[Game] Tantalizing Trivia Quiz

[Romeran]

There seemed to be quite a few options depending on how you interpret 'between' so I went for the valley that separates them.

Question: Who was the Captain of The Left Wing during the war against the Wainriders when Minohtar took command of the forces of Gondor?

[Drifa]

You've got to love the Index! Was the Captain of The Left Wing, Adrahil of Dol Amroth?

Minohtar took command....
He at once sent messengers to Adrahil of Dol Amroth, 17
the Captain of the Left Wing, commanding him to withdraw
with all the speed he could both his own command and those
at the rear of the Right Wing who had not yet been engaged. Cirion and Eorl, UT

[Romeran]

Correct @Drifa over to you :) I feel like I've used Cirion and Eorl a lot now and generally the Unfinished Tales but I just finished re-reading it recently

[Drifa]

Good lore questions from UT, @Romeran ! Try this one.

Question: Who's finger-nails could not shape stone?

[Romeran]

@Drifa Time to revive this thread!!

Answer: Dwarves (specifically Gimli's I suppose)

"We must stop this rat-hole," said Gamling. "Dwarves are said to be cunning folk with stone. Lend us your aid, master!"
"We do not shape stone with battle-axes, nor with our finger-nails," said Gimli. "But I will help as I may."

Dropped the ball on this thread a bit but maybe we can get it running again.

Since I'm pretty confident the above is the correct answer I'll post a new question:

Question: Where did a black darkness loom and in it glinted something cold, sharp, and white as the teeth of ghosts?

[Drifa]

Right you are, @Romeran ! As to your question, is the answer:

Answer: Ered Nimrais, the White Mountains of the Realm of Gondor?

A black darkness loomed beyond, and in it glinted, here and there, cold, sharp, remote, white as the teeth of ghosts, the peaks of Ered Nimrais, the White Mountains of the Realm of Gondor, tipped with everlasting snow. TTT, The Forbidden Pool

[Romeran]

Correct @Drifa back to you :)

[Drifa]

Thank you! Alright then.

Question: Who gasped that their dreams were coming true?

[Ravion]

[stretches shoulders]
[bones cracking]

Let's see if this old soul still knows anything:
That would be Theoden

Dark have been my dreams of late," he said, "but I feel as one new-awakened. I would now that you had come before, Gandalf. For I fear that already you have come too late, only to see the last days of my house. Not long now shall stand the high hall which Brego son of Eorl built. Fire shall devour the high seat. What is to be done?

TTT, King of the Golden Hall

[Romeran]

@Drifa can you confirm if @Ravion's guess is correct?

[Drifa]

Sorry for the delay! No, that is not the answer. Please try again.

Welcome @Ravion !

[Romeran]

@Drifa time to resurrect this thread.

Question: Who gasped that their dreams were coming true?

Answer: Bombur

"It looks as if my dreams were coming true," gasped Bombur puffing up behind. He wanted to rush straight off into the wood after the lights. But the others remembered only too well the warnings of the wizard and of Beorn. "A feast would be no good, if we never got back alive from it," said Thorin. (The Hobbit)

[Drifa]

Ha, wonderful! Yes, Bombur is the correct answer.

[Romeran]

Should be a pretty easy one.

Question: who did Gandalf not trust, so much so that he told them as much to their face?

[Arnyn]

Question: who did Gandalf not trust, so much so that he told them as much to their face?

Answer: Himself!

“No!” cried Gandalf, springing to his feet. “With that power I should have power too great and terrible. And over me the Ring would gain a power still greater and more deadly.” His eyes flashed and his face was lit as by a fire within. “Do not tempt me! For I do not wish to become like the Dark Lord himself. Yet the way of the Ring to my heart is by pity, pity for weakness and the desire of strength to do good. Do not tempt me! I dare not take it, not even to keep it safe, unused. The wish to wield it would be too great for my strength."
- FoTR

[Romeran]

So I had originally had this as Denethor:

"Nonetheless I do not trust you," said Gandalf. "Had I done so, I could have sent this thing hither to your keeping and spared myself and others much anguish. And now hearing you speak I trust you less, no more than Boromir. Nay, stay your wrath! I do not trust myself in this, and I refused this thing, even as a freely given gift. You are strong and can still in some matters govern yourself, Denethor; yet if you had received this thing, it would have overthrown you. Were it buried beneath the roots of Mindolluin, still it would burn your mind away, as the darkness grows, and the yet worse things follow that soon shall come upon us." (RotK)

But I think your quotation meets the question quite well so will accept that as alternative.

Floor is yours @Arnyn

[Arnyn]

Question: Hope is a strong theme in our beloved story. But there is a time when Gandalf claims something is in fact without hope altogether. What was Gandalf talking about?

[Romeran]

Answer: Saruman's Journey

"'Then all the more reason to have left sooner,' said Saruman; 'for I desire neither of him. Indeed if you wish for an answer to your first question, I am seeking a way out of his realm.'

'Then once more you are going the wrong way,' said Gandalf, 'and I see no hope in your journey. But will you scorn our help? For we offer it to you.'" (Many Partings, RotK)

[Arnyn]

Hmmm... I find myself in a similar situation as you, Rome!

