The Topic Game - Page 26 - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

Sophia the Thunder Mistress · 01-23-2005, 02:45 PM

I found several references to this company, but this looked like the closest to exactly what you asked...

Quote:

For the companies were grievously reduced. Faramir had lost a third of his men. And where was he?

(from the Siege of Gondor)

So then, is the answer two-thirds?

NightKnight · 01-23-2005, 02:49 PM

Wasn't it 4?

Evisse the Blue · 01-24-2005, 08:13 AM

Firefoot - 5
Sophia the Thunder Mistress - 4
Lindolirian - 1
Nilpaurion Felagund -1
NightKnight -1

Sophia, the one you're referring to happened during the War of the Ring, while I was referring to the one that happened a year before (3018) of which Boromir speaks at the Council of Elrond:

Quote:

"I was in the company that held the bridge until it was cast down behind us. Four only were saved by swimming: my brother and myself and two others."

I now yield the thread to Firefoot.

Firefoot · 01-24-2005, 02:48 PM

Thanks, Evisse.

The next topic is Hobbit History. Let's see if I can get 10 decent questions out of this...

1. How is Shire-reckoning different from the regular dating system, and why?

Lindolirian · 01-24-2005, 03:20 PM

The years are off by 1601 years because that was the year they got permission from the King Argeleb II to move into the Shire.

Firefoot · 01-24-2005, 05:51 PM

Actually it's off by 1600 years (even though they did move in 1601 according to Appendix B) but I'll give it to you anyway.

Lindo - 1

2. What is the Angle, which branch of Hobbits moved there, and when?

Sophia the Thunder Mistress · 01-24-2005, 06:09 PM

The Angle was the land between the Hoarwell and the Loudwater, the Stoors lived there for approx. 200 years before splitting up, some to join the Bree-area hobbits and some to settle near the Gladden.

Firefoot · 01-25-2005, 03:22 PM

Absolutely.

Sophia - 1
Lindo - 1

3. Who was said to have taken a fairy wife long ago?

Lindolirian · 01-25-2005, 03:26 PM

One of the Took ancestors.

Firefoot · 01-25-2005, 03:41 PM

Lindo - 2
Sophia - 1

4. Where did the Battle of Greenfields take place?

Sophia the Thunder Mistress · 01-25-2005, 04:21 PM

In the Northfarthing of the Shire?

Assasin · 01-25-2005, 05:36 PM

In green fields?

Firefoot · 01-25-2005, 06:44 PM

Lindo - 2
Sophia - 2

Now, since y'all seem to be having such an easy time with my questions, I think I need to come up with some harder ones...

5. What evidence do we have that hobbits have always lived in holes, even before crossing the Misty Mountains?

Lindolirian · 01-25-2005, 07:05 PM

The fact that Smeagol comes from Trahald which means delver, or burrowing.

Sophia the Thunder Mistress · 01-25-2005, 08:50 PM

The fact that the Rohirric name for hobbits, holbytla, or alternatively kud-dukan means "hole-builder".

Just to add another fact...

Firefoot · 01-27-2005, 07:33 PM

Well, Sophia has the answer I was looking for, but Lindo's is along the same lines, so:

Sophia - 3
Lindo - 2.5

So unless one of you swings another half point, there can't be a tie...

6. When were the Days of Dearth?

Sophia the Thunder Mistress · 01-27-2005, 07:46 PM

Third age 2759, directly after the Long Winter?

Firefoot · 01-28-2005, 05:15 PM

Sophia - 4
Lindo - 2.5

7. By what time (more of an event than a date, but both are fine) had the hobbits divided into three branches?

Sophia the Thunder Mistress · 01-28-2005, 05:51 PM

Approx 1050, when the Harfoots crossed the Misty Mountains into Eriador?

