Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson based their sequels to original Dune series on research material composed by Frank Hebert before his death. Are there any sources that describe how much material was found and what it contained? Anything that can help to evaluate how true both authors kept to the original vision. Answer I started with the Brian Herbert wikipedia article 's references section. There are a lot of sources here but here are the ones I think are the most significant. First there's this archived blog post by Kevin J. Anderson where you could see those disk : To the left, I'm posting copies of the actual IBM diskettes containing the files, with the labels "Dune 7 Outline" and "Dune 7 Notes" in Frank Herbert's own handwriting. And lower on the blog post you could read : When Frank wrote HERETICS and CHAPTERHOUSE he obviously intended to complete the story. He had planned an entire epic that tied his chronicles back through his whole pr...

As a young boy in the 70's or early 80's, I watched a movie which took place on Mars. There was a family living and the boy discovered that his parents where robots. That's all I can remember. Does anyone know such a movie? Answer This is the TV mini-series The Martian Chronicles (1980) My memories tricked me. It was the boy who was not human. He was martian! [embedded content]

Apart from the black suit and glasses, an earpiece is one part of the iconic attire of Agent Smith. Throughout the movies we can see him wearing it all the time. But during the famous interrogation scene we see him taking the earpiece out. My question is; what is the purpose of that earpiece and what could he possibly be hearing? Answer The earpiece represents both an figurative and, apparently, actual connection between the Agent programs and the Matrix mainframe. You can see at multiple points in the movie, an Agent will receive information from their earpiece directing them where the humans are. They also likely receive orders the same way. (In "real" computer programming the earpiece might be implemented as a socket or a message pipe, something like that.) Inside the Matrix universe, it's how the Agents can appear to know things they can't possibly know, without arousing the suspicions of the plugged-in humans. When a homeless guy sees someone escape the Matrix ...

As the question title says, what's the fastest way to travel in the Harry Potter universe? Answer In the order of increased fastness: Floo network : Definitely not instantaneous, but pretty fast: 'But don't panic and get out too early, wait until you see Fred and George.' (CoS) Portkey : Seems to be a couple of seconds: It happened immediately: Harry felt as though a hook just behind his navel had been suddenly jerked irresistibly forwards. His feet had left the ground; he could feel Ron and Hermione on either side of him, their shoulders banging into his; they were all speeding forwards in a howl of wind and swirling colour; his forefinger was stuck to the boot as though it was pulling him magnetically onwards and then – His feet slammed into the ground; Ron staggered into him and he fell over; the Portkey hit the ground near his head with a heavy thud. (GoF) Apparition : This seems the fastest subjectively, but of course, given overall JKR Maths proficiency, she was...

The Hunger Games universe presents that the wealthier districts have special training and volunteers for their tributes ( "Careers" ). While it certainly seems reasonable that the poorer districts could not support such an effort, it also seems reasonable that they would develop some tactic or strategy to combat such dominance of the wealthier districts. One plausible method for the disadvantaged defeating the advantaged is through absolute numbers, which also makes sense on an individual level. If you are disadvantaged and want to have any hope of survival, wouldn't you prefer to fight a weaker opponent? Thus defeating the strongest opponents is most beneficial to all weaker opponents. I have only seen the first three installments of the movies and have not read the books, but it is not clear to me why this strategy was not employed, other than to enhance the story-telling.

In the recent Dark Knight Trilogy, Bruce Wayne re-discovers the underground cave in his manor and then installs lights there as the first step towards building the Batcave. This leads me to the question: Are the lights and the rest of the Batcave installation bat-friendly, or does the whole setup adversely affect the bats? A character like the Batman must care about animals and the environment; especially ones that inspire his own persona. Did Batman care about how his hideout affected the bats? Is there any treatment of or allusion to the relationship between Batman and the bats living in the Batcave in any of the comics or any other works? Answer It's established in Batman #655 that Alfred is in charge of tending to the needs of the bats in the roof of the Batcave. Since it's a heavy part of the established canon that " The Batcave contains bats " (along with " Bruce's parents are dead " and " Bruce Wayne is Batman ") I think we can reaso...

