Questions tagged [plot-device]
An element introduced into a story, film, play etc. to advance the plot.
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How independent of each other are the different copies of Smith?
How independent are the copies of Smith from each other?
It seems that mostly the copies are subordinate to him. For example, they come only after the real Smith appears, they do not make other ...
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Why were the "Monsters, Inc." monsters told that touching kids would kill them?
Throughout the start of the movie the monsters are told again and again that touching a kid would/could kill them.
Eventually everyone finds out that isn't true, but the movie never gives a reason as ...
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Did Madame Maxime really just have big bones?
In Goblet of Fire it is heavily implied that Madame Maxime is half giant, but never explicitly mentioned.
In The Order of the Phoenix, this is further enforced by stating that she went with Hagrid to ...
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Wouldn't Aunt Petunia know that Harry couldn't use magic outside school?
The answers to this question got me thinking. Aunt Petunia probably spent her childhood with Lily and though she was bitter, was probably in close contact with her at least until she finished Hogwarts....
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How did Neo end up in the train station?
At the end of the second movie Neo feels the sentinels and stops them just by his mind, then collapses.
At the beginning of the third movie he suddenly wakes up in the trainman's station
How did he ...
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Where is Platform 9 3/4 located?
King Cross's Platform 9 3/4: we can go "there" by throwing ourselves on the wall between Platforms 9 and 10.
But where is that "there"?
Is it on King's Cross? Then where at King's Cross?
What is ...
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how does becoming "the One" work in the Matrix?
According to the Architect, the emergence of the One is predictable and inevitable, it has already happened 5 times before, and the current iteration turned out to be Neo
If it is inevitable, when ...
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Why doesn't Neo take a more advanced gun with him when going to save Morpheus?
While going back into the Matrix to save Morpheus, Neo and Trinity are sent to a huge room with lots and lots of guns, but in terms of technological level, they are all the same types of guns that ...
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What was Filch doing during the battle of Hogwarts?
I can't remember whether Filch was even mentioned during the last book.
Given the Ministry's strong rules against Muggle-borns, it could be assumed they might have somehow tried to dispose of squibs ...
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Why isn't entry through the floo network protected like entry through apparition?
In Half Blood Prince Dumbledore said that apparating inside a house is rude, and usually wizards will have protection in place to prevent unwanted guests entering this way:
"Professor, why couldn'...
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How does removing a memory work in Harry Potter?
There seem to be two ways of taking memory out of the mind in Harry Potter
One is what Prof. Slughorn did, that is, give Harry a copy of his real memory of telling Tom Riddle about Horcruxes. It is ...
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Why didn't Malfoy's wand pass its allegiance to Ginny?
Towards the end of Order of the Phoenix, after Umbridge has been carried away by the Centaurs, and when they have to get away from Umbridge's Inquisitorial Squad, Ginny overpowers Malfoy in Umbridge's ...
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Could the Marauder's map show two sets of Harry and Hermione?
Prof. Lupin explains to Harry in the Shrieking Shack that he was looking at the map when they went to meet Hagrid before the execution of Buckbeak. Three people went in, but four came out. Why didn't ...
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What kind of beings are shown by the Marauder's Map?
The map definitely shows people (humans) inside the castle, but I remember reading about Harry watching Peeves bouncing around in the trophy room and Peeves is not human. I don't remember if I had ...
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What did the Howler to Aunt Petunia mean in Order of the Phoenix?
What does "Remember my last, Petunia" mean in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix?
From what I gather, most people seem to think it refers to the letter Dumbledore left for Aunt Petunia when ...
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Significance (or otherwise) of the Headless Spiro Agnew
There have been many disembodied heads depicted on Futurama, some of which have obtained some form of body at one stage or another (e.g. Nixon procuring 1st the body of Bender then of a Transformer, ...
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What makes wood resistant to various fictional items?
In this question, the reason the Doctor's Sonic Screw Driver 'doesn't do wood' is covered. It's weakness is described below:
As such, throwing in an arbitrary weakness, like being unable to do ...
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Does the character of Jar Jar Binks serve an actual purpose in Star Wars?
I'm not asking about just an in-universe explanation. I'm talking about it from the point of view of a writer or of someone analyzing a film or written story.
I recently re-watched all six Star Wars ...
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