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[Pervinca Took]

The sentence I referred to, which contains the answer to clue 16, IS in Book 1, but a bit later than I had thought. I've checked, and it's in 'A Knife In The Dark.'

Copying the clues onto this page:

1. Plosive meets slithery thing (we hear) on Caradhras.
2. ABBA song swallows little Beatrice. It’s exhausting!
3. Oo, they’re awful!
NEEKERBREEKERS: Cousins of Vogons? They torment with onomatopoeia!
5. Submerged stalker, or just a wet TV addict?
EMYN MUIL: Lovable rugby player loses surname and liquid, but gains an equine hybrid here, we hear!
AMON HEN: Grumble about chicken? Here?
8. ‘Lotsss of thisss in Mordor, my Preciouss!’ (he gasped).
9. Do this only for a taste of justice or a world of truth. (The twin of the last clue).
10. Nice place? No, a slum. Messed up.
11. Breathing apparatus swallows map-book, in confusion. (They’re so bad at finding people, you’d think they had, too).
12. Terror of Cirith Ungol.
13. Morning marathon around (or rather up) here – and the final one.
14. To hear these might well dement. Perhaps they were played to Frodo in Cirith Ungol?
15. Much harder than feather-beds!
16. Hateful road brings epiphany of danger – and this.
ARAGORN'S SINGING: Beren and Luthien, brought to the camp-fire by this.
DEAD MARSHES: Inanimate bogs.

[Nerwen]

Okay... I've located the "hateful road" quote, but I'm still not sure what it brings other than epiphany of danger. Hmmn. Must give it further thought.

Meanwhile- #3 raises dim memories of some early satire/critique/whatever of "Lord of the Rings" entitled something like, "Ooo, those awful ORCS". Is that it?

[Pervinca Took]

Correct! It was an article by Edmund Wilson.

Regarding clue 16, Frodo at this point, for the first time, realises his danger and something else. Look at the sentence again.

1. Plosive meets slithery thing (we hear) on Caradhras.
2. ABBA song swallows little Beatrice. It’s exhausting!
ORCS: Oo, they’re awful!
NEEKERBREEKERS: Cousins of Vogons? They torment with onomatopoeia!
5. Submerged stalker, or just a wet TV addict?
EMYN MUIL: Lovable rugby player loses surname and liquid, but gains an equine hybrid here, we hear!
AMON HEN: Grumble about chicken? Here?
8. ‘Lotsss of thisss in Mordor, my Preciouss!’ (he gasped).
9. Do this only for a taste of justice or a world of truth. (The twin of the last clue).
10. Nice place? No, a slum. Messed up.
11. Breathing apparatus swallows map-book, in confusion. (They’re so bad at finding people, you’d think they had, too).
12. Terror of Cirith Ungol.
13. Morning marathon around (or rather up) here – and the final one.
14. To hear these might well dement. Perhaps they were played to Frodo in Cirith Ungol?
15. Much harder than feather-beds!
16. Hateful road brings epiphany of danger – and this.
ARAGORN'S SINGING: Beren and Luthien, brought to the camp-fire by this.
DEAD MARSHES: Inanimate bogs.

[Nerwen]

Originally Posted by Pervinca Took

Correct! It was an article by Edmund Wilson.

Regarding clue 16, Frodo at this point, for the first time, realises his danger and something else. Look at the sentence again.

