Why was Hagrid's wand snapped in two when he was expelled from Hogwarts? Why was he banned from performing magic? Yes, he was expelled from Hogwarts after being framed by Tom Riddle as being responsible for Moaning Myrtle's death via Aragog the Acromantula. But why did he receive this punishment? ‘What’ve you been feeding [the pumpkins]?’ said Harry. Hagrid looked over his shoulder to check that they were alone. ‘Well, I’ve bin givin’ them – you know – a bit o’ help.’ Harry noticed Hagrid’s flowery pink umbrella leaning against the back wall of the cabin. Harry had had reason to believe before now that this umbrella was not all it looked; in fact, he had the strong impression that Hagrid’s old school wand was concealed inside it. Hagrid wasn’t supposed to use magic. He had been expelled from Hogwarts in his third year[...] Chamber of Secrets - page 90 - Bloomsbury - chapter 7, Mudbloods and Murmurs Why would Hagrid's wand be snapped in two and he not be allowed to do magi...

Most of the Star Wars movies, and many of the EU works, feature an opening similar to this one: However, generally, ellipses have only three dots, as confirmed by Wikipedia : Ellipsis … is a series of dots (typically three, such as "…") Is there some creative reason Lucas chose to have four dots in the opening, or was it just a typographical error? Answer Perhaps because Flash Gordon did it? According to Wikipedia , Lucas was influenced by Flash Gordon and similar programmes – he watched them as a child, which lead him to write his own space opera. Quoting the article: Lucas has stated that the opening crawl was inspired by the opening crawls used at the beginning of each episode of the original Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers film serials, which were the inspiration for Lucas to write much of the Star Wars saga. It cites the Revenge of the Sith DVD commentary, which I don’t have to hand, so I can’t check myself. Here’s the final paragraph from the opening crawl of an e...

In The Matrix , the people within the Matrix live in a simulated version of the year 1999. It's already been asked why the machines bothered with the Matrix at all , but let's assume that they had a good reason. My question is: why simulate 1999 or a similar year in which computers are prevalent? It seems that those who get free, and notably Neo, benefit greatly from the knowledge of computers that they learn while growing up in the Matrix. So why didn't they simulate a year that was before computers, say 1890 or even something more primitive like 900 AD. If they had simulated one of these years, then the machines wouldn't have had as much problem if a human had managed to get free as the human would have no concept of what a computer was, meaning not only would they have greater difficulty conceptualizing the Matrix but also they wouldn't know how to operate computers and other technology that would ultimately be used to fight the machines. I realize that there is ...

We already know from the excellent answers on this question that the main storyline of Shadow of Mordor does not make a lot of sense in LotR canon. But for me the most interesting part of Shadow of Mordor's story is the depiction of Uruk society, which the previous question's answers did not touch on at all. For those who haven't played the game: Uruk are led by Captains. The most powerful Captains are called Warchiefs. Warchiefs typically have one or more Captains as bodyguards. There are five Warchiefs assigned to each region of Mordor. When a Warchief dies, one of his bodyguards takes his place, even if that bodyguard was the one who killed him. When an Uruk kills another Uruk of significant standing, he may cut off the defeated Uruk's ear and use that as proof of the kill. Captains will regularly fight other Captains, sometimes in one-on-one duels, sometimes in larger battles. Captains will regularly increase their power/influence by holding feasts, staging hunts f...

I am trying to understand the reason why Leto III merged with the sandtrout in Children of Dune and why he was so committed to the Golden Path. I just finished the first three books and I fear that I have missed the point of why prescience is so bad. According to the wikipedia entry , Leto wanted to teach humanity a lesson to avoid stagnation, so much so that he punishes them for 3,500 years by being a brutal emperor. What isn't clear to me is how this actually saves humanity? Given the horrors of Muad'Dib's holy war and Leto's rule you'd think that having a few prescient noblepeople running around wouldn't be so bad. And why does he need to merge with a sandtrout and then let the Sandworms go extinct in order to accomplish this? I checked out the Dune and Children of Dune miniseries in the hopes that the "made for TV" aspect would simplify the explanation of Leto's commitment but it doesn't do a good job explaining that either, it just seems ...

