Character Trivia

[Mekor Karun]

Alright, since no one seems willing to take the helm, i suppose i will. Where were the Palantiri when Frodo first set out from Hobbiton?

[Pitchwife]

One in the tower of Elostirion on Emyn Beraid, two lost in the Icebay of Forochel, one in Orthanc, one in Minas Tirith, one lost in the waters of Anduin, one in Barad-dûr.

[The Might]

I fully agree with Pitchwife, I'm just pointing out here that since you have not specified that these must be the palantiri of M-e one could also add the Master-stone in the Tower of Avallone on Tol Eressea.

[Mekor Karun]

BIngo, Pitchwife, and good point, the might. Pitchwife's turn.

[Pitchwife]

Thanks!
Name a one-eyed, limping Dwarf.

[The Might]

Wow, seriously, I don't know if this is too easy and I'm just too dumb to notice the obivous answer, or if it's that hard that I just don't know enough lore, but I cannot come up with any answer for this.

A small hint perhaps?

[Pitchwife]

Hint: he's quite prominent, but his physical handicap is only mentioned once. In LotR.

[The Might]

Wow, Pitchwife, you never stop amazing me! Without the tip for LotR I still would be searching.

The answer is Thráin II, who was injured at the battle of Azanulbizar.

None the less in the morning Thráin stood before them. He had one eye blinded beyond cure, and he was halt with a leg-wound; but he said: 'Good! We have the victory. Khazad-dûm is ours! ' ~ Appendix A of LotR, Durin's Folk

I'll have to dig through the books long and hard to find something matching this question!

[Pitchwife]

Correct, of course! And don't think I doubted for a moment that you'd get it.
(Want to know how I came up with this? Opened the book on a random page and picked the first detail that looked obscure enough. Maybe you'd like to try the method...)

[The Might]

Who could help Elves heading south?

I have by the way used the method you suggested and it was the best I could come up with given the page I was on.

And also, Pitchwife, I like your sig!

[The Might]

Nobody? Want some help?

[Pitchwife]

I've got an idea... Elves heading south, as in, Tuor and the exiles of Gondolin on their march to Sirion's Mouth via Nan-tathren? In this case, the helper would be Ulmo, whose power was in the great stream and protected them (or words to that effect). Is that it?

[The Might]

Well, the answer does indeed make sense, but it's not what I had in mind.

I'm thinking Third Age.

[Pitchwife]

Ah... then maybe the Elves are Amrod, Nimrodel and company heading from Lórien to Edhellond? UT, History of Galadriel and Celeborn:

'If she [Nimrodel] came through the settled lands of Gondor', they said, 'she would not be molested, and might receive help; for the Men of Gondor are good[...]'

So the answer would simply be 'Men of Gondor'?

[The Might]

You apparently have a palantir of your own with which to find the answer within the works.

I have not expected this to go this quickly... thread is yours!

[Pitchwife]

Originally Posted by The Might

You apparently have a palantir of your own with which to find the answer within the works.

Grrr...you found me out!
Apparently Feanor had his apprentices make some small-scale models in imitation of the stones he made himself. Don't ask me how they survived all the cataclysms of the intervening ages, but occasionally they're still sold as marbles at car-boot sales - that's where I got mine. Works perfectly, but it hurts your eyes trying to read a book in it.

Speaking of books:
Which person of royalty was famous for making books with his own hands?

[The Might]

Hmm...

The only that I can come up with right now is Merry.

The first part - he was "royalty" I guess since he was the Master of Buckland after all, and part of the ruling house of Buckland.

The second part - from all the people that I could think of he is the only one that made several books, all other "royalties" wrote just one for example Elendil with the Akallabêth. Merry at least wrote the Herblore of the Shire, Old Words and Names in the Shire, the Reckoning of Years and contributed to the Tale of Years.

[Pitchwife]

Nice thought about Merry, but sorry, no. You've got to think of somebody way more exalted - I do mean royalty as in 'a house of kings'.
Elendil, although he wrote only that one book (that we know of), is warmer.

[The Might]

Ha-ha, I found it! Thing is I was concetrating on books that we know more of, such as those written by Merry, but I realised that it's not really necessary to know what the books were exactly.

As such, the answer seems to be Tar-Elendil (so that's why Elendil was so "warm" ), of whom the following is said in the UT, The Line of Elros: Kings of Númenor:

He was also called Parmaitë, for with his own hand he made many books and legends of the lore gathered by his grandfather.

[Pitchwife]

See? You don't need a palantír after all! Tar-Elendil it is. Take it away!

(Btw, you realize we two have been playing ping-pong with this thread for over a month now? I wonder where everybody else is - hopefully we haven't scared them away?!)

[The Might]

Yes, you're right about the ping-pong part, but I used to have that with Legate a lot, after a while others will join in, it's always like that.

Who grabbed her spouse by the beard?

I was trying to go with "its spouse" but I realised it would be pointless.