In the TNG episode "The Nth Degree," Barcley uses a subspace inversion to travel the enterprise a phenomenal distance, but it doesn't seem to be an actual mode of transportation. Maybe this is a one-off fastest form of travel. Are transwarp conduits the fastest consistent form of travel? So my question is what is the the fastest one-off or special form of travel, and what is the fastest standard or widely used form of travel? And what rate of speed are we talking about? Answer From the episode (see also here and here ): KIM: In principle, if you were ever to reach warp ten, you'd be travelling at infinite velocity . NEELIX: Infinite velocity. Got it. So that means very fast. PARIS: It means that you would occupy every point in the universe simultaneously. In theory, you could go any place in the wink of an eye. Time and distance would have no meaning. In the episode, Tom Paris actually achieves this speed via a kind of "transwarp" technology develop...

I remember reading this book back in late 90's. It is about a slave that gathers some friends and goes into a desert to find/fight a dragon. There is also a revolt/uprising in the slaves' home town. I can't remember if this is a single book or a trilogy. I think the rulers were called Sorcerer-lords or Sorcerer-Kings. And I remember one character was called Boris or Borys. Answer In the Dark Sun D&D setting , Borys is the name of the first Athasian dragon who was the Sorcerer-King of Ur-Draxa. There are about a dozen novels set on Athas ; the entire world is a desert and slaves are a constant of the setting so it's difficult to narrow it down to one in particular, but it's almost certainly one of these. Prism Pentad - Troy Denning The Verdant Passage (October 1991), (ISBN 1-56076-121-0) The Crimson Legion (April 1992), (ISBN 1-56076-260-8) The Amber Enchantress (October 1992), (ISBN 1-56076-236-5) The Obsidian Oracle (June 1993), (ISBN 1-56076-603-4) The Cerul...

Trying to identify a novel I read years ago (probably in the '80s) in which the protagonist (late teens, early 20s?) is gradually forgotten by and ceases to be able to interact with the rest of the world (all of which gradually fades to gray). In the beginning, as he is slowly fading out (not realizing it) he goes down to breakfast with his parents, and his mother has only set out two plates (one for his father and one for herself) — she'd forgotten to set one out for him. He reminds her. Foreshadowing, eh? But gradually everyone forgets about him and ceases to be able to hear or see him, and fade to gray. Some other things apparently similarly get "forgotten" however — e.g., occasionally he finds colored, not gray, cans of food in grocery stores, which he can interact with and eat — so he survives. He then meets a girl who has similarly been forgotten by the world, and they spend time together and fall in love. At the end, he is gradually starting to fade back into t...

In The Last Knight , it's revealed that Bumblebee fought alongside Hot Rod (or a Hot Rod looking fella) in an earlier World War (as in Earth). Have any interviews, promotional materials, or other works hinted at how this was possible? How long has Bumblebee been on Earth and why didn't he arrive with the "initial" Autobot group ?

This Cracked article reminded me of the reason why I asked this question . What jobs were open to wizards and witches in the world of magic? From crowd scenes at Quidditch competitions it seems that there are many wizards and witches out there but not many occupations are listed [in the books]. So that leads me to think either there are many jobs not listed or no one actually needs to work after they graduate. To clarify I am not asking what Muggle related jobs there may be or even what jobs the Ministry of Magic has available. The books pretty much divide it into teaching, government, shop owner, reporter, writer and Quidditch player. Answer Employment options we see or that can be inferred: The Ministry . Employs a large percentage of witches and wizards in Britain. Hogwarts . Employs a score, give or take, of teachers and a few other staff (Filch, Mme. Pomfrey, Mme. Pince, at least). St. Mungo's . No idea how many they employ. I'd guess an absolute minimum of 50, probably...

There's a series where a girl finds out she's part of some magic creature guarding society and takes a test to see what kind of creature she's supposed to help, and is all of them. There's a library with a certain room only she can go in because of this. She 'pairs' with a rare red dragon, but there is a dark/evil shapeshifting creature that wants to pair with her too.She has to fit this creature to save the world. Does anyone know what book/ series this is? I read it in my prep school library 5 or 6 years ago which is why I can't remember it's name.