At the start-of-term feast in Chapter Twelve of Goblet of Fire Dumbledore announces the following: “The heads of Beauxbatons and Durmstrang will be arriving with their short-listed contenders in October, and the selection of the three champions will take place at Halloween. Shortly thereafter he says: Only students who are of age — that is to say, seventeen years or older — will be allowed to put forward their names for consideration. In discussing how the delegations would arrive in Chapter Fifteen, Ron says the following: “A Portkey?” Ron suggested. “Or they could Apparate — maybe you’re allowed to do it under seventeen wherever they come from?” Was there any reason to suspect that any of the visitors would be younger than 17? Dumbledore had said that the contenders are coming, and the contenders have to be 17. Was this just typical Ron nonsense, or were there actually some younger students that were supposed to be coming as well?

Back in the 1960's-70's I read a book of short stories, each using a different theory or perspective about time travel. Not all were built with today's predominant idea that a change in the past makes a change in the present. One story was about a Russian scientist who was researching time travel, getting close to understanding it. He was arrested and about to be executed by a firing squad. Just before being shot, he has an insight about his work. He says "Wait." And time almost stands still. The bullets are still in the air, out of the rifles, have not yet reached him. He leaves the site, visits his wife and others, has difficulty moving things, finally decides it is not worth continuing his life like this. So he goes back to finish being shot. He uses one of the lead bullets to write his newly thought-of formula on the wall. Then he stands in front of the bullets and says "OK". Time resumes and he is shot/killed. The head officer at the execution sees ...

The story starts with a space agency on earth looking for and testing twins. It seems that some are gifted in a way that allows them to communicate with each other even if they aren't speaking. The main character and his brother are such gifted twins and they are placed into a space program where one will stay on earth and the other will go into space. As the story progresses, the brother who stays on earth ages faster then the one who went into space and creepily enough, when the space brother returns he ends up getting married to his great-great-great niece. Answer Time for the Stars , by Robert Heinlein from the summary: Travel to other planets is a reality, and with overpopulation stretching the resources of Earth, the necessity to find habitable worlds is growing ever more urgent. With no time to wait years for communication between slower-than-light spaceships and home, the Long Range Foundation explores an unlikely solution--human telepathy. Identical twins Tom and Pat are...

The part I remember is that, possibly after a UFO or similar sighting, a farm-hand/individual suddenly puts together a machine that is self powered from the resources of the rubbish pile (metals etc) (by a barn?). This astonishes the army, generals etc; at the end he disassembles it before they find out how it works. The phrase I think I remember is that at the end: He quietly said "whee"!

From what I've found, there were something like 150 contingency orders to help hide the Palpatine's Order 66 and what it was meant to do. The first time I saw Revenge of the Sith , I thought he gave the order "666", and I thought, cute, the devil , but then I learned it was actually "66". Does it mean anything? Is it still referencing the devil? Is it just a number pulled from a hat? In short, what is the significance of the number in Palpatine's infamous line: Execute Order 66 Update: George Lucas also did "American Graffiti" which references Route 66, but I don't how to connect that with killing Jedi. Jedi road kill? Answer It's just a random number. There's no real significance to the number 66 in Jedi or Sith lore, which I think was the point. If someone were to look at a list of pre-specified orders and directives, it's VERY likely they'd begin skimming or walk away before Order 66 (especially if the first sixty were...

When the Emperor died, he made a big explosion. From the Return of the Jedi script [...] Darth Vader hurls the Emperor's body into the bottomless shaft. The Emperor's body spins helplessly into the void, arcing as it falls into the abyss. Finally, when the body is far down the shaft, it explodes, creating a rush of air through the room. Vader's cape is whipped by the wind and he staggers, and collapses toward the bottomless hole. [...] Just before that, Luke made an attempt to kill him, but was prevented from doing so by Vader. I just remember that bad guy from the Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II video game also exploded and that I used to think that it would be the case for other Sith. That was until the deaths of Darth Maul and Dooku, who didn't explode when they were killed. If Luke's attempt had been successful, would the Emperor have exploded? Or was the explosion caused by something down the pit? Answer It's entirely possible that the Emperor would have ...

