Questions tagged [character-motivation]

Use this tag when asking about the motivation of a character. Character motivation is what motivates characters to behave in a particular way and describes why a particular character does so. It propels the personality of the character.

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Why did Door open a door to Richard?

Near the start of Neverwhere Croup and Vandemar have cornered Door. She uses her powers to open a door in a wall using the last of her energy. The relevant quote is 'If it's the last door I open' ...
Bellerophon's user avatar
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9 votes
3 answers
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Why is Agent Scully still skeptical of Mulder?

I'm now starting season 3 of X-Files and for some reason, whenever Agents Mulder and Scully encounter weird, unexplainable phenomenon and Agent Mulder posits a theory involving aliens or supernatural ...
RedCaio's user avatar
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62 votes
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Why did Harry tell Snape's secret to everyone?

In the climax of the Battle of Hogwarts, when he duels the Dark Lord for the last time, Harry Potter explains to the Dark Lord that Professor Snape was in love with Lily Potter. (Harry addresses the ...
b_jonas's user avatar
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4 votes
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Why would (spoiler) insist on attacking Winterfell right now (S06E08)?

Earlier in Season 6 of Game of Thrones, we saw and essentially walking off the scene for some soulful reflective rest and relaxation. Sansa had to really work hard (well, sort of) to get him to go ...
einpoklum's user avatar
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7 votes
2 answers
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Did Jayne help Dobson at first?

In Firefly episode 1, Serenity, Mal gives Jayne the job of questioning the captured federal agent Dobson, who tries to persuade Jayne to turn his coat: DOBSON: You kill me, there's nothing. But if ...
Rand al'Thor's user avatar
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30 votes
3 answers
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Why wouldn't escaping be Obi-Wan's plan?

VADER: Obi-Wan is here. The Force is with him. TARKIN: If you're right, he must not be allowed to escape. VADER: Escape is not his plan. I must face him alone. It seemed like Obi-Wan was trying to ...
RedCaio's user avatar
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74 votes
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How was Spider-Man persuaded to join the side he did?

In Captain America: Civil War, when Stark recruited Parker to join the action, no mention was made of the cause for which they were fighting. All they talk about is how Stark could help Spidey ...
RedCaio's user avatar
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4 votes
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Why is Cindy Lou on the top of the sleigh?

In the Jim Carrey version of How the Grinch Stole Christmas, the Grinch has a change of heart, his heart grows, and now he doesn't want to destroy Christmas. The sleigh of stolen presents starts ...
RedCaio's user avatar
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6 votes
2 answers
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How does Gandalf's description of Smeagol relate to the story?

I am curious about the relationship between Smeagol's personality and his role in the story as either Smeagol or Gollum. Here is the description of young Smeagol, as told by Gandalf to Frodo in The ...
Misha R's user avatar
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Kylo Ren's persona

At the beginning of The Force Awakens, Kylo Ren's appearance kept his persona as a mysterious and powerful being. Powerful enough to stop a laser bolt mid air, and to extract the information from the ...
Ben's user avatar
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Is there an explanation to why Superman is helping USA government?

Superman is presented as a global superhero compared to people like Oliver who rarely take their offense out of their zones. But when the truth is so, why does Superman fight a country to protect USA? ...
Theravada's user avatar
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44 votes
5 answers
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Why did Tywin Lannister allow Jaime to join the Kingsguard?

I can't imagine Tywin allowing his son Jaime to join the Kingsguard. Wouldn't he insist that Jaime stay at Casterly Rock, marry, have children, and carry on the family name? He certainly did not want ...
RichS's user avatar
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22 votes
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What was Voldemort's ultimate ambition in HPMOR?

The ultimate fan-fiction Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality by Eliezer Yudkowsky covers the story of Harry Potter-Evans-Verres, who is raised by Petunia Evans-Verres and her professor husband ...
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7 answers
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Why did Dumbledore make it less difficult to get to the Sorcerer's Stone?

The Sorcerer's/Philosopher's Stone was removed from Gringotts to be placed under the most impenetrable of protections at Hogwarts under Dumbledore's custody. But it seems clear Dumbledore took ...
Isaac's user avatar
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19 votes
2 answers
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Why was Professor McGonagall sitting outside the Dursley's house?

Dumbledore gave her the news about the death of the Potters while they were sitting outside the Dursley's house. She had been watching the house all the previous day & into the night. So when she ...
NiceOrc's user avatar
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26 votes
3 answers
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Why did Snape want the Dark Arts job?

There's a lot of talk about why Snape was denied the Defense Against the Dark Arts teaching job, but why did Snape want it in the first place? He is shown to be very skilled at two branches of magic: ...
WannabeCoder's user avatar
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6 votes
3 answers
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Are the Valar to blame for the death and destruction of the war of the Ring?

