In a previous question there was a debate as to whether Voldemort is a genius or not. Here is some evidence towards his magical intelligence: Possessed a power beyond almost any wizard in known history, and since magic has a lot to do with knowledge, he must have had greater magical knowledge than any wizard in known history. Left Hogwarts with "top grades in every examination he had taken". Is very loquacious: He inspires fear and loyalty in his followers. Also leaders in general need to be smart in order to make intelligent decisions. (Not sure if speaking Parseltongue makes you loquacious...) Obviously he possessed knowledge regarding magic that far surpassed almost anyone in the Harry Potter universe. However if we discount his magical knowledge, does he possess an extraordinary intelligence that isn't a result of his lust for magical knowledge? There is certainly evidence of poor decisions made by him, are there examples outside of magical knowledge that show he pos...

When Aragorn and the Hobbits are on Weathertop, just after seeing the Nazgul below them and prior to inflicting Frodo's knife wound, Aragorn says the following: Sauron can put fire to his evil uses, as he can all things, but these Riders do not love it, and fear those who wield it. Fire is our friend in the wilderness. Is there any mention as to whether fire can actually cause harm to the Nazgul and if not, is there a specific reason for their fear of it? Answer I don't think they can be harmed by fire, they just don't appreciate it being shoved in their faces. As the quote itself says, they don't fear fire - they fear those who wield it. Anyone who is wielding a firebrand in their face is obviously (a) knowledgeable about Nazgul, and (b) of sufficient stature to not become a gibbering wreck in the face of the fear engendered by them, so the act of wielding fire at a Nazgul in a sign that said foe is to be taken seriously. In Letter 210 Tolkien touches on this: Their...

We know that Iron Islands has a huge navy. It is their main strength. We also know that Iron Islands are barren land, very small and even if they fish extensively, it should not support a population as great as the North. In fact, it was one of their motives when they waged war against the North, to obtain Lebensraum for their people. I am not really shocked with their ship building efficiency. They might steal the wood easily from many unprotected forests in the North or in the Riverlands. The Iron Fleet should already have around 500 ships in total. Building 500 more in one or two years for a seafarer nation should not be the greatest challenge. However, for such a small nation to man even 500 ships efficiently puzzles me. In a world where the North can muster 20000 men (if they took their time it would at most be 40000), how did Iron Islands man 1000 ships? What would be the crew per ship? One of the best comparisons I could find is the taking of Deepwood Motte , where Asha Greyjoy...

Sorry I don't recall much about this at all. A friend, who had recommended many other books/authors I ended up liking, told me about a story in which a scientist develops some kind of special glass, that had some property like slowing down light by a factor of a trillion, or something else odd like that, adventure ensuing. He's since moved away, and now I'm wondering what this book might have been. Answer Yes, that's certainly Bob Shaw 's Slow Glass stories , starting with “Light of Other Days” and collected in Other Days, Other Eyes .

I think the movie was very early 70s, think Columbo or MacMillan and Wife. It was about a future private investigator. He had some quirks for example he still drove a 70s era VW Beetle and he hated technology. The investigator had a voice activated typewriter, which was just an IBM Selectric typewriter with cheap mike attached. thanks Answer I believe this is the movie "Computercide" from 1982. It is a bit later than you listed, but has the scene with the typewriter and microphone. The following Site shows it at timestamp 4:07. From IMDB "The year is 1995 and Michael Stringer is the only private eye left on Earth. One day, he is assigned by a woman to investigate Eden Isle, a complex for people who want a perfect life started by an industrialist named Korter. Interestingly, Korter is found on a beach and is 20 years younger than he was before. When he gets into the complex, he is caught in a web of mystery that he might not get out of. " I remember Donald Pleasen...

We all know that the Star Wars movies take place "A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away". But relative to what ? The obvious answer is that it's relative to 20th-century Earth (21st for episodes 2 and 3). But how plausible is it that both phrases might be relative to the place and time of some hidden narrator rather than the modern audience? If the story is being told by someone in the distant future of the Star Wars universe (and George Lucas is re-telling that story), that opens the possibility that the humans we see are actually our distant descendants. For example, the events of the movies might take place 10,000 years in our future, after Earth humans have colonized other galaxies, and the story is being told by someone living, say, 10,000 years after that. Are there any canonical sources and/or statements by George Lucas that clearly define what "A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away" actually means? (My own thought is that placing the story in the...

In learning to sword fight, Japanese samurai used wooden replica swords and medieval knights used blunt swords (which were safe enough to use on plate armour). However, lightsabers 'handle' very differently to a physical objects like sticks and swords; so how do Jedi (and Sith) learn and maintain their skills of lightsaber duelling? Is there a non-lethal 'practice' lightsaber that can be used on a training partner safely? I know the movies backwards, and this is clearly not covered (apart from Luke training to block mini blaster shots from a floating droid, but that's a far cry from a lightsaber duel). On the other hand I have zero knowledge of any books and TV series. Is there is any of this material a clear depiction of Jedi (or Sith) learning to duel by 'sparring' in some way that emulates a real duel without the lethal danger? Answer Depends on the era and the place. The Sith used training sabers with numbing poison . These training sabers were crafted...