Important Health Warning:


If you have not yet finished Mostly Harmless, the fifth book in The Hitch-Hikers' Guide to the Galaxy trilogy, you are advised to leave this node immediately as it will completely ruin the plot and negate the mind-screwing effects of the book. Thank you for listening.

In Mostly Harmless, Stavro Mueller Beta is the name of a club in London in which someone tries to shoot Arthur Dent, but he ducks and the bullet instead hits and kills Agradjag, who for some reason is unendingly killed by Arthur Dent every time he is resurrected.
The significance of this is that in Life, the Universe, and Everything, the third book in the trilogy, Agradjag tries to get revenge on Arthur Dent but cannot because he has not been to Stavro Mueller Beta and thus must in future be there in order to indirectly kill Agradjag. Therefore, Arthur Dent's life is assured until he reaches this place, and constantly asks about its location so that he can avoid it.
However, because he has only heard the name spoken out loud, he cannot look it up, and reaches this club believing it to be some planet somewhere. When he gets shot at there, and ducks leaving the shot to kill someone else, he finally realises and goes into shock, just in time to see the Earth getting blown up (again).
This also explains why the bowl of petunias says "Oh no not again" in book one.

In Life, The Universe, And Everything, the 3rd book in the inaccurately named Hitchhiker Trilogy, Agrajag tells Arthur Dent about a place Arthur hasn't been to yet (meaning that it's logically impossible for Agrajag to kill Arthur; this doesn't stop Agrajag from trying); probably because the little bat's mouth was such a mess it sounded to Dent like Agrajag said Stavromula Beta (that's how it's spelled in LU&E). That's why Dent accidentally ends up there in Mostly Harmless.

Stavro Mueller Beta - The question to the ultimate answer

We all know the question to the "Ultimate answer of Life, the Universe, and Everything" is forty-two, however we also know from other HHGTTG books that it is impossible to know both the answer and the question at the same time.

When Arthur Dent walkes into Stavro Mueller Beta, the HHGTTG universe ends (at least for Arthur Dent), and we find out that the new Guide has caused this to happen. We can therefore assume that the question happens sometime prior to the end.

If you listen carefully, when Ford Prefect is on his way to the club, he yells out to the cab driver "There, number forty-two!". Shortly afterwords we see the universe come to an end.

So, it is safe to assume that the universe was created simple for Arthur Dent and Tricia McMillian to end up back at earth at a time for them to get destroyed (this was not outside of the capabilities of the new Guide). So the answer is 'forty-two', the question is 'Where is Stavro Mueller Beta?'

Log in or register to write something here or to contact authors.