I'm interested to know if there were any notes on what would've happened has Melkor successfully overthrown the other Valar and assumed complete control of Arda. Obvious answers like "He'd kill everything and make more orcs" are not what I'm looking for here, more looking into the possibility that it was impossible to win and therefore his efforts were completely futile. Yet surely, a spirit as powerful and wise as Melkor, having listened to the music, would be able to distinguish the difference between something worth doing and something that's not. I ask this because surely, Eru being the giver of life and all powerful would not have created something that would have the ability to overthrow even himself? But yet Melkor persisted in trying to assume at least equal standing after his discord in the music and continued to do so after Arda was created. Few things to answer here. Was it futile? Were there any Tolkien notes on it? If not, anyone else who was ...

Is Harry's trunk magically oversized (like Hermione's bag in book 7, or the Weasley car in book 2) to allow him to store his Firebolt in it? Is Harry able to hide, pack his broom so the Dursley's can't see it? the broom, almost more than anything, would repulse the Dursleys. I don't recall there being a mention of his broom specifically being at the Dursely's or being transported to Platform 9 3/4, specifically in book 4 when the Weasley's come to collect Harry from the Dursleys. One of the twins climbs into the fireplace with Harry's trunk, but no mention of the Firebolt is made, yet, Harry has it at the Burrow after the World Cup. Answer Harry's trunk is magically enhanced to fit his broomstick All Hogwarts school trunks come with extension charms Hogwarts school trunks, like the majority of wizarding luggage, are issued with capacity enhancing or extension charms as standard. These spells not only increase the interior dimensions of objects, wh...

I remember 3 cases of court scenes in Harry Potter, one in Dumbledore's memory about the questioning of Karkaroff and sentencing of Barty Crouch Jr. after WWI (Wizarding War I), one in OotP for Harry's disciplinary hearing, and one in the last book about questioning of Mrs. Cattermole. In all these cases the defendant is left to fend for him/herself. In Harry's case, Dumbledore has to come and defend him and he's not a lawyer either. Do all the court cases shown in the books depict special circumstances, or is that how the wizard legal system works, where the Ministry directly accuses a person and he has to personally defend himself? Do lawyers exist in the Potterverse? Are they ever mentioned? (I am interested in a book answer, but movies or anything else are fine too) Answer There does appear to be some manner of a legal profession in the Wizarding World; Scrimgeour hints at one in Deathly Hallows , in response to Hermione rules-lawyering 1 him (emphasis mine): ...

We know that a Horcrux is the object in which a piece of the Horcruxee's Soul is stored in. But these objects were once normal (albeit special) objects before being turned into a Horcrux, and could be destroyed like any other objects. My question is: what is it about becoming a Horcrux that makes the object (almost) indestructible? Is it that a powerful enchantment is placed on the object upon Horcruxation? Or something else? My thinking is that it's not so much the object, but the piece of soul which is difficult to destroy. As Hermione puts it: "Because a Horcrux is the complete opposite of a human being.” Seeing that Harry and Ron looked thoroughly confused, Hermione hurried on, “Look, if I picked up a sword right now, Ron, and ran you through with it, I wouldn’t damage your soul at all.” “Which would be a real comfort to me, I’m sure,” said Ron. Harry laughed. “It should be, actually! But my point is that whatever happens to your body, your soul will survive, untouch...

My father remembers an old Superman comic in which Lois Lane is kidnapped and her return is conditioned on Superman computing the last digit of pi (you know, 3.1415926535...) Or perhaps this is just to keep him busy. I think in the end he succeeds. Is this known? Any reference?

I registered to ask for some help identifying a book. It was likely the very first space opera / science fiction novel I read, but I was a pre-teen/early teen exploring my older siblings' bookshelves so I have no memory about its name. I was 8-10, so it must have been older than 1996-98. It was full of suspense and entire passages where I was trembling with fear. While I remember very little about the plot and the setting, I vividly recall my feelings and images while reading the about the first encounter with these strangest sentient beings. The main characters of the novel were exploring a strange world of very vast emptiness between massive, miles-wide and complex fortresses/space-bases - one of which they try to infiltrate. The villain aliens are very tall transparent perfect cylindrical column-like beings emitting some light; some parts of their insides can also be seen (the equivalent of a "heart") and maybe reflected the mood of these beings. There were different ...

