# Most powerful weapon in sci-fi or fantasy? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 6, 2016, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-powerful-weapon-in-sci-fi-or-fantasy/742303 "2016-01-06T07:15:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2016, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-powerful-weapon-in-sci-fi-or-fantasy/742303/41 "2016-01-08T17:31:27Z")
Imagination. > [@Rysto](#): > > How about Dr. Device from Ender’s Game? It forces molecules to split into base atoms, so it can destroy anything. It draws power from the molecules that it’s destroying, so it works as a self-sustaining chain reaction as long as it’s in contact with matter. It’s powerful enough to destroy an entire planet, and it’s cheap and light enough that every ship in humanity’s fleet carries one. What annoyed me about that, truth be told, was the supposedly it was some kind of mavericky think-outside-the-box prodigy-brilliance of Ender that prompted him to use the weapon against the planet. If I had a weapon that could destroy a planet, my first thought in deploying it it would always be “Can we destroy the planet?” Heck, forget all the intermediate battles. Just send an automated ship straight to the Bugger homeworld, programmed to destroy the planet upon arrival. Send a dozen. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2016, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-powerful-weapon-in-sci-fi-or-fantasy/742303/42 "2016-01-08T18:02:38Z")
> [@Richard\_John\_Marcej](#): > > Well, we know it’s **NOT** the Death Star. 😉 Indeed. It took an entire moon-sized space station for the Empire to destroy a planet. In _Dark Star_ it only takes a single [bomb](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjGRySVyTDk). ---
**Author:** ![G0sp3l](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c68b51/32.png) [@G0sp3l](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G0sp3l)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2016, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-powerful-weapon-in-sci-fi-or-fantasy/742303/43 "2016-01-08T18:22:52Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > Imagination. > > What annoyed me about that, truth be told, was the supposedly it was some kind of mavericky think-outside-the-box prodigy-brilliance of Ender that prompted him to use the weapon against the planet. If I had a weapon that could destroy a planet, my first thought in deploying it it would always be “Can we destroy the planet?” > > Heck, forget all the intermediate battles. Just send an automated ship straight to the Bugger homeworld, programmed to destroy the planet upon arrival. Send a dozen. I _believe_ the issue was the decision to commit genocide. Ender thought he was in a simulation. ---
**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:** [January 8, 2016, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-powerful-weapon-in-sci-fi-or-fantasy/742303/44 "2016-01-08T19:03:41Z")
And the Earth generals didn’t need Ender because he was a genius. They needed him because they were all cowards. They knew that the war was going to end by matter disassociation of the Bugger homeworld, but none of them wanted to officially be the one to pull the trigger. So they engineered events so that someone else would do what they wanted to, so they could evade the responsibility for their decisions. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2016, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-powerful-weapon-in-sci-fi-or-fantasy/742303/45 "2016-01-08T19:17:30Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > And the Earth generals didn’t need Ender because he was a genius. They needed him because they were all cowards. They knew that the war was going to end by matter disassociation of the Bugger homeworld, but none of them wanted to officially be the one to pull the trigger. So they engineered events so that someone else would do what they wanted to, so they could evade the responsibility for their decisions. Then the most powerful weapon is a soldier who will believe anything his superiors tell him. ---
**Author:** ![Corner\_Case](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/corner_case/32/234_2.png) [@Corner\_Case](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corner_Case)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2016, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-powerful-weapon-in-sci-fi-or-fantasy/742303/46 "2016-01-08T21:13:56Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Then the most powerful weapon is a soldier who will believe anything his superiors tell him. And so you just need to give the Hitchhicker’s Guide to the Galaxy’s POV Gun to Marvin. The Point-Of-View Gun will make everyone you shoot see everything from the shooter’s point of view. Since Marvin is chronically-depressed, he can make everyone just commit suicide. No messy destroying of the universe. Just a nice clean slate. Alternatively, if you want to stick around, use the POV Gun yourself and you’ll have an entire universe of creatures and think just like you! ---
**Author:** ![somepumpkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7feea3/32.png) [@somepumpkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/somepumpkin)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2016, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-powerful-weapon-in-sci-fi-or-fantasy/742303/47 "2016-01-08T21:28:42Z")
[The Illudium Q-36 Explosive Space Modulator ?](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marvin_the_Martian) ---
