they have 'organic disguise layer'. But is that truly enough to consider them cyborgs? Answer It is the combination of living and mechanical components that makes them cyborgs. The outer-tissue is also interactive with the endoskeleton inside. As the Terminator from Terminator 2 says: “I sense injuries. The data could be called pain.” Implying a bio-mechanical feedback from the ski...

There's a very specific book that I would like to re-read, it's been almost 5 years since I've read it and I cant find it on google. It's about 2 kids, who are faced with a world-ending scenario. The earth creates macrophages to eat humans, and transports them using a mist of sorts. Near the end they discover a signal from the future, and end up sending their own signal back in time. I'm sorry I cant be more specific, that's all I remember.

My children asked me about the oldest movie I can remember (as a kid). It is a movie from before 1977 (probably mid 60's - early 70's) about a house where (children? owners?) were not taking care of the home appliances (I do not remember how exactly, but I think by not cleaning them, etc.) This home equipment, one day, decided to revolt against the owners and attack them. I am sure the TV was part of the plot, and probably a vacuum cleaner. I know that sounds like a comedy but it was not one, and what is left of the 5-6 years old boy in me is still terrified. Sorry for not having more details but my brain probably erased them. It may have been a short movie ( The Twilight Zone - like) and it was broadcast in Europe (in France I think, may have been Poland or Germany). I tried to Google for "home appliance attack" and this indeed brings a movie, but from the 00's.

Is the Adventure Time comic from KaBOOM! canon with the television show? Answer From Ryan Q. North's Tumblr : Pretty much! Here’s the longer, more satisfying answer! The initial outlines, final scripts, and finished comic pages all go to Pen for approval, and there’s certain scenes that we go back and forth on together. In Issue 4 (out now!), there’s a page (and you’ll know it when you see it) that actually took several drafts because we wanted to make sure it was perfect AND would fit in with not just with what’s been aired (the easy part) but also with what’s GOING to be aired a few seasons out (the harder part!). (There was actually one detail that we changed just before the issue went to print, as the show writers had just come up with an awesome idea for an episode that would’ve contradicted this page in a minor way. The bottom line is this: we want everything to fit. We want the comic to be like an episode of the show, and for nothing to jar you out of that! ) THAT SAID, th...

I vaguely remember watching a fantasy series when I was a kid. All I remember is a scene of doctors wearing all red, they have red gloves which are able to go inside people. For the life of me I cannot remember the name or anything else from this series.

..along with a couple of other misfits whom the council or somesuch feels are simply not appropriate people to be members of their village. Of course the group of exiles spot invaders and are instrumental in their defeat. It was a childrens novel I read in the seventies and would love to have my own children read. There were simple line illustrations. I seem to recall an embossed seal on the cover implying it was some kind of award winner. Answer I believe this might be The Gammage Cup (also published as The Minnipins ) by Carol Kendall, a Newberry Honor book published in 1959. (Does anyone else get the feeling that this question was asked here before? I can't find anything by searching, but still...)

I remember a short screening at movie world around 2003-2006 that sparked my memory of a giant man-bat with lower human limbs.I don't believe the excerpt was linked to any horror genre as I was fairly young when my parents took me. I only recall a particular scene where the creature has its wings outstretched in a cave and a swarm of normal bats circling around it. Prior to my memory of that scene there were two men (one young, one elderly) who were about to enter its territory whose intents were harmless; they were possibly seeking advice/wisdom from the creature.

Hagrid is seen all over the country throughout the series. Normal wizards travel by apparating, floo powder, brooms, and (occasionally) muggle transportation. Hagrid appears to big to use the floo network, he can't ride a broom, and cannot legally apparate. So how does he get to London from Hogwarts which is located in Scotland? Answer The only transportation Hagrid is ever shown to use in canon are: Sirius' flying motorbike (in PS when he delivers baby Harry to Privet drive, and DH during Battle of Seven Potters); Muggle subway in PS when he takes Harry to Diagon Alley. However, that was a new experience for him: Although Hagrid seemed to know where he was going, he was obviously not used to getting there in an ordinary way . However, we can add to your list the following possibilities: a possibility of MoM portkeys - while it's not detailed in book canon, my impression from Pottermore is that portkeys are definitely used for travel to preset destinations (and if the...