I'm looking for a fan fiction story where Harry Potter is wrongly sent to Azkaban for a crime he didn't do. No one believes him except Fred and George, who at one point even tried to break into Azkaban themselves to free him. New evidence comes to light and Dumbledore tells everyone Harry is innocent and they bring Harry back to Grimmauld Place and he's basically Catatonic but eventually wakes up. When he is back to being sane, Dumbledore immediately wants Harry to help stop Voldemort since he's the boy who lived, except Harry wants no part in this. Fred and George take Harry to their shop in Diagon Alley where they live and help him out. In this story Dumbledore is still alive and wants to immediately use Harry to stop Voldemort even though he has just spent all this time in Azkaban. Sirius is alive too. Again a main part of this story is that Fred and George help Harry. They have belived in his innocence all this time and now that they were right they aren't very ...

Near the start of Batman Begins young Bruce Wayne falls down a well and gets attacked by bats. Later we meet the bats again when he first discovers the bat cave and in one scene Batman uses the bats to destroy a Swat team. Is there any evidence of what type of bat they are in-universe. Does the habitat or extremely strong swarming and mobbing response to humans suggest what species they might be? Answer American Brown Bats The vast caverns had once been used to shelter runaway slaves escaping to the North. Damp limestone walls glistened beneath the subdued interior lighting that Bruce had installed years ago. A shallow, slow-moving river was all that remained of the underground waterway that had carved out the caverns in ages past. Massive wooden arches, high overhead, helped to support the mansion’s foundations. Scores of North American brown bats roosted amidst the jagged stalactites hanging from the ceiling. Towering calcite columns rose hundreds of feet in height. The bats squeak...

A thought just struck me that from Back to the Future II onwards, Doc was quite adamant of the need to destroy the DeLorean, not because it was a bad car or anything, but because the risk of time travel was too dangerous . Yet, at the end of Back to the Future III , we see Doc has created another time machine in the form of a train! Why did Doc create another time machine after being set on destroying the DeLorean because of the dangers of time travel? Answer Although it's never really discussed in the movies, there's really one big event to convince him to destroy the DeLorean. Namely, a bumbling aged idiot named Biff was able to figure out how to steal it and work it inside a day, destroying everything Doc had in the process. It's easy to use nature was it's danger - power like that never should have slipped out of Doc's hands. I agree with comments and the answer from Charles that a quieter life and family gave him the distance and time to rethink it. He had ...

In a related question is was asked: Just how cold is it outside in Snowpiercer? . Would it be possible for any life to survive outside the train in these extreme temperatures? At the end we see that the world is beginning to warm up and there is a polar bear up in the mountains. How could have the bear survived, or was this just a hallucination? Answer Yes, life (including large animals) was able to survive outside the train. How they do so isn't explained in any great detail. We know from this 2008 interview for YonHap that the temperature outside the train was supposedly around -80°C, low enough to kill all but the hardiest of arctic creatures . In a recent interview for Hitfix however, it appears that an early decision taken to show life outside the train was made for financial, rather than story reasons: Although the tail section was just one of 60 cars, Choi said only about half of those were actually constructed. He also revealed Bong's initial desire for an on-board ...

I read this in 1992-93, maybe... The setting was our solar system, which humanity had explored thoroughly and settled somewhat. There was a group of people who elected to live permanently in space suits, where they were perpetually exposed to space in orbit of a gas giant's moons or something. Because of the exoskeleton-like suits (and maybe they had claws?) this particular group of people were called "lobsters." Does anyone know the name of this novel/short story or its author? Answer Possibly Cicada Queen by Bruce Sterling . The Lobsters are a group more properly called Mechanists : I found Wellspring in the swollen bubble of a tubeway bar, discussing a convoluted business deal with a man he introduced as "the Modem." The Modem was a member of a small but vigorous Mechanist sect known in C-K slang as Lobsters. These Lobsters lived exclusively within skin-tight life-support systems, flanged here and there with engines and input-output jacks. The suits were f...