I just read this: Why didn’t they just take the ring to Valinor? and was reminded that the Valar would not accept the One Ring at Valinor for destruction, and expected the Middle-Earthers to deal with ...
einpoklum's user avatar
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41 votes
3 answers
12k views

Why did the Dursleys give Harry glasses?

Why does Harry wear glasses before he found out he was a wizard? Here are the facts: He lived with the Dursleys, a family of relatives that didn't care about him, to the point that Harry didn't get ...
Broken_Window's user avatar
21 votes
4 answers
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Why did Princess Leia choose R2-D2?

We all know the opening scenes of Star Wars Episode IV, where the Rebel ship is captured, and Princess Leia places the Death Star plans into R2-D2's memory banks. R2-D2 and C-3PO then escape the ship ...
Jane S's user avatar
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Why did Tissaia de Vries commit suicide?

Why did Tissaia de Vries commit suicide after the coup on Thanedd Island? That happens as Geralt and Dandelion talk about what happened after the coup. After every part of their conversation there is ...
Vanja Vasiljevic's user avatar
21 votes
2 answers
7k views

Why did Albus Dumbledore hide the identity of Aberforth Dumbledore?

What happened between Aberforth and Albus? And why did Albus hide both his brother's identity and that of his sister Ariana?
Aman Raizada's user avatar
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37 votes
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Why did Obi-Wan hand off his lightsaber to Anakin in the fight against Count Dooku?

This has always bothered me. I'm talking about their encounter on Geonosis in Attack of the Clones. The whole scene can be seen here with the saber hand-off in question at 1:36. After Obi-Wan is ...
MaxD's user avatar
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3 votes
2 answers
837 views

Why would Manwë make himself sit on his throne for all eternity until Melkor comes back?

Before the War of Wrath, Manwë Súlimo King of Arda, Lord of the Valar, and caretaker of Valinor Untouched and Melkor were brothers and the most powerful but wanted different things in life,...
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42 votes
5 answers
97k views

Why does Kylo Ren keep hitting the side of his body?

In The Force Awakens, Kylo Ren is shot in the side by Chewbacca. Later on in the forest, we see him hit himself repeatedly in the area where he was shot. Why does he do this? Wouldn't that, like... ...
RedCaio's user avatar
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40 votes
4 answers
9k views

Why did Doc Brown take so long to write to Marty?

At the end of Back to the Future II, Marty receives a letter from the Doc from September 1885, just a few days before his death. He explains in that letter that he had been living in 1885 for the past ...
Often Right's user avatar
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7 votes
1 answer
5k views

Do the Sith know they are evil?

As a follow up to my question about whether low-ranking imperials realize they're on the side of evil... I was wondering whether Sith know they are evil. I mean, they themselves call it the "Dark ...
RedCaio's user avatar
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3 votes
1 answer
735 views

Was Mace Windu cocky to take on Palpatine?

Mace Windu seemed to truly believe that he and the other 3 Jedi would defeat the Sith Lord. Did not he consider the possibility he and allies would be overwhelmed? Shouldn't he at least set up a back-...
Rashad's user avatar
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4 answers
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Why did Katniss not tell Peeta that she loves him?

In the movies and in the books, why does Katniss (not in the sense of denying) never say she loves Peeta or make him feel that she loves him, not until the end of the last book?
sfdclearner's user avatar
7 votes
3 answers
604 views

What was promised to Darkfriends?

It is said that Friends of the Dark were promised power and immortality, but near the end when the Dark One touched the world, everything withered and died (even food went foul). And he had just ...
Ngoc's user avatar
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17 votes
2 answers
11k views

Why was Sarah Kerrigan abandoned by Arcturus Mengsk?

Sarah Kerrigan, former Terran Ghost and later the Queen of Blades, leader of the Zerg, was a major character in both the Starcraft I and Starcraft II video game series and has appeared in several ...
Major Stackings's user avatar
3 votes
4 answers
2k views

Who are the Whitecloaks and whose side are they on?

I'm currently reading book 4 in the Wheel of Time series and while most forces can easily be seen as either Good or Evil, there is one faction that I don't quite understand, namely the Whitecloaks. ...
Nzall's user avatar
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21 votes
3 answers
5k views

Why did Adrian Veidt choose such an obvious password?

In Watchmen, Rorschach (Kovacs) and Nite Owl (Daniel) discover Ozymandias' (Veidt) plan after breaking into his office computer. The password he used was incredibly easy to crack: Rameses II. There ...
Wad Cheber's user avatar
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33 votes
6 answers
16k views

Why did Harry let Ron destroy the locket horcrux?

Dumbledore's hand was badly affected by using the sword of Gryffindor to destroy the ring Horcrux. (The after-effects were killing him, IIRC.) They were about to destroy the locket by the same ...
NiceOrc's user avatar
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19 votes
1 answer
2k views

Does Kai Winn drink her own Kool-Aid? Is she delusional or merely duplicitous?