I was trying to find a comprehensive list of Warp Core Ejection events on the net and am coming up empty. The best thing I found was: a link at memory-alpha(.org) centered around Voyager mentioning no other such event during a TV series. I am having trouble with this, emotionally speaking, as I feel part of my childhood memory may have been fabricated via ESP. Answer There's a good list of Warp Core ejections on the Star Trek Wikia There are seven specific instances of Federation warp cores being successfully ejected, twice in the Film canon and five times in Star Trek : Voyager. The Enterprise-E warp core was ejected to seal the subspace tear in " Star Trek : Insurrection ". The Enterprise crew ejected several warp cores to create a shockwave they could use to escape the black hole that formed in the Narada in the 2009 movie " Star Trek " By Chakotay's spirit inhabiting Torres (in order to prevent Voyager from entering a nebula) in " Cathexis ...

In the new alternate timeline Star Trek movie, the icy M class planet Delta Vega is so close to Vulcan that the latter planet has an angular diameter that is comparable to Earth's moon when seen from the former. It is in fact close enough for an escape pod to reach it from the vicinity of Vulcan. The Question: In this case, should not Vulcan's catalogue name be Gamma Vega ? Would this make Vulcan the third planet orbiting the star Vega ? This star is 25 light years from Earth. Yet the Vulcan system is said to be 16 light years from Earth, which is widely believed to be the same as the real star system 40 Eridani A (though never canonically confirmed). Also, why is a habitable planet so close to Vulcan not heavily colonized by Vulcans? Answer There's not a lot of in-universe information, although Memory-Alpha does say (without citation) that "Its orbit carried it near enough to Vulcan that the other planet could be seen from Delta Vega's surface." Perhaps...

I started watching a sci-fi movie in late '90 or early '00 on a Finnish channel called MTV3. There was a crashed spacecraft in a forest, much like those you see in the northern parts of the world. A group of boys found it and explored it, they figured out it'd be good way to make cash if they show it to people asking for money. Can't remember how many there were in the group but at least two. Early teens. Next they had people lining up to see it, I think. Eventually it attracted a team of agents or the like. I think there were three of them and atleast one of them was woman. They planned to check out the crashed ship pretending to be like any other curious person. Before entering the ship, the woman opened up some top buttons from her shirt so anyone could get a good look at her breast. After they had explored the ship, the woman told the other(s) that the boys have been taken over by aliens, when someone else asks her how does she know, she says it's because they d...

I remember reading a Science Fiction book during my youth (1980 ish) that was multiple books, had some Native American themes and the end puzzle all revolved around using twelve rings in a specific order to unlock some great machine or something. I cannot remember the name or the author. I am hoping someone here can help me out. Answer You're so very close. You're looking for the Rings of the Master books, by Jack Chalker. They're set a few hundred years in the future; in the backstory, mankind developed a huge computer system, the Master System, and gave it the prerogative to protect humanity. In true SF style, it decided to do this by sending most of Earth's population to form colonies on distant planets, and splitting the remaining population on Earth into various cultures, all set firmly in a pre-industrial period (and kept that way even more firmly) Several of the heroes are from the North American cultures, which have mainly been formed into pre-Columbus Native...

We've all heard about the famous "five year mission" to explore strange new worlds and so on. And this question is asked with the thought that there might be issues with time dilation in warp drive or at high impulse speeds. In chat, we were discussing this and one point came up: It's likely a "5 year mission" was based on 5 years according to Starfleet time. But every planet has a different year, different days, and months are basically culturally defined (if they're defined at all in some cultures). So what is a Starfleet year? Is it an Earth standard year? An Earth leap year? A Vulcan year? When someone in Starfleet talks about a day or year, what is the basis for that measurement of elapsed time? Note : I am not referring to dealing with issues of time dilation. I mean what constitutes a year according to Starfleet? Is it the time it takes Earth to complete an orbit around Sol? Is it an average between Earth's year and Vulcan's year? How lon...

There is a burst of orange light, apparently a gas or similar, that is sent in no particular pattern behind a Firefly vessel immediately before it launches a great burst of speed. What is responsible for this? Answer There's a special feature on the Firefly DVDs (Serenity: The 10th Character) that discusses it. Apparently the justification is that the Firefly class ships used a fusion explosion to propel it and that glow is the explosion causing the ship to gain a burst of speed.

