Thread: One-word Tolkien Trivia

I hate using hyphens to come up with a one-word clue, but in this case I think it's justified.

sub-rosa

There may be a few legitimate answers for this one. First one in wins an all-expenses-paid 3-day trip to the dungeons of Angband*.

*Terms and conditions apply. See Turbine's F2P EULA. Caveat emptor produced by Wooden Nickel Enterprises.

Well the meaning of this one would seem to indicate something "under the rose". So I've been racking my brain trying to come up with a direct correlation of someone being buried under roses...

Alas! My google-fu is failing me on this one! Maybe I'm just going in the completely wrong direction here...

Dang, I could really use that trip too!

Hmm... rosa - pink/red
sub - under

so under red would be.... Moria.

(Probably way waaaayyy off, but I couldn't resist posting it anyway.)

Not Moria...

Bit new here...

"barrows of the Kings of Rohan beneath the walls of Edoras." ... Your words reminded me of Simbelmyne.

Originally Posted by Rucagorn

Bit new here...

"barrows of the Kings of Rohan beneath the walls of Edoras." ... Your words reminded me of Simbelmyne.

This was my first thought too, but I didn't think the Simbelmynë was related to the rose which is why I dismissed it.

I'll be kicking myself again if this is it!

Not the barrows of Rohan.
In fact, nothing to do with burials.

My mind is growing foggy with age but I thought I'd help my fellow trivia-ists...sub-rosa can also mean confessions, off the record or under the influence of wine...hope that helps.

Originally Posted by Ironcrown

My mind is growing foggy with age but I thought I'd help my fellow trivia-ists...sub-rosa can also mean confessions, off the record or under the influence of wine...hope that helps.

Interesting! I didn't know that part!

Perhaps then when Bilbo had left presents for certain hobbits after leaving the Shire...

Old Rory Brandybuck, in return for much hospitality, got a dozen bottles of Old Winyards: a strong red wine from the Southfarthing, and now quite mature, as it had been laid down by Bilbo's father. Rory quite forgave Bilbo, and voted him a capital fellow after the first bottle.

- The Fellowship of the Ring

There are quite a few ways that sub-rosa can be interpreted.
Ironcrown listed three of those and none of them are a good fit for the answer I have in mind.
So Bilbo's Old Winyards is not it.

Does this clue perhaps relate to a certain incident involving Galion and his friend?

*Edit: Just saw Boraxxe's rejection of Ironcrown's suggestion about the meaning of sub-rosa, so I'm sure that means my answer is incorrect.

Originally Posted by Vilnas

Does this clue perhaps relate to a certain incident involving Galion and his friend?

*Edit: Just saw Boraxxe's rejection of Ironcrown's suggestion about the meaning of sub-rosa, so I'm sure that means my answer is incorrect.

You are correct in guessing that you are incorrect.

According to Wikipedia (and I acknowledge all the limitations inherent therein), sub-rosa can also refer to covert operations. If that usage is accepted, then the most obvious JRRT answer would be the titular conspiracy in "A Conspiracy Unmasked" (FotR Chapter 4).

Originally Posted by Vilnas

According to Wikipedia (and I acknowledge all the limitations inherent therein), sub-rosa can also refer to covert operations. If that usage is accepted, then the most obvious JRRT answer would be the titular conspiracy in "A Conspiracy Unmasked" (FotR Chapter 4).

Yes.
That is one of the many possible answers. Another would be Aragorn in his Thorongil persona and perhaps even Bilbo while wearing the ring. And there are several instances of sub-rosa type activity noted in The Silmarillion.
I realized shortly after posting "sub-rosa" that there are many instances of such covert activity within the canon.
The one I had in mind I think fits the concept very closely.
When Frodo and Sam and tramping through Mordor in orc disguises is what I was looking for.

You're up Vilnas!

Alright, a super easy one to keep things moving. This one is a simple two-step riddle:

January

I'm giving the group 5 minutes. 20 if no on happens to be on at this very second.

