Was there any explanation of the origin of the Borg from Star Trek? I've seen most of the TV shows but not read any books - is it explained there? Answer I understand that there's no definite answer but on Memory-Alpha it says that Borg was the product of cybernetic augmentation of living organisms that was advanced to the point where they ceased to be the species they were before that and became Borg. The hive mind probably started as the means of communication and sharing the information (just like the internet) and as species relied on it more and more (just like we are on the internet) they gradually lost the capability of functioning without it (just like we... well, maybe not yet :) and became the hive mind.

In the end of Ender's Game, it says that Valentine was 25 and Peter was 77, which would mean that he was 52 years older than her. However, Valentine was originally only 2 years younger than him. This is explained as being because she travelled for 50 years in Earth time, but for her, it was only 2 years. However, that only accounts for 48 years of the difference. What's with the other 2 years? Answer TL;DR: ( UPDATED MAJORLY!!! ) Out of universe, Card explicitly admitted to "the details and the timeline are not exactly right" in Ender's Game Chapter 15. In universe, most likely reason is simply that people talking about the flight to Shakespeare were rounding things down from 52 to 50. A second plausible in-universe explanation was that both Ender and Valentine were meant to spend those 2 years in stasis, as did most other passengers. Ender chose not to, but Card didn't know that till he wrote follow-up stories ( Ender in Exile , to be specific). So, Valent

When Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle come into Harry and Ron's compartment, and Goyle tries to take a chocolate frog, Scabbers bites him: Goyle reached toward the Chocolate Frogs next to Ron — Ron leapt forward, but before he’d so much as touched Goyle, Goyle let out a horrible yell. Scabbers the rat was hanging off his finger, sharp little teeth sunk deep into Goyle’s knuckle — Crabbe and Malfoy backed away as Goyle swung Scabbers round and round, howling, and when Scabbers finally flew off and hit the window, all three of them disappeared at once. -- Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Chapter 6 It is revealed in later books that Scabbers is in fact Peter Pettigrew in his Animagus form. Considering this, why would Scabbers bother going to the trouble of biting Goyle? Did years of being with the Weasleys make him somewhat loyal to them? Answer There's no obvious reason for Peter Pettigrew to want to bite Gregory Goyle over a Chocolate Frog. I think that Raditz_35 is right

In the Harry Potter universe, wizards and witches have managed to keep Muggles unaware of their existence, across the planet and over many centuries. Up to the timeframe that the novels take place in (the 1990s), I can see how this can be achieved through a combination of discretion and magic, with discretion being the preferred method on occasion (e.g., you don't need magic to slip into Platform 9 3/4 unnoticed, you just need to check that nobody is looking). Our current world of 2016, however, its a very different place. The UK is (in)famously heavily camera-monitored ( an estimated half million CCTV cameras in London alone ). Even more poignantly, a very large (and growing) segment of the population carries an internet-enabled HD camera with them at all times and are willing to use it at a moment's notice ( this is comedy , but it is comedy in part because a more realistic version could happen). It looks like, the moment something magical happens in public, a video of it w

In the Lord of The Rings trilogy, does anyone know how old Gandalf is? I remember reading that Gandalf was much older than he looked. Do the books ever say how old he is? Answer Gandalf is a Maia (Spirit), created by Eru among the other Ainur before the Years of the Lamps roughly 9,000+ years before arriving in Middle-earth. In Valinor he was known as Olórin. He was sent to Middle-earth in human form around the year 1000 in the Third Age. That's more than 2000 years before the setting of The Lord of the Rings, to help the free peoples fight the evil of Sauron. Gandalf walked in Middle-earth for approximately 2,019 years, un-aging and appearing as a grey bearded human of about 60 years old or so. He was around long before Middle-earth was created and before the Years of the Lamps. He, Saruman and Sauron are approximately the same age - give or take. It's difficult to pin down his true age because time had little relevance before the Lamps were set in place. 11,000 years old i

