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Riddle for the Ages: Difference between revisions
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[[Super-Trope]] of [[Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane]]. Cousin of the [[Cryptic Background Reference]] (they both add to the sense of a larger universe by leaving unexplained mysteries). See [[The Un-Reveal]]. Compare [[Noodle Incident]], [[The Unsolved Mystery]], [[What Happened to the Mouse?]], and some [[Non Sequitur Scene]]s.
Not to be confused with [[A Riddle Wrapped in a Mystery Inside An Enigma]], nor with [[Harry Potter|Lord Voldemort]] and his long-term plans.
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* Parodied in one memorable campaign for Golden Grahams cereal, in which the question, [[Catch Phrase| "How do they cram all that graham into Golden Grahams?"]] was debated. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VE4WUEVrkRI Here's one example.]
* How many licks does it take to get to the Tootsie Roll center of a Tootsie Pop? [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6rHeD5x2tI The world may never know...]<ref>Many YouTubers have actually tried this "experiment", almost always with a "no biting allowed" rule, but results tend to vary widely.</ref>
* Who is [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mrs._Butterworth%27s#:~:text=Butterworth%20was%20Mary%20Kay%20Bergman,actual%20customer%20with%20her%20testimonial. Mrs. Butterworth's] husband? Fans have noticed for a very long time that the mascot's name is "Mrs." Butterworth (not "Miss" or "Ms.") indicating she is married, but no commercial since the product's release in 1961 has ever addressed this.
** Well, his name would be "Mr. Butterworth", obviously, but that still doesn't explain much.
== Anime and Manga ==
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* Did Bradley from ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist]]'' {{spoiler|love his wife? He openly admits that he considers himself superior to humanity, but he also says that his wife was the one thing about his life that he himself chose. As he dies, he says that he has no message for her because that's the relationship of a king and his wife.}}
* In ''[[One Piece]]'' we have... [https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/27626/what-was-that-giant-shadow-with-the-glowing-red-eyes-at-the-end-of-the-thriller Whatever the hell ''this'' is.] Some sort of monster in the Florian Triangle that Lola sighted in the last episode of the Thriller Bark Arc; obscured by mist, it’s so huge that the ''Thriller Bark'' itself (the largest pirate ship in the whole series) looks like a bathtub toy. Throughout the arc, there were stories of pirate and commercial ships disappearing in the Florian Triangle (literally translated to "Zone of Demonic Triangle", this world's version of the Bermuda Triangle), and ships found with nobody on board. At first, it seemed [[Scooby-Doo Hoax| the culprit was Gecko Moria]], who was trapping ships and kidnapping sailors as part his scheme to build a zombie army. This creature [[Real After All| might be the true cause of the overall legend]], but exactly what it is remains a mystery.
** They may have at least been based on the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umib%C5%8Dzu Umibōzu], giant sea monsters referenced in Japanese folklore.
== Comic Books ==
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* In ''[[Gaston Lagaffe]]'', what are those contracts about that M. De Mesmaeker is [[Running Gag|always trying to sign?]]
* In ''[[Y: The Last Man]]'', no one knows what caused the [[Gendercide]]. While several theories are made in the story, and [[Word of God]] confirms that one of those theories is true, he refuses to say which one.
* Everything about [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phantom_Stranger the Phantom Stranger.] He seems to be a [[Mysterious Backer]] to the [[Justice League]] and accepted by them as at least an honorary member, but not even the most powerful entities in the DC Universe seem to know who he is or where he came from. He's been given a total of ''five'' backstories (all of which contradict the others) which may be red herrings he himself has placed. His powers seem... wrong when compared to other magic-users, and he also seems to remember all the realities that have existed, meaning the current one [[Medium Awareness|knows about everything]] from pre-Crisis through [[The New 52]] into [[DC Rebirth]]. He even seems to know about the [[Marvel Universe]]. He is truly an enigma.
== Film ==
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* Likewise, the contents of the unopened package in ''[[Cast Away]]''. (When pumped for an answer, the creators have stated it was a solar operated waterproof satellite phone. That is the only answer they will ever give.)