My dad has been trying to find the title of a short story for ages. According to him, the story goes like this: A scientist who works on an island manages to create a miniature population with whom he can communicate. As time is proportional to their size, it goes way faster for them than the scientist, which allows the creatures to be able to make inventions humans can't yet. The scientist, whom the creatures worship as a God, starts asking them to reveal how to make these inventions humans are unable to create. At one point, his miniature people end up developing the transport of wireless energy. Because of the industrial lobby of the human world, the scientist and his people are under a death threat. He asks the creatures to develop the absolute protection, which they do, but this stops the communication between the scientist and his people. He can only see a grey dome in his microscope. At the last moment, as missiles have been fired towards the island, a breach opens in the do...

I saw the entire Star Wars series as it was released, starting back in 1977 when I had to ride my bike about 8 miles to the theater where it was showing in my city for the first showing on the first day it played there. After the release of Revenge of the Sith I watched the original trilogy again, on VHS. Then I set it aside. While I had it all on DVD, I wanted to wait until I had a HDTV to see it all on the big screen, but I never had time to watch all 6 episodes in a week or so, and kept putting it off. So now that the blu-ray just came out, this week I've been watching the movies for the first time in about 8 years. I've been watching them in chronological order and it's interesting to see how that can affect how I see lots of little gestures and reactions, especially in the original trilogy. This gives me an entirely different point of view. This time I'm watching as they meet Anakin and Qui-Gon believes he's the Chosen One, but Obi-Wan has doubts and is even h...

I would like to know the title of the short story that I believe takes place on the moon. The setting is a mall or some other very public location and the main character is a police officer. She needs to talk a sentient bomb out of exploding. I know there was the John Carpenter film "Dark Star" with a similar plot line but I'm trying to identify the short story and the author. Answer John Varley 's short story Bagatelle has this plot. Original publication appears to have been 1976. My copy is in the 1980 anthology The Barbie Murders (named after a short story in the volume, for anyone who's starting to get confused). It opens There was a bomb on the Leystrasse, level forty-five, right outside the Bagatelle Flower and Gift Shoppe, about a hundred meters down the promenade from the Prosperity Plaza. "I am a bomb," the bomb said to passersby. ...

Are the spells in the magical world of Harry Potter invented or discovered? Maybe someone just said “Avada Kedavra” and the rest is history. Answer While thinking over this question, I think spells must have been discovered . As we know, wizards and witches can perform magic unknowingly. Harry makes Aunt blow up like balloon, makes glass disappear in zoo. So maybe in ancient time, certain people observed this unusual happening in their times and created a way to channel these powers out. This channel can be spells and wands their medium. By considering this theory, we can say once the wizards and witches mastered this skill, they started combining raw spells to form more complex spells with more impact. Thus, some magical spells might have also been invented . To Justify my case, lets assume 'Person A' getting unusual experiences like making flowers float. He shares this information with 'Person B' who claims that 'Person C' can make stones disappear for some ...

Voldemort filled Harry's mind with visions of Sirius dying in the Department of Mysteries, to lure Harry there. This was because the prophecies were enchanted so that only the people referred to could lift them from the shelves. Albus Dumbledore: ‘Only the people to whom they refer can lift [prophecies] from the shelves without suffering madness ...’ But the prophecy also referred to Voldemort, at least as much as Harry! Why couldn't he just go and take the prophecy off the shelf? An analysis of the prophecy The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches That's a reference to Voldemort Born to those who have thrice defied him The 'him' is Voldemort Born as the seventh month dies And the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not Clearly referring to Voldemort And either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives and again. This line also means that the prophecy is also about ...