I know Gandalf was worried Smaug would have joined Sauron, but was that just him being cautious? Would Smaug actually join up with Sauron? How does he benefit from that? All it does is bring more attention to himself and gain more enemies. And if Smaug was able to be killed by Bard, I doubt he would be able to survive against an entire army, all it takes is one lucky shot, and he knows this. From what we know about Smaug, I can't see him caring for the War of the Ring either. I don't see why he or any of the winged dragons would answer to anyone outside of Morgoth. If Smaug isn't willing to answer to Sauron, would Sauron be able to force Smaug to join him? I'm not so sure he could...I mean Sauron was taken down by Gil-Galad and Elendil, who were of course incredibly powerful in their own right, but I highly doubt they could have contended with the destructive force of Smaug. So why would Smaug join with Sauron? Is there anything I'm overlooking here, or would he hav...

I saw part of this movie back in the 80's or early 90's on late night cable TV. I remember the cops were chasing a bad guy, and the bad guy turned out to be possessed by some sort of creature. This creature had the ability to move from host to host by crawling down their throats (sort of like the Edgar suit in Men in Black ). It may have been a bug, or a slug. I think it was black. Answer This sounds like the 1987 movie The Hidden starring Kyle McLachlan. An alien is on the run in America. To get his kicks, it kills anything that gets in its way, and uses the body as a new hiding place. This alien has a goal in life; power. Hotly pursued by another alien (who's borrowed the body of a dead FBI agent), lots of innocent people die in the chase. When the ordinary citizen Jack DeVries (Chris Mulkey) heists many banks and kills many people, the whole police department chases him under the command of detective Tom Beck (Michael Nouri). They capture him and seriously wounded, h...

In the last movie, Harry was struck by the Avada Kedavra spell cast by Voldemort. Really, he should be dead. But obviously he was not dead because when Narcissa Malfoy (Draco's mother) asked about the life/death of her son, there was a pause hinting that Harry was talking to the woman. And knowing Malfoy is not dead, in return, the woman declared Harry was dead. However, one should really be dead if struck by the Avada Kedavra spell. Does this indicate the work of the Resurrection Stone? Answer No, Harry dropped the Stone before his encounter with Voldemort in the Forbidden Forest. If he survived, it's because : When Harry met Voldemort in the Forbidden Forest, Voldemort used the Killing Curse on him almost immediately, but only destroyed the Horcrux, rendering his scar "normal." What was not revealed to Voldemort was that when he used Harry's blood three years prior to gain himself a new body, the blood passed Harry's mother's protection to Voldemort an...

There exists a SF short story about anti-gravitation called the Mother of Invention (AFAIK). A bunch of scientists are shown a (fake) movie in which an anti-gravity device is demonstrated by an inventor. The scientists are told the inventor's notes were lost/destroyed and they have to start from scratch. The bottom line - there was no anti-grav invention, the scientists needed to believe it had been invented so they would think 'outside the square'. Anyone know who wrote the short story, and has anyone got a copy?

Why do dead bodies beyond the Wall reanimate but those south of the Wall do not? [embedded content] We only see dead bodies reanimate in Castle Black, but further south the dead do not come back to life. Is there a reason for this? Or is this just something that happens in that region? Answer The reanimation of dead body's (also referred to as wights) happens when a white walker uses his magic to do so. Which can be seen here . At the end of season 6... we see Benjen Stark telling Bran that the wall is more than just ice, the same magic that keeps him alive also keeps him from passing it. So the wall blocks (certain) magic. Considering that the reanimation is magical, this explains why none of that happens south of the wall. As for the reanimation at Castle Black , one could speculate that the corpse had already been turned into a wight and was left as a trap or that the magic still works there because the castle is built in/against the wall. Or this could simply be an error by t...

At a glance, the shows Darkwing Duck and Ducktales share the same universe, as Launchpad McQuack and Gizmo-Duck exist in both shows, with the same personalities. However, to my recollection, no mention of Duckburg is ever made during Darkwing Duck, nor do Launchpad or Gizmo-Duck ever refer to any of their friends from Duckburg. Are Darkwing Duck and Ducktales set in the same universe? Answer According to the creator of Darkwing Duck, Tad Stones , the show exists within an alternate universe from Duck Tales. He goes on to state that though Launchpad first appeared in DuckTales, the Darkwing version was different. For starters, Launchpad always seemed to crash his plane in DuckTales but was a competent pilot in Darkwing Duck "Because Launchpad appeared in DuckTales and we used Roboduck as the Superman character, the hero who gets all the glory as opposed to Darkwing, fans try to connect the two realities. They are two different universes in my book. We work in the alternate Du...