1. Plosive meets slithery thing (we hear) on Caradhras.
2. ABBA song swallows little Beatrice. It’s exhausting!
ORCS: Oo, they’re awful!
NEEKERBREEKERS: Cousins of Vogons? They torment with onomatopoeia!
5. Submerged stalker, or just a wet TV addict?
EMYN MUIL: Lovable rugby player loses surname and liquid, but gains an equine hybrid here, we hear!
AMON HEN: Grumble about chicken? Here?
8. ‘Lotsss of thisss in Mordor, my Preciouss!’ (he gasped).
9. Do this only for a taste of justice or a world of truth. (The twin of the last clue).
10. Nice place? No, a slum. Messed up.
11. Breathing apparatus swallows map-book, in confusion. (They’re so bad at finding people, you’d think they had, too).
12. Terror of Cirith Ungol.
13. Morning marathon around (or rather up) here – and the final one.
14. To hear these might well dement. Perhaps they were played to Frodo in Cirith Ungol?
15. Much harder than feather-beds!
16. Hateful road brings epiphany of danger – and this.
ARAGORN'S SINGING: Beren and Luthien, brought to the camp-fire by this.
DEAD MARSHES: Inanimate bogs.

BLACK RIDERS, then? I was thinking they were the "epiphany of danger", but that's actually a separate and slightly earlier feeling.

[Pervinca Took]

No. It's in the same sentence. Quote me the sentence, and I'll tell you if it's the right one.

[Nerwen]

Originally Posted by Pervinca Took

No. It's in the same sentence. Quote me the sentence, and I'll tell you if it's the right one.

That seems an excessive degree of spoonfeeding, Pervinca!

Is the sense of it actually "Hateful road brings epiphany of danger- and (epiphany of) this"? As opposed to "Hateful road brings epiphany of danger- and (also brings) this."

Which would make "this" HOMELESSNESS?

[Pervinca Took]

Tree-roots it is! Frodo muses that all his feather-beds have been sold to the Sackvilke-Bagginses, and that tree-roots like the one that has 'made a hole in his back' would do them good.

1. Plosive meets slithery thing (we hear) on Caradhras.
2. ABBA song swallows little Beatrice. It’s exhausting!
ORCS: Oo, they’re awful!
NEEKERBREEKERS: Cousins of Vogons? They torment with onomatopoeia!
5. Submerged stalker, or just a wet TV addict?
EMYN MUIL: Lovable rugby player loses surname and liquid, but gains an equine hybrid here, we hear!
AMON HEN: Grumble about chicken? Here?
8. ‘Lotsss of thisss in Mordor, my Preciouss!’ (he gasped).
9. Do this only for a taste of justice or a world of truth. (The twin of the last clue).
10. Nice place? No, a slum. Messed up.
11. Breathing apparatus swallows map-book, in confusion. (They’re so bad at finding people, you’d think they had, too).
12. Terror of Cirith Ungol.
13. Morning marathon around (or rather up) here – and the final one.
14. To hear these might well dement. Perhaps they were played to Frodo in Cirith Ungol?
TREE-ROOTS: Much harder than feather-beds!
HOMELESSNESS: Hateful road brings epiphany of danger – and this.
ARAGORN'S SINGING: Beren and Luthien, brought to the camp-fire by this.
DEAD MARSHES: Inanimate bogs.

[Huinesoron]

I feel like #13 could be something around Orodruin, with the 'marathon... up here... the final one' referencing Sam's repeated references to it as 'the last gasp'.

But... I can find 'run' [marathon] in multiple possible answers (Orodruin, Sammath Naur, and Sauron's Road, which would actually be my preferred answer), but can't make anything useful from the 'morning' part of the clue. 'Dawn' would be nice... but there's no W in any of my options.

Still, maybe I'm just blind, so... SAURON'S ROAD?

hS

EDIT: Is #15 just ROCK[S]? Bilbo thinks of feather-beds while sleeping in the Eyrie, and the text just gives 'the hard rock' as a description for what he's sleeping on instead. ~hS

[Pervinca Took]

Originally Posted by Huinesoron

I feel like #13 could be something around Orodruin, with the 'marathon... up here... the final one' referencing Sam's repeated references to it as 'the last gasp'.

But... I can find 'run' [marathon] in multiple possible answers (Orodruin, Sammath Naur, and Sauron's Road, which would actually be my preferred answer), but can't make anything useful from the 'morning' part of the clue. 'Dawn' would be nice... but there's no W in any of my options.