* In ''[[Cache]]'', we never find out who sent the tapes, or why. There are many clues, but no answers.
* What is the real [[Backstory]] of ''[[The Dark Knight
* In ''[[Star Wars]]'', the exact name and homeworld of [
* Want to hear a dirty joke? "A gorgeous blonde lady walks into a bar, naked, with a poodle under one arm and two foot salami in the other. She places the poodle on the table, and the bartender says, 'I suppose you won't be needing a drink?' And the lady replies -" unfortunately, fans of ''[[The Breakfast Club]]'' will likely never know the punchline to this joke, as Bender falls through the vent he's climbing through before he can finish it.
* In ''[[The Maltese Falcon]]'' we never do find out what happened to the original.
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* In ''[[The Quiet Man]]'' Mary Kate whispers something to her husband Sean Thorton which gives him a shock. This is also a [[Real Life]] mystery, as director John Ford told Maureen O'Hara to whisper something shocking to [[John Wayne]] to get that reaction. The three of them never explained what was said... And unless O'Hara mentioned it to someone else for posterity, when she dies the secret dies with her.
* ''[[The Hangover]]'': What the hell happened to that chair?
* Exactly what [[Klaatu Barada Nikto]] - the code word from ''[[The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951 film)|The Day the Earth Stood Still]]'' - means. "Klaatu" obviously is the name of the protagonist, and one can assume the other two words mean something important in his language, but no full translation has ever been given.
== Literature ==
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** And they're not very good at understanding other humans either.
* ''[[Nineteen Eighty-Four]]'' raises the question of whether Emmanuel Goldstein and his revolution against the Party actually exists, or if they're simply a fabrication the Party uses as a target for the population's hatred and as bait to weed out dissidents. O'Brien states quite firmly and adamantly that Winston will never learn the truth about this.
** For that matter, it's debatable whether [[Shadow Dictator|Big Brother]] is a real, living person or simply the public face of whoever is in charge. When O'Brien does say he exists, but when Winston specifically asks if he exists the way a living person exists, O'Brien simply says "It doesn't matter. He exists."
* In ''[[Tim Powers|On Stranger Tides]]'', a pirate decides he'd rather be shot than hanged, and asks his Navy captors' leader an [[Armor-Piercing Question]] ("Is it true what Panda Beecher once told me about you?"), that implies the captain is either a smuggler or a sexual deviant. This [[Berserk Button|provokes a fight]] in which the enraged captain is killed. After escaping, the pirate explains his ploy to his accomplice, and admits that he hadn't actually known anything about the captain: he just knew lots of Navy officers smuggled for Beecher or patronized Beecher's whorehouse, and they'll never know which offense the dead man assumed he'd been accused of.
* In ''[[The Shining]]'' who is the Manager of the hotel that the ghosts refer to?
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* Machado de Assis has a book that's been interpreted in different manners since 1899. The story is about a man that tells his life, his lofe for Capitu (his wife) and the doubts about her adultery. No one could ever tell if the protagonist was right, that his wife cheated him, or if the madness and the jealousy have taken their toll. Even today.
* In ''[[The Princess Bride (novel)|The Princess Bride]]'', William Goldman (who claims to be merely editing the original Morganstern) notes that the original manuscript ended on a 'Lady or the Tiger'-esque note, with Humperdinck and his cronies pursuing the four fugitives, who experience a number of setbacks. He further claims that it's left permanently open-ended as to whether or not they got away and lived [[Happily Ever After]], but that as far as he's concerned, they did. Of course, Goldman is the actual author of the book, so the ending isn't really ambiguous.
* [[William Shakespeare]]'s sonnets: [http://hudsonshakespeare.org/Shakespeare%20Library/sonnets/dark_lady_sonnets.htm The "Dark Lady"] who inspired many of the sonnets may never truly be identified, although there have been many suspects named by scholars. A similar mystery is the "Fair Young Man" who [[Ambiguously Bi| may or may not]] have been The Bard's lover.