Immediately after leaving Hoth, Luke suddenly steers his X-Wing off course, and this exchange occurs: INT. LUKE'S X-WING - COCKPIT Luke, looking thoughtful, suddenly makes a decision. He flips several switches. The stars shift as he takes his fighter into a steep turn. The X-wing banks sharply and flies away in a new direction. The monitor screen on Luke's control panel prints out a question from the concerned Artoo. LUKE (into comlink) There's nothing wrong, Artoo. I'm just setting a new course. Artoo beeps once again. LUKE (into comlink) We're not going to regroup with the others. Artoo begins a protest, whistling an unbelieving, "What?!" Luke reads Artoo's exclamation on his control panel. LUKE (into comlink) We're going to the Dagobah system. Luke checks his readouts and makes a few adjustments. He rides along with only the soft hum of the instruments to break the silence. Finally, Artoo chirps up. LUKE (into comlink) Yes, Artoo? Artoo utters a

As I'm sure we all know by now, Superman gets his powers by being exposed to our sun, a yellow star. He also gains new abilities or has them drained whilst exposed to certain different colours of star. My question is, is there ever an instance, in any canon universe, in which Superman has gone sunbathing to either recharge his powers or as some form of training? Answer Yes. In " Whom the Gods Destroy #1 " we see Superman sunbathing. On the Moon, obviously. Because he's Superman.

Can anyone help with the name and any details on this short story? It concerns a genius inventor. He invents, for instance, a drink that slows down time that he takes and then wanders the streets watching the vast amount of time something like a fly will take to cross a room. He then invents a very dangerous technique where he can send another person in a group out of this existence and obliterate all memory of that person. He tells a group of people, mainly his friends, about this invention and goaded by their disbelief, sets the invention in motion. I'm not sure how its supposed to work (it's been at least sixty years since I read the story) but all the people in the group are described including one shy man or woman. They close their eyes, the process starts. When they wake, there is general relief that all is the same. Getting up to leave, someone knocks over an empty chair. It's a classic 'twist in the tail' ending and you realise that any memory of the outside

From this article (about the recent protest from SFF authors against BBC's discriminatory behaviour). JK Rowling sadly felt she had to deny she was writing fantasy with her Harry Potter series – although as Terry Pratchett responded: “I would have thought that the wizards, witches, trolls, unicorns, hidden worlds, jumping chocolate frogs, owl mail, magic food, ghosts, broomsticks and spells would have given her a clue?” Can anybody supply references to this? Was this because she did not want to label her works as fantasy? Answer J. K. Rowling has stated that she doesn't like fantasy, and it didn't occur to her that Harry Potter was fantasy until after she had written it, according to a 2005 interview with Time Magazine . The most popular living fantasy writer in the world doesn't even especially like fantasy novels. It wasn't until after Sorcerer's Stone was published that it even occurred to her that she had written one. "That's the honest truth,&q

What kind of material is the Robert Downey Jr. Iron Man's armor supposed to be made from? I know he crafted the prototype from the things he had on hand, but once he was able to build the next one(s) in his own lab, what hi-tech material did he use for the movie armor? Answer Cinematic Iron Man (Earth-19999) likely needs to use a variety of materials for his armors. His first suit was certainly made of scrap iron, but his later suits would need to be far lighter and stronger to be able to survive the stresses the were subjected to. He will need materials that are heat resistant, strong, resilient and stress tolerant but not all in the same measures. The chest and dorsal regions, where he will take the bulk of damage because it has the widest surface area, will need to be the toughest part of the armor. He will be using titanium-nickel alloys with a touch of vibranium if he can get it. (to radically reduce impact damage). His flight surfaces (seen whenever he is maneuvering) will

Lots of spoilers for Game of Thrones , Season 7 Episode 6, "Beyond the Wall" here: After Daenerys escapes from the Night king, the undead army pulls the fallen dragon out of the lake. To achieve this, they use chains. Where do they have tons of chains from? Would that imply that the Night King has a "base" (or castle or whatever) somewhere? If they can't enter water or have troubles entering the water: Who organized the chains and put them on the dragon? Answer The same question was asked and answered on our sister site Movies &TV. I am using the answers there to inspire my own here. The answer provides evidence that the lake on which the scene takes places seems to have old structures there. This would indicate a previous settlement, most likely by the Night's Watch during the construction of the Wall. Iron forging is only known south of the wall, and therefore makes it unlikely to be a Free Folk settlement. The purpose of this settlement was possibl

The movie Spider-man: into the Spider-verse focus on Miles Morales as the new Spider-man. What surprised me when watching the movie is that his father Jefferson Davis-Morales is a policeman working for PDNY, not the iconic NYPD. This obviously stands for Police Department of New York, but the PDNY does not seem to exist. The acronym can be seen in most scenes where Jefferson is on duty, like in the picture below, so it is difficult to miss and I am led to think it is intentional. Is there any reason why Jefferson is not working for the NYPD? The film is full of references to comics and previous Sony movies, so it may be a reference to a comic. But I couldn't find anything by googling PDNY. My possible interpretations: The multiverse and various versions of Spider-man are central to the movie. Maybe it is here to imply that Morales' universe in the movie is not our universe, hence that universe is not more important than the other universes (Spider-man Noir, manga version,...)