Very, very close, and spot on regarding the 'last gasp.' (Except I don't think it's exactly 'repeatedly' - Sam 'knows' it, then in the morning says it, once).
Geographically, you couldn't get any warmer.

Is #15 just ROCK[S]? Bilbo thinks of feather-beds while sleeping in the Eyrie, and the text just gives 'the hard rock' as a description for what he's sleeping on instead. ~hS

Right idea; wrong substance; wrong hobbit.

[Galadriel55]

15. Trying to recall a hobbit conversation about beds. Talan? Ent beds?

[Pervinca Took]

No, but I'll give you a clue. It concerns *one* hobbit, thinking aloud, and is, again, in Book 1.

[Galadriel55]

Another memory guess here - tree roots?

[Pervinca Took]

Accidentally edited my last post instead of quoting it, so quoting it now. Totally correct, G55, (see below), as was Nerwen about the 'double epiphany' Frodo had, about his 'homelessness and danger.'

Originally Posted by Pervinca Took

Tree-roots it is! Frodo muses thst all his featherbeds have been sold to the Sackvilke-Bagginses, and that tree-roots like the one that has 'made a hole in his back' would do them good.

1. Plosive meets slithery thing (we hear) on Caradhras.
2. ABBA song swallows little Beatrice. It’s exhausting!
ORCS: Oo, they’re awful!
NEEKERBREEKERS: Cousins of Vogons? They torment with onomatopoeia!
5. Submerged stalker, or just a wet TV addict?
EMYN MUIL: Lovable rugby player loses surname and liquid, but gains an equine hybrid here, we hear!
AMON HEN: Grumble about chicken? Here?
8. ‘Lotsss of thisss in Mordor, my Preciouss!’ (he gasped).
9. Do this only for a taste of justice or a world of truth. (The twin of the last clue).
10. Nice place? No, a slum. Messed up.
11. Breathing apparatus swallows map-book, in confusion. (They’re so bad at finding people, you’d think they had, too).
12. Terror of Cirith Ungol.
13. Morning marathon around (or rather up) here – and the final one.
14. To hear these might well dement. Perhaps they were played to Frodo in Cirith Ungol?
TREE-ROOTS: Much harder than feather-beds!
HOMELESSNESS: Hateful road brings epiphany of danger – and this.
ARAGORN'S SINGING: Beren and Luthien, brought to the camp-fire by this.
DEAD MARSHES: Inanimate bogs.

[Galadriel55]

11. Breathing apparatus inevitably suggests lung to me, and map book suggests atlas. But nothing suggests itself to have both!

[Pervinca Took]

Lung is right. The other bit is a map book (more a streetfinder, for finding your way around a town) which *may* only be called this in the UK.

[Huinesoron]

It looks like 'A-Z' is actually a brand name, though it's such a simple idea that I'm sure someone overseas has thought of it too.

Which makes #11 NAZGUL, and a very cheeky clue. ^_~

For #13, I suppose 'Crack(s) of Doom' has a 'crack of dawn' resonance, and 'doom' is the name of the mountain. So maybe that?

hS

[Pervinca Took]

1. Plosive meets slithery thing (we hear) on Caradhras.
2. ABBA song swallows little Beatrice. It’s exhausting!
ORCS: Oo, they’re awful!
NEEKERBREEKERS: Cousins of Vogons? They torment with onomatopoeia!
5. Submerged stalker, or just a wet TV addict?
EMYN MUIL: Lovable rugby player loses surname and liquid, but gains an equine hybrid here, we hear!
AMON HEN: Grumble about chicken? Here?
8. ‘Lotsss of thisss in Mordor, my Preciouss!’ (he gasped).
9. Do this only for a taste of justice or a world of truth. (The twin of the last clue).
10. Nice place? No, a slum. Messed up.
NAZGUL: Breathing apparatus swallows map-book, in confusion. (They’re so bad at finding people, you’d think they had, too).
12. Terror of Cirith Ungol.
13. Morning marathon around (or rather up) here – and the final one.
14. To hear these might well dement. Perhaps they were played to Frodo in Cirith Ungol?
TREE-ROOTS: Much harder than feather-beds!
HOMELESSNESS: Hateful road brings epiphany of danger – and this.
ARAGORN'S SINGING: Beren and Luthien, brought to the camp-fire by this.
DEAD MARSHES: Inanimate bogs.