* Who wrote ''[[Beowulf]]''? While most agree [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beowulf#Authorship_and_date the epic story was written by one author], given the incredible age of the document, that author's name is lost to time.
* [[Homer]] is credited as the author of ''[[The Iliad]]'' and ''[[The Odyssey]]'', but there is debate as to whether Homer was an actual person at all or whether it was a pseudonym used by several authors. It is also not known whether he or they wrote it as an original story or, like ''[[Oedipus the King]]'', based it off an older story.
== Live-Action TV ==
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** The origins of the Borg. It seems an unwritten rule among writers of the franchise ''never'' to explain how they came to be.
** The reasons for [[The Rival|the animosity between Q and Guinan]]. And for that matter, just why someone with godlike powers such as Q seems to be afraid of Guinan.
* In ''[[The Addams Family]]'' and its many adaptations, Thing (a living, sapient, disembodied hand) remains the most mysterious member of the cast. No effort has ever been made by any other character to explain what he is or where he came from, the closest being an episode of the original series where a female version of him appears ("Lady Fingers") showing he isn't unique. This is emphasized in the second episode of ''[[Wednesday]]'', where another student at Nevermore Academy inquires as to what Thing is, and Wednesday says he is "a family mystery", implying that even they do not know.
== Music ==
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* ''[[Peanuts]]'': Did Charlie Brown manage to kick the football for [http://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1999/10/24 this one time]?
* When a ''[[Dilbert]]'' story arc involved the title character getting a girlfriend, the issue arose amongst the readers of whether Dilbert might actually "score" with her. Since sex wasn't something that could be openly discussed in a newspaper comic, Scott Adams told his readers that should Dilbert get lucky, his perpetually upturned tie would be drawn hanging flat. The flat tie strip did eventually come, but Adams still wrote the comic in such a way that it wasn't clear if Dilbert had had sex or not.
* Lampooned in a ''[[Beetle Bailey]]'' strip where Beetle is talking to the Chaplain:
{{quote|'''Beetle:''' Chaplain, why is there a French Open in tennis, but not golf? Only Spanish countries have bullfights, why? How come the Japanese play baseball but the Russians don’t?
'''Chaplain:''' Beetle, ask me about Heaven and the Hereafter, but don’t give me those tough ones.}}
== Opera ==
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== Religion and Mythology ==
* [[The Bible]]:
** Where was Jesus and what was he doing between the ages of twelve and thirty-ish?
** [[Dogma|It's all tied up with Jesus' family]]
** The pronunciation of the name of G-d, i.e., the Tetragrammaton. The name was never written with the vowels because Biblical Hebrew was never written with vowels. As a result, we no longer know for certain how the true name of G-d was supposed to be pronounced.▼
** There were 12 tribes of Israel and Judah. 10 were taken away after conquest and never came back; what exactly happened to them has never been revealed and is subject to much real-world speculation.
** In the tale of the woman caught in adultery, it is noted that Jesus wrote something on the ground, but what exactly He wrote never gets revealed.
** In Revelations 10, an angel cries out, and seven thunders respond. John is forbidden to write of what they said, and so no one knows.
* What does [[The Kalevala|the Sampo]] actually do?
* What did [[Norse Mythology|Odin]] whisper to his late son Baldr's (the first Aesir ever to be [[Killed Off for Real]]) ear at his funeral?
* Odin's two brothers, Vile/Honer and Ve, who helped him create the world and the creatures in it, simply disappear one day. Odin goes to great lengths to find the answer to their disappearance, finally sacrificing his one eye in the Well of Wisdom (as the eye can then see the past, present and future). Yet, he never tells a living soul the answer except his wife. He reasons that "What three know, the whole world knows."
* When Baldr has been slain Odin rides to the death realm, overcoming many perils for twelve days in order to find him. Finally he meets an old witch. Having spoken with her Odin abandons his search and goes back to spend his days preparing for Ragnarok. He never reveals to anyone what the witch said.