I loved this show but it's really bugging me as I don't know the name... I remember it being animated and in the morning, in the year 2011 or around that. The plot was about 1 teen girl with blonde hair and 4 boys who went to a school and were alerted when they had a mission. They went to this base thing where one of them would get picked for the mission, and then transform. the girl would have air power and turn into an angle like thing with blue and pink colours; and the other boys would be: rock power (turning into rock monster) earth power (turning into a tree-like thing) fire power (having lava human form) sea power (boy with a blue body and yellow long tentacle like hair). Side note it's not Captain Planet and the Planeteers or The Knowhere Boys .

It's quite noticeable in Star Trek TOS and TNG that superior officers tend to call officers of lower ranks 'Mister': for example, Kirk would regularly refer to his officers as 'Mister Sulu' or 'Mister Scott'. Picard often refers to his officers in a similar way (e.g. 'Mr LaForge' or 'Mr Worf'). This isn't limited just to captains, but to higher-ranking officers generally; even Riker has referred to Worf as 'Mister Worf' on several occasions I seem to recall. Yet, when referring to female officers, they are typically addressed either by their first name (informally) or, more formally in the format [Rank] [surname] e.g. 'Lieutenant Uhura'. I'm just wondering whether there is any reason (in or out of universe) why male officers are referred to as 'mister [surname]' regularly but female officers aren't referred to as 'miss/mrs [surname]'. Answer Memory Alpha has an article detailing occasions in va

The Lord of the Rings , chapter 7- The Mirror of Galadriel: "But suddenly the mirror went altogether dark, as dark as if a hole had opened in the world of sight, and Frodo looked into emptiness. In the black abyss there appeared a single eye that slowly grew, until it filled nearly the whole mirror. So terrible was it that Frodo stood rooted, unable to cry out or to withdraw his gaze. The eye was rimmed with fire, but itself glazed, yellow as a cat's, watchful and intent, and the black slit of its pupil opened on a pit, a window into nothing" We know that Sauron himself isn't physically an eye and it is hinted the eye of Sauron is more of a metaphor, but if the eye is more a metaphor, why does Frodo see the eye itself rather than feel it metaphorically speaking? Is it because as the bearer of the One he can perceive the thoughts and will of the other bearers of the rings of power? Further on in the chapter Galadriel herself says: "You have perceived my thought mo

At the height of their powers, Grindelwald commanded the entire European continent save Britain, whereas Voldemort affected mostly just Britain. Since the population of the whole European continent is higher than Britain's, that means Grindelwald likely had more followers than Voldemort. Why is Grindelwald considered second darkest wizard and not Voldemort?

In the Star Trek universe, Starfleet vessels have registry numbers that typically begin with the prefix NX or NCC. The most famous of these is NCC-1701, the registry number of the USS Enterprise and its successors. In-universe, these are assigned to starships roughly according to the order in which they are built and commissioned. (The successor Enterprises are an exception as they persist with the NCC-1701 registry, but with the addition of a letter suffix to distinguish them.) Out-of-universe, do these registry numbers have any special significance? How were they chosen? For instance, the USS Voyager is NCC-74656. It seems uninspired at first glance. Does the particular number 74656 have any hidden (or obvious) meaning? Why did the writers or creators choose it? On the other hand, were NCC-1701 and NCC-1864 (the latter being the registry of the USS Reliant) derived from the years 1701 and 1864, respectively? For the latter, the USS Reliance served in the American Civil War (as part