January = Afteryule

Tsk tsk. Not a two step answer.

Originally Posted by Vilnas

Tsk tsk. Not a two step answer.

Hmmm, ok...

1) January = Janus = Eru

2) January = Afteryule = If you "tsk, tsk" me again, a hobbit will drop a pie on your head and after, you'll have apple-stuff in your hair.

1) Come now, you couldn't find a better JRRT connection for Janus than Eru?

2) I will just have to wear my rain hat.


;p

Originally Posted by Vilnas

1) Come now, you couldn't find a better JRRT connection for Janus than Eru?

Anyone want to push this forward?

Ok, I think I know where you want to go with this.

January -> Janus -> Manwe

Janus played second fiddle to only Jupiter (Zeus) and likewise, Manwe is the second most powerful being behind Eru.

Actually, I didn't know that about Janus. I was thinking more along the lines of his distinctive representation.

Grima Tâdthîr

Grima the Twofaced

Grima Wormtongue

Well, I suppose that is close enough to capture the stick, particularly in light of your Afteryule offering. On further consideration, what I had in mind isn't as perfect a fit as I had intended, being a three-faced representation rather than only two-faced. Still, I really had thought the visual connection between Janus and my intended answer was painfully obvious. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janus

I will take the stick, but I am intrigued by what the three-faced reference is. I hope some one continues to guess at that.

A new one-word clue:

sillouette

Sorry its very literal, but to get things moving, I would suggest one of Beruthials cats on the bowsprit, silouetted against the moon.

I was listening to the Return of the King today and finally have a guess for the Janus clue: the Watchers in Minas Morgul?

Originally Posted by iorviel

I was listening to the Return of the King today and finally have a guess for the Janus clue: the Watchers in Minas Morgul?

Yes, that was it. It was actually Cirith Ungol rather than Minas Morgul, but you have the essence of it.

Originally Posted by Morthaur

Sorry its very literal, but to get things moving, I would suggest one of Beruthials cats on the bowsprit, silouetted against the moon.

Interesting image but that's not it.

I think the film illustrated this passage that I am looking for more dramatically than the text did, but it is there in both.

Nazgul against the horizon during the pursuit through the Shire?

Originally Posted by Vilnas

Nazgul against the horizon during the pursuit through the Shire?

I just re-read that passage. I think that would more accurately be described as a shadow and not a silhouette.

(I just realized that I spelled that wrong).

Originally Posted by Vilnas

Yes, that was it. It was actually Cirith Ungol rather than Minas Morgul, but you have the essence of it.

Oops, careless recall. For your amusement, that passage actually reminds me of this image (or of Dante's Satan): http://trinities.org/blog/wp-content...-faced-god.jpg

Originally Posted by Boraxxe

I just re-read that passage. I think that would more accurately be described as a shadow and not a silhouette.

(I just realized that I spelled that wrong).

I meant to have a re read of shadow of the past, but havent gotten to it, am I getting warm?

I haven't forgotten your riddle Boraxxe - I'm just lacking inspiration. I'm actually in the middle of re-reading LotR (by coincidence - not for the sole purpose of finding an answer to the riddle) and am keeping an eye out for silhouette's as I go.

Originally Posted by Boraxxe

I will take the stick, but I am intrigued by what the three-faced reference is. I hope some one continues to guess at that.

A new one-word clue:

sillouette

Didn't the hobbits see a silhouetted Nazgul at the crest of a hill as they made their way towards Bucklebury? And didn't Legolas see a silhouetted Nazgul against the moon which he then shot out ouf the sky?

So, I'm going to guess Nazgul or dark rider.

Originally Posted by Elessar2007

Didn't the hobbits see a silhouetted Nazgul at the crest of a hill as they made their way towards Bucklebury? And didn't Legolas see a silhouetted Nazgul against the moon which he then shot out ouf the sky?