▲* The pronunciation of the name of G-d, i.e., the Tetragrammaton. The name was never written with the vowels because Biblical Hebrew was never written with vowels. As a result, we no longer know for certain how the true name of G-d was supposed to be pronounced.
== [[Tabletop Games]] ==
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* What is the name of the [[No Name Given|protagonist]] in ''[[Gothic]]''? What was he imprisoned for?
* Who exactly was the Head from the first [[Myth]] series game.
* ''[[Pokémon]]'':
*
** Cubone's face has [https://web.archive.org/web/20140917191531/http://cdn.bulbagarden.net/media/upload/b/b0/Bandai_Cubone_card.jpg partially been revealed.]
** How do Pokemon conceive and bear young? Yes, you put two compatible Pokemon together, and eventually, they produce an egg, but in-game, it seems nobody has ever witnessed two Pokemon mating or laying eggs. It seems they ''always'' manage to do both when humans aren't watching.
*** This is taken [[Up To Eleven]] in ''[[Pokémon Scarlet and Violet]]''. There are no nurseries in these games, instead, breeding is done by having two compatible Pokémon on your team during a picnic - the egg is found in the picnic basket. This means the two Pokémon are able to mate, produce an egg, and place it in the basket ''all under their trainers' nose'' without the trainer noticing. One could even assume it happens during the short amount of time it takes to make a sandwich or give another Pokémon on the team a bath, the only times during a picnic you can't see what all of them are doing.
* In ''[[Planescape: Torment]]'', what did The Nameless One do that results in him {{spoiler|being unable to atone for his sins with even a thousand lifetimes of good deeds}}? For that matter, what is his name?
* Will ''[[Shenmue]]'' ever be continued and Shenmue 2's '''massive game changing cliffhanger''' be answered?
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** Truthfully, it introduced far more questions than it answered.
* The identity of the Strange Man in ''[[Red Dead Redemption]]'' (That's what he's called [https://reddead.fandom.com/wiki/Strange_Man in their Wiki, at least].) A guy with a moustache in a black suit and a top hat, he appears in a quest only available to John Marston. The two parts of the quest involve a clear moral choice, and if completed (no matter what choices are made) the Strange Man simply strolls away and disappears, seemingly not even noticing John's attempt to shoot him.
* Similar to the Strange Man is the Mysterious Stranger in the ''[[Fallout]]'' games. This is a perk (sort of like a skill) you can get in all of the games except the first. If you have it, the aptly named Mysterious Stranger - a guy with a trenchcoat and fedora, smoking a cigarette and packing heat - will appear randomly (his appearance heralded by a cool guitar riff) to help you in battles. Who is he? Where does he come from? Nobody knows, [[Meaningful Name|he's just so mysterious]].
== [[Web Animation]] ==
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== [[Web Comics]] ==
* ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'' - [https://
* ''[[Bob and George]]'' - [http://www.bobandgeorge.com/archives/041212 How did Metool-D2 end up in the Alternate Universe?] The characters know, but the audience never will!
* ''[[Shortpacked]]'' contains a couple, the most glaring one being Galasso's resurrections of [[Ronald Reagan]] and [[Jesus Christ]], to say nothing of that of [[Walkyverse|Mike Warner]]. Resurrection tech exists in the comic's universe, but it explicitly requires nine months to work (Mike showed up after being dead for five) and the subject's DNA (all of Mike's was destroyed), and it's also under government lock and key with an extensive waiting list. There's also the matter of the Drama Tag, the pulling of which may or may not have resulted in a [[Cosmic Retcon]] of Amber's childhood if it even exists at all.
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* In ''[[The Simpsons]]''
** [[Where the Hell Is Springfield?|What state is Springfield in?]] It's clear that Springfield is not in any specific state and has geography suited to whatever the story requires, but that doesn't stop Lisa from asserting that you can figure it out if you look at the clues.
*** Matt Groening has stated it's [https://web.archive.org/web/20131217165744/http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/Matt-Groening-Reveals-the-Location-of-the-Real-Springfield.html in Oregon], but [[Teasing Creator|then again]]...
