Middle-Earth Quiz!!

[Talanthiar]

Elrond and Elros. If I remember right it was at the Mouth of Sirion by the sea they were born, the final refuge of Elves from Gondolin, and the (3rd?) kinslaying at Doriath.

Who was the noble guardian of the Fountain in Gondolin?

[edwinunger]

Ecthelion. What was his fate?

[tarkhis]

He slays and is slain by Gothmog in single combat while defending the refugees of gondolin.

Who betrayed the city of Gondolin and why?

[gradivus]

The poem is named Crist, and the lines were:

Eala éarendel engla beorhtast
Ofer middangeard monnum sended

In translation,
Hail Earendel, brightest of angels,
Sent over Middle-earth to men.

Hence the inspiration for Eärendil.

Right! The only thing you didn't reveal was who wrote it: Cynewulf, a Middle-English poet. He wrote (this among other poems) in runic Saxon script.

"Éala, Éarendel, engla beorhtast,
ofer middangeard monnum sended,
And soðfæsta sunnan léoma,
Torht ofer tunglas - þu tída gehwane
of sylfum þé symle inlihtes."

Tolkien later wrote this about the inspiration he received from this poem:

The most important name in this connexion is Eärendil. This name is in fact (as is obvious) derived from A-S éarendel. When first studying A-S professionally (1913 –) – I had done so as a boyish hobby when supposed to be learning Greek and Latin – I was struck by the great beauty of this word (or name), entirely coherent with the normal style of A-S, but euphonic to a peculiar degree in that pleasing but not 'delectable' language. Also its form strongly suggests that it is in origin a proper name and not a common noun. This is borne out by the obviously related forms in other Germanic languages; from which amid the confusions and debasements of late traditions it at least seems certain that it belonged to astronomical-myth, and was the name of a star or star-group. To my mind the A-S uses(*) seem plainly to indicate that it was a star presaging the dawn (at any rate in English tradition): that is what we now call Venus: the morning-star as it may be seen shining brilliantly in the dawn, before the actual rising of the Sun. That is at any rate how I took it. Before 1914 I wrote a 'poem' upon Earendel who launched his ship like a bright spark from the havens of the Sun. I adopted him into my mythology – in which he became a prime figure as a mariner, and eventually as a herald star, and a sign of hope to men. Aiya Eärendil Elenion Ancalima 'hail Earendil brightest of Stars' is derived at long remove from Éala Éarendel engla beorhtast. But the name could not be adopted just like that: it had to be accommodated to the Elvish linguistic situation, at the same time as a place for this person was made in legend.

Éarendel In the context of the poem (Tolkien believed) was not the Christ himself, but someone more like John the Baptist: a herald, or divine messenger.

And you were right about its Nordic derivation--the myth anyway. As Tolkien hinted at above, the myth of Éarendelhas much older origins: In Snorri's (Prose-) Edda (Skaldskaparmal, Faulke's transl. p. 79-80) it is told how Thor carried the giant Aurvandil from Jotunheim in a basket on his back, and one of Aurvandil's toes stuck out of the basket and got frozen. Thor broke it off, and threw it up in the sky, and made a star of it, which is called Aurvandil's toe (Orvandelsta, Örvandilstâ). Other forms of the name are Orendel, Erentel, Earendel, Oervandil and Horvandillus.

So there you are: the Silmaril carried by Eärendil began as a giant's toe!

I got the above information mostly from the Tolkien Wiki Community webpage, http://www.thetolkienwiki.org/wiki.c...ogy/%C9arendel

[gradivus]

Who betrayed the city of Gondolin and why?

Maeglin, because he was unable to gain Idril's love honestly, so he thought that by betraying Gondolin he would be able to gain her by force, which is pretty much the way his father got his mother to marry him.

Who were Maeglin's father and mother, and what famous elf was his maternal grandfather?

[edwinunger]

Aredhel, the Mother, and Eol, the Father. Grandfather was Fingolfin, who fought Morgoth in mortal combat.

Who or what kept Morgoth from desecrating Fingolfin's broken corpse?

