Thread: Two-word Tolkien Trivia

Muppet Grandfather:
My first guess would have to be Gaffer Gamgee.

Originally Posted by imjustthatawesome

Muppet Grandfather:
My first guess would have to be Gaffer Gamgee.

Sorry its not Hamfast Gamgee

Muppet Grandfather:

Celeborn, son of Galadhon, son of Elmo. :P

(Technically, this answer doesn't jive with the guidelines laid out by Boraxxe in the OP.)

Originally Posted by bigeyedbug

muppet grandfather:

Celeborn, son of galadhon, son of elmo.

ROFLCOPTER

If that is indeed the answer, then that has to be the best JRRT trivia question ever.

That's too dang funny.

*SNOW DAY HERE*

Well a muppet makes it not sound like the free people so maybe it's a bad guy. Maybe Old Man Willow in FotR?

Tom Bombadil? He is oldest and fatherless, a grandfather is generally one of the oldest of the family, and often his father is dead. As to muppet: He was a children's doll.

Originally Posted by BIGeyedBUG

Muppet Grandfather:

Celeborn, son of Galadhon, son of Elmo. :P

(Technically, this answer doesn't jive with the guidelines laid out by Boraxxe in the OP.)

Correct, be sure to tell that old stiffneck Celeborn that his grandfather was a muppet next time you see him, reference for Elmo is UT 233-234 so I guess BUG is doubly right.

Originally Posted by Morthaur

Correct, be sure to tell that old stiffneck Celeborn that his grandfather was a muppet next time you see him, reference for Elmo is UT 233-234 so I guess BUG is doubly right.

For the relatively new participants in our trivia threads, UT stands for Unfinished Tales, one of the volumes of JRRT's writings about Middle-earth assembled, edited and published after JRRT's death by his son Christopher.

The OP guidelines Morthaur and BUG are referring to indicate that the answers to the questions in this thread must be found in the three "canon" works - LotR, The Hobbit, and The Silmarillion. For my part I'm prepared to waive the limitation for particularly excellent riddles like this one.

Yeah, I'm not stuck on the rule, myself. Though I think the game is a bit more democratic the more we stick with the well-known works.

New one: "Mighty Mite".

There's a few good answers I can think of offhand, but I'm looking for a particular one.

If I stray into esoterica, its because its so hard finding tricky riddles for you guys.

Mighty Mite:

The Stripling Thorin Oakenshield (aged 53) at the battle of Azanulbizar.

My vote is on a different dwarf, Dain, only half Thorin's age when he "bounded up" the east gate steps and took Azog's head.

Hah, very good guesses, even though both are on a track I didn't expect.

My thoughts went more towards the Hobbits then the Dwarves. Hobbits are small, as are Dwarves, but Hobbits went, as mites, relatively unnoticed in the big scheme of things.

So... Samwise Gamgee?

It's not the inestimable Samwise Gamgee.

Meriadoc Brandybuck?

It mightn't be Merry, mighty as he was, as he wasn't mitey...for a Fallohide.

Hmm, Bilbo then, perhaps?

Or Lobelia, perhaps? She took her umbrella to a few ruffians, I believe, when Sharkey rolled into Hobbiton...

Neither Bilbo nor his dear cousin-in-law Lobelia are the mighty mite in question.

Would it have been Gollum? He is described as being shrunken yet he seems to have strength far greater than his size would usually lead to. I'm guessing it's from the protein in fish.

Gollum is a great answer, not one I anticipated, and probably just as good as the one I had in mind. So it's yours.

Hurin Thalion was the mighty mite of whom I was thinking. "...shorter in stature than other men of his kin...but in all else he was like Hador, his grandfather, strong in body and fiery of mood."

In that case my next riddle would have to be: Gnarled Headman
(I bet someone is going to get this really quickly but it's all I can think of)

Treebeard, leader of the Ents?

Originally Posted by imjustthatawesome

In that case my next riddle would have to be: Gnarled Headman
(I bet someone is going to get this really quickly but it's all I can think of)

Ghan-Buri-Ghan

Vilnas got it right: I was thinking about ghan-buri-ghan. I don't know the exact passages but it is said that Theoden was being taken to a "headman" of the wild men and he was later described as gnarled.

Well that sucks. Now I have to come up with a riddle. Ok, how about

Uniquely named.