I meant a different instance:

‘Hardly has our strength sufficed to beat off the first great assault. The next will be greater. This war then is without final hope, as Denethor perceived. Victory cannot be achieved by arms, whether you sit here to endure siege after siege, or march out to be overwhelmed beyond the River. You have only a choice of evils; and prudence would counsel you to strengthen such strong places as you have, and there await the onset; for so shall the time before your end be made a little longer.’ (...) 'I said victory could not be achieved by arms. I still hope for victory, but not by arms.' (Gandalf, The Last Debate, RoTK)

So Gandalf thought winning the war through use of arms was without hope.

But yours is undeniably a good alternative, Rome.

So the floor is yours, @Romeran!

[Romeran]

I had a feeling that there was going to be more than one answer for this. I spent a long time looking for examples of Gandalf calling the Hobbits hopeless in some way

Here's a more straightforward one.

Question: What is the true Rohanese (i.e. not "translated") name of the Hobbits?

[Drifa]

Answer: kûd-dûkan?

Meriadoc, however, actually records that the King of Rohan used the word kûd-dûkan 'hole-dweller'. TROTK, Appendix F

[Romeran]

You got it @Drifa! Over to you

[Drifa]

Okay, thanks!

Question: What kind of boots did Hobbits wear?

[denisan]

Hello everyone! New to the plaza. May I also play? :)
If it's ok I'll try giving my answer. I believe some hobbits wore dwarven boots sometimes.

[Drifa]

Dirfa at your service, @denisan! Welcome to the Plaza! And yes, you can certainly play. It's good to have you here! Enjoy!

Dwarf boots are indeed the correct answer.

For future posts/answers. According to the rules of the game, which can be found here RULES, when answering the Answers need not have detailed page references as to where the information can be specifically found, but both a book and chapter title reference must be provided, and the answer validated by the questioner.

[denisan]

Nice to meet you @Drifa ! Thanks for the warm welcome.

And you're absolutely right, I completely missed that. In all honesty I remember that piece of trivia from the card game, there was an "Erebor boots" card which you could use with both dwarves and hobbits. Looking it up I found that this info came from one of master Tolkien's letters, however I've been unable to find a source directly from the books so sorry. :(

If I understand the game correctly I should ask a trivia question now, correct?

[Ephtariat]

Only mention of boots in Letters, with reference to The Hobbit:

"There is in the text no mention of his [Bilbo's] acquiring of boots. There should be! It has dropped out somehow or other in the various revisions - the bootings occurred at Rivendell; and he was again bootless after leaving Rivendell on the way home. But since leathery soles, and well-brushed furry feet are a feature of essential hobbitness, he ought really to appear unbooted, except in special illustrations of episodes." (Letters, no. 27)

[Romeran]

Note per the rules the reference must be from one of the following sources:

2. Questions should only be taken from The Hobbit, LOTR, The Silmarillion, and Unfinished Tales.

In this case it comes from the prologue concerning hobbits:

"The habit of building farmhouses and barns was said to have begun among the inhabitants of the Marish down by the Brandywine. The Hobbits of that quarter, the Eastfarthing, were rather large and heavy-legged, and they wore dwarf-boots in muddy weather" (LotR, Prologue: Concerning Hobbits).

That being said, I'll turn it over to @denisan to ask the next question since they got the answer right, even without a supporting quotation.

[Ephtariat]

@Romeran I was just curious about boots in Letters and checked, didn't think to usurp the answer of another person, and certainly not a Hobbit child's!

[Romeran]

I wasn't accusing you of anything but since it's been 4 pages and we have some new folks I wanted to make sure no one was going on wild goose chases through the Letters in order to find a supporting quotation. I recognize you were just responding to @denisan's claim of the Letters being the source. I was just clarifying.

[Ephtariat]

@Romeran No worries, it's just that the Index to Letters has an entry "boots acquired at Rivendell", so no need to goose chasing anything. If there was anything else, Carpenter would have included it in the Index.

[denisan]

Ahhh thank you so much for claryfing @Romeran ! Also thanks for your help @Ephtariat !

Alright here's my question, hopefully it's not too simple, I promise I'll get better at this game soon.
Who greeted Eärendil when he came to Aman?

[Ephtariat]

@denisan Eönwë (Silmarillion, chap. 24)

[denisan]

Yes correct!

[Ephtariat]

What is it that Éomer cannot even only be asked to do?

[Drifa]

I am unsure if Ephtariat will still participate in the Plaza after his goodbye. Should we open the floor, @Romeran?

[Romeran]

Yes that's a good point @Drifa. Let's say the floor is open.

@Ephtariat if you do want to post, feel free to post your question

[Drifa]

What is it that Éomer cannot even only be asked to do?

He posted a question, @Romeran. I'm not sure if we will respond to answers to his question, is what I meant.

[Romeran]

Oof I totally missed that lol. Well hmmm I expect that if a sufficiently reasonable quotation can be identified that answers that question then we can proceed.

So let’s say:

Either answer the question and provide a supporting quote.

Or simply ask another question.

Either option is fine.

[Drifa]

Maybe this question can become the house question until it is solved. What do you think?

Question: What is it that Éomer cannot even only be asked to do?

Okay, new question.

Question: Who was not pleased by two actions and less because of one other?

[Ephtariat]

I'm here and I don't recall the answer anymore! xD

[Ephtariat]

What is it that Éomer cannot even only be asked to do?

I take back what I said! I just remembered!