In The Silmarillion , we're told that Gil-galad is the son of Fingon, son of Fingolfin: Great was the lamentation in Hithlum when the fall of Fingolfin became known, and Fingon in sorrow took the lordship of the house of Fingolfin and the kingdom of the Noldor; but his young son Ereinion (who was after named Gil-galad) he sent to the Havens. The Silmarillion III Quenta Silmarillion Chapter 20: "Of the Fifth Battle: Nirnaeth Arnoediad" But this ( handsome ) answerer claims that Gil-galad is actually descended from Finarfin, brother of Fingolfin. What gives? What is Gil-galad's actual ancestry, and why the discrepancy here? Bonus question: what's up with Orodreth's history? The Silmarillion tells us that he was the son of Finarfin: The sons of Finarfin were Finrod the faithful (who was afterwards named Felagund, Lord of Caves), Orodreth, Angrod, and Aegnor The Silmarillion III Quenta Silmarillion Chapter 5: "Of Eldamar and the Princes of the Eldalië...

So after the final battle, lots of people die. But not everyone! Even people from the bad side had to have survived. So who did? Answer It is hard to know which Death Eaters survived because we do not know all their names . Many of the deaths, specifically in the Battle of Hogwarts, are anonymous. We can possibly extrapolate notable survivors with a list of Death Eaters who were killed. One will notice that Voldemort's and the Death Eaters' kill count is way higher than the Harry/Dumbledore/Order of the Phoenix's. However, that would be expected since we have a classic "good vs. evil" story. Many other families to be known Death Eaters (and first names not always known) and were not to be shown killed outright. The Malfoy Family : Lucius, Narcissa, and Draco were seen fleeing the Battle of Hogwarts. The Carrows: Alceto and Amycus were tied-up in the Ravenclaw Tower prior to the Battle of Hogwarts. Antonin Dolohov: Was defeated but not killed by Professor Flit...

I remember this book from my early teen years, although what I remember makes it seem incredibly bizarre, but from what I remember, it was really enjoyable. I'm sure I read it before I read the "Mister Monday" series, by Garth Nix. I don't believe all of the series was available, if that helps narrow down a time frame. I have a feeling this book was part of a series too. And it is based around a young male protagonist and, soon, a girl and another boy, whom he befriends. I believe the first chapter of the first book starts with the protagonist answering a phone call. One of the questions he is asked is; How did the dinosaurs die? He initially believes this to be one of those radio shows, so he tries to be funny in his answer, which is; they died laughing. I'm sure they ask him about his sleeping habits, and he admits to falling asleep very easily, almost on command. This leads the boy to being recruited by an organisation which uses sleep as a way of entering and ...

I have seen many discussions here about locations where Voldemort hid his Horcruxes. The fans settle down with this: Voldemort chose those locations where he himself could easily reach. Why didn't Voldemort just vanish his Horcruxes using Fidelius Charm and became Secret Keeper himself? This way only and only he could reach it (making him 100% immortal). And, there's no flaw to it.

I have a sci-fi book from the 80's: Purnell's Book of Adventures in Space (ISBN 0361044070). Many of the stories have kept in my mind for so many years, particularly "The Monsters": From his bedroom window, Zek watched the great space battle in the skies. The twist is that the Monsters are Human Beings Does anyone know the author's name? Answer My research suggests that the authors of the various stories are Fred Baker, Malcolm Hulke, John Grant, David Meredith, William Hall, Sydney Bounds, George Beal and Jim Storrie. I've seen multiple sources indicating that the author of the story "The Monsters" was Malcolm Hulke, of Doctor Who fame.

I'm looking for the title and author of a short story or novelette that I read quite some time ago. The main characters are two young women. One is taking correspondence courses, and is constantly being berated by the other one for hoping to rise above her station. They go out to pick up young men, to sleep with them, to get pregnant. It's not a normal sort of pregnancy, though. The men have some sort of 'coded semen' which grow something other than a child in the woman's womb. It ends up being a product of some kind, which earns the woman money when it is 'born'. The one woman is very careful about who she chooses, as she can only do this so many times. The other... isn't so careful. At the end, the careful, studious woman achieves what she has been working for - a letter from a government organisation that permits her to become the mother to a human being. Thank you for reading my question. I've been looking for this story for years, now. Answer ...

