During the speeder bike chase in Return of the Jedi , Luke Skywaker instructs Leia to jam the communications of the Imperial Scout Troopers they are chasing/being chased by. The jammer seems to be activated by a simple switch, which strikes as odd. Is communications jamming such a common function of a speeder bike such that it needs a prominent, easy to reach control? The explanation I've come up with is that the Empire enforces control by preventing the general populace from spreading information quickly. Comms jammers are routinely installed in all Imperial vehicles and equipment, much like cameras and RFID technology come in a lot of electronic devices in our world. So, does communication jamming technology appear a lot in Star Wars – both movies and extended universe? Does the theory hold up? Answer The technology is extremely common in the Expanded Universe . Jamming technology is used, not just by the Rebels and Imperials but also by smugglers, in Timothy Zahn's Thrawn ...

In Star Wars Episode III, before the battle on Mustafar, why didn't Obi-Wan admit to Anakin that it was his idea to hide in Padmé's ship to find him? His hate towards her would at least be forgiven, since Obi-Wan had no idea how the confrontation with Anakin would start or if Padmé died.

Obviously, Han understands Chewbacca (almost) perfectly. In the prequel trilogy, Yoda seems to understand him too. In at least one scene in the original trilogy, C-3PO also understands Chewie, which is logical, since - as a protocol droid - translation is one of 3PO's primary functions. THREEPIO: Captain Solo, this time you have gone too far. (Chewie growls) THREEPIO: No, I will not be quiet, Chewbacca. Why doesn't anyone listen to me? Does anyone else in the Star Wars movies understand Chewbacca? Answer Obi-Wan Kenobi both speaks and understands Shyriiwook. From the script for A New Hope : Ben is standing next to Chewbacca, an eight-foot-tall savage-looking creature [...] He is a two-hundred-year-old Wookiee and a sight to behold. Ben speaks to the Wookiee, pointing to Luke several times during his conversation and the huge creature suddenly lets out a horrifying laugh. Luke is more than a little bit disconcerted and pretends not to hear the conversation between Ben and th...

In the end of Prometheus , After the Engineer's disabled spacecraft crashes onto the ground, Shaw goes to the lifeboat but she is soon rejoined by the Engineer. But: The air inside of the alien structure and the Engineer's spacecraft is different from the planet's atmosphere, Humans could breath freely in those places while they need suits outside. This indicates that the Engineers have the same atmospheric requirement as humans regarding carbon dioxide. So : To get inside the lifeboat, the Engineer had to cross a significant distance outside, then force open the lifeboat's airlock. It seem hard to believe he just held his breath the whole time. How did he reach this location? Answer When Shaw was outside of the ship, her suit mentioned that she had only 2 minutes left of oxygen (and this was right when she was almost crushed, so right next to the ship the engineer was in). In the beginning of the movie, I believe it was also stated that if you go 2 minutes without a ...

In the last episodes of BSG we see Baltar and 6 walking in our present days and observing. Who are they? Why do they look exactly like the original two? And why do they seem to know the "real story" of humanity as opposed to anyone else? Quotes from Daybreak Part 2 Virtual Six : Commercialism, decadence, technology run amok. Remind you of anything? Virtual Baltar : Take your pick. Kobol. Earth... the real Earth, before this one. Caprica before the fall. Virtual Six : All of this has happened before. Virtual Baltar : But the question remains, does all of this have to happen again? Virtual Six : This time I bet no. Virtual Baltar : [Stops] You know, I've never known you to play the optimist. Why the change of heart? Virtual Six : Mathematics. Law of averages. Let a complex system repeat itself long enough and eventually something surprising might occur. That, too, is in God's plan. Virtual Baltar : [Serious] You know it doesn't like that name. [Six gives Baltar a de...