I've been looking for some info on the FTL speeds of ships in Mass Effect but I have been unable to find anything. Can anyone provide a speed and sources? If not can anyone provide the time it takes to travel between two well known (in our universe) stars? Answer As listed in the wiki, and repeated in each of the games at one point: FTL drives are devices which allow ships to travel at FTL speeds through space. FTL drive cores work by exposing element zero to electric currents, creating mass effect fields. It reduces the mass of an object, such as a starship, to a point where velocities faster than the speed of light are possible. With a mass effect drive, roughly a dozen light-years can be traversed in the course of a day's cruise without bending space-time and causing time dilation. As a simple modification of e = mc^2, if you reduce mass thru magic technological implementation of element zero, you are able to travel at light speed or further (negative mass) with reasonabl...

There was a question yesterday that asked about the cashless economy depicted in Star Trek. I gave the answer explaining how the society we see in the series is depicted as having adapted beyond the need to accumulate material wealth, due in large part to the post-scarcity of essential resources. Then I realized that there is an implicit assumption in my answer - that human society being post-scarcity for those resources means *all * Federation members are post-scarcity as well. This is an assumption that, while reasonable, I could not find any evidence to back up. Are all Federation members part of the same cashless post-scarcity society that we see humans are? Or is this a case-by-case basis depending on how each society chooses to conduct itself? Do any Federation members still use money?* On an individual level, it's clear that people in the Federation do have to deal with money - Rom is a Starfleet Cadet, but he's still a Ferengi. And Kassidy Yates is a Freighter Captain...

Was Severus Snape a Potions student of Slughorn's? By the timeline, it sounds plausible (Tom Riddle was, and he wasn't that much older than Snape). Answer Yes, Snape was a student of Professor Slughorn's. As b_jonas states, Slughorn says so in Half-Blood Prince . Specifically, Slughorn says it here: ‘Snape!’ ejaculated Slughorn, who looked the most shaken, pale and sweating. ‘Snape! I taught him! I thought I knew him!’ Half-Blood Prince -- page 585 -- Bloomsbury -- chapter 29, The Phoenix Lament One could also presume that Snape was Slughorn's student because Slughorn raves about Lily Evans's talent in potions and we all know Snape is Lily's classmate. There is no indication in canon that there were two Potions Masters teaching simultaneously at any given time in Hogwarts's history. That there is one teacher per subject at Hogwarts seems to be a theme (Defence Against the Dark Arts is the strongest indicator of that; one might argue that this is because ...

Just as the question asks: Why did Anakin come to believe that Padmé could be saved if he embraced the Dark side of the Force? Padmé clearly didn't believe it. Why was Anakin so driven to save Padmé through the dark side? Answer When he first looked for advice from Yoda about his vision, he did not hear what he wanted to hear. From Star Wars Episode 3 Revenge of the Sith Script YODA: Careful you must be when sensing the future, Anakin. The fear of loss is a path to the dark side. ANAKIN: I won't let these visions come true, Master Yoda. YODA: Death is a natural part of life. Rejoice for those around you who transform into the Force. Mourn them, do not. Miss them, do not. Attachment leads to jealousy. The shadow of greed, that is. ANAKIN: What must I do, Master Yoda? YODA: Train yourself to let go of everything you fear to lose. But later, Palpatine told him about a possible way to save her : PALPATINE: I thought not. It's not a story the Jedi would tell you. It's a Si...

I am looking for identification of a short story I read as part of an anthology around twenty years ago, and I think it might have been written by Harry Harrison but I am not certain. Plot line goes like this: evil alien empire invade earth. They've done this many times, they know the routine. The populace resists, is crushed and turned into slaves/subjects of the empire, leader of the invasion retires to a life of luxury as colonial governor. I think the aliens look like humanoid snakes. But Earth is different. When the invading force arrives, they spot no defenses, no military. When the ships land, the earthlings welcome them with open arms. The aliens are nonplussed and ask if the earthlings realize just what is going on. Oh yes, the earthlings reply. But they point out that Earth doesn't have FTL technology and clearly the aliens do and could crush them if they resist. But by the same token they must have value, and other out there (whether pirates or other empires) may see...

