Inspired by the specie-ism discussion in a recent question about Hagrid, how did Hagrid's parent and other mixed human/giant species manage to reproduce? I am not sure of what the average giant dimensions are, but Hagrid's brother is massive enough to suggest some mechanical difficulties. (And no, "the male is the small one" does not solve them either.)

In Return of the King, we are told that the shades who populate the Paths of the Dead are the spirits of oathbreakers who refused to aid Isildur in the first fight against Sauron. First, we are told of the oath (Book 5, Chapter 2): But the oath that they broke was to fight against Sauron... For at Erech there stands a stands yet a stone that was brought, it is said, from Númenor by Isildur... and upon it the King of the Mountains swore allegiance to him in the beginning of the realm of Gondor. Then, when they fail to honor the oath, we are told about Isildur's curse on them: "...this curse I lay upon thee and thy folk: to rest never until your oath is fulfilled." And as we see in the following chapters, the Sleepless Dead are indeed subject to this curse exactly as Isildur descibed it. What seems less clear, however, is how Isildur's curse manages to alter the fundamental nature of the oathbreakers' mortality, so that they became undead shades instead of simply d...

This is not about Caleb who I'm quite sure is doomed, but Ava. In the end she escapes, looks entirely human and is free to roam the city like she always wanted. However, as far as we can tell she can only charge her batteries by using special panels that only existed in Nathan's house. She doesn't seem to have a power cord that she could plug in to a socket and, being entirely mechanical, can't eat food. Is there any way this character could survive for long? Answer In the original script , Caleb's plan was to simply take her somewhere that they could purchase a compatible induction charging plate , a technology that has presumably become relatively commonplace in the near-future: CALEB: How long does your battery charge last? AVA: Twenty six hours. CALEB: So we’ll have about a day to get to a cell-phone or kitchen appliance store. Somewhere we can buy an induction plate. After that... Although this line was cut, there seems little reason to assume that the fi...

Prompted by this question, " Does James Kirk have any named superiors in Star Trek: The Original Series? ", and the accepted answer which lists several of Kirk's superiors. A lot of them have the rank commodore. That caught me by surprise. In TNG and on, the Starfleet captains are seen answering to several admirals, but I can't recall a single commodore. In-universe and out, is there a reason the rank was largely (if not entirely) dropped? Answer As a matter of fact there is one (solitary) mention of a Starfleet commodore in TNG in a scene in TNG: Conspiracy , only viewable with freeze-frame. The Star Trek Encyclopedia makes a brief mention that the rank has fallen "into disuse" in the period between TOS and TNG. commodore. Title formerly given to high-ranking Starfleet officers such as those in charge of a starbase. The term commodore, used in the original Star Trek series, has fallen into disuse since Star Trek: The Next Generation. Out of universe, th...

In the era of Star Trek: The Next Generation (or even earlier), why isn't invasive surgery performed using the transporter? In theory, one could: dematerialize an individual and store the pattern in the buffer perform "surgery" by altering the pattern appropriately rematerialize the individual From an in-universe point of view, why is this not the preferred method of surgical intervention? Is it the challenge of altering the pattern? It would be most desirable to have an answer that (a) explains why this approach to surgery cannot be done or — if it can — then why it is not done very often in TNG ; and (b) gives examples of when it has been done (if such examples exist). Differentiation: The question Why aren't transporters used for medical purposes? is in a similar vein. However, that question is about restoring back to a previous (healthier) pattern. The present question is about directly altering a single copy of a pattern, without using any data from previous...