A while ago I was reading a short story / novella, possibly part of an anthology. The Premise was: Human space explorers land on an alien world, and discovers a primitive species that is Stone Age in everything except for horticulture. This species was in fact, weirdly advanced, and weirdly obsessed over caring for their crops. Over time, the human explorers become increasingly worried, although nothing has posed any visible threat. At least one of the humans then figures out that the “crops” themselves are not only not native to the world they are on, but are also intelligent, and telepathic; and that they somehow came to this world long ago, and enslaved the evolving sentient natives to care for them. This revelation creates a panic among the humans, who begin to fight among themselves on how to solve it. Several decide they should send a signal to earth to stay away, and destroy their ship to prevent the plants from ever leaving that world. However, at least one human succumbs to th...

In Frank Herbert's Dune series what was the point of the Bene Gesserit in light of their motivations for existence and how their ultimate plans played out in the books? Does Herbert use their goals to ultimately make a point that they were fundamentally misguided, driven as they were by prescience? Or maybe does it go even further to the point that the Bene Gesserit should never have existed to begin with? Take for example the Kwisatz Haderach. It seems that even the Kwisatz Haderach was never the ultimate goal of the sisterhood but was (for them) a necessary goal to reach some unspecified (does Herbert say?) further goal (perhaps an intractable quest for more knowledge might be one suggestion). But rather than propel them the creation of a KH rather turned back upon them, into an attack on prescience. It seems then that the Bene Gesserit were ironically mistaken in their quest for prescience, because the very point emerging from the God-Emperor of Dune appears to be the need to es...

I am sure Elrond is half-elven, so Arwen is too. I recall something saying Argorn was half-elven as well. Shouldn't half-elves not have to become mortal to marry each other? Answer Saying that someone is "half-elf" is a way of saying that they have an elven parent and a mortal one. Elrond fits into this category (his mother, Elwing, was an elf; his father Earendil was a human). But one is not thereby "half-human, half-elf" - one has to choose between being an elf and being a human: "... Elrond Half-elven, who chose, as was granted to him, to be numbered among the Eldar; but Elros his brother chose to abide with Men." (Silmarillion chapter 34; page 254 in my edition) Thus, at the time of the War of the Ring, Elrond is quite definitely an elf. Arwen gets that same choice. But Aragorn is quite definitely a human; he's a descendant of Elros. Thus, he is going to die; and Arwen makes the choice to die as well, that is, to be under the Doom of Men, in ...

Years ago (35 or so) I read a series of books about kids who met a Mr. Bass. They travel in space and it involved spores or mushrooms. I'd like to find them again. I think my kid would like them. Can you help find these books? Answer This is the Mushroom Planet series by Eleanor Cameron . The description from the Wikipedia article is: When two boys find an ad in a newspaper asking for two young boys to build a spaceship, they quickly construct one out of old tin and scrap wood, and bring it to the advertiser. This man is the mysterious Mr. Tyco Bass, an inventor and scientist. Using his marvelous stroboscopic polarizing filter he shows the boys a previously undetected satellite of the Earth, which he calls Basidium-X. He refits their spaceship, giving them some special fuel he invented to power it, and tells them to fly to the mushroom planet (after getting their parents' permission). He warns them that their trip will only be successful if they bring a mascot.

Spoiler Alert. In the movie, The Rise of Skywalker , Palpatine tells Rey that after she kills him, he will transfer his spirit into her. He also says all previous Sith Lords live on within him. Not just some of them, but all , so that seems to imply all previous Sith knew the secret of how to transfer their souls at the moment of death. Here's the relevant quote. PALPATINE: Kill me, and my spirit will pass to you. All the Sith live in me. You will be Empress. We will be one. In the movie, The Revenge of the Sith , Palpatine tells Anakin Skywalker that at least one Sith already knew the secret of immortality. Darth Plagueis the Wise had such a knowledge of the Dark Side, he could even keep the ones he cared about from dying. [embedded content] In the same movie, he also tells Anakin (now Darth Vader), To cheat death is a power only one person has learned, but if we work together we can discover the secret. Why would the Sith (and Palpatine in particular) care about learning immort...

