# Hyperdimensional entities in SF that aren't superpowered **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 24, 2016, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hyperdimensional-entities-in-sf-that-arent-superpowered/775526 "2016-12-24T13:21:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Trancephalic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trancephalic/32/380_2.png) [@Trancephalic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trancephalic)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2016, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hyperdimensional-entities-in-sf-that-arent-superpowered/775526/21 "2016-12-24T19:39:25Z")
Eugene the Jeep? ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2016, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hyperdimensional-entities-in-sf-that-arent-superpowered/775526/22 "2016-12-24T19:45:37Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > You mean, of course, Anthony Perkins, not Anthony Hopkins. :smack: I knew I should have just gone with “Norman Bates” but I prolly would have fucked that up too and wrote “Normal Fell”. On the plus side, I just finished another batch of cinnamon-maple pecans, so perhaps I can make amends. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2016, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hyperdimensional-entities-in-sf-that-arent-superpowered/775526/23 "2016-12-24T20:20:56Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > Aye, but by putting _what_ is being spoiled in the spoiler box, instead of outside it, it kind of makes the whole thing superfluous. > > For instance, which of these is well done and which is not? > > At the end of _Citizen Kane_we find out “Rosebud” referred to his boyhood sled. > > We find out that the Anthony Hopkins’ character thinks he is his mother (and is the killer) at the end of Psycho. > > ETA: Even better example of a bad spoiler: I’m not talking about movies with a twist ending like The Sixth Sense, OK, I get your point, but still, if you don’t want to be spoiled, don’t click a box which is very obviously labeled “spoiler.” ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2016, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hyperdimensional-entities-in-sf-that-arent-superpowered/775526/24 "2016-12-24T21:19:32Z")
The Sphere in Flatland. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2016, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hyperdimensional-entities-in-sf-that-arent-superpowered/775526/25 "2016-12-24T22:42:40Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > The character of Hoid, AKA the Drifter, AKA the Wit from Brandon Sanderson’s Cosmere stories might count. We don’t know that much about him, but he seems to able to wander freely between different worlds (and different seemingly unrelated books) as well as different levels of reality. Despite this, he doesn’t seem to have much in the way of powers - beside knowledge. Hmmm…Hoid isn’t SUPER powerful but he is quite a few steps above the average denizen of the Cosmere. He has Investiture from several different Shards and, frankly, KNOWING about the Cosmere IN the Cosmere is almost a super-power in itself. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2016, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hyperdimensional-entities-in-sf-that-arent-superpowered/775526/26 "2016-12-24T23:04:59Z")
The White Mice in the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series didn’t have any special powers at all. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2016, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hyperdimensional-entities-in-sf-that-arent-superpowered/775526/27 "2016-12-24T23:05:49Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > The White Mice in the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series didn’t have any special powers at all. Weren’t they hyper-intelligent, tho? ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2016, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hyperdimensional-entities-in-sf-that-arent-superpowered/775526/28 "2016-12-24T23:15:34Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > Hmmm…Hoid isn’t SUPER powerful but he is quite a few steps above the average denizen of the Cosmere. He has Investiture from several different Shards and, frankly, KNOWING about the Cosmere IN the Cosmere is almost a super-power in itself. Power is a relative thing. Hoid may be powerful in his own way, but he appears to be much less powerful than the various Allomancers, Surgebinders and so on who serve as the actual protagonists of the books he appears in. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2016, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hyperdimensional-entities-in-sf-that-arent-superpowered/775526/29 "2016-12-24T23:45:39Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Power is a relative thing. Hoid may be powerful in his own way, but he appears to be much less powerful than the various Allomancers, Surgebinders and so on who serve as the actual protagonists of the books he appears in. I’m not so sure. Like I noted, he has Investiture from several different Shards. He definitely has Breaths (from “Warbreaker”), he MAY have allomancy (he has the bead of lerasium from the Well of Ascension…it’s not clear if he’s USED it, but he HAS it), he has Lightweaving (from Yolen, presumably), he has Feruchemy, he regenerates and he worldhops. Just because he isn’t a violent badass with his powers doesn’t mean he doesn’t have them in more abundance than the average Cosmerian. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2016, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hyperdimensional-entities-in-sf-that-arent-superpowered/775526/30 "2016-12-25T02:39:50Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > OK, I get your point, but still, if you don’t want to be spoiled, don’t click a box which is very obviously labeled “spoiler.” Certainly - which is why I admitted fault at even clicking on such a stupidly vague spoiler tag. But can’t we at least take the opportunity to recognize the mistake, and use the spoiler tag correctly in the future? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2016, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hyperdimensional-entities-in-sf-that-arent-superpowered/775526/31 "2016-12-25T03:38:30Z")
[Moderating] A spoiler box does no good if it doesn’t make clear what work it’s spoiling. A person can’t meaningfully decide “if they want to be spoiled” if they don’t know what’s being spoiled. As such, I’ve edited the OP to remove the useless spoiler box and its contents. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2016, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hyperdimensional-entities-in-sf-that-arent-superpowered/775526/32 "2016-12-25T03:42:28Z")
> [@Munch](#): > > Certainly - which is why I admitted fault at even clicking on such a stupidly vague spoiler tag. But can’t we at least take the opportunity to recognize the mistake, and use the spoiler tag correctly in the future? No! ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2016, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hyperdimensional-entities-in-sf-that-arent-superpowered/775526/33 "2016-12-25T03:43:10Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > [Moderating] > > A spoiler box does no good if it doesn’t make clear what work it’s spoiling. A person can’t meaningfully decide “if they want to be spoiled” if they don’t know what’s being spoiled. As such, I’ve edited the OP to remove the useless spoiler box and its contents. OK, thanks for the clarification. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2016, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hyperdimensional-entities-in-sf-that-arent-superpowered/775526/34 "2016-12-25T04:07:30Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > [Moderating] > > A spoiler box does no good if it doesn’t make clear what work it’s spoiling. A person can’t meaningfully decide “if they want to be spoiled” if they don’t know what’s being spoiled. As such, I’ve edited the OP to remove the useless spoiler box and its contents. FYI there is a quoted post above that still has the original Spoiler. ---
**Author:** ![Barking\_Dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Barking\_Dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barking_Dog)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2016, 7:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hyperdimensional-entities-in-sf-that-arent-superpowered/775526/35 "2016-12-25T07:07:31Z")
In the book [_Fuzzy Dice_](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/729801.Fuzzy_Dice) the protagonist is a normal guy granted the power to travel to any world he can imagine, which includes other dimensions like a Flatland, for instance. And he doesn’t otherwise have any special powers or knowledge. ---
**Author:** ![Idle\_Thoughts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@Idle\_Thoughts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idle_Thoughts)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2016, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hyperdimensional-entities-in-sf-that-arent-superpowered/775526/36 "2016-12-25T17:37:49Z")
> [@Quimby](#): > > FYI there is a quoted post above that still has the original Spoiler. I’ve edited it out. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2016, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hyperdimensional-entities-in-sf-that-arent-superpowered/775526/37 "2016-12-26T00:11:25Z")
One of the characters from _The Madness Season_ by CS Friedman is a hyperspace entity who doesn’t have any powers beyond the ability to form a body in our universe. And in fact is somewhat crippled; her kind were taught that trick by aliens who were afraid of them. It was a trap, because eventually they forgot how to exist out of such bodies (they have limited space for memories) and could no longer function in hyperspace. The [Orz](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Star_Control_races#Orz) of the Star Control setting are apparently all extensions of a single higher-dimensional being into our universe. However they don’t show any powers; they fight with spaceships and guns. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hyperdimensional-entities-in-sf-that-arent-superpowered/775526.md?page=1)