** One episode has Bart and Lisa escape from Mr. Burns by dropping down a laundry chute he's too big to fit into. But when they land in his mansion's basement, he's already waiting there with a gun.
{{quote|'''Bart:''' That's impossible! How did you get here first?
'''Mr. Burns:''' Oh, there'll be plenty of time for explanations later. }}
{{quote|'''Mr. Burns:''' Yes, I was a bit worried when he swallowed me, but ... you know the rest.}}
* ''[[Teen Titans (animation)|Teen Titans]]''
**
{{quote|'''Raven:''' Face it, Red X could be anyone. Anyone smart enough to find the suit and dumb enough to take it for a joyride.}}
* This is pointed out in ''[[The Emperor's New Groove|The Emperors New Groove]]'', when Yzma and Kronk manage to beat Kuzco and Pacha back to the castle, even after falling into a ravine.
{{quote|'''Kuzco:''' I don't believe it! How did you get back here before us?
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* ''[[Venture Bros]]'': What did Rusty Venture do to make the Monarch hate him so much? Lampshaded in one episode when Tim-Tom and Kevin question Dr. Girlfriend about it, only to realise they're not going to get a straight answer from her.
* At the end of the ''[[Kim Possible]]'' episode "Stop Team Go", Shego - who has been turned good due to the attitudinator - tells Kim that "I couldn't tell you this while I was evil, but -" and then her true personality is restored by the malfunctioning attitudinator, which is then crushed. Exactly what she was planning to tell Kim may never be known.
* ''[[Ed, Edd 'n' Eddy]]''; Edd's hat, and why he always wears it. [[Flashback]]s show he had it since he was a toddler, and he never removes it willingly. It has been accidentally removed about three times in the series, and while the camera pans from Edd when this happens (meaning the viewer cannot see him) Ed and Eddy seemed creeped out by it. One episode even suggests this is the reason he complies with Eddy's schemes, as Eddy is subtly blackmailing him.
== [[Real Life]] ==
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** [[wikipedia:Cloning#Cloning extinct and endangered species|Or not]]. Then again, that only works for recently extinct species with sufficiently preserved remains.
** [[I'm a Humanitarian|Or perhaps we'll be able to find out if human flesh]] does [[Tastes Like Chicken|taste like chicken.]]
*
** Although we [http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/eeb6e/i_believe_i_know_who_was_behind_the_max_headroom thought we had a lead], it turns out the individuals mentioned in the linked Reddit article were "formally excluded" as suspects some time after it was posted.
* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dancing_plague_of_1518 The Dancing Plague of 1518] was a phenomenon that occurred on July of that year that Strasbourg, Alsace (present day France) where anywhere between 50 and 400 people started dancing, and were unable or unwilling to stop, doing so for days until they collapsed from exhaustion, possibly some even dying as a result. Why did they do this? Well, there are theories (such mass hysteria caused by stress or food poisoning) but due to scarce records and near-nonexistent use of forensics at the time, the cause remains unknown.
* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meaning_of_life What is the meaning of life?] As the link shows, this question may be a mystery, but not due to lack of trying.
* What caused the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tunguska_event Tunguska event of 1908]? The most likely theory is a meteorite, but given the remote location<ref>Which is, ironically, very fortunate, as had it happened in a populated area, the death toll would likely have been worse than the nuclear attack on Hiroshima</ref> and lack of technology at the time, it is impossible to say for sure.
* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leatherman_(vagabond) The Leather Man]. A vagrant known for dressing entirely in leather who, from roughly 1857 to 1889, traveled a 365-mile route between the Connecticut River and the Hudson River, visiting 51 towns over a period of 34 - 36 days. Nobody knew where he was from or why he constantly traveled the same route with such a stringent schedule. He was believed to be French Canadian (due to being fluent in French) and believed to be Roman Catholic (as he declined eating meat on Fridays during Lent) but nothing else was known about him, as he never discussed his past. Whatever secrets he might have been protecting, he took them to his grave.
{{reflist}}
[[Category:This Might Be an Index]]
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