Question: This question is about the entire series. I read the sixth book a couple of years ago and I can't remember if this was answered. Dumbledore once denied Voldemort's request to teach Defense Against Dark Arts because he knew that Voldemort did not want it, and was visiting the school for some other reason. Why would Voldemort curse a job that he was hoping not to get anyway?
raywest
24th May 2015
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (2011)
Answer: There were several factors going on. Dumbledore did deny Tom Riddle (Voldemort) because he was suspicious of him but also because at the time Riddle was too young and inexperienced for the job. Riddle cursed the position so that no one hired for it would last longer than one year, thus giving him annual opportunities to reapply. There was also an element of spite. If he could not have the job, then he didn't want anyone else to have it.
He wasn't necessarily too young. I think he was 28 when he tried to get the job. Other professors, such as McGonagall and Snape, started at Hogwarts when they were younger. Snape was only 21.
15th May 2015
The Journey of Natty Gann (1985)
Question: There are a few unresolved conflicts despite Natty reuniting with her dad. Like what happens to Natty's abusive sitter, Connie, and the brown puppy Natty was looking after? Also, do the people working at the reform school Natty was sent to ever catch up to her? And what's the fate of both Harry and The Wolf?
Answer: There are no definitive answers. Connie likely continued running her boarding house.The puppy's fate is unknown and it probably was picked up by the city pound. In the Depression era, there was far less oversight of state-run juvenile facilities, and there were fewer resources available for tracking runaways, who could more easily evade the system. If they ever did find Natty, there would be nothing they could do because she was never an abandoned child and was with her father. Harry's fate was unknown but presumably he continued with his life as before.
13th May 2015
Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983)
Question: At the beginning of the film C-3PO says that Lando and Chewie never returned from Tatooine and Jabba's Palace. If that's true then how did Luke and Leia manage to concoct a plan to get inside using Chewie as a bounty if he wasn't there to be told the plan?
Chosen answer: C-3PO was unaware that Lando, who was disguised as a guard and spying on Jabba's domain, was smuggling out information to Luke. C-3PO, being an android, was often told information on a need-to-know basis only. He was often not trusted with more sensitive information, lest he inadvertently reveal something. He also didn't know that he and R2 were being sent to Jabba as a "gift" from Luke and that it was all part of the plan to rescue Han Solo.
5th May 2015
Inside Man (2006)
Question: After the robbery and once the dust settled (business was back-to-normal at the bank, etc.) why did the bank president not immediately go to open the safety deposit box and see what happened to its contents? He knew it was the target of the robbery. Reason would dictate that one of the first things he would have done would be to open the box and see what was there... Not leave it to the NYPD to open it and discover a mostly empty box except for the big ring, chewing gum and note.
Answer: The aforementioned answer fails to keep in mind he is the owner of the bank and could've have done this hours before the bank was opened and or hours after the bank was opened. Dalton spent 3 days behind the wall. Mr Case had a special fixer, and she had the mayor in her pocket. It is a reasonable assumption that a billionaire like Aruthur Case would be able to have the contents of his safety deposit box removed with little to no problem. One way is "yes Mr. Mayor I will be giving you a blank check for your reelection campaign." The issue is this was a major plot hole that almost ruined a otherwise great and well thought out movie.
Answer: Arthur Case did not want anyone to know about the safe deposit box or what was in it. In fact, the box's number had been left off the bank records. The police did not immediately know if anything had been stolen during the robbery. Case going to the bank to check on the box, would only have drawn attention to it. The contents, the diamonds, were a link to Case's criminal Nazi past that he wanted kept hidden. It was only by chance that Detective Frazier discovered the box and the clues that had been left inside it by Dalton Russell.
30th Apr 2015
Night at the Museum (2006)
Question: How are Cecil and the other guys able to "come to life", in other words be able to do the stuff they were doing? Last time I checked, they aren't museum exhibits.
Answer: Even though they are human, they are able to enhance their abilities through the artifact they are stealing. It affects them the same way it does the museum exhibits.
Ahkmarah was not wax, he was actually a mummy who was given back his life and all his organs and strength as was his parents in last movie. So it would make sense that they would benefit from the magic to make them stronger when they were near the tablet.
30th Apr 2015
The Godfather: Part II (1974)
Question: In the flashback of Vito Corleone's return to Corleone, Sicily with his young family, his wife is shown holding a baby in a bonnet in several scenes. On the train he is talking to an older child and calling him Michael. Who is the baby?
30th Apr 2015
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (2010)
Question: Why does Bellatrix accuse Dobby of defying his "masters"? Surely she would have heard from Narcissa, Draco, or Lucius that he no longer serves the family.
Answer: That would hardly matter to Bellatrix. She would look at Dobby as an inferior being who was fit only to serve wizards. She likely considers him to still be the Malfoy's possession, despite Harry's freeing him. Most wizards see their race as "masters" to all house-elves and other non-human sentient beings, regardless of whether or not they were free.
30th Apr 2015
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1 (2011)
Question: In the credits at the end, there is a Volturi scene where Aro reads a message written by his receptionist "Swwwweet Bianca." He points out that she spelt Carlisle's name incorrectly, then he gestures to the guards, to take her away and kill her. Of the note, he says, "First, it's the spelling, then the grammar." What does this mean? (What does he mean by "then the grammar"?).