While I was searching for information about the Tesseract for this question , I read something I forgot about the Captain America: The First Avenger movie in the Cosmic Cube wikipedia article : During World War II, Johann Schmidt captures the cube in Tønsberg, Norway, claiming that it is "the jewel of Odin's treasure room". Why did Odin leave something as powerful as the Tesseract, one of the most powerful artifacts in the universe, in a relatively unprotected treasure room in a remote world like Earth? Why didn't he take it back to Asgard where he could keep an eye on it? Answer According to Keen's answer on "How did Tesseract come to Earth from Asgard?" , the Tesseract was lost during the war between the Asgardians and the Frost Giants that took place on Earth , and it was later found by humans and hidden away in Norway. I did not spot any visual of the Tesseract in the Frost Giants war scene of Thor , or during the whole film except for the post-cr...

Harry, Ron and Hermione skip school in the final book to hunt down the Horcruxes. And 1999 is the year Hermione supposedly graduates from Hogwarts, but the article has no citation and doesn't mention Ron or Harry returning. Do they or anyone else from the Battle of Hogwarts return to finish that year? I'm looking for canon sources here, or even better Word of Author. Answer Harry and Ron did not return to Hogwarts after Voldemort's defeat. Hermione did and she completed her N.E.W.T.s. SU: Oh, (MA:Well, did...) speaking of Ron and Hermione- JKR: Yeah, did they graduate from Hogwarts? SU: Yes. Did they? JKR: Harry and Ron didn't go back. Hermione did. SU: (gasps) Ooo! MA:Oh my- JKR: Did you bet right? I mean, come on, nobody's going to think Hermione wouldn't go back. SU: I predicted. Yeah. JKR: Of course she'd go back. She has to get her N.E.W.T.s. Ron was really done with schooling (laughs). I think that (SU: Yeah.) it would be kind of tempting to go back...

I read this book at least ten years ago. Any help identifying it would be appreciated. Characters are teleported to an artificial world where each take over the mind of a different species. I remember a moving sentient plant, a faun-like character, and a wasp-like character. The planet is subdivided into different zones designed for each species. One of the characters had long sharp fingernails with poison in them. Thanks for any help, steve Answer This is the "Well World" series by Jack L. Chalker. The characters are teleported to the "Well World", which is, among other things, kind of a proving ground for a super advanced race to create new species. The world was divided into "hexes" and each race had its own hex. When the main characters get to the world, they go through a thing called "the Gate" where they are transformed into a new species (the characters don't really take the new form over; they become them). The characters are also t...

Did Louis Wu's General Products' #2 hull equiped spacecraft, the " Lying Bastard ", create the Fist of God mountain on Ringworld? Answer No. The mountain was there long before Louis Wu had discovered the Ringworld. Fist of God was created by a moon-sized asteroid crashing into the surface of the Ringworld deforming it and penetrating through the surface of the material into a mountain that stretches into space, above the atmosphere. Fortunately for the residents of the Ringworld, because if it didn't, the air would have bled from the Ringworld slowly and steadily until it was unable to maintain a regular atmosphere. Quote from Ringworld where Louis Wu visualizes the formation of Fist of God: He saw the, system of the Ringworld, sterile, tidily clean, empty of ramships, empty but for a G2 star and a daisy chain of shadow squares and the Ringworld. He saw a foreign body passing near, too near. He watched its hyperbolic fall from interstellar space, and he saw its...