Professor Marchbanks was the witch in the council which has visited Hogwarts in the OOtP for the OWL tests. She was once quoted saying: ... not if Dumbledore doesn't want to be found! I should know.... Examined him personally in his Transfiguration and Charms when he did NEWTs ...... So, she was one of the examiners back when Dumbledore was giving his NEWTs. And owing to the fact that Dumbledore is considerably old by the time Order of the Phoenix happened, I guess she must have been at a pretty impressive age for a human being. So, is there any close-to-accurate calculation on how much her age can be? Answer She was born before 1881, the year of Dumbledore's birth, as she must be 1 school year older the Dumbledore at least. At the time of Harrys OWLs, she was at the very least 115 years old, as Dumbledore would have been 114 that year. She was probably born a few years before that, as her job was to test 17 year old wizards on varying different magical topics she herself nee

"When your power eclipses mine I will become expendable. This is the Rule of Two : one Master and one apprentice. When you are ready to claim the mantle of Dark Lord as your own, you must do so by eliminating me." ―Darth Bane, to Darth Zannah As I've mentioned in a previous answer, I feel that many people take The Rule of Two far too literally . I believe that It can be interpreted that Yoda isn't saying that there are only two Sith ever, but that there are always two Sith working together: a master and an apprentice. If one Sith shows up, there is "always" another one involved. The Rule of Two seems to exist in C-Canon, being featured in a few books, but to my recollection is never actually defined or even mentioned in G-Canon. MACE WINDU : There is no doubt. The mysterious warrior was a Sith. YODA : Always two there are....no more...no less. A master and an apprentice. MACE WINDU : But which one was destroyed, the master or the apprentice? Aside from this

In Fringe , there is the "Over Here" universe and the "Over there" universe that the characters interact with. Why do only these two universes exist? Dr. Bishop mentioned that there were an unlimited number of universes existing at the same time. I thought it was because it was the other universe that Walter went into that caused all the Fringe incidents, but in Walters experiments, he created a wall that only looked into the other universe, not any of the other universes. Why are these two universes so important and not all the others? Answer The universes are now connected because of the first cross over by Walter, so that's why it's possible to cross over between them in the present (although it continues not being easy for "normal people") I think that Walter first created the window to that universe by chance, and the connection only intensified once he crossed over to save Peter.

In the movie The Prestige , two magicians rival over who can perform the best Transported Man illusion. In the end, Alfred Borden's secret is that he actually has an identical twin with whom he could perform the trick. He would disappear, his twin would reappear at the other end of the stage. Robert Angier on the other hand uses a machine that clones him and transports the clone to the other end of the stage. He drops through a trapdoor to drown below the stage and be disposed of after, while his clone reappears. Next time he does the trick, his clone is the one who drowns and a clone of the clone reappears and so on. After watching the movie, I asked myself the question: Why does Robert Angier not use the machine a single time to create a clone of himself and then perform the act together with his clone in a similar fashion to Alfred Borden? That way, he would not have to die every evening and there would not be a body to dispose of after every performance. The audience would not

Bitmask took this photo while attending the Star Wars Identities Exhibition : I remember this scene from one of the original trilogy movies. I also remember the droid was "screaming" as it was tortured. Why would someone torture a droid? How could it be effective? It's a Robot! Answer TL;DR See at the bottom of this post after both pictures. The reason is two-fold. First of all, what works for humans also seems to work for (sentient) droids. 3PO is clearly shocked by the torturing, motivating him to do good work for Jabba (which he clearly despises). The picture I took was the script version of this shot from Return of the Jedi : Where a droid that very likely was only designed to feel pain, is tortured by the assistant droid 8D8 . The true reason for this whole mess is a certain droid, EV-9D9 , that started its existence in Cloud City. It later worked for Jabba as some sort of administrator for his droids. I cannot describe it better than wookiepedia, so here's

I work for a large government organization. My boss is a total jerk who abuses those working under him. I've tried contacting HR before but they won't do anything about him. Anyways, I screwed up again. My jerk boss is going to be super pissed . I came out of hyperspace too close to some stupid planet and the rebels were able to detect us. It's not a big deal really but he'll make a big thing about it like he always does when something isn't his fault. If it were his f- up, he would say something like 'I meant to do that' or 'It went exactly as I had foreseen it' — yeah right. I'm going to try to play it off like I wanted to come out of hyperspace too close — maybe like I wanted to in order to surprise them. Anyways, I'm thinking he might choke me out for this one. Would faking my death fool him into stop Force-choking me to death or would he know that I'm not dead yet? Answer In a word, no. Your boss will almost certainly use his