Firefoot · 01-29-2005, 07:48 AM

Sophia - 5
Lindo - 2.5

8. Take the year Frodo was born. Add that number to the year a certain Took went off on a journey, never to return. From that, subtract the year (not in Shire-reckoning) when the Oldbucks came to occupy Buckland. Add the year in which Tobold Hornblower plants the first pipeweed in the Shire. Subtract the date (of the day, not month) that comes after Lithe. Keep that year. Take the third month that has no holidays. The day is the number of Shirriffs per Farthing times the number of hobbit branches times the number of Elf-towers that could be seen on the Tower Hills in the western marches of the Shire. What happened on this monumental date?

Evisse the Blue · 01-30-2005, 07:21 AM

Beautiful question, but very difficult!
Unfortunately what I seem to get is the birth of Daisy, one of Samwise's children..., which can hardly be qualified as a 'monumental event'. Or can it?

Firefoot · 01-30-2005, 09:28 AM

No, sorry... but it's nice to see someone other than Sophia and Lindo finally getting a chance to answer. (Seems like one of them is always online when I am.

)

Sophia the Thunder Mistress · 01-30-2005, 09:57 PM

March 27, 3019 the seige of Erebor is broken?

Man I suck at math...

Sophia

Firefoot · 01-31-2005, 05:45 AM

Nope. You have the day right, though.

Sophia the Thunder Mistress · 01-31-2005, 05:57 AM

On the one date you've indicated not SR, does that mean the other dates you're looking for are in Shire Reckoning.

I was pretty sure I had the month and day... it's the year that gets me. Or do I not have the month either?

Sophe

Firefoot · 01-31-2005, 06:05 AM

The month is incorrect as well - by "has no holidays" I meant none that border the month, for example June/July would have a holiday since Lithe is between them.

For year dates, the first two are SR. The rest, including the final answer, are not.

It might help to say that the final answer does have something to do with the Topic. It's not completely random.

Evisse the Blue · 01-31-2005, 06:53 AM

So Sophia does not have the right year either? Is the correct year 3033?

Sophia the Thunder Mistress · 01-31-2005, 07:16 AM

Evisse, in my second set of calculations I got four different possible years as follows

Using Isengar Took as the journeyer, and the day after Lithe in a non-Leap-Year: 2969

Using Pippin as the journeyer, and the non-Leap-Year date: 3158

Using Isengar and Leap-Year: 2969

Using Pippin and Leap-Year: 3157

I can't find any significant dates on the 27th of any month in any of those years.

Sophia

Firefoot · 01-31-2005, 02:43 PM

Well, neither of those are the right adventurer...

The wording I used to describe him is almost identical to that which is used somewhere in the Appendices.

And now, after further double-checking, I realize I made a (not-so-)slight error. The year for the adventurer is actually the year he was born, not the year he left.

That should make it a bit easier.

Sophia the Thunder Mistress · 02-05-2005, 12:32 AM

Firefoot, I can't do maths. Help? I think even Lindo's given up...

Firefoot · 02-05-2005, 05:18 AM

Frodo's birth - 1368
Year a Took who goes off on a journey is born - Hildifons, 1244
Oldbucks occupy Buckland - 2340
Toby Hornblower plants pipeweed in the Shire - 2670
Day that comes after Lithe - 1

Should be much easier now.

Lindolirian · 02-05-2005, 10:42 AM

Quote:

I think even Lindo's given up...

Whoops. I actually forgot about it. Of course now I'd feel guilty stealing it away before Sophia had a chance to see the hint, and besides she has such a lead on me that it's virtually her thread, so I'll let her have a go at it.

But if she gets it wrong, it's all mine!!! Mwa hahaha...

Sophia the Thunder Mistress · 02-08-2005, 02:35 AM

I've figured out the year, but now the actual looking up of month and day is more effort than I have left.

Firefoot you are just mean, mean, mean.