We know about the classics X-wing, Y-wing, A-wing, B-wing, etc... These "wings" are present in most, if not all, the films. But do any others exists like E-wing, K-wing, V-Wing, U-wing, etc? How many of these starships are there? One for every letter? Answer Canon Appearances: A-Wing (ROTJ) B-Wing (ROTJ) D-Wing (Clone Wars Cartoon) Technically a Droid, not a fighter. U-Wing (RO) V-Wing (ROTS) X-Wing (ANH) Y-Wing (ANH) Extended Universe / Legends Canon C-Wing (d20 RPG example) E-Wing (EU Books) I-Wing (KOTOR cut content) K-Wing (Rogue Squadron Comics) T-Wing (Star Wars: TIE Fighter) H-Wing (FFG Stay on Target sourcebook, originally from West End Games Star Wars RPG) Notes There are actually a bunch of different ships called a V-Wing in the EU, most probably from before Lucas made an offcial instance of the craft in ROTS

Relevant passages from the Ravenclaw welcome message (out of order for convenience, emphasis mine): Professor Flitwick : You’ll like our Head of house, Professor Filius Flitwick . . . His office door is always open to any Ravenclaw with a problem, and if you’re in a real state he’ll get out these delicious little cupcakes he keeps in a tin in his desk drawer and make them do a little dance for you. In fact, it’s worth pretending you’re in a real state just to see them jive. As the head of the house, Professor Flitwick is the exemplary Ravenclaw, and he is very similar to F&G. They may love their tricks, but their main goal is always to brighten someone's day (and they would definitely appreciate dancing cupcakes). Additionally, Flitwick was impressed by the twins's wits and charms abilities: “Well, Flitwick’s got rid of Fred and George’s swamp,” said Ginny. “He did it in about three seconds. But he left a tiny patch under the window and he’s roped it off —” “Why?” said He...

Science-fiction writers are often credited with "inventing the future" with some of their ideas. For example, the idea of geostationary satellites is often attributed to Arthur C. Clarke. What novel was the first to mention or predict a personal handheld computer that anyone could use? Jerry Pournelle, in several TWiT podcasts, claims that he and co-writer Larry Niven came up with the idea in The Mote in God's Eye published in 1974, however, I'm sure an idea like it came along well before that. Answer Isaac Asimov's 1958 short story "The Feeling of Power" posits a population completely dependent on their "pocket computer" for doing basic arithmetic. However, they are not described in use for anything other than arithmetic (which is, after all what the big boxes did in 1958), so I don't know if it counts or not. The way the characters use the things in the Niven/Pournelle reference more closely resemble the things we think of as PDAs/s...

In the Next Generation Episode Unnatural Selection it is revealed that the Darwin Genetic Research Station was involved in human genetic modification. But in the Deep Space Nine episode Doctor Bashir, I Presume it is revealed that genetic engineering is outlawed in the Federation. So why was it that the crew of the Enterprise did not react to the fact that the Darwin Station was working on human genetics? Especially when it was found out that they had created children that were the cause of a deadly disease. Obviously the facts presented in DSN were not in effect during TNG, but was there any retcon reason given for this? Answer The topic of Genetic Engineering seems pretty wide in the Federation. There's two examples of legal applications of genetic engineering from that page: By the 24th century, the United Federation of Planets allowed limited use of genetic engineering to correct existing genetically-related medical conditions. (Either TNG 7x19 Genesis or DS9 5x16 Doctor ...

Reading about Khuzdul I found the following information very interesting : The Dwarvish language sounds much like Hebrew, and indeed Tolkien noted some similarities between Dwarves and Jews: both were " at once natives and aliens in their habitations, speaking the languages of the country, but with an accent due to their own private tongue " (Letters, 176) So Khuzdul was based on Hebrew because there were similarities between Dwarves and Jews, but were these similarities intentional? Did Tolkien write The Hobbit and then after the fact notice these similarities, or did he purposefully mirror the story of the Jews with his Dwarves? Answer I believe that the truth lies somewhere in the middle: While Tolkien stated his dislike for allegory many times (as Cearon O'Flynn stated), it is a known fact that he did borrow much from European medieval folklore into the lore of Middle Earth — Elves, Odin (Gandalf), Ring of the Nibelungs, the Arthurian legends, and more. The Jews, w...

