Riddles in the Dark

[Drífa]

No, I do not have a mortal body. In some of my responses above, I have indicated where I can be found. I am unsure, as I have never read anything suggesting it, but I do not think Saruman was ever there.

[Drífa]

~Middle-earth Related~
Most fell, but I stuck, resembling something that I am not.
What do I now resemble?
Behind and beyond a wide brim, darkness surged in masses;
evil yielding shaft and blade, evil glare in ichor shades.

Hints
Moria is the right place
It is not the blood of the gods but the colour of the blood
Gandalf figures prominently
I do not have a mortal body.
In line three, a word hint should indeed find me.

[Chrysophylax Dives]

A black feather?

[Aikári Salmarinian]

The Balrog. He got a body of flames, as Maia, devoted to Melkor as an ancient enemy of the Old World Beleriand. The Orcs as well the troll have mortal bodies and Gollum who follows them. It is Gandalf who tells the Fellowship of this ancient evil, unmortal evil. The Balrog is the massing darkness beyond the power of the Fellowship to battle, but Gandalf himself.

[Chrysophylax Dives]

Nah, Aiks, it is a black feather. I am almost sure. The arrows are what falls and one sticks in his hat (hence the 'brim') resembling a black feather.

Arrows fell among them. One struck Frodo and sprang back. Another pierced Gandalf’s hat and stuck there like a black feather. Frodo looked behind. Beyond the fire he saw swarming black figures: there seemed to be hundreds of orcs. They brandished spears and scimitars which shone red as blood in the firelight. Doom, doom rolled the drum-beats, growing louder and louder, doom, doom. Legolas turned and set an arrow to the

[Drífa]

You got it, dragon!

[Chrysophylax Dives]

Now I have to think of a new riddle...

[Chrysophylax Dives]

Middle-earth related.

I am a smell on a river.
Picked up to perambulate.
I am like a Hobbit, not a man.
As a horse was to a king,
I am the Nazgûl of the Eye.
What am I?

[Drífa]

I need five hints.

[Chrysophylax Dives]

[Drífa]

Are you a fishy-smelling, short, faithful servant?

[Chrysophylax Dives]

Are you a fishy-smelling, short, faithful servant?

No.

O Dwarf, it has been far too long. Have you any idea how much pleasure typing those two letters gave me? But being a decent sort of Cave Troll, I shall forebear from adding any whip smilies. Instead:

[Chrysophylax Dives]

Middle-earth related.

I am a smell on a river.
Picked up to perambulate.
I am like a Hobbit, not a man.
As a horse was to a king,
I am the Nazgûl of the Eye.
What am I?

[Drífa]

I have searched/read for two weeks. I cannot fit anything together. But let's try, shall we? Are you a short black tracker orc?

[Chrysophylax Dives]

Are you a short black tracker orc?

No.

[Drífa]

No? Darn!!

[Drífa]

Are you Gollum?

[Drífa]

A faithful servant?

[Chrysophylax Dives]

Are you Gollum?

No.

[Chrysophylax Dives]

A faithful servant?

No.

Didn't you already ask that?

[Drífa]

Yes, I did. I felt somewhat rattled, but not so much now. I decided to take this riddle by the horns and solve it. So, I purchased a feisty little pony named Granny Smith and began my search across Middle-earth. It all started in November 2024. We first travelled to the Forest River near the eastern edge of Mirkwood. There we discovered:

I am a smell on a river.
Picked up to perambulate. In the barrels on the river, the dwarves and Bilbo travelled down the river and escaped. Later, Fili complained:

"I hope I never smell the smell of apples again!" said Fili. "My tub
was full of it. To smell apples everlastingly when you can scarcely move
and are cold and sick with hunger is maddening. I could eat anything in
the wide world now, for hours on end-but not an apple!" The Hobbit, A Warm Welcome

We then turned around and made our way to Rivendell. We overheard this:

I am like a Hobbit, not a man. Bilbo compares a Man and a Hobbit.

'Nonsense, Lindar,' snorted Bilbo. 'If you can't distinguish
between a Man and a Hobbit, your judgement is poorer than
I imagined. They're as different as peas and apples.' TFOTR, Many Meetings.