I want my question to be very specific, so I am starting with some facts: FACT 1: The process of creating a Horcrux: The specific processes involved are known to involve a spell and a very horrible act. To split one's soul, one must also commit the most supreme act of evil — murder — and then encase a portion of their fractured soul into a chosen object with an as-of-yet unrevealed spell. Horcrux Wiki FACT 2: Committing murder makes the soul unstable and full of weak spots Harry is not a Horcrux. No 'Horcrux making spell' was cast. But he still carries a portion of Voldemort's soul. And that happened too without any killing (murder). This is clear from the Anthony's block quote that states that Voldemort's soul was split at the time of backfiring of the curse and not at the time of killing of James and Lilly. he had destabilized his soul so much that it split when he was hit by the backfiring curse Does a person know when his soul splits? Is murder really a nec...

In the original trilogy of Star Wars, one of the first scenes is Leia meeting Darth Vader, as Vader is asking her where the plans for the Death Star were hidden. Leia claims ignorance and says that she is on a diplomatic mission to Alderaan. Leia was right in front of Vader . And yet, Vader didn't sense that the Force was strong with her. Disclaimer 1: This question is not asking how he didn't realise through the Force that Leia was his daughter. Daughter or not, the Force was strong with Leia. Why didn't Vader sense that? Some writings I've seen say that Leia never had any Force-training. And Luke was only sensed by the emperor after training with Obi-Wan and starting to use the Force. But in many instances in the Star Wars legends, and even in the first movie Phantom Menace, many other children, including Anakin were detected to be Force-sensitive without having training. That's how they single out prospective Jedi and begin training them from a young age. With Le...

So let's say you are a muggle-born wizard/witch, but your parents are of the Dursley persuasion and won't allow you to attend a school of magic. Or you don't want to turn your world upside down and join the secret community of magic users. Is the magical community going to allow an untrained person to exist in the Muggle world with a faint ability to cause magical maladies and just go about their lives? Answer As I noted in the answer to jurisdiction question, this issue should not be as contradictory as the question implies. The Wizarding community would presumably inform the refusing wizard about consequences of violating the Statute of Secrecy and other laws about magic and Muggles. Then, since at that age the wizard presumable can control their magic (not skillfully, but the won't make people blow up by accident), so they will be under a (explained to them beforehand) punishment should they violate the laws. To be more precise, a " faint ability to cause magi...

Plot Details/Summary A pair of alien races have decided to settle rival claims on the Earth by agreeing to a competition between their best agents. The competition is a deadly one, with the winner of the competition being the one who kills off the other side's agents first. Each side is allowed to send (IIRC) two agents, disguised as human beings. The only way to see the respective aliens as they actually appear is to view them through a special set of glasses (this isn't They Live by John Carpenter, btw - much earlier film). I cannot recall the name of the two alien races, but I do remember that one was a benign society, while the other was treacherous and militaristic. The idea is that Earth will have to submit to one of the two at the end of the contest, but one alien overlord would clearly be preferable to the other. The preferred weapon of both sides is some sort of ray gun/death ray pistol. When an agent has been slain, some sort of device is placed on their body and act...

I always heard the terms "ghost" and "wraith" used interchangeably, until I read Lord of the Rings . Clearly the Ring Wraiths are not ghosts, since they interact with the physical world. I also know, in the same work, there are the Barrow-Wights and I've heard wights and wraiths compared in the past. What is the difference between a wraith, a wight, and a ghost? Are the Ring Wraiths the only wraiths in LotR? Are there examples of just regular ghosts in LotR? Answer As an example of "regular" ghosts, see Dead Men of Dunharrow (the Dead who Aragorn called to help him defeat Umbar Corsairs) The difference between a wraith, a wight and a ghost is that A ghost is a pure immaterial spirit of a former Man. Barrow-wights were demons/spirits of a somewhat unclear origin (most likely, spirits of the Dúnedain corrupted by the Witch-King of Angmar - he who later became the leader of the Ringwraiths), who inhabited the corpses/bones of the dead Heros/Kings (the...