Sophia

Lindolirian · 02-08-2005, 02:31 PM

Bilbo returns to Shire with the Ring on April (Astron) 27, 2942. Sauron also reoccupies Mordor in this year, but probably not only on April 27.

Firefoot · 02-08-2005, 02:47 PM

You are a hair off - one year to be precise.

Lindolirian · 02-08-2005, 02:53 PM

Ack. I forgot to subtract the one year cause of Lithe. Astron 27, 2941

Firefoot · 02-08-2005, 02:55 PM

And what happened on that day...?

Lindolirian · 02-08-2005, 03:00 PM

Aye yi yi. Well one year before Bilbo's return... The Unexpected Party?

Firefoot · 02-08-2005, 03:09 PM

Correctomundo!

Sophia - 5
Lindo - 3.5

9. When was the Westmarch added to the Shire?

NightKnight · 02-08-2005, 04:43 PM

Hmm, should I destroy Lindo's chances of winning...?

Ah heck, I'm egoistic. It's year 41 in the Fourth Age.

01-23-2005, 02:49 PM	#1002
NightKnight Lost among the Stars Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Hiding in Childhood (Sweden) Posts: 2,690	Wasn't it 4? __________________ There are three kinds of people in this world. Those who can count, and those who can't.

01-24-2005, 03:20 PM	#1005
Lindolirian World's Tallest Hobbit Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Where the view is long Posts: 2,117	The years are off by 1601 years because that was the year they got permission from the King Argeleb II to move into the Shire. __________________ 'They say that the One will himself enter into Arda, and heal Men and all the Marring from the beginning to the end."

01-24-2005, 06:09 PM	#1007
Sophia the Thunder Mistress Scent of Simbelmynë Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Aboard Highwind, bound for Traverse Town Posts: 1,780	The Angle was the land between the Hoarwell and the Loudwater, the Stoors lived there for approx. 200 years before splitting up, some to join the Bree-area hobbits and some to settle near the Gladden. __________________ The seasons fall like silver swords, the years rush ever onward; and soon I sail, to leave this world, these lands where I have wander'd. O Elbereth! O Queen who dwells beyond the Western Seas, spare me yet a little time 'ere white ships come for me!

01-25-2005, 03:26 PM	#1009
Lindolirian World's Tallest Hobbit Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Where the view is long Posts: 2,117	One of the Took ancestors. __________________ 'They say that the One will himself enter into Arda, and heal Men and all the Marring from the beginning to the end."

01-25-2005, 04:21 PM	#1011
Sophia the Thunder Mistress Scent of Simbelmynë Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Aboard Highwind, bound for Traverse Town Posts: 1,780	Vague, I know, but... In the Northfarthing of the Shire? __________________ The seasons fall like silver swords, the years rush ever onward; and soon I sail, to leave this world, these lands where I have wander'd. O Elbereth! O Queen who dwells beyond the Western Seas, spare me yet a little time 'ere white ships come for me!

01-24-2005, 02:48 PM	#1004
Firefoot Illusionary Holbytla Join Date: Dec 2003 Posts: 7,547	Thanks, Evisse. The next topic is Hobbit History. Let's see if I can get 10 decent questions out of this... 1. How is Shire-reckoning different from the regular dating system, and why?

01-24-2005, 05:51 PM	#1006
Firefoot Illusionary Holbytla Join Date: Dec 2003 Posts: 7,547	Actually it's off by 1600 years (even though they did move in 1601 according to Appendix B) but I'll give it to you anyway. Lindo - 1 2. What is the Angle, which branch of Hobbits moved there, and when?

01-25-2005, 03:22 PM	#1008
Firefoot Illusionary Holbytla Join Date: Dec 2003 Posts: 7,547	Absolutely. Sophia - 1 Lindo - 1 3. Who was said to have taken a fairy wife long ago?

01-25-2005, 03:41 PM	#1010
Firefoot Illusionary Holbytla Join Date: Dec 2003 Posts: 7,547	Lindo - 2 Sophia - 1 4. Where did the Battle of Greenfields take place?

