Tolkien Trivia, Revived

[Boraxxe]

darn, hoping to make you go for a third..

always serving as a rear guard, he fell with the balrog, only to rise again to be frodo's rearguard.
an elf lord, but never a king.

Nice riddle.....I will try to come up with an equally clever challenge.

[Boraxxe]

Try this one: (structure lifted from the professor's "Mewlips")

The refuge where this master dwells
Is brisk and bright with foam,
The starlight glistens from the shells,
As he crafts conveyance home.

[Morthaur]

Try this one: (structure lifted from the professor's "Mewlips")

Im guessing Cirdan

[Boraxxe]

Im guessing Cirdan

And you are guessing correctly!

[Morthaur]

Ok

A snowman made not of snow
Like a scarecrow you stand
Defying your foes

[BIGeyedBUG]

Ok

A snowman made not of snow
Like a scarecrow you stand
Defying your foes

Helm Hammmerhand?

[Morthaur]

Give that man a Hammerhand!, correct

[BIGeyedBUG]

Cool.

No idea whether this one is stoopid easy or stoopid difficult, but here goes:

One took in Two
And One took in One
Two cast out One and One
And Ten followed One
But Two followed Twelve.

[Magnarr]

One took in Two
And One took in One
Two cast out One and One
And Ten followed One
But Two followed Twelve.

That's a good one!

It reminds me of the story of the Great March, when many left Valinor and headed East during the First Age. Am I getting warm?

It also reminds me of last night when I had far too many ales. But that's probably incorrect.

[BIGeyedBUG]

That's a good one!

It reminds me of the story of the Great March, when many left Valinor and headed East during the First Age. Am I getting warm?

It also reminds me of last night when I had far too many ales. But that's probably incorrect.

Don't say it's good until you have the answer! Which you don't.

[aleczander]

is One the same in all lines?

[Vilnas]

Cool.

No idea whether this one is stoopid easy or stoopid difficult, but here goes:

One took in Two
And One took in One
Two cast out One and One
And Ten followed One
But Two followed Twelve.

Finrod took in Celegorm and Curufin
Finrod took in Beren
Celegorm and Curufin "cast out" Finrod and Beren
Ten warriors stayed true to Finrod.
Celegorm and Curufin followed after the twelve (Finrod and Beren plus ten), in that the people of Nargothrond cast them out after they abducted Luthien.

[BIGeyedBUG]

Finrod took in Celegorm and Curufin
Finrod took in Beren
Celegorm and Curufin "cast out" Finrod and Beren
Ten warriors stayed true to Finrod.
Celegorm and Curufin followed after the twelve (Finrod and Beren plus ten), in that the people of Nargothrond cast them out after they abducted Luthien.

/salute

For the last line I actually had Luthien and Huan in mind, but your answer works just as well or better.

[Vilnas]

/salute

For the last line I actually had Luthien and Huan in mind, but your answer works just as well or better.

Thank you. That was an excellent riddle. I should have seen the Luthien/Huan angle for the final line.

I will have to work hard to come up with something befitting the recent turn this thread has taken. In the meantime, the community should feel free to proffer other riddles.

[Vilnas]

Here is a new one:

In a dragon's plundered horde I lay,
Until sole treasure recovered was I,
And was given in anger,
With bitter words soon repented.
Later a king died for his greed of me.
I exist now beyond mortal reach.

[aleczander]

necklace of dwarves, nauglamir
or
arkenstone kinda fits

[Vilnas]

necklace of dwarves, nauglamir
or
arkenstone kinda fits

The answer is the Nauglamir. I tried to write it so that the Arkenstone would come to mind, but not quite fit.

Very quick answer. It is hard to stump this group for long, but that one didn't last 5 minutes.

[Vilnas]

Speaking of the Arkenstone, I recently happened upon a European dark metal group called Summoning that has put out five albums that are entirely Middle-earth themed. I'm not much for the dark metal genre - I prefer to be able to understand the lyrics - but the music on these tracks is pretty good (imo) if you have any appetite for the metal genre generally. The song they did for the Arkenstone is a bit of an outlier for them in that it is not particularly metal of any kind, and therefore is more accessible to the average listener.

Check this out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZsVifAzbnk

and this too:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FpsGL9aMvbM

The second one is called Bauglir and is also more atmospheric than dark metal.

If you like those, do a YouTube search for Summoning and start sampling other songs. I recommend Menegroth, Beleriand, South Away and In Hollow Halls Beneath the Fells for starters. If this stuff works for you at all, I strongly recommend firing up "Through The Forest Of Dol Guldur" in the background, turning down the LOTRO in-game music, and running around Mirkwood slaughtering orcs. I especially had fun rampaging through Taur Morvith at night with my Guardian wielding a great axe in Overpower stance.

The only album by Summoning I just didn't like was Lugburz, which was too lacking in polish for my taste.

Lyrics for their songs can be found here:

http://www.darklyrics.com/s/summoning.html

although I note that there are translation/transcription issues. For example, in the lyrics transcription for "Arcenstone" (itself misspelled by the band) they say "It was like a gloom, with a thousand facetts" when it really should be "It was like a globe, with a thousand facets." They also sometimes use quotes from Tolkien out of context - such as including in Arcenstone a line from The Hobbit about how dark it was in Mirkwood - but nevertheless I have really enjoyed this after stumbling across it two weeks ago and wanted to bring it to the attention of the group.

[Morthaur]

The least of drakes
I lay low stout dwarf, hobbit and man alike
Unserpent like I prefer night to day
and dwell not in a cave but by water

[Vilnas]

The Green Dragon Inn, Bywater?

[Morthaur]

Congradulations that was quick off the mark!

[Vilnas]

A crystal case, without clasp or stay,
Yet inside golden treasure lay.

[Morthaur]

I have worked with the greatest of craftsmen
But I do not crush rocks
Whilst having never driven a nail
No nail can escape me

[Boraxxe]

A crystal case, without clasp or stay,
Yet inside golden treasure lay.

The Arkenstone?

Now as came near, it was tinged with a flickering sparkle of man colours at the surface, reflected and splintered from the wavering light of his torch. At last he looked down upon it and he caught his breath. The great jewel shone before he feet of its own inner light, and yet, cut and fashioned by the dwarves, who had dug it from the heart of the mountain long ago, it took all light that fell upon it and-changes it into ten thousand sparks of white radiance shot with glints of the rainbow.

[aleczander]

A crystal case, without clasp or stay,
Yet inside golden treasure lay.

the gem-encased 3 hairs of Galadriel by Gimli

I have worked with the greatest of craftsmen
But I do not crush rocks
Whilst having never driven a nail
No nail can escape me

that's a good one..hmm