I am trying to remember a story I heard a long time ago. The setting was that there is a huge ship floating around with some sort of creatures. And this ship sails time and stays a few moments ahead of our present moment. These creatures literally with their tools and materials build the entire universe as it should look like a few moments later. And they continue to do that constantly as they move down the timeline with us following right behind them by a few moments. The story also explained that this is why sometimes completely inexplicable things happen such as when you lose your keys and they turn up somewhere completely different. It's because some builder didn't pay attention to detail. Answer It's not a perfect match, but your description is reminiscent of Theodore Sturgeon 's short story "Yesterday Was Monday" , first published in Unknown Fantasy Fiction , June 1941 , available at the Internet Archive . In Sturgeon's yarn, we mortals are actors

From a comment in another question: One should never assume that any given statement by Voldemort is truthful. Indeed, because he deliberately spews lies and distortions all the time, one should be ready to assume that the exact opposite of what Voldemort is saying may be the truth. Seems obvious right? He certainly seems to be a sociopath , and lying is a component of that diagnosis, however, in thinking about when we actually see Voldemort communicate, does he in fact, ever lie - especially to Harry? The only time I can think that we see an actual lie is in Chamber of Secrets, but that is technically Tom Riddle, not the fully realized Voldemort (even though, yes, he had taken on the name) Answer From Chapter 33 of HP7, "The Flaw in the Plan": Voldemort and company, with Hagrid carrying supposedly-dead Harry, approach Hogwarts in full victory mode. After the defenders come out of the castle and line up facing the Death Eaters, Voldemort announces to the defenders that &quo

Many years (20+?) ago in Analog SF magazine I read a short story where a culture discovered interstellar travel shortly after the start of their iron age. They could construct air-tight ships and travel essentially as far as their oxygen supply lasted. Before they met us, the most technologically advanced culture they came across had discovered balloon flight. Needless to say they thought our jets were merely improved balloons. Answer Pretty sure that's The Road Not Taken by Harry Turtledove.

When half-elvens choose mortal life, how would their bodies behave? Half-elven are always elves by nature. Ever since they're born, their physical body and behaviour would be elvish - they have keen senses, they don't get physically weary, no illness, and so on. Half-elvens are then offered a choice - Immortal elvish lives or mortal fate of men. When they choose the latter, like Elros and Arwen did, what would happen to their elvish nature? Would they lose it? I don't think they would lose their pointy ears, but what about the other elvish features that I mentioned before? Are there any canonical references? Answer There are statements in the History of Middle-earth that have bearing on this. First of all, from the 1937 Silmarillion (end section, paragraph 9), we have Manwe saying the following: Now all those who have the blood of mortal Men, in whatever part, great or small, are mortal, unless other doom be granted to them... In the latter QS work (outlined in War o

After the events of A New Hope , Sidious believed Obi-Wan was dead. Vader apparently never told Sidious that Obi-Wan disappeared instead of being sliced in two on the original Death Star. From the 1983 novelization of Return of the Jedi by James Kahn, “Tell me, young Skywalker,” the Emperor said when he saw Luke’s first struggle had taken its course. “Who has been involved in your training until now?” The smile was thin, open-mouthed, hollow. Luke was silent. He would reveal nothing. “Oh, I know it was Obi-Wan Kenobi at first,” the wicked ruler continued, rubbing his fingers together as if trying to remember. Then pausing, his lips creased into a sneer. “Of course, we are familiar with the talent Obi-Wan Kenobi had, when it came to training Jedi.” He nodded politely in Vader’s direction, indicating Obi-Wan’s previous star pupil. Vader stood without responding, without moving. Luke tensed with fury at the Emperor’s defamation of Ben — though, of course, to the Emperor it was praise. An

In Age Of Ultron we witnessed Hulk lose a tooth. My question is: Has Bruce Banner lost a tooth as well? Answer Nothing happens to Banner when Hulk loses a tooth. When the Hulk transforms back into Banner, he would not be missing a tooth unless the Hulk reverts back to Bruce Banner immediately (and I mean in seconds) after losing a tooth. The Hulk's regenerative powers will replace that tooth in the time it takes for you to read this sentence. If he didn't have such powers, he would not be able to withstand the brutal amounts of damage he suffers in most conflicts. In this image below, the Hulk has 80% of the flesh blasted from his body by Vector. He regrows it in seconds. Damage done to Banner does not necessarily transfer to the Hulk either. Any injury Banner suffers is immediately healed by his transformation into the Hulk. He can even shake off effects such as transmutation into stone or glass. The Grey Gargoyle turns Banner into stone in Incredible Hulk #363. Normal huma

