Riddles in the Dark

[Chrysophylax Dives]

We need to reinvent the riddle thread.

Why was it ever placed in the Shire? Riddles are rum, sodomy, and the lash. Adventure not fit for most Hobbits.

[Drifa]

Reinventing is good. Suppose you have a new idea for a riddle thread. Pray, tell, and share.

By the way, the 'who am I?' the riddle pertains to is a world traveller.

[Romeran]

Hmm could the riddle refer to Gandalf? The colors refer to his appearance as both Gandalf the grey and white and with a blue hat at first. Then the shaking around maybe refers to his reincarnation. And the surprise refers to Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli’s surprise when they run into Gandalf reborn?

[Drifa]

Hi ho,@Romeran! Good to see you again!
Gandalf is the answer, but I was being silly with the shaking about. The riddle was based on this quote, but your answer works, too.

All that the unsuspecting Bilbo saw that morning was an
old man with a staff. He had a tall pointed blue hat, a long
grey cloak, a silver scarf over which a white beard
hung down below his waist, and immense black boots. The Hobbit, An Unexpected Party

Yay! Your up! New riddle, if you please!

[Romeran]

@Drifa good to be back and posting. Glad to see riddles still going!

Ah the black was putting me off but the black boots duh!

I’m a considerably better guesser than riddle writer and this is probably far too easy like my usual attempts but here we go. (Middle-earth related):

Old I am, and slow to boot.
Known to few of patient mind.
In rolling hills a name you’ll find,
A fragment case of lengthy root.

[Aikári Salmarinian]

Fimbrethil?

[Romeran]

Not Fimbrethil but you’re picking up on the motif.

[Aikári Salmarinian]

Okay, Bregalad?

[Romeran]

Also not Bregalad. And before you go guessing all of the named Ents I’ll just tell you right now that the answer is not a specific Ent

[Aikári Salmarinian]

Romeran knows me too well. I was more or less planning too. Don't betray the answer, then it is not fun.

Not an Ent. Hmm, Slow to boot, old... the right motif. The elmlike Tree-man, Halfast Gamgee saw once in the North Moors?

[Romeran]

I’ll avoid giving any further hints then unless people get very stuck.

But no it is not the elmlike Treeman that Halfast allegedly (at least if you’re more inclined to side with Ted Sandyman) saw.

Keep guessing

[Romeran]

It's been a few days since a guess came in.

Just as @Drifa failed to mention the last line in their riddle I also failed to do the same. Please add:

"What am I?"

To the end, that is the answer is not a who or a where so much as a what.

[Aikári Salmarinian]

Sorry, I have been busy a few Days.

Am I alive?

[Romeran]

Was that a rhetorical question concerning your busy-ness ?

And yes by "what" I mean that the answer is not a living creature or a physical location.

[Aikári Salmarinian]

A what can be an animalsort. Okay a thing then.

Am I large of size?

[Romeran]

Am I in the “Who, What, or Where am I?” Thread and not the riddles thread?

I can add a clue later if necessary.

[Drifa]

Give us more timeses, precious. I have ideas but need more time to read. *grin*

[Aikári Salmarinian]

So as you have not confirmed the object is alive or not, it is alive I take it. As it is a what, then the wood of Fangorn?

[Romeran]

As I mentioned above “the answer is not a living creature or a physical location.” that is to say that it is not a living creature (human, animal, or otherwise) nor is it a location.

[Aikári Salmarinian]

Romeran: Okay, I am not that good with alternative yes and no. I was picking up the motif with Fimbrethil, so it is connected to the Ents, but not a particular Ent. And then it is what, not a location or a person?

The Entmoot gathering?

[Romeran]

It is not the entmoot gathering. What I meant was the theme of Ents in general was on the right track but not that it was a specific Ent. Despite your guess here being wrong, it also follows an Entish theme

[Aikári Salmarinian]

Is it the Entdrink?

[Romeran]

Not the ent-draught.

[Aikári Salmarinian]

Romeran: More things there are not to the Ents. They have no houses, use no tools, own nothing, or wear no clothes. I have to leave with this. Maybe Drifa is able to figure it out?

[Romeran]

I fear if I say any more that I'll give it away entirely! I'll add a hint later, if the struggle continues. Perhaps @Hill, @Ercassie or @Saranna want to give it a shot? Each line in the riddle is a specific reference; there's no filler here.

[Drifa]

Are you a hill?