In Guardians of the Galaxy , I couldn't help but notice that the Infinity Stone was inside a force field, inside some kind of containment unit. Star-Lord easily extracts the containment orb using some high powered magnet and, later on in the movie, the Collector effortlessly opens the containment unit, revealing the gem within. Why then was this gem of infinite power left unguarded on a deserted planet? There seemed to have been life on the planet at one point (as revealed by Star-Lord's projection equipment), but by the time Star-Lord arrives all signs of life are largely gone, except for the few rats that he kicks. Moreover, the only environmental dangers shown in the movie were huge geysers. Therefore it's safe to say the stone was guarded neither by the environment nor by a society or anything remotely sentient. Since the gem was a source of infinite power, surely someone would've taken it in the time since the prior civilization was destroyed. The time span was def...

We had a large-format hardcover book growing up (in the US in English) that contained illustrations and fictional snippets about alien spacecraft. It would have been published in the late 70s or early 80s. The text with each picture contained information regarding the ship like engine manufacturer and other various specs. I remember the pictures being very well drawn. Does this sound familiar to anyone?

Why did J.R.R. Tolkien randomly capitalize various words throughout his books? My husband asked me this question today and we were wondering if there's any rhyme or reason to Tolkien's capitalization process. These are examples taken from the LOTR trilogy and The Hobbit : And there upon that hill they looked east to the Shadow and west to the Twilight , and they plighted their troth and were glad. (ROTK) She shall not be the bridge of any Man less than the King of both Gondor and Arnor. To me then even our victory can bring only sorrow or parting -- but to you hope of joy for a while. Alas, my son! I fear that to Arwen the Doom of Man may seem hard at the ending. (ROTK) In the Wide World the Wood-elves lingered in the twilight of our Sun and Moon , but loved best the stars; and they wandered in the great forests that grew tall in lands that are now lost. (THE HOBBIT) It is fortunate that I could find it, for it is a healing plant that the Men of the West brought to Mid...

This answer has some allegedly Klingon writing. Is it Klingon? If so, what does it say? Answer This isn't Klingon. According to the Font of All Knowledge , there are three more or less commonly used scripts for Klingon. KLI pIqaD is the standard: Earlier script efforts do not correlate with Okrand's Klingon language, and so don't appear to be in use. Skybox pIqaD: Mandel Script: None of the Star Wars symbols match any of the Star Trek writing systems given for Klingon. ST/SW Easter Eggs are apparently a thing. This (I think obviously) is not one of them.

Back when I was reading LOTR in Russian, I remember fans arguing over the issue of whether Aragorn wore pants (or rather, using the British term, trousers) , or not - what I later learned was a major topic of discussion in Soviet Tolkien fandom. The typical argument for "not" was that the book text never mentions pants [1] . Apparently the latter point of view wasn't unique to Soviet fans, as the animated movie had clearly come down on "No pants" side: Of course, Peter Jackson added not only Elves at Helm's Deep, but pants on Aragorn as well: [1] - this was an extremely fun topic for Soviet fans, because a decade earlier, the seminal Soviet SFF book " Monday Begins on Saturday " by Strugatsky Brothers made lighthearted fun of fiction books characters described by the writers as ' wearing a pair of slippers and a hat '. Answer It's hard to tell, but I'd be inclined to suggest he probably wore breeches , which are more like pants ...

The Stepstones are a group of islands off of the east coast of Westeros. They connect The Broken Arm in Dorne to The Disputed Lands in Essos. According to The Lands of Ice and Fire two of the islands have been named as Bloodstone and Grey Gallows. The Lands of Ice and Fire, The Known World (cropped) The island of Tyrosh is sometimes considered to be a part of the Stepstones by the common folk but isn't technically one of them. Do we know the names of any of the other islands? Answer I haven't found any information on the names of any of the other islands in the Stepstones but I have found out that George R. R. Martin once commented that he hadn't named one of the islands yet (although I haven't confirmed this it's likely this post is referring to the most south western island). If he hadn't named one of them it's likely he hadn't named more than that one too. Though the post is from 2006 it's likely he still hasn't named any of the others. I n...