In Star Wars: The Clone Wars , it was revealed that most of the officers of the Republic Navy were clones. If so, then why weren't there any at the end of Revenge of the Sith on the bridge of the star destroyer? Were the clones already phased out this quickly, or is there a different reason? Answer Palpatine might have disliked clones The Empire had a codified policy of xenophobia. Wookiees and Twi’leks were often enslaved, for example. This was definitely something promoted by the Emperor himself, and not merely the prevailing attitude: Palpatine and his propaganda machine worked to drive that nail of bigotry deeper by demonstrating how the old Jedi thugs and the scumfroth rebels consisted of many more nonhumans than humans. You could trust a human, the Empire said; aliens would always betray you. Star Wars: Aftermath: Life Debt It is difficult to say how much Palpatine bought into this. He was a hypocrite at best: his former apprentice Darth Maul was a Zabrak, for example. Non...

When Vader instructed the bounty hunters to all go after the Millennium Falcon , Boba Fett hid in the trash compartment of Vader's Star Destroyer; this allowed him to follow the Falcon undetected to its location after it detached from the Star Destroyer (which it had attached to in order to evade their radar). But how could he possibly have known about Han Solo's plans? Had Han Solo tried this gambit and succeeded against Boba Fett before? Or was there some other way he, and no other bounty hunter, figured it out? Answer How did Boba Fett know where Solo was hiding? A mix of cold calculation and experience. Calculation Boba Fett had already assured the capture of Solo before he even left the Executor . He guessed that Solo would have jumped into hyperspace as soon as possible if the hyperdrive worked. Solo's ship was disabled, and that limited the Corellian's options. As far as Fett was concerned, this was all too easy. Fett's suspicions were confirmed by a simpl...

A short story of a science fiction collection set on a ship or freighter in space from the captain's point of view. He once refers to his second in command or pilot as "Little One". The male and female clones (possibly 10 or more) of a single person come aboard. Even though genetically brothers and sisters (or twins), they have sex together and the captain wonders if he can approach one of the women. Answer Reminiscent of the LeGuin story Nine Lives. You can read it at baen.com . It definitely concerns a multiple clone that has sexual relations among themselves. But, it mostly takes place on a planet, not in a ship. The publication date (1969) also matches. It's also the accepted answer to this old question: Two normal humans interact with a team of clones

In the movie Man of Steel, General Zod and Superman fought in an unfinished building. In that scene, General Zod mentioned that "trained all his life to master his senses" and then removed his armor by flexing his body. I can't help but to notice that when he has removed his armor, one his glove was floating while other parts of his armor fell onto the ground as he levitates. What does this mean and what is the significance of it? [embedded content] Answer The Power of Imagery Warning: This answer is about the artistic reason(s) for the levitating glove, not scientific reasons . If you're into such things, Man of Steel is rich with imagery and symbolism. Sometimes it's conspicuous, such as when Clark is at a church and the camera pauses ever so briefly with an anguished Clark in front of a crucified Christ. Sometimes it's a lot more subtle, such as when Jor-El's image is directing Clark and Lois on the ship, and it's all done with classical poses si...

In Silence in the Library , River Song expressed an attitude that she was feeling sorry for Donna Noble. In The Stolen Earth , at the Shadow Proclamation lobby, while Donna was sitting on the stairs, a lady came over and expressed sorrow for Donna Noble and stated that there was something on her back: SERVANT: You need sustenance. Take the water. It purifies. DONNA: Thanks. SERVANT: There was something on your back. DONNA: How d'you know that? SERVANT: You are something new. DONNA: Not me. I'm just a temp. Shorthand, filing, 100 words per minute, fat lot of good that is now. I'm no use to anyone. SERVANT: I'm so sorry for your loss. DONNA: Yeah. My whole planet's gone. SERVANT: I mean the loss that is yet to come. God save you. In Donna's final episode with the 10th Doctor, Journey's End , her memory was wiped by the Doctor, in order to protect her from burning up her head. She was not dead and has a good life, although she forgot all about the Doctor and th...