During Morpheus' interrogation, Smith asks the other agents to leave the room. But they all had the same goals: they were looking for what Smith was looking for, even Tank says so. The agents wanted to get into Zion's main frame to destroy it because Tank says Zion is more important than Morpheus. Why exactly does Smith ask the agents to leave the room? I don't get it. I know that he declares his hatred for humanity and the Matrix but they were going to destroy Zion anyway (at least that is what I understand from what Tank says). So I honestly don't understand this fear Smith has when the agents come back into the room, if all three wanted the same thing. Granted Smith is more emotional and human than the others, but is there more to it?

In season 6 episode 7 of Game of Thrones Queen Margaery secretly passed a note with a drawing of a rose to her grandmother What did the rose mean? clearly it means that she is in it for the long game and is not really a true follower but was it also some reference to an earlier moment?

I saw a video on YouTube showing the file on Agent Smith's desk talking about how Neo's birthdate was on September 11th. It's hard to read, and I’m not sure if this was conspiracy, truth, or half-truth. Was this in the original movie at theatres then edited out by machine AI after the attacks? Are there connections? This might not be too relevant, but the main question is: is the birthdate of "Thomas Anderson" the 11th of September? Answer No. The date of expiration on his passport is 9/11/01 (11th September 2001). The date of issuance is 9/12/91 (12th September 1991), precisely 20 years (minus one day) after his date of birth on 9/13/71 (13th September 1971). Interestingly the date of birth on his security file is different, 03/11/62 (11th March 1962). Chalk this one down to a simple production error.

I can't remember whether Filch was even mentioned during the last book. Given the Ministry's strong rules against Muggle-borns, it could be assumed they might have somehow tried to dispose of squibs as well, but it seems unlikely, since at least in the school he would be under the teachers' protection. Was he a participant during or before the battle of Hogwarts? I vaguely remember Mrs. Norris being mentioned somewhere during the battle, but not Filch. Did he escape, hide or fight with the wizards? Is it mentioned anywhere what happened to him after the battle? PS: I have seen this where it says he helped students escape, but does not cite any references, and might even be describing the movie. If Filch is indeed mentioned in the last book, please provide the relevant quotes. Answer The last two mentions of Filch I can find in the book are in Chapter 31 - The Battle of Hogwarts : “… evacuation will be overseen by Mr. Filch and Madam Pomfrey. Prefects, when I give the wor...

I've recently started reading some of the Star Wars extended universe novels, and have really started to enjoy them. I'm also a big fan of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the storylines and characters in the films. Are there any novels set in this universe? If so, where could I get a list? What order should they be read in (including the timing of watching the films)?

After seeing this question about the time-travelling range of the DeLorean , the consensus was that it was merely restricted by the controls (a 4 digit number, giving it a range of 0-9999). However, the goal of Back to the Future 1 was to give the Flux Capacitor enough (electrical) power to function correctly; at the end of BttF 2, when Doc Brown arrives and tells him he needs to go to the future, he starts rooting through the trash for fuel; and then in BttF 3, the gas tank gets punctured, (effectively) stranding them in the past. So my question is - does the time travel require "fuel"? Or is it just for the driving around town? Answer From what I'm seeing in this article: http://backtothefuture.wikia.com/wiki/Mr._Fusion yes fuel is needed for time travel. As the article states the Mr. Fusion Home Energy Reactor converted household waste to power the time machine's flux capacitor and time circuits using nuclear fusion. (It is thought that this is cold fusion.) Mr....

In The Cabin in the Woods, I recognized a few items as references to famous horror movies. Additionally, later when Dana and Marty head down the elevator to the monster storage area, there are a few monsters that are obviously references. Which of the items and monsters are references to other films, and what films do they reference? Answer From the IMDB FAQ and edited based on the image below. Massive spoilers ahead! Alien Beast - Generic reference to alien creatures. (ex. Alien). [Bet on by Bio-Med] Ancient Ones - Generic reference to god-like beings such as Titans and Lovecraftian Elder Things. Angry Molesting Tree - Specific reference to The Evil Dead (source: Kristen Connolly). [Bet on by Wranglers] Bloody Bride (Possibly Summoned by Wedding Dress) - Possible reference to The Bloody Bride of 13 Curves Road. [Bet on by Digital Analysis] Clown - Generic reference to killer clowns (ex. It). [Bet on by Electric] Deadites - Specific reference to The Evil Dead franchise. [Bet on by S...