[Womdon]

Thorondor showed up and carried Fingolfin's body away.

By the way, that battle between Fingolfin and Morgoth is my favorite part of all the stories that took place before the third age. To stand up to (for all intents and purposes) the god of evil and go toe to toe is pretty noteworthy in my book.

What was Morgoth/Melkor capable of that no other Vala was?

[gradivus]

Hmm... Melkor was stronger and had greater gifts of skill and knowledge than any other, but I don't recall any ability he had that the others didn't at all (unless it was evil and deception).

[Womdon]

No, not evil and deception... I figured this question would be a bit tricky

[edwinunger]

Whew, took me a lot of research to figure this one out, good one!

Fear.

By using his own powerful essence to pour malice into everything in Middle Earth, Morgoth was lessened, and eventually became a being that could be destroyed, so unlike the other Valar, he could know fear.

[edwinunger]

Who is the only female dwarf ever mentioned in Tolkien lore?

[gradivus]

I believe it was briefly mentioned that Thorin had a sister named Dis (as in distaff?). Her sons Fili and Kili fought (and died, I think) to save his life in the Battle of the Five Armies.

[edwinunger]

Correct! You even gave the reason she was mentioned at all - Fili and Kili, who died protecting their uncle Thorin on the battlefield of the Battle of 5 Armies. Their great sacrifice was known by all the Dwarves and so to honor them even further, they honored their Mother, Dis.


Your turn.

[gradivus]

How old was Arwen Undomiel when she married King Elessar (Aragorn)?

Hint: Apparently old Strider was attracted to women (or at least to one Elf woman) even older than himself.

[LOTRFan101]

How old was Arwen Undomiel when she married King Elessar (Aragorn)?

She was 2,778, making her much older than Aragorn, who was at the time __________.

[Teowulf]

She was 2,778, making her much older than Aragorn, who was at the time __________.

He was 80-something. Let's see if I can remember.... 88, I think it was? I know he was 87 in the Two Towers, and I think a year or so passed after that point before his ascension.

(not sure if I'm right, and I don't want to ask the next question, I'm not too confident about my knowledge.)

[gradivus]

I know he was 87 in the Two Towers...

Are you sure you're not counting on the movie version to be correct?

[Womdon]

He was 88 at the time of the marriage (if wikipedia can be trusted) so I'd say Teowulf is probably right.

Since he didn't ask a question though, I'll jump in

Who was the first King of Rohan?

[Talanthiar]

Eorl the young. What Steward of Gondor granted Eorl and his people
the lands that would become Rohan, after the battle at the field of Celebrant?

[edwinunger]

Eorl was given Kingship over Calenardhon for helping Gondor repel an attack from Mordor.

What habit did the people of Rohan practice whenever their line of Kings changed?

i.e. a King dies and has no sons (or sons are dead) to continue the blood line, so a cousin, nephew, etc. is chosen.

Whenever this change of the blood line occurred, the Rohirrim did what?

Hint: It has to do with the bodies of the dead.

I gave the hint because this may be a very difficult one.

EDIT: BLAST YOU TALANTHIAR! Anyway it was Cirion. Answer my question!

[Big_H]

They switched the burial mounds to the other side of the road.

[edwinunger]

Okay not so difficult as I thought, I was sure that was an arbitrary note that no one would get. Ok H your turn.

[Big_H]

About how long did Bilbo sneak around the Elven-king's palace (while the dwarves were imprisoned)?

I'm going through my book now to see if there's enough info for a specific number of days, so this might just end up being a "round about there" answer, hence the 'about'.

[Talanthiar]

I want to say it was 2 weeks or so. Many cooling pies mysteriously vanished in that time, however long.

[Big_H]

There are two sections of the journey which are lacking a number of days (between two hard dates), so at best the answer would only be an educated guess (at least from what I've read just now). So I guess it's not the best riddle.

So unless someone has a more conclusive answer I'm willing to accept 2 weeks.
Though the math doesn't really add up regardless. Bonus points to the person who writes out the known math of it... or I can just post mine

So Talanthiar, I guess you're up