I'm looking for a chronological order of ALL of Star Wars books, comics and games (a.k.a. C-canon). Ideally, I'm looking for an "official" list which includes all the recent works (e.g. something that will keep getting updated in the future as new ones are released, with a high degree of likelyhood). It should include ALL of the known Star Wars books, not just the main novels (including the entire timeline, from the origins of the Sith in 130,000 BBY to post-New-Jedi-Order books), all of the comics and all the games. So far I was unable to find an actual complete chronological list - the two best results I got was: A list of works on Wookieepedia - it has a chronological list of novels (which seems to be a bit incomplete to me at first glance) but doesn't have comics/games included in the chronology even though it has a separate list of comics. "Chronology of Star Wars" article on Wiki . While it's a great reference for general ttimeline, AND inclu...

Below is a picture of the Black Family Tree, based on a tree drawn by J.K. Rowling . (Second link) Please note the unions of: Dorea Black and Charlus Potter Lucretia Black and Ignatius Prewett (Molly's maiden name) Cedrella Black and Septimus Weasley (#4 removed from the tree) To add, here is a quote from Sirius Black: The pure-blood families are all interrelated. If you're only going to let your sons and daughters marry pure-bloods your choice is very limited; there are hardly any of us left. Molly and I are cousins by marriage and Arthur's something like my second cousin once removed. But there's no point looking for them on here - if ever a family was a bunch of blood traitors it's the Weasleys. Not only would this mean Molly and Arthur are distantly related by marriage, it would also mean Harry and Ginny are distantly related if Charlus Potter is indeed of the same Potter ancestry as Harry. And the Pottermore page on the Potter family tree isn't helpful....

The new information released about Umbridge on Pottermore on Halloween was interesting in that it demonstrated how insidiously Dolores Umbridge applied her ruthless ambition over the years. From making her half-blood family disappear from public view, to oozing her way through the Ministry and up the ladder of success, basically unfettered -- although no one liked her as a person, despite her saccharine demeanor -- this woman was over and again awarded significant positions of power where she could do tremendous damage to others. Some might see these as Slytherin traits. Some . So I was surprised to read that while Umbridge was a Slytherin student at Hogwarts, she was consistently overlooked for positions of power and prestige within Slytherin itself. Why didn't Umbridge succeed in Slytherin? RESOURCE: Pottermore on Dolores Umbridge: Dolores Umbridge entry , fact file (at the end of the page) Answer Umbridge's failure to succeed in Slytherin boils down to this: Umbridge is ...

It seems to me that the threat of expulsion is hung over the heads of Hogwarts students pretty frequently during their time at the school. In Philosopher's Stone in particular the students seem constantly terrified that they might be chucked out. Being expelled has extreme consequences, as we see with Hagrid - your wand is snapped and you're consigned to a life on the confines of wizarding society. Even when allowing for Harry and co getting into trouble more often than the average Hogwarts student it seems to be mentioned a lot. Not only do the students themselves worry about being thrown out but the teachers too seem to actively threaten trouble-makers with expulsion on a regular basis. However, from the examples we have from the books, only Hagrid is actually expelled - and that was for something very severe. (Fred and George arguably were expelled too but I'd argue that they jumped before they were pushed). Why is expulsion frequently threatened but hardly ever enforce...

In the Harry Potter universe, do these beings have souls in the same sense as wizards: Muggles Squibs Inferi Quotes from books or canonical sources such as Pottermore are preferred. Inspired by this question on Dementors - my answer there depends on an assumption that Muggles also have a soul. My own research did not give any definite proof Answer Muggles and Squibs can be assumed to have souls. For evidence, let's consider Lupin's description of what happens to those who lose their souls to the Dementors: 'You can exist without your soul, you know, as long as your brain and heart are still working. But you'll have no sense of self any more, no memory, no ... anything. There's no chance at all of recovery. You'll just - exist. As an empty shell.' Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - p.183 - Bloomsbury - Chapter 12, The Patronus This then is what a wizard's soul is. Their sense of self. Them. Their memories even, which apparently are lost with t...