[Legate of Amon Lanc]

Nah, obvious! Silly me was thinking about it for several minutes, thinking who the heck could that have been, whether some Morwen or whoever (trying to figure out which Men had beards), but of course it's Goldberry.

[The Might]

I start suspecting that Legate is in fact Voldemort. I just happen to say his name in here and POOF! he already gives a correct answer.

[Legate of Amon Lanc]

Originally Posted by The Might

I start suspecting that Legate is in fact Voldemort. I just happen to say his name in here and POOF! he already gives a correct answer.

Mu ha ha ha ha ha ha!

*Makes a Horcrux out of the 'Downs* (Hey, that would be cool, wouldn't it? I'd like to see poor Harry try to destroy it - no chance!)

Ha, I haven't been doing this for a long time. Sooo... let's try it this way.

Who had cast his/her own greatest and most beloved treasure into a pit?

[Loslote]

Maglor cast the Silmaril into a pit when he realized that he no longer had a claim to it.

[Legate of Amon Lanc]

Good try (and welcome to the 'Downs btw!), and I might also add that it surprises me that it took so long for somebody to try this answer, because I have been expecting it far more early. However, as you might have figured from my way of writing, this is not the answer I am looking for. Because, actually, the person who cast the Silmaril into a pit was Maedhros, not Maglor, but neither of the names is the correct answer for this question anyway. Because Maglor cast his Silmaril into the Sea, not into a pit, whereas Maedhros cast himself into the pit along with the Silmaril. And the person who I am talking about didn't cast itself in there, just the abovementioned "his/her own greatest and most beloved treasure".

(I think it could also be argued whether the Silmaril could be called their "most beloved treasure" at the time.)

But do not let the unsuccessful attempt scare you away It is nice to see "new blood" in the Quiz Room.

[Mnemosyne]

Could also be argued that Sam's pans weren't his most prized possession (after all, he kept Galadriel's dirt) at the time when he pitched them into that pit in Mordor... but that's what came to mind for me...

So count that as a guess.

[Legate of Amon Lanc]

And indeed that's what I meant. Good! Take the thread, Mnemo.

As for the dirt, good point, I didn't think of that. But anyway, it could truly be argued, but Sam had a really hard time parting with his pans, and certainly it had been his most prized possession for all the journey before he got Galadriel's gift, and for all his former life, it seems.

[Mnemosyne]

Originally Posted by Legate of Amon Lanc

And indeed that's what I meant. Good! Take the thread, Mnemo.

As for the dirt, good point, I didn't think of that. But anyway, it could truly be argued, but Sam had a really hard time parting with his pans, and certainly it had been his most prized possession for all the journey before he got Galadriel's gift, and for all his former life, it seems.

And depending on how you define "possession"... well, Sam certainly wasn't going to pitch his master into the crevasse...

Although that's a really funny mental picture.

It'll take a bit but I'll figure out something.

[Mnemosyne]

Who is really good with accents?

[Legate of Amon Lanc]

Okay, I am really wondering about this one. Let me try a blind shot: Haldir?

[The Might]

You mean accents as in different manners of pronunciation, right?

EDIT: Maybe someone like Pengolodh would know a lot about accents.

[Mnemosyne]

No to either, although I can bet that Pengolodh would be good at such. This one's based off an explicit canonical statement.

[The Might]

Well... you say it is a canonical statement... the only thing that could fit this and that came to mind is Beregond's statement to the hobbits:

Hobbit?’ said Beregond.
‘That is what we call ourselves,’ said Pippin.
‘I am glad to learn it,’ said Beregond, ‘for now I may say that strange accents do not mar fair speech, and hobbits are a fair-spoken folk.

The fact that Beregond could say that strange accents do not mar fair speech means that he had some insight into accents. Anyway, besides him I can't think of anyone else, except maybe some Elvish loremaster.

[Legate of Amon Lanc]

Okay, so let me make just a blind shot, in case Miggy didn't get it right and until I think of something better. How about Galadriel? All this pronounciation of Dwarven names or whatnot? But that's probably not it anyway.

[Mnemosyne]

To clarify:

By "good at accents" I don't mean being able to recognize them: I mean being able to mimic them.

And you're looking in the wrong part of the text for the statement.

[Morsul the Dark]

Saruman;

Gandalf to Gimli "And how would you know that? he could like me to you should it suit his purpose his voice(At this point I'm paraphrasing) has a deep magic and power in it.

[Mnemosyne]

Power, yes.

Accents, not necessarily.

[Morsul the Dark]

Oh man!... It's there it's there...and it's gone...

Wait it's floating and... Merry I for some unknown reason seem to recall a staement about him copying voices.

[Mnemosyne]

Originally Posted by Morsul the Dark

Oh man!... It's there it's there...and it's gone...

Wait it's floating and... Merry I for some unknown reason seem to recall a staement about him copying voices.

...And I don't. Sorry; if it's there that's not the one I had in mind.