Nazgul is correct.

You need a different synonym for 'morning.'

[Huinesoron]

Aha! AMON AMARTH is AM [morning] + marathon scrambled ['around'].

And I'm going to put in a guess of HORROR OF SHELOB for #12.

... are 8 and 9 THIRST and HUNGER, respectively? They kind of fit...

hS

[Pervinca Took]

1. Plosive meets slithery thing (we hear) on Caradhras.
2. ABBA song swallows little Beatrice. It’s exhausting!
ORCS: Oo, they’re awful!
NEEKERBREEKERS: Cousins of Vogons? They torment with onomatopoeia!
5. Submerged stalker, or just a wet TV addict?
EMYN MUIL: Lovable rugby player loses surname and liquid, but gains an equine hybrid here, we hear!
AMON HEN: Grumble about chicken? Here?
THIRST: ‘Lotsss of thisss in Mordor, my Preciouss!’ (he gasped).
HUNGER: Do this only for a taste of justice or a world of truth. (The twin of the last clue).
10. Nice place? No, a slum. Messed up.
NAZGUL: Breathing apparatus swallows map-book, in confusion. (They’re so bad at finding people, you’d think they had, too).
HORROR OF SHELOB: Terror of Cirith Ungol.
AMON AMARTH: Morning marathon around (or rather up) here – and the final one.
14. To hear these might well dement. Perhaps they were played to Frodo in Cirith Ungol?
TREE-ROOTS: Much harder than feather-beds!
HOMELESSNESS: Hateful road brings epiphany of danger – and this.
ARAGORN'S SINGING: Beren and Luthien, brought to the camp-fire by this.
DEAD MARSHES: Inanimate bogs.

Very well done!

The 'hunger' clue refers to lyrics from the song 'All That You Have Is Your Soul' by Tracy Chapman.

Gollum says there is thirst (amongst other unpleasant things) in Mordor.

Clue 14 is the odd one out. A sort of trick/cheeky clue.

Here are the full lyrics of the Tracy Chapman song. (And I've just cried listening to it again):

All That You Have Is Your Soul

Tracy Chapman

Oh my mama told me*
'Cause she say she learned the hard way*
Say she want to spare the children*
She say don't give or sell your soul away*
'Cause all that you have is your soul

Don't be tempted by the shiny apple*
Don't you eat of a bitter fruit*
Hunger only for a taste of justice*
Hunger only for a world of truth*
'Cause all that you have is your soul

I was a pretty young girl once*
I had dreams I had high hopes*
I married a man he stole my heart away*
He gave his love but what a high price I paid*
And all that you have is your soul

Don't be tempted by the shiny apple*
Don't you eat of a bitter fruit*
Hunger only for a taste of justice*
Hunger only for a world of truth*
'Cause all that you have is your soul

Why was I such a young fool*
Thought I'd make history*
Making babies was the best I could do*
Thought I'd made something that could be mine forever*
Found out the hard way one can't possess another*
And all that you have is your soul

Don't be tempted by the shiny apple*
Don't you eat of a bitter fruit*
Hunger only for a taste of justice*
Hunger only for a world of truth*
'Cause all that you have is your soul

I thought, thought that I could find a way*
To beat the system*
To make a deal and have no debts to pay*
I'd take it all take it all I'd run away*
Me for myself first class and first rate*
But all that you have is your soul

Don't be tempted by the shiny apple*
Don't you eat of a bitter fruit*
Hunger only for a taste of justice*
Hunger only for a world of truth*
'Cause all that you have is your soul