I know that The Hobbit was written before LOTR and retconned to be part of the legendarium in the second edition. I also understand it was to some extent a children's book. Both of these explain the stylistic differences between it and LOTR. Another possible (albeit fictional) explanation of this is that The Hobbit is an adaptation of Bilbo's book, There and Back Again - in which case the style would be expected to differ from LOTR. For example, the discrepancy between calling what are apparently the same creature Goblins in The Hobbit and Orcs in LOTR can be explained in terms of Bilbo's understanding of what these creatures are called. Can anyone say anything about whether The Hobbit was intended to be understood this way? Answer The Hobbit was not an adaptation, but a translation. Tolkien envisioned himself as a translator of ancient manuscripts that had made their way into his hands. The Red Book of Westmarch , in which Frodo had compiled Bilbo's notes and consist...

I hear the term Quadrant get used to describe how the galaxy is divided up so I am wondering if the division of our galaxy into quadrants was actually coined first in Star Trek or if it was something that existed beforehand? If it was invented in Star Trek then who invented the term? Humans? Vulcans who taught humans it after first contact? How is it species in the Delta Quadrant like the Kazon know of this if it's a Federation term?

This answer to this question: What's the origin of referring to female superior officers as "sir"? establishes that this expression in Star Trek purports to have originated out-of-universe in The Wrath of Khan (although the actual script contains the word "mister" which is not the same thing). Do we have a reference in Enterprise ? In Discovery ? Clarification: Here, "chronologically" is referring to the presumed origin of using this expression in-universe, within the timeline as perceived by the characters, not using it in the past due to time travel (unless it sticks to the locals somehow).

As the title says, I am interested in the old history of the lands of Mordor. I know a fair amount of its history ever since Sauron took up residence there, but very little from before that point. Am I right in thinking that Morgoth created the mountain ranges that surround this land? Was Mordor like Utumno or Angband? Shelob is said to have lived in her lair long before Sauron settled in Mordor. Is there any particular reason why she chose this place in particular? Has she always been in Mordor, did Ungoliant give birth to Shelob there, or did Shelob travel there? (And if so, what brought her to this place?) Was Mordor at any point, before Sauron settled there, a "normal" place instead of a land associated with darkness and evil creatures? What is known of Mordor's history prior to Sauron's arrival? Answer There is no known history of Mordor before Shelob's arrival. From her introduction in The Two Towers we can imagine there being a time when Elves and Men tr...

Besides the Basilisk, what kind of Dark Magic can cause someone to be Petrified? ‘She has been Petrified,’ said Dumbledore (‘Ah! I thought so!’ said Lockhart). ‘But how, I cannot say ...’ ‘Ask him!’ shrieked Filch, turning his blotched and tear-stained face to Harry. ‘No second-year could have done this,’ said Dumbledore firmly. ‘ It would take Dark Magic of the most advanced – ’ Chamber of Secrets - page 108 - Bloomsbury - chapter 9, The Writing On the Wall I have always wondered why Dumbledore didn't know immediately that there was a Basilisk within the castle. This is mainly due on my part to the fact that Dumbledore understands Parseltongue, and I (meaning just me -- YMMV) think he should have been able to hear the Basilisk running around in the pipes, hissing about killing and blood and death, and surely would have known a Basilisk causes a person to become Petrified¹. The above passage seems to suggest there are other types of magic aside from a magical creature -- Dark Ma...

In the Silmarillion, we learn much about the origins of the elves and of their leaders. There is a lot of info about the people of the Teleri and the main plots are woven around the fate of the Noldor, so they are omnipresent. But of the Vanyar, we learn almost nothing, except that Ingwë is their lord, that they are the ones Manwë loves the most, that they are the most high elves, that they live at the foot of Taniquetil and that they went to the War of Wrath with the host of the Valar. And also that Galadriel's mother was of the Vanyar. My question is: is there anything in canon that gives more details about them, like some deeds or their main interests and talents, and if it is so, what are the main lines of those details ? Answer I've scanned The Silmarillion , Unfinished Tales , and all twelve volumes of History of Middle-earth . Here's what I found out. What do we know? Not a ton, but also not nothing: They tended to have golden hair, as reported by the "Index o...