The facts: The job was cursed. Did Voldemort actually curse the job of Defense Against Dark Arts professor after being denied the position? Oh, he definitely wanted the Defence Against the Dark Arts job. The Aftermath of our little meeting proved that. You see, we have not been able to keep a Defence Against the Dark Arts professor for more than a year since I refused the post to Lord Voldemort. - Albus Dumbledore, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince It lasted From 1957 until the fall of Voldemort (1998) In what year did Voldemort curse the DADA job 1957 (Y-23) [Voldemort] resurfaces and applies to teach [Defence Against the Dark Arts] Ten years after the death of [Hepzibah Smith], [Voldemort] returns to [Hogwarts], where Dumbledore] refuses to grant him a teaching job. He then curses the [Defence Against the Dark Arts] position, and since that day, no professor has stayed for more than one year in that post. Again we don't know exactly when this happened, but since most eviden

As Morpheus told us in The Matrix , as soon as you die in the Matrix you die in real life. But once your mind is only a huge load of bits and bytes (otherwise it would be impossible to be transported via wires), why don't they simply make a backup of their minds as soon as they enter the Matrix, and if something dangerous happens to them (like death), the backup will be reimported. Thus their last memories (everything which happened after the last backup) will be lost, but they can not be killed in the Matrix. Would this be possible? Answer "But after your mind is only a huge load of bits and bytes (otherwise it would be impossible to be transported via wires)" From seeing the movies, I would say that it is the opposite; they keep using the hardware for their minds (their brain), it is only that the info about their senses is provided by the Matrix and not their sensory organs. The opposite would require a means to "imprinting" in their brain the memories abou

According to Tolkien himself Sauron had a physical form in the third age: ...in a tale which allows the incarnation of great spirits in a physical and destructible form their power must be far greater when actually physically present. ... Sauron should be thought of as very terrible. The form that he took was that of a man of more than human stature, but not gigantic. ~ The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien The question that I'm begging to ask is, does he survive his ring being destroyed? Is he seen dying? Or is he simply not seen at all? Answer Sauron himself was not seen in the movie, only his Great Eye. As to his destruction: from the chapter The Last Debate from The Return of the King Gandalf says of the One Ring "If it is destroyed, then he will fall; and his fall will be so low that none can foresee his arising ever again. For he will lose the best part of the strength that was native to him in his beginning, and all that was made or begun with that power will crumble, and

First up, let me be clear this isn't a purist's question. Books are books and films are films and both should be considered on their own merits. However, every time I watch the film version of The Two Towers, the events at the end of the film regarding Faramir and Frodo annoy me, not because they've been drastically altered but because those drastic alterations don't seem to make sense, even within the film's own version of the story. A warning for all the people who haven't seen the film yet: major spoilers follow. Here's what I find problematic: First, Faramir's aggression and (worse) the cruelty his men inflict on Gollum, stand at odds with the picture painted elsewhere of the men of Gondor as wise and just. Not only does this jar when the characters are introduced, but it lessens the viewer's sympathy with the people of the white city in the travails that are to come. Second, there doesn't seem to be any good reason why Faramir doesn't si

I'm currently re-reading Lord of the Rings for the umpteenth time, and a question occurred to me. When Gandalf hears from Faramir that Frodo and Sam were heading for Cirith Ungol, he is shocked. Obviously, he hadn't planned to take them that way if he had survived Moria. So, what was his plan? We know he couldn't have got into Mordor via the Morannon. Is there any clue anywhere of the route he had been planning to take to get to Mount Doom? Answer As Others have already answered, there was no distinct plan other than to send the ring off towards Mordor in hopes of destroying it. Elrond specifically calls this out and suggests that the lack of a plan is a virtue in and of itself: I think that this task is appointed for you, Frodo; and that if you do not find a way, no one will. This is the hour of the Shire-folk, when they arise from their quiet fields to shake the towers and counsels of the Great. Who of all the Wise could have foreseen it? Or, if they are wise, why shou