Here I am I'm waiting for a better day*
A second chance*
A little luck to come my way*
A hope to dream a hope that I can sleep again*
And wake in the world with a clear conscience and clean hands*
'Cause all that you have is your soul

Don't be tempted by the shiny apple*
Don't you eat of a bitter fruit*
Hunger only for a taste of justice*
Hunger only for a world of truth*
'Cause all that you have is your soul

Oh my mama told me*
'Cause she say she learned the hard way*
Say she want to spare the children*
She say don't give or sell your soul away*
'Cause all that you have is your soul

All that you have*
All that you have*
All that you have*
Is your soul

[Huinesoron]

Is #14 Tom Bombadil's poems, them?

... ah, and #5 is the WATCHER IN THE WATER, addicted to M(ordor)TV.

The theme almost seems to be 'obstacles faced by Frodo', except in that case 'Aragorn's singing' is bizarrely cruel.

What was faced on Caradhras? Avalanche, snow, wolves/wargs (sorta), and a Balrog. Plosives are TKPDGB, and a slithery thing could be a worm or a snake... I guess at one point they used a fire to B[E] W[O>A]RM, but that's a bit too tenuous.

Or I suppose Slowworm + T kind of makes SNOWSTORM, but again...

hS

[Pervinca Took]

1. Plosive meets slithery thing (we hear) on Caradhras.
2. ABBA song swallows little Beatrice. It’s exhausting!
ORCS: Oo, they’re awful!
NEEKERBREEKERS: Cousins of Vogons? They torment with onomatopoeia!
WATCHER IN THE WATER: Submerged stalker, or just a wet TV addict?
EMYN MUIL: Lovable rugby player loses surname and liquid, but gains an equine hybrid here, we hear!
AMON HEN: Grumble about chicken? Here?
THIRST: ‘Lotsss of thisss in Mordor, my Preciouss!’ (he gasped).
HUNGER: Do this only for a taste of justice or a world of truth. (The twin of the last clue).
10. Nice place? No, a slum. Messed up.
NAZGUL: Breathing apparatus swallows map-book, in confusion. (They’re so bad at finding people, you’d think they had, too).
HORROR OF SHELOB: Terror of Cirith Ungol.
AMON AMARTH: Morning marathon around (or rather up) here – and the final one.
14. To hear these might well dement. Perhaps they were played to Frodo in Cirith Ungol?
TREE-ROOTS: Much harder than feather-beds!
HOMELESSNESS: Hateful road brings epiphany of danger – and this.
ARAGORN'S SINGING: Beren and Luthien, brought to the camp-fire by this.
DEAD MARSHES: Inanimate bogs.

You are very close regarding the theme, and right about the connection with Frodo. (So number 1 can't be Balrog, because only Gandalf had to deal with him on Caradhras itself).

Watcher in the Water is correct.

The slithery creature often has legs, but not always. (Some kinds don't. I 've looked it up).

Bizarrely cruel? Moi? No, I just put in a few jokey, light-hearted ones, to stop the puzzle being too maudlin.

Bombadil was a good guess, but I am referring to songs I personally find hilarious, and which have afforded me some of my most enjoyable moments in Tolkien fandom. But some people can't bear to hear them.

[Pervinca Took]

I guess at one point they used a fire to B[E] W[O>A]RM, but that's a bit too tenuous.

Really, Hs!

Made me smile, though.

P.S. I tend to use 'plosive' for P and B, and 'dental plosive' or 'dental sound' for D and T. And 'velar consonant' for K, hard C and hard G.

[Nerwen]

Blizzard?

