Lord of the Rings Fanatics Plaza

Ah of course it’s the “Back Door” in the lonely mountain that opens on sunset of Durin’s Day. From The Hobbit, of course.

“ There on the grey stone in the grass was an enormous thrush, nearly coal black, its pale yellow breast freckled dark spots. Crack! It had caught a snail and was knocking it on the stone. Crack! Crack! Suddenly Bilbo understood. […] Then suddenly when their hope was lowest a red ray of the sun escaped like a finger through a rent in the cloud. A gleam of light came straight through the opening into the bay and fell on the smooth rock-face. The old thrush, who had been watching from a high perch with beady eyes and head cocked on one side, gave a sudden trill. There was a loud attack. A flake of rock split from the wall and fell. A hole appeared suddenly about three feet from the ground.” (The Hobbit, On the Doorstep)

@Romeran : correct!

When first seen I appear like a hobbit wearing a ring, - When first seen it is hidden, even invisible.
With no marks on me, though I am a marked thing. - The door is marked by a rune on the Map.
I hold neither jewels, beer, nor star, - I was just trying to get a rhyme with jar.
But you’ll know what I am when you see I’m a jar. - As you spotted, a pun here: point is that a hidden door becomes visible the moment it begins to open, so a hidden door that is ajar is seen for what it is.
The instructions you need by day you won't see, - Instructions for opening are on the Map but in moon-letters.
But hark the sound of the snail, one, two, then three. - The thrush, indeed.

The floor is yours once again, Romeran.

it's the bloody Hidden Door!

<Edit: Blast I was distracted for two seconds!>

Sorceress wrote: ↑Tue Feb 08, 2022 6:39 am it's the bloody Hidden Door!

<Edit: Blast I was distracted for two seconds!>

Since you got it but for a simul and I’ve already written (poorly) far too many of these riddles. I would like to concede the floor to @Sorceress who not only guessed it too but whose thrush comment led me to the conclusion.

Romeran wrote: ↑Tue Feb 08, 2022 6:42 am

Sorceress wrote: ↑Tue Feb 08, 2022 6:39 am it's the bloody Hidden Door!

<Edit: Blast I was distracted for two seconds!>

Since you got it but for a simul and I’ve already written (poorly) far too many of these riddles. I would like to concede the floor to @Sorceress who not only guessed it too but whose thrush comment led me to the conclusion.

Based on Romeran's last riddle, I would like to second his suggestion. [insert appropriate smilie so Romeran is not - too - offended]

You are far too kind my friends, but I will come up with a limerick all the same (because why have conventional poetic forms?)

Poetically, I'm called the Flammifer
But that needn't make you suffer
Look for me in the morning
For in the darkness I will take warning
And remember me in the songs of the troubadour

As ever, Middle-earth related

Where now is gone my morning star?
Where now my sun? Its beams are fled.
Though at high noon it held afar
Its course above my humble head,
Yet gentle evening came, and then
It stoop'd from high to comfort me;
And I forgot its late disdain,
In transport living joyfully.

Side door to the Lonely Mountain (Erebor)?

*Oh, sorry it has already been answered. My bad for not refreshing the page before...


So which one is the new riddle...

Aranadhel wrote: ↑Tue Feb 08, 2022 9:00 am Side door to the Lonely Mountain (Erebor)?

*Oh, sorry it has already been answered. My bad for not refreshing the page before...


So which one is the new riddle...

All three of you got it pretty much at the same time.

@Sorceress asked the next riddle and the rhyme i then posted is my answer - which, simply put is Earendil as the Morning Star, but googling Morning Star and Troubador got me the rhyme that i posted as an answer. (I really should not have done so because i am now way behind on my work but if i am right will spend the next few hours thinking of another riddle!)

I guess you got it right, buddy...

Shall await your next riddle then..

@Chrysophylax Dives, you got it! Limericks are hard to shove Legendarium into so in the end I suppose it was quite obvious. You're reign of terror begins again!

It is possible I only have one riddle in me; or at least, I need time to come up with another good one. So, after all my snorting at @Romeran for his feeble descriptive rhyme, here is my own feeble descriptive rhyme:

At the start of this story there are nine and seven,
Telling the tale of a line of succession,
Green that looks white, always minded like snow.
Forgetting not those who rest down below.
Not haunted these but a sign of our mortal fate.
At the end of the story there are now nine and eight.