We would have liked to stay longer in the Last Homely House, but our task was not over. We made our way to Gondor and the City of the Kings. There, riding upon the great streets, we saw a Hobbit and a Man discussing dining-rooms, inns, food and a horse:

As a horse was to a king, Pippin seeing to Gandalf's horse.

- Shadowfax, a great steed of Rohan, and the apple of the
king's eye, I am told, though he was given to Mithrandir for his services... TROTK, Minas Tirith

We stayed in the great city for a fortnight, trying to discover the where and why of the Nazgûl of the Eye. With no further hints, we bade Mundburg farewell and made our way to The Wold in the northern reaches of Rohan. Near a swift, narrow river, we listened:

I am the Nazgûl of the Eye. A short, crooked-legged creature, very broad and with long arms that hung almost to the ground speaking.

'Nazgul, Nazgul,' said Grishnakh, shivering and licking his lips, as if the word had a foul taste that he savoured painfully. 'You speak of what is deep beyond the reach of your muddy dreams, Ugluk,' he said. 'Nazgul! Ah! All that they make out! One day you'll wish that you had not said that. Ape!' he snarled fiercely. 'You ought to know that they're the apple of the Great Eye. But the winged Nazgul: not yet, not yet. He won't let them show themselves across the Great River yet, not too soon. They're for the War – and other purposes.' TTT, The Uruk-Hai

What am I? You asked so long ago. Are you an apple/apples?

[Chrysophylax Dives]

Dwarf, I am proud of you! I was starting to hope that I might have you stuck for months to come. But you are correct - I am an apple.

You overlooked one line (or rather, squashed it incorrectly into Fili's barrel):

Picked up to perambulate.

Sam was chewing an apple thoughtfully. He had a pocket full of them: a parting present from Nob and Bob. ‘Apples for walking, and a pipe for sitting,’ he said. ‘But I reckon I’ll miss them both before long.’

[Drífa]

Very clever riddle, dragon. I didn't realize that the two first lines of the riddle were separate. 'Picked up' kind of threw me. I have been searching for a scent on the river since November. What will I do now? Do you have any more clever riddles up your sleeve? Do dragons have sleeves? I was so intent on your riddle that I never thought up one myself.

Thanks for the fun!

[Chrysophylax Dives]

Thank you, @Drifa! Alas, I have no riddles in me at the moment. If I had one I would have already put it up in Fangorn. But these days I am returning to my SWG posts of a year ago and arranging them into order as the third part of a book, and the work is boiling my brain. As you may recall, one year ago I was half insane, what with everything going on. Those posts took me further into LotR than I had ever been before, which I think required the half-insanity. But today I am (I think) fully returned to sanity, and I am finding that it really takes it out of me entering again into those posts to work them up into chapters.

I don't have sleeves but I do have pockets.

[Drífa]

A dragon with pockets is interesting. Like a kangaroo?

Here, I place an easy Middle-earth-related riddle.

Through their fantasies, perceived are we;
standing tall: yet short.
In days of yore, forgotten not.
Contrive into many
strong and solid, shiny and soft deeds;
in many a melody and myth.

What are we?

[Melahny_oftheWoods]

Hobbits?

[Drífa]

Hi @Melahny_oftheWoods. No, not Hobbits.

[Melahny_oftheWoods]

Tales?

[Drífa]

No, not tales. What tales?

[Melahny_oftheWoods]

Lol tales as in stories, yarns, legends, etc. Damn... I thought I had it. I'm not practiced in riddles. :P
Is it something to do with words or stories?

[Drífa]

Sort of. We are the inspiration for stories.

[Melahny_oftheWoods]

Are they Heroes?

[Drífa]

My apologies, @Melahny_oftheWoods; I didn't see your post.
We are not Heroes.

[Melahny_oftheWoods]

Not Heroes, really? :'( Haha I don't know.

Are you Battles?

I'm so not good at this but it's bothering me not knowing. Someone help me guess!

[Chrysophylax Dives]

Through their fantasies, perceived are we;
standing tall, yet short.
In days of yore, forgotten not.
Contrive into many
strong and solid, shiny and soft deeds;
in many a melody and myth.

What are we?

I have no clue where to start on this one. The first line is baffling. Hobbits was a good guess out of the second line (standing tall, yet short) and I actually thought 'tales' was the right answer - and it did get a 'sort of' from the Gollum with the Hammer...

Elvish songs?