In B5 Lorien is the name of a member of a very old (possibly the oldest) race in the galaxy. Though he can choose to appear humanoid he actually is more of a energy-field. He is very powerful and guides Sheridan through his near-death-dream state. In LotR Lorien is the name of a member of a very old (possibly the oldest) race on earth. Though they choose to be humanoid, there is no telling how they "really" look. In LotR Lorien is the master of visions and dreams. Was this name chosen purposefully by J Michael Straczynski? If so, what is it's significance? Or is there a third "Lorien" both Loriens are named after? This is an out-of-universe-question so obviously I'm not hoping for an in-canon answer. But both authors spoke and wrote extensively about their work so maybe there is some answer out there! Answer All this speculation is interesting but no one seems to know the answer to this question. I even checked out some of his interviews on TV Legends.org...

First we are told that the Galactic Empire/Federation/Powers-that-be have kept the Earth locked up for being too warlike, but now their help is needed against invaders from another galaxy. When the aliens land the first thing they meet is a talking bunny. at the end when humans have accepted to join the fight the alien offers to send ships to transport them. The human leader tells that there is no need... and the Earth accelerates away. I must have read this sometime in the mid eighties, so no later than 84 or 85, but the story may be from the sixties or before. Answer I think that's Alan Dean Foster's With Friends Like These (1971), which was anthologized in a short story collection with the same title . In the story, aliens put up a Shield around Earth millennia ago to stop a war between humans and another alien species. Now another group of aliens has come to lift the Shield because they're losing a war and are desperate for allies, and humans are the legendary boogey...

There is a significant battle in both The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi that require heavy bombardment on an enemy target. In The Force Awakens it is the attack on Star Killer base, and in The Last Jedi it is the attack on the Dreadnought-class Star Destroyer. Both attacks are eventually successful, but one thing I noticed was in both assaults the fighters sent did not seem to have the right type of vehicle to effectively take on their target. The attack on Star Killer base used primarily X-wing fighters whose firepower did not seem heavy enough to penetrate the oscillator, while the MG-100s seemed to be too slow/not maneuverable enough for the attack on the dreadnought. So my first thought was, why not Y-wings ? They had been used to great extent (mostly 1 ) sucessfully during the battles of Scarif, Yavin IV, and Endor. They are described as an "effective marriage between speed and firepower" which would have made more powerful than the X-wing and faster than the MG-...

In Half Blood Prince , Dumbledore tells Harry that: "The seventh part of his soul, however maimed, resides inside his regenerated body. That was the part of him that lived a spectral existence for so many years during his exile; without that, he has no self at all. That seventh piece of soul will be the last that anybody wishing to kill Voldemort must attack — the piece that lives in his body.” — Half Blood Prince , Chapter 23, Horcruxes . Why does the master piece that lives in Voldemort have to be the last ? If Voldemort was killed* in the usual way (as he was in 1981), i.e., this master piece was ripped of his body and then all his Horcruxes were destroyed, would he not be finished for ever, and meet the same fate in eternal limbo as he did at the end of Deathly Hallows ? The natural answer seems to be affirmative, if not for the fact that Dumbledore explicitly uses the word 'last'. If no, what would happen in the alternate scenario described above? I vaguely remember ...

My library copy of The Martian by Andy Weir finishes with Mark's rescue by the rest of the Ares 3 crew. The last line is: This is the happiest day of my life. However, the LibraryThing page for the book claims that its last line is: It was a nice, boring afternoon. Googling this sentence gives me, among other things, a questionably-legal version of the book with an additional scene at the end that's not in my physical copy, in which Mark is on Earth. Is that scene genuinely part of the book? If so, why is it not in the version I have? Answer It looks like the final paragraph was intentionally left out of the latest versions of the ebook and audio-books. Andy Weir discusses this in a recent interview on Allreadable; "They're re-recording it from scratch because there were a lot of edits and changes between the original Kindle version and what's releasing now. No significant plot changes, nothing like that, but a lot of the wording. It's much more polished....

