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1500 questions
492
votes
18 answers
Would the One Ring even work for anyone but Sauron?
The temptation of the One Ring, we quickly learn, is always tied up with power: each character's fantasies of possessing it seem to be about what they would do with great power. Even Sam, as I recall, imagines the power to create great huge sweeping…
Nerrolken
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votes
6 answers
Could I fake death to stop being Force-choked?
I work for a large government organization. My boss is a total jerk who abuses those working under him. I've tried contacting HR before but they won't do anything about him.
Anyways, I screwed up again. My jerk boss is going to be super pissed.
I…
Hannover Fist
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453
votes
16 answers
Who or what was Tom Bombadil?
The most iconic of Middle-earth questions:
Who or what was Tom Bombadil?
Was he an elf? Was he akin to Gandalf, and one of the wizardly stock? Was he something… else?
morganpdx
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393
votes
33 answers
Why don't Muggle-born wizards use Muggle technology to fight Death Eaters?
We know that wizards in the Harry Potter universe are subject to regular physical harm (e.g. witness injuries from being hit by Bludgers or just colliding with things when playing Quidditch).
Therefore, it's almost a certainty that an average wizard…
DVK-on-Ahch-To
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375
votes
1 answer
Story where the number 3 is the monster?
I remember as a child (in the nineties) reading a story where the narrator was a little boy and how he was scared only twice a day – when the clock read 3:33. The 3's would be powerful enough (there were three of them at 3:33) to leave the clock in…
zompz
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350
votes
23 answers
Why didn't Gandalf or Frodo Fly to Mount Doom?
Why didn't Gandalf use his eagles to fly over Mount Doom and drop the ring? I know he feared what he would do if the ring overpowered him, so why not just give Frodo an eagle?
And, if there would be too much risk in flying the ring to Mordor,…
Teknophilia
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321
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4 answers
How long was Bill Murray's character (Phil Connors) supposed to be in a time loop in the film "Groundhog Day"?
I've often wondered how long Bill Murray's character (Phil Connors) was supposed to be in his time loop before he got out of it. You could count the number of days depicted in the movie, but there are parts that reference that he had spent a much…
aceinthehole
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302
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20 answers
In what order should the Star Wars movies be watched?
I've never sat through an entire Star Wars film. I'm aware that Episodes I through III are technically prequels, but I feel strange watching three new films before three older films.
Do I need to watch the new ones then the old ones?
benhowdle89
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265
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11 answers
Why does everyone think that the Millennium Falcon is a piece of junk?
It’s a running joke in Star Wars: A New Hope (1977), and carried over into Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015), that the Millennium Falcon looks like a piece of junk: Luke, “What a piece of junk!” when he sees it for the first time, and Leia later…
Daniel Roseman
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255
votes
4 answers
Which 2015 technologies were correctly predicted by Back to the Future II?
This year is not only the 30th anniversary of the Back to the Future franchise as a whole, but is also the year in which Back to the Future II is set.
Which technologies that exist in 2015 (at least as prototypes) were correctly predicted by Back to…
Praxis
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251
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12 answers
Are all stormtroopers as poor soldiers as the ones in the movies?
In the Star Wars films we consistently witness just how poor soldiers stormtroopers are. They show very sub-par marksmanship, crappy house searching tactics, and are easily fooled and defeated by Ewoks and Rebels.
That being said, I remember…
Ryan
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228
votes
16 answers
How did Dumbledore, or anyone, know Lily had sacrificed herself for Harry?
There were no witnesses, except for Harry, who was still a baby and didn't relive / remember the experience until much later. James and Lily were both dead, Voldemort was not quite dead but not much better and not likely to tell anyone what…
SQB
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218
votes
7 answers
Why did C.S. Lewis use Turkish Delight as temptation for Edmund?
As today's xkcd so neatly puts it, The Chronicles of Narnia gives a really unrealistic impression of how good Turkish Delight tastes:
Have some Turkish delight. If you betray your family, there's more where that came from.
Wow. This is... not…
amflare
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214
votes
2 answers
Whose underwear is this?
Okay, this is a bit different....
My son recently got underwear for his birthday. The underwear came in a set of 5, packaged as Justice League underwear.
On the packaging, you can see The Flash, Superman, Green Lantern, and Batman. Each of those…
Beofett
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214
votes
5 answers
Did Tolkien really explicitly consider Sam the true hero of The Lord of the Rings?
Quoting from Crouching Moron Hidden Badass: Literature on TVTropes (TVTropes link alert!!! Don't tell me I didn't warn you!):
Perhaps even more aptly: Samwise Gamgee. His name roughly translates to "halfwit", and it applies. He's overweight, easily…
DVK-on-Ahch-To
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