[Drífa]

Not Elvish songs. As I responded to @Melahny_oftheWoods, we inspire stories. And songs.

[Chrysophylax Dives]

@VelvetineZone, I don't suppose you have a talent for riddles? Can you help on the above?

[VelvetineZone]

I'm pretty rubbish at riddles.

[Melahny_oftheWoods]

Are you something to do with heroic deeds or battles?

[Drífa]

Possibly, heroic deeds or battles in the songs or stories. But it does not state it. Remember, we inspire the songs and stories.

[Melahny_oftheWoods]

What....??? So confused. These hints are making it worse lol!

Ok let's go back to basics. Are you a person, place, or thing?

[Drífa]

Hahaha, those basics are another game called Who, What or Where.

Let us take it in parts.
How I create riddles:
The riddle is composed of a quote from one of Tolkien's books. I use many synonyms instead of the words from the quote because the riddle would be too easy (usually). But I do use actual wording from the quote, too. You must break it down and read the books to get the answer. I have changed the punctuation to a colon in the first two lines of the riddle. I should have done it right from the start. Also, I sometimes mix the quote up so that it may read backward. It is a riddle; it should be tricksey.

Through their fantasies, perceived are we;
standing tall: yet short.

The word fantasies has many synonyms: in this riddle, it could mean dream, wish, daydream, pipedream, illusion, etc.. Choose one and apply it to the riddle instead of the word fantasies. Let us try dreams.

Through their dreams, perceived are we;
standing tall: yet short.

So, we are tall in their dreams.

Now, riddles are tricksey. That is what the last two words are leading you to: yet short.

Hint: We are found in TFOTR.

Now, get to the book and find out who has such dreams.

And if this still doesn't make sense to you, forgive me. I am a humble dwarf who loves words and vocabulary but may lack the skill to deliver it properly. Yet, I can not stop trying.

[Eamila Bolger]

It's time to find out what this riddle is about... but I am having a hard time trying.
When it comes to dreams, the hobbits dream when they are in the House of Tom Bombadil but also when captures by the Barrow Wights. I don't see a relation between their dreams and this riddle yet though. I'll keep searching :-D

[Eamila Bolger]

Are you High Elves?

Through their fantasies, perceived are we; -> Samwise fantasies about meeting the Elves one day
standing tall, yet short - High Elves (tall) but not much longer in Middle Earth anymore (short)
In days of yore, forgotten not - they are as old as the days of yore, but still here so not forgotten
Contrive into many - we know of many deeds of Elves, both good and bad, great in battle but also soft - giving Gimli the golden hairs
strong and solid, shiny and soft deeds;
in many a melody and myth. - there are many songs about (high) Elves

Edit: I found a quote in which Samwise says: Some like kings, terrible and splendid, and some merry as children (short?).

[Drífa]

Through their fantasies, perceived are we;
standing tall: yet short.
In days of yore, forgotten not.
Contrive into many
strong and solid, shiny and soft deeds;
in many a melody and myth.

What are we?

Hi @Eamila Bolger. No, we are not High Eleves. What are we?

[Eamila Bolger]

Oh my! That was quite stupid of me. In that case... are you towers?

Frodo dreams of a tower, some towers are tall and others are short.
Some are very old, but not forgotten.
I can think of quite a few deeds that were set up in high towers, or done in towers.
There are songs about towers too.

[Drífa]

No, I am not towers, but your guess is heading in the right direction, up.

[Eamila Bolger]

Are you the Misty Mountains above Khazad-dûm, of which Gimli says "There is the land where our fathers worked of old, and we have wrought the image of those mountains into many works of metal and of stone, and into many songs and tales. They stand tall in our dreams: Baraz, Zirak, Shathûr.", in 'The Ring goes South'?
@Drífa

[Drífa]

Yes, I am the three peaks. I used this line in the riddle for the short names that Gimli (Dwarves) used, in the quote.

standing tall: yet short.
Barazinbar, Zirakzigil , Bundushathûr

Well done @Eamila Bolger! The floor is yours if you so choose.

[Eamila Bolger]

It was a great riddle @Drífa !

Let me see... I hope this is no too easy or obvious?

Those who know me, praise my beauty
My splendor is clear, but not always seen
Those who seek me, find protection
Yet it's not the royal who on me lean