I'm not going to give any examples here because I believe an answer is going to cite many examples to illustrate the point. Kai Winn Adami is a particularly insidious character, shown many times to ...
ThePopMachine's user avatar
61 votes
2 answers
20k views

Why doesn't Harry live with the Weasleys?

As we know, whenever school ends, Harry is sent back to live with the Dursleys, where he suffers from abuse. He would much prefer to live with the Weasleys, and often visits there before returning to ...
user53987's user avatar
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14 votes
2 answers
5k views

Why did Peter Pettigrew have the Dark Mark?

The Dark Mark was a magical tattoo given by Voldemort to his inner circle of followers. Not all Death Eaters had one: for instance, the werewolf Fenrir Greyback was not considered worthy of it. ...
Rand al'Thor's user avatar
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3 votes
0 answers
63 views

Would Pantaar have done what he did for anyone?

In Koning van Katoren (King of Katoren) by Jan Terlouw, Stach must complete seven quests to become the King of Katoren. One of the quests involves a sorcerer, Pantaar, who terrorizes the town of ...
SQB's user avatar
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3 votes
0 answers
385 views

Why did Constantine make a deal with Nergal to stop Zed from becoming the second Mary?

In one of the Hellblazer books, the main character discovers that the demon Nergal is trying to kill Constantine's girlfriend Zed, When Constantine is wounded, Nergal visits him in the hospital and ...
Yasskier's user avatar
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9 votes
2 answers
2k views

House bias among Hogwarts Headmasters?

Headmasters and Headmistresses of Hogwarts should be above the petty squabbling between the four houses, but are they really? Being raised to a higher level and becoming (supposedly) neutral is a ...
Rand al'Thor's user avatar
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2 votes
2 answers
2k views

What is BPO's and Mr. Whispers' motivation?

I just finished watching the first season of Sense 8, and one major part of the plot just didn't add up for me: The motivation of the antagonists (BPO and Mr. Whispers). Spoilers Ahead:
onewho's user avatar
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13 votes
4 answers
4k views

Was Sauron guaranteed to win in a struggle for control of the Ring?

Leaving aside the quest to destroy the ring; but rather approaching the war from Sauron's perspective: is the winner of the conflict already pretty much guaranteed? Sauron always assumed that a ...
Stumbler's user avatar
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5 votes
1 answer
1k views

Why did Kyle Reese still tell this to the boy?

In the end of Terminator: Genisys, Why would he do that if they think they
d33tah's user avatar
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7 votes
2 answers
675 views

Caleb's inconsistent intelligence; how is he unable to predict the end?

I looked through the other questions/answers about this movie and I didn't see an answer to a question I had. About halfway through the movie, perhaps a little less than halfway, So,
ShaddamIV_did_nothing_wrong's user avatar
8 votes
1 answer
554 views

Why did Brand give Mann vital info. about Plan A?

When the astronauts in Interstellar reach Mann (the planet and the ..man) they receive a disturbing message from Cooper's daughter Murphy. She states that Dr. Brand (senior) had already 'solved' ...
Andrew Thompson's user avatar
3 votes
2 answers
4k views

Why did Wilson betray Project Lazarus?

The opening sequence of Mass Effect 2 features Wilson, one of the specialists assigned to revive the dead Commander Shepard, betraying the team and trying to kill them all with the station's mechs. ...
Nerrolken's user avatar
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11 votes
4 answers
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What's the use of Littlefinger's latest shenanigans (Season 5 Episodes 6+7)?

(Spoiler alert for, well, Game of Thrones TV show up to Season 5 Episode 6, obviously.) This question is about the events in the show, not the books (in which things happen very differently) - ...
einpoklum's user avatar
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0 votes
0 answers
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Who is the model for Callaghan in Big Hero 6?

Background: Professor Callaghan is the head of the robotics program at the San Fransokyo Institute of Technology. It is later revealed that He is described (decently, IMO) in the Disney Wiki as: ...
EngrStudent's user avatar
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12 votes
2 answers
3k views

Why does Kieran MacDuff become first officer rather than captain?

In the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Conundrum", the entire Enterprise crew experiences amnesia, and a new crew member appears: Commander Kieran MacDuff, the first officer. Given that I ...
ruakh's user avatar
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35 votes
2 answers
14k views

Why is Voldemort so obsessed with not dying?

Before he had even left Hogwarts, Tom Riddle had developed a deeply unhealthy obsession with trying to obtain immortality. Not only did he consult numerous dark magic tomes but he also risked exposure ...
Valorum's user avatar
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18 votes
5 answers
4k views

Why didn't anybody Summon the Triwizard cup in the maze?

We know that the Triwizard cup itself was Summonable. After all, Harry did Summon it in the graveyard. So why didn't any of the contestants Summon it while in the maze? Canonical answers, please.
Mithical's user avatar
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