01-25-2005, 05:36 PM	#1012
Assasin Wight Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: In a desert. Posts: 142	In green fields? __________________ Death is as light as a feather, duty is as heavy as a mountain.

01-25-2005, 06:44 PM	#1013
Firefoot Illusionary Holbytla Join Date: Dec 2003 Posts: 7,547	Vague, perhaps... but correct. Lindo - 2 Sophia - 2 Now, since y'all seem to be having such an easy time with my questions, I think I need to come up with some harder ones... 5. What evidence do we have that hobbits have always lived in holes, even before crossing the Misty Mountains?

01-25-2005, 07:05 PM	#1014
Lindolirian World's Tallest Hobbit Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Where the view is long Posts: 2,117	The fact that Smeagol comes from Trahald which means delver, or burrowing. __________________ 'They say that the One will himself enter into Arda, and heal Men and all the Marring from the beginning to the end."

01-25-2005, 08:50 PM	#1015
Sophia the Thunder Mistress Scent of Simbelmynë Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Aboard Highwind, bound for Traverse Town Posts: 1,780	The fact that the Rohirric name for hobbits, holbytla, or alternatively kud-dukan means "hole-builder". Just to add another fact... __________________ The seasons fall like silver swords, the years rush ever onward; and soon I sail, to leave this world, these lands where I have wander'd. O Elbereth! O Queen who dwells beyond the Western Seas, spare me yet a little time 'ere white ships come for me!

01-27-2005, 07:33 PM	#1016
Firefoot Illusionary Holbytla Join Date: Dec 2003 Posts: 7,547	Well, Sophia has the answer I was looking for, but Lindo's is along the same lines, so: Sophia - 3 Lindo - 2.5 So unless one of you swings another half point, there can't be a tie... 6. When were the Days of Dearth?

01-27-2005, 07:46 PM	#1017
Sophia the Thunder Mistress Scent of Simbelmynë Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Aboard Highwind, bound for Traverse Town Posts: 1,780	hazards a guess... Third age 2759, directly after the Long Winter? __________________ The seasons fall like silver swords, the years rush ever onward; and soon I sail, to leave this world, these lands where I have wander'd. O Elbereth! O Queen who dwells beyond the Western Seas, spare me yet a little time 'ere white ships come for me!

01-28-2005, 05:15 PM	#1018
Firefoot Illusionary Holbytla Join Date: Dec 2003 Posts: 7,547	Yes. Sophia - 4 Lindo - 2.5 7. By what time (more of an event than a date, but both are fine) had the hobbits divided into three branches?

01-28-2005, 05:51 PM	#1019
Sophia the Thunder Mistress Scent of Simbelmynë Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Aboard Highwind, bound for Traverse Town Posts: 1,780	Approx 1050, when the Harfoots crossed the Misty Mountains into Eriador? __________________ The seasons fall like silver swords, the years rush ever onward; and soon I sail, to leave this world, these lands where I have wander'd. O Elbereth! O Queen who dwells beyond the Western Seas, spare me yet a little time 'ere white ships come for me!

01-29-2005, 07:48 AM	#1020
Firefoot Illusionary Holbytla Join Date: Dec 2003 Posts: 7,547	Sophia - 5 Lindo - 2.5 8. Take the year Frodo was born. Add that number to the year a certain Took went off on a journey, never to return. From that, subtract the year (not in Shire-reckoning) when the Oldbucks came to occupy Buckland. Add the year in which Tobold Hornblower plants the first pipeweed in the Shire. Subtract the date (of the day, not month) that comes after Lithe. Keep that year. Take the third month that has no holidays. The day is the number of Shirriffs per Farthing times the number of hobbit branches times the number of Elf-towers that could be seen on the Tower Hills in the western marches of the Shire. What happened on this monumental date?