19th Apr 2015
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Question: Why did Merope use her father's name as her son's middle name, after the way he treated her?
Answer: Merope did not seem to know many people outside of her home and the nearby village. Apparently, she never went to Hogwarts. Perhaps she had no better ideas for a middle name. She may have also felt obligated to use her father's name, regardless of how she was treated. I've actually known a few parents who selected a name because they felt pressured by family expectations.
19th Jul 2014
The Godfather (1972)
17th Apr 2015
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (2011)
Question: Why did Voldemort choose Narcissa to verify that Harry was dead? I read this scene in the book, but there was no explanation.
10th Apr 2015
The Reader (2008)
Question: When Hannah has her back to the camera, as she fills the bath, naked, we can see about 3-4 red long to medium scars/wounds. Is there any reason for these scars/wounds?
10th Apr 2015
Jurassic Park (1993)
Question: How did the scientists know what breed of dinosaur they were creating? They couldn't tell which dinosaur's blood they extracted from the mosquito, could they?
Answer: In the book it states that they don't really know what dinosaur they're making each time. Just that if it works out it does, if not, back to the drawing board and filling gaps to make it work.
8th Apr 2015
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (2011)
Question: Voldemort asks Snape if the elder wand truly listens to him. Voldemort thinks that it listens to Snape because he killed its last owner, Dumbledore. Voldemort has his snake kill Snape. If Voldemort's theory was correct, that the wand listens to Snape and killing him would be the answer, wouldn't the wand belong to the snake? This is probably a stupid question but it would make sense to me. The snake is a living thing, Voldemort himself doesn't kill Snape so it would go to the snake, right?
Chosen answer: Voldemort was not correct. He mistakenly believed that Snape was the wand's master, but it was actually Draco Malfoy who commanded it, though neither he nor anyone else knew that. When Draco disarmed Dumbledore when they were atop the Astronomy Tower, the wand, sensing Dumbledore was defeated, changed its allegiance to Draco. It was after that event occurred that Snape killed Dumbledore. Even though Draco never physically possessed it, the wand remained under his control until Harry disarmed him. It is not necessary to kill the Elder's wand's master in order to win control of it. Also, if an animal killed the Elder Wand's master, it is unlikely the wand would respond to it. It would have to be a human or a humanoid-being.
Your last sentence, of course, becomes far more complicated in light of the Fantastic Beasts series' revelation that Nagini WAS once a human being. Given that this is the case, if Snape really had been the master of the Elder Wand, could Nagini have become its next master upon killing him? Hopefully, J. K. Rowling will answer this question someday.
Well either way it won't worked for Snape because he wasn't the master of the Elder wand at that point. He didn't even know that the Elder wand belong to Draco and then to Harry. He wasn't interested in the Elder wand as a matter of fact.
I think it's more important that regardless whether Nagini was a human once or not, at that point Nagini was a Horcrux and a vessel of Voldemort's soul without having a soul herself (if she ever did), unlike Harry. So Nagini killing Snape is the same as Voldemort himself killing him.
8th Apr 2015
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005)
2nd Apr 2015
General questions
I'm searching for the name of a movie I saw when I was about 11 yrs. Old (I'm 52 now), it was a black and white movie, maybe British. It involves a young boy (he sang in a Catholic boys choir) and he sees a man (I think he was in the military) and he kills someone in the boys apartment building. The boy witnesses the murder while he is hiding in the closet. I hope someone out there knows the movie.
Chosen answer: It's the 1959 British film, "Tiger Bay" starring John Mills, Haley Mills, and Horst Bucholz.
2nd Apr 2015
The Patriot (2000)
Question: Who was the baby in Charlotte's arms in the closing scene? Why was the baby not alluded to previously?
Answer: At the end of the film, it is implied that Charlotte and Benjamin Martin have married and had a child together. It wasn't alluded to earlier because it is meant to show that a person's life can start over, even after tragedy and loss.
Answer: Additionally, in the film Charlotte says to Benjamin "I am not my sister," alluding that they were different people as Benjamin gets closer to her. As colonials were religious given the time, in the Bible in Leviticus 18:18 it says "do not take your wife's sister as a rival wife and have sexual relations with her while your wife is living." Since his wife was dead, this no longer applied and they believed in starting over, as the above post states.
25th Mar 2015
General questions
What disaster film involved earthquakes, a fire, a childbirth and someone shooting a man dead regarding the loss of a son?
Chosen answer: This sounds like the 1974 film, "Earthquake, " starring Charlton Heston.
29th Mar 2015
Poltergeist (1982)
Question: What exactly did the ghosts want with Carol Anne?
Answer: They were partly attracted to Carol Anne because she she was born in her house.
24th Mar 2015
Burn Notice (2007)
Question: How do Jesse and Sam intend to continue as P.Is, when their faces were broadcast over the state news? Undercover/stealth work is torpedoed by that.
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Answer: Voldemort wanted to teach at Hogwarts to get more followers, possibly make the next Horcrux as 7 is the limit without your body being destroyed. He also mentions in the book that he had great respect for the teachers at Hogwarts, Dumbledore mentioned in book 6 and so does Harry in book 7 that Hogwarts was at least his first true home if not his real home so he may have partly wanted to return. He may have also wanted to get close to Dumbledore to figure out how to kill him. Dumbledore is after all, the only wizard Voldemort has ever feared.