The ending of the Witcher series by A. Sapkowski is a source of a lot of controversy. I was wondering if I can find some clarification here. Opinions of what actually happens after the fighting in Rivia range from (a) everybody lives happily ever after, in particular Geralt and Yennefer both live and get married to (b) both Geralt and Yennefer simply die. There are of course a number of intermediate options (which I personally find more plausible), where they end up somewhere , and it is again a matter of discussion where that is and how "real" this place is. Possibilities I have heard mentioned in this context include: Arthurian Britain, Avalon, some unidentified plane, heaven. Is there a "canon" interpretation of how the story ends? If not, can the possibilities at least be narrowed down? In particular, can it be said if Geralt and Yennefer are alive in a meaningful way? Answer Now first of all, I'll concentrate solely on book canon here, since you're a...

I was told once about a story in which there was a toddler with god-like powers. The story dealt with the difficulties that the adults around the toddler had with the fact that they could die from a tantrum. I don't know much about it, but the premise seems quite interesting. I'd be very interested in finding it. Answer That sounds like "It's a Good Life" by Jerome Bixby. http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?41109 1 Adaptations "It's a Good Life" (The Twilight Zone), an episode of the 1959 TV series "It's a Good Life", the third segment; a remake of the Twilight Zone episode "It's a Good Life" in Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983) "Bart's Nightmare – "Treehouse of Horror II" – The Simpsons (1991) "It's Still a Good Life", the 31st episode of The Twilight Zone (2002 TV series) which acts as a sequel to the episode in the 1959 tv series, with certain actors reprising roles from the original ...

When Voyager is taken into fluidic space against its will in Scorpion Part II, why didn't the intense density of matter instantly crush the ship? Answer There could be numerous reasons Voyager wasn't immediately crushed when it was translated into the Fluidic Space dimension. The primary problem is we are assuming Fluidic Space behaves like water does on our world in our Universe. One of the only things we can be certain of was Warp Drive would not function there and ship speeds were limited due to the density of the Fluid. There are many assumptions being made about Fluidic Space in your question. Star Trek: Voyager made no effort to inform us as to the true nature of Fluidic Space, neither its composition, nor chemical makeup. We don't actually know what comprises the fluid which fills the dimension of Species 8472. We have no idea of its density, chemical properties or its molecular composition. Fluidic Space does not appear to be exhibiting depth pressure as water do...

In The Matrix the machines "grow" humans to provide a source of power. Is this really feasible from the perspective of power generation (never mind all the business of growing/feeding people)? Wouldn't the machines just use nuclear power? Edit: For what it's worth, in the movie Morpheus explains that the human power is "combined with a form of fusion." Answer Yeah, this isn't feasible. Humans produce heat and radiate heat, but not so much that you could really harness it for power. It wouldn't be at all efficient given the necessary inputs of food and water. The nuclear power would be far more practical. So, no, the machines wouldn't use humans for power. It makes no sense. For those who require more explanation: humans produce their energy from food, primarily glucose. However, the majority of that energy produced does not go to releasing heat. The heat is an afterthought, part of maintaining homeostasis to allow for the most efficient biolo...

A decade or more ago, I read a novel in which a bureaucrat (sorta), whose main responsibility was to prevent change from happening too rapidly, ends up trying to prevent all teleportation from failing. It's so common, people live in high-rises with no doors, so the death toll would be immense. He eventually learns that living stars are having their energy sucked away by the teleportation. I liked the character, but I don't remember his name or the name of the novel.

I'm looking for a short story that was part of a series of short stories my father told me. One of them is about a human given immortality or extended life by aliens to figure out how humans work. He escapes by slowly corroding his prison with his saliva. The aliens, or whoever had him, wanted to figure out why humanity would explode out into the universe and then go back home.

In the books we learn that Joffery Baratheon, most likely, sent the catspaw to kill Bran Stark in an attempt to impress his "father", Robert Baratheon. This is first worked out by Tyrion Lannister: He remembered a cold morning when he'd climbed down the steep exterior steps from Winterfell's library to find Prince Joffrey jesting with the Hound about killing wolves . Send a dog to kill a wolf, he said. Even Joffrey was not so foolish as to command Sandor Clegane to slay a son of Eddard Stark, however; the Hound would have gone to Cersei. Instead the boy found his catspaw among the unsavory lot of freeriders, merchants, and camp followers who'd attached themselves to the king's party as they made their way north. Some poxy lackwit willing to risk his life for a prince's favor and a little coin. Tyrion wondered whose idea it had been to wait until Robert left Winterfell before opening Bran's throat. Joff's, most like . No doubt he thought it was the...