[Saranna]

Are you all the huorns together?

[Saranna]

Or are you Orthanc?

[Ercassie]

Romeran: More things there are not to the Ents. They have no houses, use no tools, own nothing, or wear no clothes.

I am pretty sure Ents do actually have Ent-Houses, Aiks. Because if I recall, Treebeard specifically took Merry and Pippin to stay in what he called an Ent-House, during their time in Fangorn. It was a place which he suggested might be called Wellinghall, in their language, but where there were said to be alas, no chairs for the hobbits, although there was a table.

As for the riddle itself, I would tentatively venture a guess at Old Man Willow ? But I am very likely wrong and grown tree-ish in my riddle guessing. It has been a long time. Thank you @Romeran for inspiring me to even make an attempt. Nice riddle.

[Romeran]

It is not a hill, huorns, orthanc, nor old man willow.

Ok time for a small hint.

Hint: Not everything that we create is a physical object, even if we use it almost every day, although perhaps less often for Ents.

[Ercassie]

Perhaps then The Long List which Treebeard tells of ?

[Romeran]

No but you’re getting warmer. The answer is in part why the list is so long.

[Drifa]

Are you Old Entish, the ancient tongue of the Ents? "a-lalla-lalla-rumba-kamanda-lind-or-burúmë" hill.

[Romeran]

You got it @Drifa! Here are the references:

Old I am, and slow to boot.

“Old Entish as you might say. It is a lovely language, but it takes a very long time to say anything in it, because we do not say anything in it, unless it is worth taking a long time to say, and to listen to.” (TTT, my bold)

Known to few of patient mind.

“The language that they had made was unlike all others: slow, sonorous, agglomerated, repetitive, indeed longwinded; formed of a multiplicity of vowel-shades and distinctions of tone and quantity which even the loremasters of the Eldar had not attempted to represent in writing. They used it only among themselves; but they had no need to keep it secret, for no others could learn it. (Appendix F, my bold)

In rolling hills a name you’ll find,

“What are you doing in it all? I can see and hear (and smell and feel) a great deal from this, from this, from this a-lalla-lalla-rumba-kamanda-lindor-burúmë. Excuse me: that is a part of my name for it; I do not know what the word is in the outside languages: you know, the thing we are on, where I stand and look out on fine mornings, and think about the Sun, and the grass beyond the wood, and the horses, and the clouds, and the unfolding of the world. ” (TTT, my bold)

A fragment case of lengthy root.

“Except where the Hobbits seem to have made some attempts to represent the shorter murmurs and calls made by the Ents; a-lalla-lalla-rumba-kamanda-lindor-burúme also is not Elvish, and is the only extant (probably very inaccurate) attempt to represent fragment of actual Entish.” (Appendix F, my bold)

Floor is yours.

[Drifa]

Ah, that was a good riddle, Romeran! I was struggling until you gave the last hint. Thanks!

I will try and get a riddle up this weekend.

[Drifa]

If anyone would like to post a riddle, please do so. I appear to be all riddled out. *grin*

[Ephtariat]

He has strong teeth but does not eat,
And he is not awake nor is asleep,
An animal whose calls do often rhyme,
And what he hunts offends him more than crime

[Ephtariat]

This is taken from my forthcoming fantasy novel "The Fall of the Kingdom", the third volume in the Chronicles of Arlen trilogy

[Drifa]

So it is not M-e related, Ephtariat, right? *grin*

[Ephtariat]

It may be asked in Middle-earth :-P

[Ephtariat]

You may take this to the Halls of Injustice, though, @Drifa. I heard they're waiting for you there...

[Drifa]

we shall never surrender

Are you a river?

[Ephtariat]

Nope

[Chrysophylax Dives]

The wind?

[Ephtariat]

Nope

[Romeran]

Are you a saw?

He has strong teeth but does not eat, : saws have teeth
And he is not awake nor is asleep, : saw is an object
An animal whose calls do often rhyme, : the back and forth sound of a saw written as an onomatopoeia would rhyme
And what he hunts offends him more than crime : "boo wood!" - saws

[Ephtariat]

Not a saw

[Ephtariat]

Well? Nobody guesses it? I was wondering whether it was too easy before asking...

[Chrysophylax Dives]

Riddles are like research in this place, @Ephtariat, they can remain on the table for months and months. Just be patient and the Dwarf will get it.

[Romeran]

Is it a Comb?