So, I'm going to guess Nazgul or dark rider.

You may be right with the Legolas/Nazgul guess. I don't have my text handy right now and if it turns out that he did indeed shoot at a silhouette then you have earned a turn.
In any case, that is not the passage I had in mind. However, as always, if a guess turns out to be another instance of virtually the same thing that I was hinting at then the guess wins.

Originally Posted by Boraxxe

You may be right with the Legolas/Nazgul guess. I don't have my text handy right now and if it turns out that he did indeed shoot at a silhouette then you have earned a turn.
In any case, that is not the passage I had in mind. However, as always, if a guess turns out to be another instance of virtually the same thing that I was hinting at then the guess wins.

I checked my text last night, it's a little vague if you'd call it a silhouette - in fact I don't think I would. "a dark shape, like a cloud and yet not a cloud, for it moved far more swiftly, came out of the blackness in the South, and sped towards the company, blotting out all light...appeared as a great winged creature, blacker than the pits in the night... Suddenly the great bow of Lorien sang... The sky was clean again."

It was more of a black cloud as the winged creature approached, not a silhouette at all.

But at the approach to the Bucklebury ferry, there was this... "They all looked, and on the edge high above them, they saw against the sky a horse standing. Beside it stooped a black figure." So that was a Nazgul in silhouette. or at least his horse.

If that's still not your specific silhouette, let us know and we'll take another stab at it. When I say we, I meanss us prescious. and I'll see if I can think of a one-word clue as well.

Originally Posted by Elessar2007

I checked my text last night, it's a little vague if you'd call it a silhouette - in fact I don't think I would. "a dark shape, like a cloud and yet not a cloud, for it moved far more swiftly, came out of the blackness in the South, and sped towards the company, blotting out all light...appeared as a great winged creature, blacker than the pits in the night... Suddenly the great bow of Lorien sang... The sky was clean again."

It was more of a black cloud as the winged creature approached, not a silhouette at all.

But at the approach to the Bucklebury ferry, there was this... "They all looked, and on the edge high above them, they saw against the sky a horse standing. Beside it stooped a black figure." So that was a Nazgul in silhouette. or at least his horse.

If that's still not your specific silhouette, let us know and we'll take another stab at it. When I say we, I meanss us prescious. and I'll see if I can think of a one-word clue as well.

After re-reading the passage that contained my intended answer, I have decided that it is really no more definitive than the examples you have posted.
That being the case, your first guess about "a silhouetted Nazgul at the crest of a hill as they made their way towards Bucklebury?" is really a repeat of what Vilnas posted a few entries back: "Nazgul against the horizon during the pursuit through the Shire?" which I had rejected and now must admit is at least as good an answer as what I had in mind.
So, I will grant the stick to Vilnas, or if not accepted, then to you.
Both of you posted as good an example of "silhouette" as what follows (which is what I had in mind): Sam, climbing the orc tower searching for Frodo.

His will was too weak and slow to restrain his hand. It dragged at the chain and clutched the Ring. But Sam did not put it on; for even as he clasped it to his breast, an orc came clattering down. Leaping out of a dark opening at the right, it ran towards him. It was no more than six paces from him when, lifting its head, it saw him; and Sam could hear its gasping breath and see the glare in its bloodshot eyes. It stopped short aghast. For what it saw was not a small frightened hobbit trying to hold a steady sword: it saw a great silent shape, cloaked in a grey shadow, looming against the wavering light behind; in one hand it held a sword, the very light of which was a bitter pain, the other was clutched at its breast, but held concealed some nameless menace of power and doom.

Hrm. I see what you mean with your Samwise passage. Well, I have nothing prepared at the moment. How about Elessar and I just see who can come up with a new riddle first?

Originally Posted by Vilnas

Hrm. I see what you mean with your Samwise passage. Well, I have nothing prepared at the moment. How about Elessar and I just see who can come up with a new riddle first?

Deal! (that's not a riddle)