Yoda and Ben make a big fuss about how important it is for Luke to confront Vader, but they make no mention of him needing to kill the Emperor. Doesn't the Emperor also need to be destroyed to restore peace to the galaxy? Answer Yoda did acknowledge that Luke would eventually have to defeat the Emperor: Yoda: Only a fully trained Jedi Knight with the Force as his ally will conquer Vader and his Emperor. If you end your training now, if you choose the quick and easy path, as Vader did, you will become an agent of evil. 1 However, they emphasized Luke's confrontation with Vader because Vader was an easier target than the Emperor (the Emperor had defeated Yoda himself, but Vader's connection to the Force was weakened by his defeat at the hands of Obi-Wan on Mustafar). Luke needed to prove to himself that he could confront Vader and survive without turning to the dark side . Only then would he be a full Jedi : Yoda: One thing remains: Vader. You must confront Vader. Then, onl...

How do muggles with children at Hogwarts (for example, Hermione's parents) communicate with their children while they're at school? The students are able to send owls but does that mean the parents can only send letters when their students send an owl? What if it's an emergency? What if their children never send an owl? Answer We know that Muggle mail can reach Hogwarts - Petunia once wrote a letter to Dumbledore, and he replied. We also know that the Dursley's were able to send Harry his Christmas presents; given their distaste for magic it is safe to assume that they would not have done so had it involved using an owl or any other magical means. Snape, when he was a child, speculated that there are wizards working undercover in the Muggle Post Office, who would presumably intercept any mail meant for the wizarding world and pass it on by owl: [...] "Severus saw the envelope, and he couldn't believe a Muggle could have contacted Hogwarts, that's all! He ...

I read a futuristic sci-fi book in the 1980's (maybe the 70's), about an overweight orphan who lived in slums, known as "the rat" (not the stainless steel rat), who was conscripted into space military service (in chapter 1). He was trained and became a powerful warrior and teamed up with others, and towards the end may have overthrown the governing beings. Answer Except for the part about a space military, you could be describing Sugarat of A. A. Attanasio's Nebula award nominated novel Radix , published in 1981. In chapter one, you see Sugarat in action, a vigilante seeking vengeance in the night by killing the gang members terrorizing the city. When captured, Sugarat turns out to be Sumner Kagan, an overweight adolescent living with his mother. He is forced into the military, the Massebôth, who, among other responsibilities, are tasked with keeping earth free of voors and distorts. Sumner eventually escapes from the army, meets voors and distorts and others...

It was either a short story or a novel. I read it about 20 years ago, and some vague memory of it stuck. It's set in a future where everyone's allotted role is decided by a series of tests once they reach a certain age. They are then classified into a group which decides what jobs they will do. Our hero rather controversially gets a perfect score in the tests. Nobody had done that in a long time. and at first he worries about what this might mean. He is sent to work for the mysterious scientists who maintain the computer that runs society. Most people don't know they exist. He is disappointed to learn he has to be their tea boy, and learn a tea making ceremony perfectly. In the process he learns how to fool the machine, and eventually to circumvent the controls society has placed on him. He makes several visits to an area outside the control of the machine - where people are living in poverty and lawlessness. Can't remember the author, or the name, just that basic idea,...

At the end of Star Wars: The Force Awakens we see two related events: Rey defeats Kylo Ren in combat, but there is no clear indication that he died. His wounds appear to be to extremities or other non-vital areas such as his shoulder. This leads me to believe he is still alive, and primed to turn mechanical like his grandfather did four movies prior after being defeated in a lightsaber fight with Obi-Wan. This is speculation, as the movie is not specific here. Also: Snoke tells General Hux to grab Kylo Ren and flee the planet so Kylo Ren can complete his training. However, there is no visual indication about what happens to Kylo Ren after the final events on the planet. We see the Millennium Falcon leaving, but no other ships. Did Kylo Ren leave the planet with General Hux at the end of the film? Is there any canon answer in the novelization or other sources? Answer UPDATE : I re-watched the film. No screenshots yet but the very last film moments before the chasm opens show Ren lyin...