In Stargate, we learn that seven symbols are needed for a stargate to activate and open a wormhole. The first six create a three dimensional axis that points to the destination at the center of the axis. The seventh symbol is for the origin point. That is why every address they use to get from Earth somewhere ends the same. But in one episodes where O'Neil travels to the Asgard galaxy and in Atlantis they use an eighth symbol. In Universe they use a ninth symbol to get to Destiny. What do these symbols do to the logic of the address? Answer For the eight chevron, it's used as an additional calculation for extra-galactic travel (outside of our own galaxy), which serves as distance from here to there. For Atlantis, you'd most certainly need it as it is sitting in its own galaxy and separate from our own. The ninth chevron is less conventional and is mainly used for Destiny as it points to a specific gate instead of a location. Because Destiny does not inhabit a fixed point ...

I have read the books a while ago and reading some questions here I have seen two mentions: Avada Kedavra is not an easy spell, it requires some bit of powerful magic. Moody (Barty Crouch Jr.) says in his lesson that every student in class could point a wand at him and cast the spell, and it would possibly only give him a nose bleed. Was Draco skillful enough to successfully kill Dumbledore (a way more powerful wizard) using Avada Kedavra if he tried? I know Snape's spell worked because he was way more experienced than a kid that hadn't finish Hogwarts yet. Answer Skill yes, Intent probably not. While it takes a fair bit of magical prowess, by the end of year 6 we can be reasonably sure Malfoy is skilled enough that he could have killed Dumbledore. Malfoy was shown to be similarly skilled as Harry when it came to curses and jinxes during their multiple engagements, while Crabbe and Goyle are shown to be complete lack-wits possessing little to no skill. Yet just the next year ...

OK so imagine a human wearing normal clothes: t-shirt, pants etc., out in the middle of the winter. They wouldn't last long. Now replace that human with a zombie. Zombies have no blood circulation, meaning they freeze easier. How did any zombies in The Walking Dead survive the winter that was alluded to between seasons 2 and 3? I was reading the original comics and there is mention of zombies freezing and dying because they don't have any circulating blood.

In the Lord of the Rings, the One Ring corrupts the people near it, and it seems to have a stronger effect on anyone who sees it or touches it. Sauron and the Ring Wraiths also seem to be able to sense the One Ring when someone wears it. Once the Council of Elrond decided to destroy it, why did they not take additional steps to help their people resist the temptation of the ring? Put the ring into a small lockbox. Or, better yet, solidify molten metal around it. Do something so that the One Ring cannot be worn, seen, or touched without great difficulty. You can still cast the container into the Crack of Doom, and the ring would be destroyed along with it. There are clear literary reasons for the lack of such preparations, but if there are in-story reasons not to take any such steps, I would like to know. Answer It would possibly have had a negative effect on the bearer if they could not see it. I tried locking it up, but I found I couldn’t rest without it in my pocket. I don’t know ...

In Avengers: Endgame , we see Captain America use Thor's Hammer, Mjölnir. But not only does he wield it, he also uses Thor's powers of lightning while holding it. Does this not contradict that In Thor: Ragnarok , it is explained that the hammer itself is not "the source" of thunder, rather this power comes from Thor himself and the hammer is just a weapon that he can use to control it, but it isn't required. Therefore, how can Captain America possibly control thunder by merely wielding Thor's Hammer? Answer This is a plot hole as confirmed by one of the writers of the Endgame . Russo brothers knowingly kept the scene to cheer the fans. From the link: Avengers: Endgame co-writer Christopher Markus has shed some light on a plot hole from the film regarding Captain America using Thor’s hammer, Mjolnir. While Cap finally lifting up the iconic hammer was a crowd-pleasing moment, some fans called into question exactly how Cap used it to call down the lightning on ...