(By the way, and utterly unrelated to this thread, @Sorceress, always on the look out for something to read I earlier bought some collected short stories of Blackwood, who I never read before. Just been reading one now as I put my daughter to sleep - real good writing, the hairs on my arms are still standing on end. @Everyone else: apologies for this digression.)

@Chrysophylax Dives, is the answer Barrowfield, where lie the dead kings of Rohan in their rows ? Green mounds dressed in white flowers ?

@Ercassie, you are correct. "And now there were eight mounds on the east-side of the Barrowfield." (ROTK). The floor is yours.

Thank you. I liked that riddle. It inspired just the right measure of thinking and enjoyment. My own are either far too easy or far too difficult. But here we go again - Middle Earth related of course :

Bound in chains, still none can stand against me
Conceived in dark, dressed in sorcery.
Mighty am I that need droves to drive me
Both monster and weapon though I be.
Largest of my kind I am renowned for
Fire I endure unlike a tree.
I tried more than once to make an impact
In the end though, you will break, not me.

I am sorry to say no, Aiks. Glaurung is a good guess, but not the answer I am looking for.

Probably a bit to literal but it's not Morgoth is it? Obvious he was chained, he's considered the greatest of the Valar and was corrupted by seeking the void (dark). I guess he's not super renowned for fire and valar can't exactly be broken/defeated. Bit of a stretch, I suppose.

I'm afraid it is not Morgoth either. If it helps, the last line is once again, probably the most obvious clue.

The One Ring of Sauron?

Grond?
'Grond they named it, in memory of the Hammer of the Underworld of old.' TROTK

The One Ring and the Great Chain Angainor were both heading closer in the right direction, for the answer was a something rather than a someone.
But @Drifa has caught me out yet again ! The answer is indeed Grond, the battering ram which assaulted Minas Tirith, named after the Hammer of Morgoth of old, and biggest of it's type ever built, in the shape of the monster wolf, Carcharoth.

"Great engines crawled across the field; and in the midst was a huge ram, great as a forest-tree a hundred feet in length, swinging on mighty chains. Long had it been forging in the dark smithies of Mordor, and its hideous head, founded of black steel, was shaped in the likeness of a ravening wolf; on it spells of ruin lay. Grond they named it, in memory of the Hammer of the Underworld of old. Great beasts drew it, orcs surrounded it, and behind walked mountain-trolls to wield it. ... Upon its housing no fire would catch” “Thrice the great ram boomed. And suddenly upon the last stroke the Gate of Gondor broke.

From 'The Siege of Gondor; in ROTK

The floor is once again yours, o wise Dwarf

Thanks, Ercassie! Here is a silly little riddle. I hope it is not too puzzling. Good luck!

My wild guess: Thorin.

Ghost King of the Mountain

Cold, hot, cold. No, not the correct answers. Try again!

The Arkenstone?

Vilya, Nenya and Narya the 3 Elven Rings.

The mayor of Esgaroth perhaps?

The Seven Rings of the Dwarves?

So I heard, so I speak
Not sure I have ever heard jewels and rings speaking.

Aiks has guessed line 6 of the riddle. Try again!

Aiki wins for sure lol

Close, Aiks, but not the answer I am looking for. Hint: Who am I?

Thorin Oakenshield

Bard the bowman.

Boromir?

Nay, nay, nay and nay. Aiks has guessed line 6 of the riddle. Try again!

Smaug?

No, this is not a dragon or a hobbit speaking.

Arghhh! i know.
it is the ancient raven who gives his reed to Thorin.

the riddle of a dwarf!

Your own wisdom must decide your course; but thirteen is small remnant of the great folk of Durin that once dwelt here, and now are scattered far. If you will listen to my counsel, you will not trust the Master of the Lake-men, but rather him that shot the dragon with his bow. Bard is he, of the race of Dale, of the line of Girion; he is a grim man but true. We would see peace once more among dwarves and men and elves after the long desolation; but it may cost you dear in gold. I have spoken.

And i still have not given your name, my good dwarf.

Roäc son of Carc

One flight on from the thrush!

Yes! After hearing from the old thrush (may his feathers never fall). The Gathering Of The Clouds, The Hobbit.

The floor is yours, @Chrysophylax Dives!

Congratulations @Chrysophylax Dives

Looking forward to further madness lol