Be warned in advance that the hint is misleadingly framed quite intentionally (to make it extra tricksy), and I am going to be technical regarding the answer. What I mean by that will become apparent once someone solves the hint but guesses wrong.

Originally Posted by Vilnas

Well that sucks. Now I have to come up with a riddle. Ok, how about

Uniquely named.

Be warned in advance that the hint is misleadingly framed quite intentionally (to make it extra tricksy), and I am going to be technical regarding the answer. What I mean by that will become apparent once someone solves the hint but guesses wrong.

Treebeard, aka Fangorn, whose true name we never learn?

'For I am not going to tell you my name, not yet at any rate'. A queer half-knowing, half-humorous look came with a green flicker into his eyes. 'For one thing it would take a long while: my name is growing all the time, and I've lived a very long, long time; so my name is like a story.

That is a pretty good answer, but I will reject it because I think it would be more accurate to say that Treebeard was uniquely un-named in the story, at least in the sense for which you are proffering him as the answer (which is on the right track).

Originally Posted by Vilnas

Well that sucks. Now I have to come up with a riddle. Ok, how about

Uniquely named.

Be warned in advance that the hint is misleadingly framed quite intentionally (to make it extra tricksy), and I am going to be technical regarding the answer. What I mean by that will become apparent once someone solves the hint but guesses wrong.

Could it be Tom Bombadil? He seems to be unique among all other known characters in that he doesn't really have a given name; he just is Tom Bombadil, because he is. When Frodo asked Goldberry who or what he was, she answered "He is."

Alternately, he's the only known Bombadil in the whole history of Middle-earth.

Another excellent response, but I will reject it as well and for the same reason - the answer I am looking for is someone that is in fact named. But I will reiterate that you are both on the right track, in that the "uniquely" in the clue does NOT mean "interestingly" or "creatively" named.

By the way, I need to add that in thinking about this further I realized that by reducing the clue from the original long-form version to the two-word format, I inadvertantly made it so there is more than one answer. Consequently, once the essence of the riddle is decoded I will probably need to throw in a refinement to narrow it so that the original answer is once again singular.

*chuckles* could it be the One Ring?

Can't get more unique than that.

But no, it's a someone, not a something...

Hmm...

OH OH I GOT IT!! (probably not but..) Aragorn! Because he was called Strider and some other names like Numenorian and other names

EDIT: I thought of another answer too. (can we give 2 answers in this game?) Gandalf, because he was the grey wizard unique named then uniquely named the White wizard and Saruman wasn't that name anymore because Gandalf was.

Those are fine guesses, but incorrect. As a hint, allow me to clarify that BeB was on the right track by suggesting that the answer was Treebeard because of all creatures his true name was not given. I rejected this because I am looking for someone that is uniquely named rather than un-named. That is the ballbark for the concept of "uniquely."

As a completely unnecessary aside, given sir-rinthian's post about Tom Bombadil, I wonder if Treebeard may not even have been correct for "uniquely un-named".

Originally Posted by Vilnas

That is a pretty good answer, but I will reject it because I think it would be more accurate to say that Treebeard was uniquely un-named in the story, at least in the sense for which you are proffering him as the answer (which is on the right track).

It was more along the lines that since Treebeard's name tells his story, whatever it is, it's inherently unique. I mentioned that we never learn his true name, only because if it had been the correct answer, it would have been sweetly ironic.

Next guess...

"Uniquely named"

Eru, whose name is glossed in The Silmarillion as meaning "He that is alone."?

After the two failings of Treebeard and Tom, I doubt this will work... but could it be the Nameless?

No, the answer is someone who was in fact named. Allow me to narrow the field. The answer is found in The Hobbit.

Hmm...would it be Thorin Oakenshield, who defended himself with a tree branch beneath the east gate of Moria?

Originally Posted by Vilnas

No, the answer is someone who was in fact named. Allow me to narrow the field. The answer is found in The Hobbit.

Ah. Galion, the Elf-king's butler, and the only named Elf (besides the half-exception of Elrond) in The Hobbit.

You are correct! I orginally posed this question a year or two ago in the long form trivia thread - Who is the only elf referred to by given name in The Hobbit? By reducing it to a two word riddle I unfortunately made it so there were multiple answers. For example, Elrond would be the answer if the question were who is the only half-elf named in The Hobbit? Beorn would be the "Uniquely Named" shape changer, and so on.

In any event, well done BeB, your riddle.