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{{work|page=The Hitchhiker's Guide to
[[File:Life,_The_Universe_and_Everything_cover.jpg|frame]]
If you were asked to solve for Life, the Universe, and Everything, you could respond, with reasonable confidence, the number 42. However, if you were asked to ''describe'' Life, the Universe, and Everything here, that would require a fair bit more effort.
''Life, The Universe, and Everything'' is the third installment of the [[Trilogy Creep|increasingly inaccurately named]] ''[[The
Being a [[Dolled-Up Installment]], this book stands out from the rest of the series in two ways. The first is that it's largely self-contained, since it's got a distinct beginning, middle, and ending instead of being one big general mish-mash that hinted at larger things that may or may not come later, like most of the other books. The second is that it's more of a traditional [[Action Adventure|action-adventure]] [[Science Fiction|sci-fi]] [[Space Opera
Preceded by ''[[The Hitchhiker's Guide to
{{tropelist}}
* [[Absolute Xenophobe]]: The Krikkiters were so isolated and convinced that they were alone in the universe that instant they discover that there is more of the universe beyond Krikkit, they decide "It'll have to go." {{spoiler|Of course, the circumstances were arranged by Hactar so they'd reach that conclusion.}}
* [[Affably Evil]]: The Krikkiters are intelligent, charming, whimsical people who have a strong sense of family, regularly sing phenomenally beautiful songs, and believe in the obliteration of all other life forms.
* [[Apocalypse How]]: The entire galaxy at first is under risk, until the Krikkitmen raise the stakes by targeting the whole universe.
* [[Bat Out of Hell]]: Agrajag's last incarnation appears as a giant bat-like creature with [[More Teeth Than the Osmond Family]].
* [[Batman Gambit]]: An astronomical one is revealed at the climax.
* [[Bored
* [[Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick]]: "On the way back they sang a number of tuneful and reflective songs on the subjects of peace, justice, morality, culture, sport, family life, and [[Kill'Em All|the obliteration of all other life forms]]."
* [[Brick Joke]]: In true Adams spirit, an incidental anecdote proves vital to saving the universe. Similarly, the bowl of petunias back in the first book.
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* [[Cerebus Retcon]]: That funny incident about the bowl of petunias in the first book is a lot less funny when the reason behind it is explained here.
* [[Chekhov's Armoury]]: In the first few chapters alone, Arthur's rabbitskin bag, a Chesterfield sofa, a cricket ball, the Ashes, and a man with a weak heart condition appear. All of them will reappear later, with greater significance.
* [[Cool Starship]]: The ship of the white robots and the ''Bistromath'', Slartibartfast's ship, which [[It Runs
* [[Cosmic Plaything]]: Agrajag, a being who is repeatedly reincarnated and then killed by Arthur Dent. Agrajag is driven mad by his own repeated murders.
* [[The Dreaded]]: The Krikkitmen are known and feared throughout the rest of the galaxy for waging the bloodiest war in history. Their alarmingly efficient Krikkit robots are depicted as even more fearsome than they are.
* [[Expy]]: The whole story began its life as a [[
* [[Fish Out of Temporal Water]]: Arthur finds it hard to cope with living on prehistoric Earth.
* [[Gotta Catch Em All]]/[[MacGuffin]]: The three pillars and two bails of the Wikkit Gate, which the Krikkit robots (and Slartibartfast) are searching for.
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* [[Lovable Coward]]: Ford argues with Slartibartfast more than once over whether they should try to stop the white robots or go to a party, drink a lot and dance with girls. Ford, naturally, favours the latter option.
* [[The Man Behind the Man]]: {{spoiler|Hactar}}.
* [[
* [[Never the Selves Shall Meet]]: This is implied to be possible, but otherwise it is never elaborated upon. Arthur, upon arriving back on present day Earth, is tempted to phone himself up at home and warn himself about the Vogon constructor fleet coming tomorrow. Ford stops him doing so, because Ford [[Noodle Incident|knows from experience it won't do any good]].
* [[Newspaper Dating]]: How Arthur finds out what day it is when he appears in Lord's Cricket Ground.
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** This becomes doubly important later, when Arthur, Ford, Slartibartfast and Trillian head down to the planet itself {{spoiler|and learn about the supernova bomb}}.
* [[Take Me to Your Leader]]: {{spoiler|Said by Trillian, in between keeping from laughing at the [[Irony]] of her saying it.}}
* [[Take That]]: The [[Running Gag]] about [[Paul McCartney]], noting that the royalties from even a single Macca song would enable him to buy first a medium-sized town, then the whole of Hampshire (one of England's most affluent counties) and finally, should Macca hit on a theme half as lovely as the one hummed by the Krikkiters, escalating to ownership of massive swathes of the South of England. This derives from performing rights issues for the LP version of h2g2, where Trillian faces death and oblivion whilst humming ''A Day In The Life''. McCartney's copyright lawyers hammered Adams and his production company for serious money, for the use of just two bars of a Beatles' song. Sung by somebody else. Adams worked this experience of being fleeced into this novel.
* [[Temporal Paradox]]: The Campaign for Real Time largely seems to consist of trying to stop these paradoxes from happening. At the climax, the future of the galaxy hinges on whether or not one of these is possible.
* [[Took a Level
* [[Weirdness Censor]]: The "Somebody Else's Problem" Field will hide anything sufficiently unexpected, inexplicable or disturbing.
* [[Who Wants to Live Forever?]]: Wowbagger the Infinitely Prolonged, initially enjoys immortality, but eventually gets bored and resentful of mortals, so he finds an unusual way of coping with his predicament.
* [[Why Isn't It Attacking?]]: Zaphod is repeatedly shot and beaten around the heads by the Krikkit robots, but not killed, which is stated as being unusual behaviour for the robots. {{spoiler|The reason is that Marvin prevents them from doing so via the motherboard computer.}}
* [[Unsound Effect]]: The materialisation and dematerialisation of a Krikkit warship literally sound like several thousand people simultaneously saying "wop" and "foop", respectively.
* [[You Can't Thwart Stage One]]: Slartibartfast, Arthur and Ford fail to prevent the theft of the silver bail.
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