Next year we will "celebrate" tenth anniversary of airing last episodes of last Star Trek TV series . Since I'm a Star Trek newbie, and I'm totally out of "surrounding rumors", can someone explain me, what is the real cause for this (if any)? Ten years is a vast amount of time. Polish (my native) version of Star Trek: Enterprise Wikipedia article have even, somewhat "funny" (though completely outdated now) remark, that with cancellation of StarTrek: Enterprise , season 2005/2006 has become first for past eighteen years, that no new Star Trek TV episode was aried. Now we have eight more seasons like that. I think there should be some reason for that. Note, that I read this closed question and most of its comments and I don't think mine falls into the same rule. Even, if there will be any new TV series produced and aired soon, thinkt, that my question will remain valid. It is interesting and should be interesting in future (at least to Star Tr...

Ostensibly, cheating is a relatively significant infraction at Hogwarts, at the very least academically. In Philosopher's Stone it is revealed the quills and parchment used for exams are enchanted with anti-cheating spells. On a different note, while not involving academics, we learn in Goblet of Fire that surreptitious cheating during the Triwizard Tournament is considered par for the course. Generally, Hermione is a prim character who appreciates rules and regulations, as well as extreme structure. She is portrayed as having a strong moral compass, as a person who would never voluntarily shirk the rules. So, did Hermione actually cheat in some of the following instances, where she helped Harry or Ron? For example: Philosopher's Stone The Quidditch Match Reaching Snape, [Hermione] crouched down, pulled out her wand and whispered a few, well chosen words. Bright blue flames shot from her wand on to the hem of Snape’s robes. It took perhaps thirty seconds for Snape to realise...

SPOILERS! Can anyone explain how to resolve the paradox caused in this season's episode "Decision 3012?" How did Senator Chris Xaxar Travers winning the election cause him to cease to exist, thus allowing the crooked and reprehensible Head-in-Jar Nixon to win the election anyway. The premise of the show stated Travers came to the past with Earth's last suit to prevent Nixon from winning? He did that, but then he disappears, allowing Nixon to win... What happened? Answer Senator Travers... used the machine language time code to summon a time sphere and travel back in time, thus making him a time paradox duplicate , which we know from Bender's Big Score causes him to be filled with doom radiation which will eventually destroy him, correcting any paradoxes. The specific form of his doom seems to be simple disappearance, whereas other characters simply met more violent doomy ends. This therefore ensures there is no paradox by allowing the future events to proceed...

Do Sith even marry or have a sense of love? Since they are taking strength from their emotions, I would find it hard to believe that love would be not a matter within a Sith. But which type of character or person would a Sith bond with? Would it be appropriate to marry an Imperial officer or even a common soldier? I am asking because I am playing Star Wars: The Old Republic at the moment and there are several romance options, so I'm try to decide what to do.

After reading the Pottermore article on " Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry ," by J.K. Rowling, it's unclear to me whether Isolt Sayre was a Parselmouth. Based on what I remember from reading the Harry Potter books, I would define the term "Parselmouth" as follows: A Parselmouth is a person who exhibits the magical ability to understand snakes, hearing what they "say" in verbal form, and who also is able to communicate verbally with snakes by speaking the language Parseltongue. A Parselmouth can speak and understand Parseltongue without being taught. Based on Harry's experience, Parselmouths don't necessarily realize when they are speaking Parseltongue: it happens automatically when they talk to snakes. And similarly, the speech of snakes, and other Parselmouths speaking Parseltongue, apparently sounds to Parselmouths like whatever human language they would expect to hear. We additionally know that being a Parselmouth is extremely ...

In episode 3 of season 4, there is a chilling scene with Tywin, Cersei, and soon to be King Tommen. Tywin gives a history lesson and talks about the three rulers that lacked wisdom. They were Baelor who was holy, the last was Robert who was strong, but the second one he mentions I am unfamiliar with. His name was either Orys or Horace and Tywin talked about him being just but it didn't stop him from being murdered in his sleep by his brother. I do not remember anything like this from the books so I am wondering which king Tywin is speaking about. Perhaps Orys Baratheon who was Aegon's bastard brother, but I don't remember anything about him being murdered.