[Pervinca Took]

BLIZZARD: Plosive meets slithery thing (we hear) on Caradhras.
2. ABBA song swallows little Beatrice. It’s exhausting!
ORCS: Oo, they’re awful!
NEEKERBREEKERS: Cousins of Vogons? They torment with onomatopoeia!
WATCHER IN THE WATER: Submerged stalker, or just a wet TV addict?
EMYN MUIL: Lovable rugby player loses surname and liquid, but gains an equine hybrid here, we hear!
AMON HEN: Grumble about chicken? Here?
THIRST: ‘Lotsss of thisss in Mordor, my Preciouss!’ (he gasped).
HUNGER: Do this only for a taste of justice or a world of truth. (The twin of the last clue).
10. Nice place? No, a slum. Messed up.
NAZGUL: Breathing apparatus swallows map-book, in confusion. (They’re so bad at finding people, you’d think they had, too).
HORROR OF SHELOB: Terror of Cirith Ungol.
AMON AMARTH: Morning marathon around (or rather up) here – and the final one.
14. To hear these might well dement. Perhaps they were played to Frodo in Cirith Ungol?
TREE-ROOTS: Much harder than feather-beds!
HOMELESSNESS: Hateful road brings epiphany of danger – and this.
ARAGORN'S SINGING: Beren and Luthien, brought to the camp-fire by this.
DEAD MARSHES: Inanimate bogs.

3 clues to go!

[Nerwen]

So, for the letters we've got-

B_ONWEATH_NHA_THAD

Uh...?

[Pervinca Took]

It's much less obscure than a lot of the First Age names I've seen used as answers in this thread.

But you might want to look at the HOME books that deal with the history of the writing of the LOTR. That is where you will find it, although it is online too.

[Huinesoron]

Aha! A guess at 'Harthad' for the ending turns up BRONWE ATHAN HARTHAD, "Endurance Beyond Hope", a name given to Frodo by Gandalf. Bronwe is a variant of 'Bronwen', ie Voronwe ('Steadfast').

Where in the draft does Gandalf come up with it? It sounds like a post-Quest name, maybe?

(I'm honestly not sure if it counts as less obscure than the various First Age answers. As someone who can both name the Balrog of White Flame and say why he probably wasn't one, I'm probably not best placed to speculate. ^_^)

#2... I was about to say that it must be an anagram, because while 'little Beatrice' is probably 'bea', there's only three Abba songs starting with R, and I can't fit 'bea' into 'Rock Me', 'Rock'n'Roll Band', or 'Ring Ring'.

...

It's 'RING BEARING', isn't it?

#14: Based on the R, is this something like 'Rohirric chants'?

#10: It starts with an A... I would guess it's a nice place which is an anagram for a word meaning slum, but it could be the other way round. No guesses, though.

hS

[Pervinca Took]

BLIZZARD: Plosive meets slithery thing (we hear) on Caradhras.
RINGBEARING: ABBA song swallows little Beatrice. It’s exhausting!
ORCS: Oo, they’re awful!
NEEKERBREEKERS: Cousins of Vogons? They torment with onomatopoeia!
WATCHER IN THE WATER: Submerged stalker, or just a wet TV addict?
EMYN MUIL: Lovable rugby player loses surname and liquid, but gains an equine hybrid here, we hear!
AMON HEN: Grumble about chicken? Here?
THIRST: ‘Lotsss of thisss in Mordor, my Preciouss!’ (he gasped).
HUNGER: Do this only for a taste of justice or a world of truth. (The twin of the last clue).
A: Nice place? No, a slum. Messed up.
NAZGUL: Breathing apparatus swallows map-book, in confusion. (They’re so bad at finding people, you’d think they had, too).
HORROR OF SHELOB: Terror of Cirith Ungol.
AMON AMARTH: Morning marathon around (or rather up) here – and the final one.
R: To hear these might well dement. Perhaps they were played to Frodo in Cirith Ungol?
TREE-ROOTS: Much harder than feather-beds!
HOMELESSNESS: Hateful road brings epiphany of danger – and this.
ARAGORN'S SINGING: Beren and Luthien, brought to the camp-fire by this.
DEAD MARSHES: Inanimate bogs.

PASSWORD: BRONWE ATHAN HARTHAD ('Endurance Beyond Hope' - a name given to Frodo, post-quest, by Gandalf, in an early draft of 'The Lord Of The Rings.')