I've noted that the Romulans have been a constant problem in the various Star Trek series. I'm just wondering who started it all? and why are they a constant problem? Plus I want to know more why the neutral territory was formed? Answer who started it all? From Wikipedia : In 2152, Humans made first contact with the Romulans when the Enterprise NX-01 encountered a Romulan-laid minefield. Communication was via audio only. The Romulans saw that Humans fostered a spirit of cooperation among the long-belligerent Vulcans, Andorians and Tellarites. Realizing that this would bring solidarity to the region and an obstacle to conquest, the Senate took steps to turn these species against each other . In 2154, Romulans conspired with V'Las, head of the Vulcan High Command, to invade Andoria. V'Las' Romulan contact had the stated agenda of reunification with the Vulcans. A few months later, the Empire sent prototype holoships remote-controlled from Romulus to disrupt a peace ...

Gary the Dog is/was Carrie Fisher's French Bulldog. Before she passed, Gary would be seen pretty much everywhere with Carrie. In The Last Jedi Gary has an uncredited role as Space Gary. When watching the film I couldn't seem to remember seeing Gary at all so I imagine he was in the casino on Canto Bight as a background alien. Who/What is Space Gary? Answer Space Gary is indeed an alien who appears in the casino on Canto Bight. This has been confirmed by The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson on twitter. @FanthaTracks: We want to know if you can confirm this cute little creature is #spacegary in #TheLastJedi @rianjohnson : YES! Wow, good eyes. Twitter, @rianjohnson The above tweet seems to have been deleted, though it has been preserved by Fantha Tracks and they have an article about it. Cosmic Book news reported on the 23rd July that The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson has deleted over 20,000 tweets from his twitter account. At Fantha Tracks we checked this out and can co...

In the episode Garden of Bones (season 2, episode 4), Catelyn sides with Renly instead of Stannis even though Ned supported Stannis. Extract video here . Stannis : "It is strange to find you beside my brother, Lady Stark. Your husband was a supporter of my claim. Lord Eddard’s integrity cost him his head. And you sit beside this pretender and chastise me." And then Lady Stark doesn't really answer and changes the subject. Answer They knew Renly's host would a be threat to Lannister power in the Riverlands and possibly Casterly Rock. In A Clash of Kings while Robb is in Riverrun they learn that Ser Stafford Lannister is gather another host at Casterly Rock. Ser Brynden Tully informs Catelyn of this prior to informing Robb ... "Lord Tywin is not the Kingslayer. He will not rush in heedless. He will wait patiently for Ser Stafford to march before he stirs from behind the walls of Harrenhal." "Unless..." sais Catelyn. "Yes?" Ser Brynden p...

According to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows , Gregorovitch was once the owner of the Elder Wand. Grindelwald stole the Elder Wand from Gregorovitch without defeating him in a duel. So it would seem Grindelwald actually never became the real owner of the Elder Wand, therefore Dumbledore, who defeated Grindelwald in a duel, would also have never become the real owner, which means neither Draco nor Harry would have ever mastered the Elder Wand. Wasn't Gregorovitch killed by Voldemort? Wouldn't that make Voldemort the real master of the Elder Wand, and therefore able to kill Harry?

I read this story in an anthology in the late 80's or early 90's. The story deals with a father and son at a zoo, and the father describing how radiation has mutated the animals over the years. Towards the end of the story, the boy gets attacked and loses an arm. When the father asks the doctor if his son will be okay the reply is that he'll be fine humans did great with only two arms. I think it was probably in an Alfred Hitchcock anthology but I'm not sure. I checked it out from the school library. On a side note, I found someone else asking about the story on another site in 2012 , but they never got a response. Answer I think that's "Zoo 2000" by Richard Curtis. From the anthology of the same name edited by Jane Yolen. 'There isn't much that can be said on occasions like this. But, well, it isn't the end of the world. Many people live with the loss of a hand, and of course there are excellent rehabilitation programs." "Yes,...