I've recently read Wolfsbane and it's mentioned (and not for the first time) that Leeman Russ and the Vlka Fenryka were designed with the sole purpose of being the emperor's loyal and unflinching executioners. There have been multiple hints across other books that each of the Primarchs were built for a specific role (Magnus for his psychic powers, Horus for his leadership, and Roboute for his statesmanship). Has it ever been laid out quite so specifically for the other Primarchs and/or legions what their assigned tasks were? Answer Note : I am not sure that each Primarch has a defined role after the Great Crusade and the complete unification of the Galaxy as the Imperium of Mankind. Besides being a charismatic leader and a deputy for the Emperor (He cannot be everywhere!) of course. Some had a definite purpose, but it is hard to tell if it was planned by the Emperor from the start, an inevitable consequence of their creation that each of them would be heavily specialized,...

Batman has crazy strong willpower , as evidence in Only a dream where he remains awake across two (?) nights keeping Dee (a psychic dream manipulator) from forcing him to sleep and out of his head simply by humming Frère Jacques . I'm sure there are other times when batman has shown superhuman willpower. So why has he never been approached by the Green Lantern Corps, whom rely on willpower as their source of strength? Answer It seems this did happen in a 1994 comic . The results were somewhat less than stellar. The reasons, as I see it, are these: Bruce Wayne has a massive amount of emotional baggage -- his willpower is a result of his crusade to exact revenge on criminals. A ring attuned to emotions is not the sort of thing one gives to a person like that. Batman does not take orders and is unlikely to work well in a corp-like organization with rules. He works alone and chooses his own missions. The modern Batman persona is meant to strike fear into the minds of criminals. Agai...

...but an office worker has some sort of perceptual shift, and stops following his pattern--wakes up. Other people keep speaking as though he's replying with the preset line, but he's just listening in horrified silence. They also move in preset patterns--disrupting their movement makes them have seizures. Eventually the protagonist meets others who've woken up: a woman whom he likes, as well as a gang of thugs (who have a large/evil hound) who run around pillaging and (I think it's implied) raping the unknowing "machine part" people. At the end the protagonist and his lady friend decide to rejoin their patterns, by relaxing, dropping back into their routines. I think it's from the 50s/60s, but I can't for the life of me remember who wrote it, or the title. I think I might've run across it in an anthology of short stories. Any help is greatly appreciated!

This includes all occasions when, at least temporarily, a character or the appearance of a character fooled, attempted to fool, or was intended to fool other characters or the audience. The key point is v there has to be some notion of trickery or manipulation. Clarifications: Multiple manipulations in the same episode count as one. Counts: possession, external influence, mental illness simulations, hallucinations (by the perceiver) Doesn't count: in-character lying in-universe acting In the case of borderline or unclear cases, please ask for clarification to I can improve the question.

In The Black Magician Trilogy, when introducing Sonea to the blood gems, Akkarin states that he has three blood gems. One is with Takkan One is with Lorlen "One with a friend in a useful place" Canavan has stated that the observant reader should know who it is with, so who is it? A quick google search hasn't revealed anything conclusive. EDIT: It looks like the answer may be definitively revealed soon - Canavan is hosting a competition on her blog with this exact question as the competition question. Answer The answer is contained in The Rogue - the second book of the Traitor Spy Trilogy - sequel to The Black Magician Trilogy. It wasn't someone who we could have guessed directly, but the short answer is the leader of one of the Sachakan factions - in fact, the leader of Savaras faction.