THEME: Things or experiences endured by the Ringbearer (with number 14 as a trick question/odd one out).

I don't think of it as obscure, because Frodo is not an obscure character. Also, since he's my favourite literary character, not much that's been written about him is obscure to me.

The A clue is much easier than you are making it. As the theme is endurance/suffering, and this is not one of the 'jokey' answers, think about which experience it might refer to.

[Huinesoron]

Is the A-clue AMON SUL? I think it anagrams right from 'no a slum'.

That R clue is still tripping me up. 'Dement' is such a clear key word, but the only thing it's flagging up is from Harry Potter.

hS

[Pervinca Took]

BLIZZARD: Plosive meets slithery thing (we hear) on Caradhras.
RINGBEARING: ABBA song swallows little Beatrice. It’s exhausting!
ORCS: Oo, they’re awful!
NEEKERBREEKERS: Cousins of Vogons? They torment with onomatopoeia!
WATCHER IN THE WATER: Submerged stalker, or just a wet TV addict?
EMYN MUIL: Lovable rugby player loses surname and liquid, but gains an equine hybrid here, we hear!

AMON HEN: Grumble about chicken? Here?
THIRST: ‘Lotsss of thisss in Mordor, my Preciouss!’ (he gasped).
HUNGER: Do this only for a taste of justice or a world of truth. (The twin of the last clue).
AMON SUL: Nice place? No, a slum. Messed up.
NAZGUL: Breathing apparatus swallows map-book, in confusion. (They’re so bad at finding people, you’d think they had, too).

HORROR OF SHELOB: Terror of Cirith Ungol.
AMON AMARTH: Morning marathon around (or rather up) here – and the final one.
R: To hear these might well dement. Perhaps they were played to Frodo in Cirith Ungol?
TREE-ROOTS: Much harder than feather-beds!
HOMELESSNESS: Hateful road brings epiphany of danger – and this.
ARAGORN'S SINGING: Beren and Luthien, brought to the camp-fire by this.
DEAD MARSHES: Inanimate bogs.

PASSWORD: BRONWE ATHAN HARTHAD ('Endurance Beyond Hope' - a name given to Frodo, post-quest, by Gandalf, in an early draft of 'The Lord Of The Rings').

THEME: Things or experiences endured by the Ringbearer (with number 14 as a trick question/odd one out).

Amon Sul indeed, also known as Weathertop, where Frodo received the Morgul-knife wound.

You remember me saying I didn't want to make it too maudlin? Well, I had to find four answers beginning with A, and couldn't bring myself to use 'Amputation.' So I chose three hills to get Amon ----- three times, (each connected with a wounding and/or a difficult experience), and decided to cast wicked aspersions upon Strider's vocal talents. Also, the T could have been torment of some kind, but I preferred to choose the more light-hearted 'Tree-roots.'

LAST REMAINING CLUE: Don't worry about 'dement.' It's only there because 'might well dement' is a phrase I absorbed years ago from a war poem. I think it referred to the sound of something.* The things in question here are well-known in Tolkien fandom, but were NOT written by Tolkien himself!

* I've just checked, and it's from 'Six Young Men' by Ted Hughes, one of my O Level poems. I had thought it referred to horrible war sounds that might dement, but I must have conflated that with 'The shrill demented choirs of wailing shells' from 'Anthem For Doomed Youth' by Wilfred Owen. The actual line is 'To regard this photograph might well dement,' - it *does* concern World War One, but it's about a photograph of six young men before they went to war, and how every single one of them died shortly afterwards - in the Great War. The comment means that just *looking* at this photograph could send you mad, (the subsequent slaughter being so senseless and so tragic). (None of which, however, will help you solve the last clue!)