I'm looking for a story that I heard on audiobook about 10 years ago. It was about a guy (young adult maybe?) who finds out that he can walk between planes. There are a whole arc of worlds, that range from pure science to pure magic. He is from one in the middle. He finds that there is a version of him on every Earth, and they are the only one who can walk between the worlds. I believe there is a scene on a flat area with a red balloon. The antagonist has a large fleet of ships. I want to say it's called Planewalker but that didn't show anything except for Magic the Gathering books (even using the -mtg filter). Answer Sounds like the Interworld trilogy by Neil Gaiman and Michael Reaves. Made up of Interworld , The Silver Dream , and Eternity's Wheel . The guy is one Joey Harker.

Set out on another planet where a human spaceship lands for a research and they observer a huge mass moving below them. On closer look this mass appears to be humans, and the density of the population increases towards the sea. The reason for this is algae,the only nutrition found on the planet. On a beach they discover tall, huge humans (developed due to the natural selection), controlling the best access to the algae. Eventually the researchers die, because humans eat them.

In the movie Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find them , the protagonist uses the Accio spell at the end to get the bad guy's wand (don't want to say his name to avoid potential spoilers). Why doesn't he use Expelliarmus instead? Answer It's not Newt who performs the Accio spell, it's Tina and she's following the direct orders of the President. MADAM PICQUERY: (to the Aurors flanking her) Aurors, I’d like you to relieve Mr. Graves of his wand and escort him back to— You may also want to note that the screenplay reveals that Graves had already dropped his wand, hence casting the disarming spell (Expelliarmus) would have been completely pointless . This isn't immediately obvious in the film. Graves tries to hold it off as it tightens, but staggers, struggles, and falls to his knees, dropping his wand. TINA: Accio. Graves’s wand flies into Tina’s hand. Graves looks around at them, a deep hatred in his eyes. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: The Original...

A novel I read in the early 80's but was most likely published in the 70's(?) begins with a woman being woken up. She is shown pictures of herself and it is explained to her that these were earlier clones of her and that she is herself a clone. She is pressured to perform some task and threatened with similar treatment if she tries to escape. Can anyone help me recall the title? Answer There is a forcing people to do things by serially murdering them sub-plot in John Varley's novel The Ophiuchi Hotline . Other things that may be memorable about the novel include a trip far into Trans-Plutarian space with pilot whose body has been heavily sculpted to the point where her head is the widest part of the body; several instances of people being active in two or more bodies at once; and partial answers to questions about the Invaders and what is to become of humanity.

I read a story from an anthology from the 1950s, where men were on another planet and they saw some crystal beings in the sky. The humans might walk through a maze or some cause and they gradually change into those crystal life forms.

What happened to Morgoth's original fortress after he was imprisoned? Was it completely demolished by the Valar? Did Morgoth just abandon it for Angband? What happened to it when Morgoth returned to Beleriand in the First Age?

Dumbledore's portrait was in the headmaster’s office, Harry could have interacted with it. McGonagall would have allowed him private conversations with it if necessary. Even if it was just an imprint, it would have been a powerful guide to Harry, answering any questions he might have had... but we don't see this, and instead Harry just struggles with himself over whether the Hallows really exist and if they're worth pursuing over the Horcruxes... do you think JKR forgot about this possibility? Answer Phineas Nigellus Black explained to Harry that people in portraits can only visit other portraits in the same building that their portraits are in, or other portraits of them (and the portraits in that building). “Professor Dumbledore’s portrait – couldn’t you bring him along, here, into yours?’ Phineas Nigellus turned his face in the direction of Harry’s voice. ‘Evidently it is not only Muggle-borns who are ignorant, Potter. The portraits of Hogwarts may commune with each ot...