I recall being somewhat impressed by a novel I read a few years back - this book may be less than five years old - which featured a college-aged man. He had a laptop which transformed into a troll goblin that served as his familiar. In the story's universe, mages had switched to the Internet for most of their magic & communication. The main character was essentially a magical hacker, and spent much of the book fighting against his evil aunt (I think, I know it was a female relative) with the help of his cousin. Older forms of magic were also featured, including using special paintings as magical portals, and spells being whistled by wizards. It features a scene at a gas station where the laptop is disabled by a virus, and the main character whistles a spell to reanimate dinosaurs from the gasoline. Is this ringing any bells? Answer Was it perhaps Webmage by Kelly McCullough ? (I haven't read the book, mind you, just ran a quick Google search. :)) Ravirn is not your aver...

Since Hermione used the Time-Turner repeatedly during her third year, did she ever see her past self or other self accidentally when going to her classes?

So in the comics, Mentor and Kronos put Arthur Douglas's spirit into a new, more powerful body in order to help defeat Thanos, but (speaking as someone who hasn't read the comics but is interested in the back story of the character) is there any evidence to suggest what species Drax the Destroyer's body is? Is it just a modified human body? Or is it alien?

How do the Flashes breathe utilizing their super speed? The air pressure would be extreme. Do they run in a pressurized bubble? Answer Most of the Flashes get their powers by channeling an extra-dimensional energy known as " The Speed Force. " In fact, most DC characters with speedster-type powers are said to ultimately draw their quickness from this ultimate energy source. As a result, the Flash in particular can use the the Speed Force to do more than just move quickly. Wally West once pointed out that he creates an aura of protective energy around himself when he hits high-speeds. This aura basically cocoons the Flash from friction-related effects. In other words, the Flash has to create a personal environmental bubble just to shield himself from burning up due to high velocity friction. Not suffocating is simply a lower level use of his Speed Force shielding ability.

The original Star Trek series and Star Trek movies basically portrayed the Star Fleet culture aboard ship as similar to the U.S. Navy. The culture is predominantly male but women are allowed on most ships, especially in "support" roles such as science, medicine and communication. Despite a certain level of romance aboard ship through TOS, though, wives and children are not found on the original USS Enterprise , and its complement is only about 400 people as a result. In Star Trek: the Next Generation , Deep Space 9 , and the new Star Trek movie, ships of the fleet are seen carrying a substantial complement of youth and non-Starfleet types. The Enterprise-D , in fact, has a complement of over a thousand, many of those being families and children of serving Starfleet personnel (which had to be evacuated in Generations before separating the saucer). The U.S.S. Kelvin in the new Star Trek was carrying James Kirk's mother (apparently a noncombatant), who gives birth to hi...

I have been trying to remember this for about a week now and I've resorted to asking the internet. There was an alien species from Alpha Centauri, if I remember correctly, that was fairly indistinguishable from humans, but had 6 fingers. If I am remembering correctly they engineered that way. I'm not sure which work of science fiction this is from, but I am at a loss trying to remember. I'm pretty sure it was in a book, but I'm not sure for what. It could have been anything - a book, an RPG, or video game manual. I was thinking it may have been Buck Rogers XXVC , but that didn't pan out. On the dates I'm not 100% sure but I believe it was in the 80's or 90's. The language was English.

Iain M. Banks's Culture has the ability to travel faster than light (up to 233,000 c) with infraspace engines built from exotic nanomatter, but can it also transmit communication supraluminally? Edit to be clearer: I realize that they can communicate by messengers/couriers, but what I want to know is if they can transmit massless data, such as electromagnetic waves or indeed light, faster than light. Due to the nature of their physical hyperdrives that can move matter faster than light, it's not clear that they can do the same with something without mass, or even if they can propel mass that doesn't have its own drive attached to it. Answer Yes, although the speed of communication is ill-defined it appears to be very fast indeed, many multiples the speed of light and capable of being sent ahead of ships moving at very rapid velocities. There's a good, if somewhat flowery, analogy provided in Surface Detail The only reality-based restriction the galactic house modelle...