Multiple times in the early series Hermione and other muggle-borns refer to Voldemort as you-know-who. Why would they be scared of saying the name? They didn't grow up with the fear, and Voldemort seemed to have been gone.

Given that the Ainur, like the Elves were bound to the universe as long as it lasted, only men being able to escape (the gift of men), why on the death of his Earthly form did Gandalf leave time and get sent back by Eru, rather than simply travel to the Halls of Mandos for healing and reclothing in valinor? 'Naked I was sent back- for a brief time, until my task is done'. Sent back by whom, and whence? Not by the 'gods' whose business is only with this embodied world and its time; for he passed 'out of thought and time'. Naked is alas! unclear. It was meant just literally, 'unclothed like a child' (not disincarnate), and so ready to receive the white robes of the highest. Galadriel's power is not divine, and his healing in Lorien is meant to be no more than physical healing and refreshment." [The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, (#156)] Answer We don't know precisely, but it was related to his embodiment. Death in Middle-earth In Tolkien's l...

In Jackson's movie Aragorn tells Eowyn he is 87 years old , but in Tolkien's book, Aragorn's age is not mentioned. Or is it? And if it is, how old is Aragorn when he fights at Helm's Deep, at the end of the Two Towers ? Answer Aragorn was born on 1 March 2931 Third Age. The Battle of the Hornburg took place on 3 March 3019 Third Age, making Aragorn 88 years old (and 2 days) at the Battle of Helm's deep. The Third Age turned into the fourth age in the year 3021, when Aragorn assumed the throne at the age of 90. He died, thus vacating the throne to his son Eldarion, in 120 Fourth Age at the age of 210. He, like all the descendants of Isildur, were long-lived for men. I don't remember if it is actually mentioned in the texts, but his age is mentioned in the Appendices at least.

In Star Trek - TNG S6E20 The Chase , the apparently first humanoid species in the Galaxy from around 4.5 Billion years ago appear, travel the galaxy and spread their genetic material on terraformed planets. In the episode, it is stated that they were the only humanoids and seeded genetic information for new humanoids to evolve on some of the primordial worlds they discovered. The recording asserts that no other humanoids existed when these seeders existed and that they specifically seeded humanoids like themselves (or at least raw material which would eventually evolve into a humanoid species with very similar co-compatible DNA) We also know that this original species was obviously warp capable, and others likely existed at that time (such as the Crystalline Entity, and likely the Founders). I'm not asking about the first warp-capable beings in the universe. This is about a sort of "space race" between the humanoids these guys spread around - a limited set of species. Thi...

Reading some of the questions on the Elder Wand (in particular this one ), I got to wondering why Harry chose such silly and easily reversible methods of discarding the Elder Wand as putting it in Dumbledore’s grave (books) or throwing it in the lake (movie—that is what he does in the movie, right?). The obvious thing to do would, it struck me, be to light a match and simply burn the damn thing. I mean, it’s made of wood and a hair from the tail of a Thestral, so it should burn just fine, right? But then, with all the minor and major fires and explosions and singeings that occur throughout the book (even Fiendfyre), we never hear of anyone’s wand catching fire. This might just possibly imply that wands in general have some kind of anti-fire protection built in… or it may be a coincidence. Does any canon source ever tell us if wands in general can catch fire? And whether the Elder Wand in specific can? (And if yes, would it really be so hard to have Harry not be too thick-headed to real...

I apologize in advance if this is a common question, I searched for "flamel" here first and couldn't find the answer. If Nicolas Flamel is several hundreds of years old, how did Dumbledore work on the Philosopher's Stone with him? Did he use it a bit himself? To clarify, Flamel would've died without the PS, at a reasonable age -- so it can be assumed he made it about ~500 years ago. But I seem to recall the book saying that Dumbledore helped him make it. So either Dumbledore used the stone as well (unlikely it seems) or Flamel had already artificially extended his life, or Dumbledore is somehow hundreds of years old. Am I remembering this incorrectly? Thank you! Answer The simple fact is that although Dumbledore is known to have worked with Nicholas Flamel, there's no canon mention of Dumbledore working on the Philosopher's Stone; "Professor Dumbledore is particularly famous for his defeat of the dark wizard Grindelwald in 1945, for the discovery ...