The Room of Requirement has a particular chamber for people to hide stuff. Everyone needing a hiding spot is redirected to the same chamber. It goes without saying that several hundreds of people have used the same chamber for hiding stuff. It makes sense - what better place to hide your secrets than under a pile of other people's things? ... Well, it makes sense today , because there's so much junk. But what about the first users? Let me put it this way: Suppose that the first ever user is a boy A : A needs to hide something, and discovers the Room of Requirement. There, he finds a nice, empty space where he can hide his... oh I don't know, dead body or something. A places the dead body there and leaves the room happily, knowing that this magical chamber will do as he wished: keep the body hidden. Then B , another boy, needs to hide something. He finds the Room of Requirement, and is granted access to a nice chamber... with a dead body in the middle . The point of a hi...

I feel like nothing would be able to survive an un-visored optic blast stare down, but what are Scotts limits?

It is a live-action movie. I saw it long ago on TV. It was released before 2010 for sure, and probably earlier. The channel was probably TV2 or RTL klub, which are commercial channels in Hungary in Central Europe. Please note that I saw it long ago, so the details are a bit hazy; however, I remember a few very specific moments: It was about a magic school with wizards. The main character was a boy who can shapeshift into an eagle or falcon. Once he used his shapeshifting skill to annoy his friend. When this happened a teacher reminded him of a story where a man turned into a bear and couldn't turn back and because of this, his own family had to kill him. (This is probably just an insignificant moment in the movie.) I also remember that in the end there was a key they had to make, which was a puzzle with three pieces. It probably opened some door, and the last piece of the puzzle was a girls' pendant that was in front of them all along. Answer Is it possible that you're th...

In the new Doctor Who series, we are frequently reminded that the Doctor "becomes a part of the events" as soon as he enters a time period, and is unable to (or should not) backtrack to fix his mistakes along that series of events. The question is (please refer to the diagram): While he cannot travel back along a series of events of which he is a part (i.e. within the blue rectangle), what prevents him from traveling further into the past beyond those events and leaving a message for himself, or better yet, geting a proxy to help him out? Isn't this what he did in Blink ? Why didn't the reapers appear then? How do we know when it's just "wibbly wobbly timey wimey" stuff and when it's time for the reapers? Edit/Clarification : In Blink , a future Doctor stuck in the past forwards information to the present to get someone to alter his timeline. No more than one copy of the Doctor was present at any given point of the timeline, but the net effect was ...

I have found this theory crafters map of the area that the TV show “The 100” is set in. Now I have tried searching for the skyscraper that seems to be seat of power in the show. The building is round and quite tall. I have searched Washington DC and Annapolis but that is about it. I can't find it. Here is a picture of the building I'm talking about (sorry for not being able to find a better one) EDIT here is a bit better picture of the top of the building and the background. Answer We don't know There's been no confirmation of where it is, or if it even exists in the real world. The nuclear war started in the year 2052 so it could have been built after 2016. The only clues as to the real world location are based on speculation derived from traveling distance to Arkadia , such as Baltimore or Annapolis. Annapolis was originally the most popular fan theory due to the similarity in the names (consider that Ton DC comes from Washington DC). However Jason Rothberg tweeted...

I know that a long life is not usual in the world in which A Song of Ice and Fire is set. That brings to me some questions: Who is the oldest character that lives during (a part of) the books? Who is the oldest character in Westeros' history?

I just watched Return of the Jedi, and while I am willing to accept that there is a lot about the Endor Forest Moon battle and the Ewoks in general that doesn't quite add up 1 , this watching left me wondering just what the Ewoks had been planning for. It is reasonable to believe they could have setup some of their simpler traps in the short time they had to prepare for their offensive & rescue of Han & Leia at the shield generator, the speeder bike "clothesline" for example, and maybe even placement of their wood catapults... But what about the larger traps like the rolling log pile or the two huge swinging logs used to destroy the AT-ST's? Is it possible the Ewoks were already planning a revolt against the Imperial presence on the Forest Moon? Or if not against the Empire, for whom were those traps set? Addendum: Just to note - It occurs to me that they set mostly defensive traps rather than offensive ones. 1. Like, why do they build huge bonfires in trees...