In The Matrix Revolutions , when Morpheus, Trinity and Seraph enter the Merovingian's club, one of the guards calls Seraph "Wingless". Where does this name come from? [embedded content] Answer As his name suggests, Seraph is believed to be a Seraphim (a type of program that performed the function of Agents in the Paradise Matrix ). Seraph used to work for the Merovingian but was exiled along with the Merovingian and his other henchmen. 1 Eventually he came to protect the Oracle, thus betraying the Merovingian 2 and losing his exile status (since he had a purpose again). At some point Seraph lost his wings, possibly from an attack by the Merovingian similar to the latter's attack on the Oracle which forced her to change her shell. He can no longer fly, in contrast to the guards inside Club Hel who work for the Merovingian and can defy gravity -- they are fallen angels (in Hell no less!) who still have their "wings" (although we can't see them). (You...

In the Harry Potter books, we learn that Harry survives the Killing Curse thanks to his mother's willingness to sacrifice herself for him. This causes the curse to backfire on Voldemort, and leaves Harry with a scar on his forehead. Has anyone else ever survived a Killing Curse in the Potter-verse? I find it hard to believe that no other witch or wizard have ever put themselves in harms way for someone they love before by choice. As such, was there some mitigating or special circumstances about the event in question? Answer The circumstances in which Lily sacrificed herself for Harry were unique. Five characteristics in particular seem important: Lily loved Harry. Lily did not try to protect Harry by fighting. Harry was defenseless; Lily was his only remaining protector. Voldemort had a specific intention not to kill Lily. Lily had no idea that her sacrifice could cause the Curse to rebound. Dumbledore attributed Harry's survival to love. And, although Harry did not know it u...

A follow-up to this question . In A Song of Ice and Fire , bastards "who have no name of their own" get a surname like Snow, Rivers, or Stone, based on where they are from. Does this apply only to the illegitimate children of nobles, or to the illegitimate children of the small folk as well? Presumably, in a feudal society commoners do not have surnames at all, so it would be strange if their bastards did. Just to clarify, I was thinking about cases when it is not known for a fact whether the child is a bastard of a noble. For example, Mya Stone was not acknowledged by her father, yet she is still a Stone. So then we have an interesting situation in Westeros: people who have last names are either nobles or bastards (with or without noble blood). Answer As per an e-mail correspondence , George RR Martin confirms that the bastard names are given to nobles' children, and not peasants (as they would not have last names): Bastard names are given only to bastards with at leas...

I can't remember the title. It's a board game where two brothers played it. When they played the board, it sent them to space? It's a board where I think it has different levels,each levels has a card, and each levels has different obstacles in space? One level in there, they even put their house being pulled by the sun? And there is also a part there where there is an astronaut. Answer Sounds very much like John Favreau's Zathura (2005) Danny and Walter are two brothers who barely get along even while driving their parents to distraction as their older sister tries to ignore them. Despite their squabbling, the brothers manage cooperate enough to play an old mechanical board game named Zathura. However, after their first move, they find that the game has apparently flung them, their sister and their entire house into outer space. Furthermore, the brothers surmise the only way to return home is to finish the game. However with almost every move, new dangers arise as t...

In Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 4, Phil Coulson, Leo Fitz, and Robbie Reyes are trapped in some other dimension. In order to get them out, the android AIDA creates a portal similar to the one's created by Doctor Strange 's sling rings. It looks quite similar, and achieves the same purpose. Is this coincidental, or was this on purpose?

I'm trying to find an old sci-fi story I remember reading, but cannot recall the name or the author. I thought it was Soviet sci-fi but now I'm not sure, as one of my friends vaguely recalls this from an American author. The premise: in future, time travel into past is developed and is used to "yank" talented people from the past just before their deaths, to let them finish what they had the potential for, but never got chance to create. However, to preserve the timeline, after they finish their work they are re-inserted into their original timeline to die. The protagonist is a writer that had an incurable disease, got taken into the future, cured of the disease, wrote his magnum opus, got to terms with the necessity of his return, and then was re-infected with the disease and re-inserted into past. Edit: seems like I was misremembering, and the writer above was the only person so transported, it was not a mass program. Answer The story is "Forever and the Eart...