[Pervinca Took]

When Bilbo found his shiny ring
In Gollum's cave of gloooooom,
He didn't know that it would turn
Into a ring of doooooooooommmm.
The dwarves, the elves, the wizards too,
The goblins, the elven-king -
They came to know the power of
The hobbit and his ring:

Frodooooooo of the niiiiiiiiine fingers
And the Ring of Doooooom:
It started with a hobbit
In Gollum's cave of gloooooom.

[Galadriel55]

Ridiculously heroic music? Repetition of the same song over and over again?

[Pervinca Took]

I really can't give much more than I gave in my last post.

[Huinesoron]

... is that from the Rankin-Bass RotK soundtrack?

I would say 'that must be' etc, but given the existence of the legendary Ballad of Bilbo Baggins, it's never a sure thing.

hS

[Pervinca Took]

BLIZZARD: Plosive meets slithery thing (we hear) on Caradhras.
RINGBEARING: ABBA song swallows little Beatrice. It’s exhausting!
ORCS: Oo, they’re awful!
NEEKERBREEKERS: Cousins of Vogons? They torment with onomatopoeia!
WATCHER IN THE WATER: Submerged stalker, or just a wet TV addict?
EMYN MUIL: Lovable rugby player loses surname and liquid, but gains an equine hybrid here, we hear!

AMON HEN: Grumble about chicken? Here?
THIRST: ‘Lotsss of thisss in Mordor, my Preciouss!’ (he gasped).
HUNGER: Do this only for a taste of justice or a world of truth. (The twin of the last clue).
AMON SUL: Nice place? No, a slum. Messed up.
NAZGUL: Breathing apparatus swallows map-book, in confusion. (They’re so bad at finding people, you’d think they had, too).

HORROR OF SHELOB: Terror of Cirith Ungol.
AMON AMARTH: Morning marathon around (or rather up) here – and the final one.
RANKIN-BASS SONGS: To hear these might well dement. Perhaps they were played to Frodo in Cirith Ungol?
TREE-ROOTS: Much harder than feather-beds!
HOMELESSNESS: Hateful road brings epiphany of danger – and this.
ARAGORN'S SINGING: Beren and Luthien, brought to the camp-fire by this.
DEAD MARSHES: Inanimate bogs.

PASSWORD: BRONWE ATHAN HARTHAD ('Endurance Beyond Hope' - a name given to Frodo, post-quest, by Gandalf, in an early draft of 'The Lord Of The Rings').

THEME: Things or experiences endured by the Ringbearer (with number 14 as a trick question/odd one out).

Rankin-Bass songs it is.

And over to Huinesoron!

[Galadriel55]

Hui?

[Huinesoron]

I'm trying, I'm trying. A couple of the clues are proving difficult to put together.

hS

[Huinesoron]

All right then, here we go:

1. - If three (3) is company, then what is five (4)?
2. - Twixt dark below and dark above, below & between.
3. - + 60, -10, still stepping out of the same door.
4. - A place of first meetings, lingering glances, and (nearly) last farewells.
5. - Twenty-second in the line.
6. - A bit sweet, but backward, and if I gave a direct clue it would probably be crude.
7. - Elvish ... and a trio of Beornings.
8. - Gondor calls, "The flaming cursor!"
9. - Not new, not two, not race, not safe.
10. - They could make almost a Hobbit sequel, but Warwick is necessary first.
11. - With a name, he's a stalker above all others; without his name, sing who he is.
12. - Left behind; his namesake is on the Barrow-downs though.
13. - Scrambled in an anagram: retained in the taproom.
14. - Singular, lost in Ladros, in a house by the river.
15. - Bilbo passed, and the Age removed
16. - Before they were grey, they served still.

Yeah... some of these are probably easier than others, and some of them are certainly more robust clues.

hS

[Pervinca Took]

1. Conspiracy?

(4 when Sam dries up).

3. Fifty, the age Bilbo and Frodo step out of their door, so to speak? Or maybe Ringbearer, for the two of them?

4. Bree?

[Pervinca Took]

Cabed Naeramarth?

Whoops! No. Got the B in the wrong place.