**Author:** ![Your\_Great\_Darsh\_Face](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ac8455/32.png) [@Your\_Great\_Darsh\_Face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Your_Great_Darsh_Face)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2016, 9:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-powerful-weapon-in-sci-fi-or-fantasy/742303/48 "2016-01-09T09:06:57Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > I almost used “Silas Sparkhammer” as my SDMB login name. Bummer I didn’t! We could have raided Mount Pleasant and divided the spoils. I’ve noticed a **Tim R. Mortiss** about the place, but otherwise we seem to be under-represented here. Perhaps people find a name like **Malagate The Woe** hard to live up to. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![DorkVader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/73ab20/32.png) [@DorkVader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DorkVader)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2016, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-powerful-weapon-in-sci-fi-or-fantasy/742303/49 "2016-01-11T06:13:30Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > There was a sci-fi movie, I think with James Spader, where beings are tempted to seize this mysterious object in deep space and bring it back to their home planet. And then it makes their himw sun go supernova, destroying the sun, all the planets around it and presumably other “near bye” solar systems as well. > > Can’t recall the name of the flick, though it isn’t all that old. [Supernova](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supernova_(2000_film)) ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2016, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-powerful-weapon-in-sci-fi-or-fantasy/742303/50 "2016-01-11T16:33:14Z")
In the extremely low-budget 1980 flick [_Battle Beyond the Stars,_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_Beyond_the_Stars) the evil overlord Sador has a “stellar converter,” which turns planets into small stars. ---
**Author:** ![Projammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/projammer/32/559_2.png) [@Projammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Projammer)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2016, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-powerful-weapon-in-sci-fi-or-fantasy/742303/51 "2016-01-11T17:28:29Z")
I’ll go ahead and throw the Speaking Gun from Simon R. Green’s Nightside series. > [@](#): > > The Speaking Gun is probably the most dangerous gun in existence. It is an evil creation and is one of the Lilith’s children. It was created from Lilith’s rib by Abraxus Artificers, the sons of Cain. > > The Speaking Gun is not even a gun at all, but a conglemeration of flesh, bone, and gristle made to look like a weapon and infused with both the power of Lilith and the ancient words that God used at the beginning of time to create the universe, “Let there be Light.” When the trigger of the speaking gun is pulled, it harnesses it’s knowledge of these words of power and speaks the true name of whatever it is pointing it at backwards, effectively uncreating it. > > … > > The Speaking Gun is a sentient creature that longs for the destruction of everything. It breathes it’s will into the mind of any who might be brave or foolish enough to weild it, poisoning them and attempting to subvert their will in order to carry out its dream. The Speaking Gun hates existance, and everything in it. It knows the true names of everything, and longs to speak them, but resents the fact that it cannot do so without someone to pull it’s trigger. So here we have a weapon that literally _wants_ to unmake everything. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2016, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-powerful-weapon-in-sci-fi-or-fantasy/742303/52 "2016-01-16T16:25:40Z")
[This chart](http://nerdapproved.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/sci-fi-weapons-list_IG.jpg) seems apropos to the thread. I make no claims for its “accuracy” but seemed like people would find it interesting/amusing. ---
**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:** [January 16, 2016, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-powerful-weapon-in-sci-fi-or-fantasy/742303/53 "2016-01-16T22:13:06Z")
Man, that chart seriously needs to cite its sources. Yeah, yeah, “we talked to experts and this is what they said”. With what justification? Show your work! ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Wayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4bbf92/32.png) [@Charlie\_Wayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Wayne)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2016, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-powerful-weapon-in-sci-fi-or-fantasy/742303/54 "2016-01-16T22:22:01Z")
Well, I’m guessing this could be a subjective question. For example, I have always hated bad smells. So, the most powerful weapon I’ve seen comes from the movie Despicable Me. Did you see it? It was called the Fart Gun. I hope you don’t mind a little humor in an otherwise gruesome discussion. OMG! I just realized how the lead character (played by Steve Carell) got his name. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-powerful-weapon-in-sci-fi-or-fantasy/742303.md?page=2)