I'm interested to know what all the Khuzdul (and languages other than the Common Speech) spoken in the third movie of The Hobbit means, as well as written out so the spelling is seen. I'd like the answer to be written with the correct spelling, along with the definition. Update: Elvish translations have already come out with detail, so I'm not sure why Khuzdul is not? The DVD and Blu-Rays are out, so subtitles/clips should be available to those with access. Also, there may be commentary in the special features that reveals a little more.

I'm hoping someone will recognize this short story. It involves a culture of robots on a planet, and the story is told from the perspective of one of them. One day a rocket lands. The robots, thinking that this is a fellow machine in distress, do what they can to help it. They hear muffled noises inside (the reader understands that there are actual humans in there, which the robots can't even conceptualize) but they eventually cease (inferring that the humans have died). The robot narrator ends the story by remarking on an unknown red liquid leaking from the inert rocket that, for some reason, makes it think of rust. Any ideas? Answer I'm hoping someone will recognize this short story. "Lost Memory" by Peter Phillips , first published in Galaxy Science Fiction , May 1952 , available at the Internet Archive . One day a rocket lands. The robots, thinking that this is a fellow machine in distress, do what they can to help it. It became obvious that the stranger ha...

Towards the end of The Rise of Skywalker , Rey hears voices of Jedi past. What characters' voices were they? Answer This screenshot I've found shows the names in the credits and matches with who I remember with some extras: Yoda Mace Windu Kanan Jarrus from Star Wars Rebels Qui-Gon Jinn Obi-Wan Kenobi (Both the Original and prequel trilogy versions) Anakin Skywalker Luminara Unduli Ahsoka Tano Aayla Secura Adi Gallia

In Order of the Phoenix , Dumbledore uses a small silver instrument that puffs pale green smoke and shows him a snake, to which he then says, "Naturally, naturally, but in essence divided?" It then turns into two snakes. What exactly is the significance of this? And what is the function of the instrument? This happens right after Harry has a vision of Mr. Weasley being attacked by the snake in the Ministry of Magic. Answer It is possible that the silver instrument was able to provide magical confirmation of facts: Dumbledore now swooped down upon one of the fragile silver instruments whose function Harry had never known, carried it over to his desk, sat down facing them again and tapped it gently with the tip of his wand. The instrument tinkled into life at once with rhythmic clinking noises. Tiny puffs of pale green smoke issued from the minuscule silver tube at the top. Dumbledore watched the smoke closely, his brow furrowed. After a few seconds, the tiny puffs became a s...

I read this story in an anthology in the eighties or early nineties. It was about an old man who lived outside a western-like town, though that might have just been how I imagined it. He goes to town and some ex-military thugs are there causing problems. Flaunting some odd interdimensional military tech of some sort. He doesn't want to intervene as doing so would be bad but in the end he must. By intervening, his military identity is revealed and that causes him (some paradox or causality law) to have to go back and fight the war again. The war is at the end of time or the universe. The man is maybe a colonel of the sky something... Not much to go on; I have been searching my collection and wracking my brain for years trying to recall the story. Answer This is almost certainly " A Dry, Quiet War " by Tony Daniel originally published in Asimov's Science Fiction in 1996 and heavily anthologized. Returned to a small town with a western (as in US western frontier) tech...