Did Draco Malfoy go to Hogwarts during the events of Deathly Hallows ? I ask because, although he turned up for the Battle of Hogwarts, he was also at Malfoy Manor in March, which wasn’t holiday time. Answer Draco did indeed attend Hogwarts in his 7th year, as it was mandatory, by his boss/parents boss Voldemort. ‘Follow me,’ said Narcissa, leading the way across the hall. ‘My son, Draco, is home for his Easter holidays. If that is Harry Potter, he will know.’ -Deathly Hallows

I haven't read the books and I don't even know if he is a character in the books, I assume he is, so I'm curious to know if he says anything apart form that one word? He only seems to say that in the TV version. Answer No, in the books this is the only word he says. Interestingly, Old Nan points out that Hodor is not even his real name: Theon Greyjoy had once commented that Hodor did not know much, but no one could doubt that he knew his name. Old Nan had cackled like a hen when Bran told her that, and confessed that Hodor’s real name was Walder. No one knew where ‘Hodor’ had come from, she said, but when he started saying it, they started calling him by it. It was the only word he had.

In Episode V, The Empire Strikes Back , when Luke is leaving Dagobah, Obi-Wan, as a Force Ghost, says, "He is our last hope." Yoda replies, "No, there is one other." Was Yoda planning on training Leia as a Jedi, either in case Luke was killed or converted, or in addition to Luke? Answer I think that the answer lies right there in the question - "yes". Otherwise, she would NOT have been a hope. Remember, Yoda's "hope" was for Luke to defeat Vader, not to redeem him - the former requires one to be trained as a Jedi. A really interesting angle on this comes if you consider the newly revealed Leigh Brackett's first draft of ESB script. Quoting an article on Craveonline: This script also provides a glimpse at a route the saga might have taken regarding Luke's twin sister. This sister is mentioned—in Luke's presence-but she's someone other than Leia. She is identified as Nellith (although this name is crossed out in the script,...

In Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire, when Mr. Weasley and Mr. Diggory are leading a group to the Quidditch World Cup, Mr. Weasly explains: I believe there’s a handy wood they’re using as the Apparition point. For those who don’t want to Apparate, or can’t, we use Portkeys. They’re objects that are used to transport wizards from one spot to another at a prearranged time . You can do large groups at a time if you need to. However, this happens at the end of Chapter 31, The Third Task: “On three, right?” said Harry. “One — two — three —” He and Cedric both grasped a handle. Instantly , Harry felt a jerk somewhere behind his navel. His feet had left the ground. He could not unclench the hand holding the Triwizard Cup; it was pulling him onward in a howl of wind and swirling color, Cedric at his side. So, how come the Triwizard Cup didn't transport the holder at a prearranged time , but at the first touch? The canonical answer might be " you just put a charm so it will transport...

In Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines movie, Skynet infected most part of civilian Internet as a powerful unbeatable virus. It also broke US govt. firewall to hack US defense system. All these even before it was activated. [embedded content] Robert Brewster: Skynet? The virus has infected Skynet? John Connor : Skynet IS the virus . It's the reason everything's falling apart! Terminator: Skynet has become self aware. In one hour it will initiate a massive nuclear attack on its enemy. How can a software do such things even before its execution?

We know that the second Death Star was meant to have a different/non-existent exhaust port and when under construction it had a shield projected around it. Other than these elements, one of which was planned to be totally temporary, do we know of any other improvements over its predecessor? Did it have improved defences against one-man fighters? Did its laser charge more quickly? Did it have an upmarket cafeteria? Answer This is covered in the film's junior novelisation However, it had none of the former Death Star’s design flaws. The redesigned superlaser would require mere minutes — not hours — to be recharged, and could be focused more finely, allowing it to fire at moving targets, such as capital ships. With a projected diameter of 160 kilometers and a substantial increase in firepower, the new Death Star would be not only larger than the original but also much more lethal. And in the Star Wars: Absolutely Everything You Need to Know " factbook which indicates that the s...