In The Colour of Magic , we learn that: "Can't tell you. Don't really want to talk about it. But frankly," he sighed , "no spells are much good. It takes three months to commit even a simple one to memory, and then once you’ve used it, pow it's gone. that's what's so stupid about the whole magic thing, You know. You spend twenty years learning the spell that makes nude virgins appear in your bedroom, and then you're so poisoned by quicksilver fumes and half-blind from reading old grimoires that you can't remember what happens next." So clearly: a spell is something you need to create, and you can use but once. And it's something utterly useless as a consequence. In Equal Rites , Esk is able to do MANY spells without creating any of them. And afterwards, it seems that The Colour of Magic description of how magic works never holds... Does Rincewind lie? Is there an explanation I missed out? Answer The best explanation is that the fir...

In the ST:TNG episode "Heart of Glory", an Enterprise away team rescues three Klingons from a battle-damaged, derelict freighter. One of the Klingons soon dies from his injuries, prompting the two other Klingons and Worf to howl heaven-ward in the Klingon Death Ritual. This exchange then happens: Crusher: "Is there any special arrangement you'd like for the body?" Klingon: "It is only an empty shell now. Please treat it as such." Crusher nods in agreement and understanding What would she do with the body? Answer For the record we do see a graveyard in TNG's Sub-Rosa , and in DS9's " The Ship " we see Sisko order a funeral detail. However in space burial in the ground is clearly not an option. ST burials in space seem to be based loosely on the Navy's tradition of burials at sea . As Richard mentioned, the space burials we see all involve a body being placed in a torpedo casing, draped with a flag, and launched into space. A fe...

The first words of Snape to Harry were: "Potter! What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?" I have come across its meaning being about an apology to Harry for Lily from Snape. It uses the Victorian Flower Language. So what is this language, what was the motivation for Rowling to use it, and how were the words transformed to an apology? And lastly, what would we really get after performing the procedure Snape literally asked? What can the resulting mixture/compound/whatever be used for, of course in the world of wizardry ? Here is the link: Answer The Language of Flowers is a means of communication where each flower has a meaning (or several), and the way they are arranged forms a message. It was a bit of a fad in the 1800s but is now mostly unknown except by artists who use it to hide messages in their works. There are a lot of different messages you can get from the combination of asphodel (a type of lily) and wormwood (a genus of ...

This is the exact quote from the book: More Killing Curses flew past Harry's head from the two remaining Death Eaters' wands; they were aiming for Hagrid. Harry responded with further Stunning Spells: red and green collided in mid-air in a shower of multi-coloured sparks and Harry thought wildly of fireworks, How was Harry able to block a Killing Curse conjured by a Death Eater that was aimed at Hagrid in Deathly Hallows?

You rarely see non-human Borg, let alone non humanoid Borg. Are there any in-universe examples of non humanoid Borg, or do they only assimilate humanoid-type races (which would seem a rather limited way of gaining new technological distinctiveness-es)? They certainly wanted to branch out, as species 8472 demonstrate, but we don't see any Borg drones of, say, shape shifters (and they would certainly be a very advantageous race to assimilate, though quite how Borg implants would work on them is another question entirely). Answer In the episode The Chase (TNG S6:E20), the primary reason for the expansion of life can be assumed to have been created by the proto humanoid species that seeded the galaxy many centuries if not millenia beforehand. This not only explains the existence of so many humanoid species in the Star Trek universe, but also the direct relation between alien species as descendants from a single origin. In all probability the Borg could assimilate other non-humanoids ...

It looked like professor McGonagall signed and sealed the letters and therefore should have noticed exactly where it was being sent to, but still no one went to check on him. They just kept on sending thousands of letters which McGonagall also would have had to sign. I mean what the hell did they think they were still doing when the very first letter should have raised the alarm and sent them panicking over to Privet Drive to find out what the hell was going on? Edit: I'm sorry my question wasn't clear. But I am wondering why it didn't raise a red flag, because Hogwarts had to have had hundreds of thousands of invitations processed and some of those sent to Muggle-borns, setting the standard of where a muggle child would be place in the house. If McGonagall thought this would be something only those backwards muggles would do then she would just have to think back on all the other Muggle-born's letters she signed to know that something was off. And she couldn't exac...