01-30-2005, 07:21 AM	#1021
Evisse the Blue Brightness of a Blade Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: wherever I may roam Posts: 2,685	Beautiful question, but very difficult! Unfortunately what I seem to get is the birth of Daisy, one of Samwise's children..., which can hardly be qualified as a 'monumental event'. Or can it? __________________ And no one was ill, and everyone was pleased, except those who had to mow the grass.

01-30-2005, 09:28 AM	#1022
Firefoot Illusionary Holbytla Join Date: Dec 2003 Posts: 7,547	No, sorry... but it's nice to see someone other than Sophia and Lindo finally getting a chance to answer. (Seems like one of them is always online when I am. )

01-30-2005, 09:57 PM	#1023
Sophia the Thunder Mistress Scent of Simbelmynë Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Aboard Highwind, bound for Traverse Town Posts: 1,780	March 27, 3019 the seige of Erebor is broken? Man I suck at math... Sophia __________________ The seasons fall like silver swords, the years rush ever onward; and soon I sail, to leave this world, these lands where I have wander'd. O Elbereth! O Queen who dwells beyond the Western Seas, spare me yet a little time 'ere white ships come for me!

01-31-2005, 05:45 AM	#1024
Firefoot Illusionary Holbytla Join Date: Dec 2003 Posts: 7,547	Nope. You have the day right, though.

01-31-2005, 05:57 AM	#1025
Sophia the Thunder Mistress Scent of Simbelmynë Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Aboard Highwind, bound for Traverse Town Posts: 1,780	On the one date you've indicated not SR, does that mean the other dates you're looking for are in Shire Reckoning. I was pretty sure I had the month and day... it's the year that gets me. Or do I not have the month either? Sophe __________________ The seasons fall like silver swords, the years rush ever onward; and soon I sail, to leave this world, these lands where I have wander'd. O Elbereth! O Queen who dwells beyond the Western Seas, spare me yet a little time 'ere white ships come for me!

01-31-2005, 06:05 AM	#1026
Firefoot Illusionary Holbytla Join Date: Dec 2003 Posts: 7,547	The month is incorrect as well - by "has no holidays" I meant none that border the month, for example June/July would have a holiday since Lithe is between them. For year dates, the first two are SR. The rest, including the final answer, are not. It might help to say that the final answer does have something to do with the Topic. It's not completely random.

01-31-2005, 06:53 AM	#1027
Evisse the Blue Brightness of a Blade Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: wherever I may roam Posts: 2,685	So Sophia does not have the right year either? Is the correct year 3033? __________________ And no one was ill, and everyone was pleased, except those who had to mow the grass.

01-31-2005, 07:16 AM	#1028
Sophia the Thunder Mistress Scent of Simbelmynë Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Aboard Highwind, bound for Traverse Town Posts: 1,780	Evisse, in my second set of calculations I got four different possible years as follows Using Isengar Took as the journeyer, and the day after Lithe in a non-Leap-Year: 2969 Using Pippin as the journeyer, and the non-Leap-Year date: 3158 Using Isengar and Leap-Year: 2969 Using Pippin and Leap-Year: 3157 I can't find any significant dates on the 27th of any month in any of those years. Sophia __________________ The seasons fall like silver swords, the years rush ever onward; and soon I sail, to leave this world, these lands where I have wander'd. O Elbereth! O Queen who dwells beyond the Western Seas, spare me yet a little time 'ere white ships come for me!

01-31-2005, 02:43 PM	#1029
Firefoot Illusionary Holbytla Join Date: Dec 2003 Posts: 7,547	Well, neither of those are the right adventurer... The wording I used to describe him is almost identical to that which is used somewhere in the Appendices. And now, after further double-checking, I realize I made a (not-so-)slight error. The year for the adventurer is actually the year he was born, not the year he left. That should make it a bit easier.

02-05-2005, 12:32 AM	#1030
Sophia the Thunder Mistress Scent of Simbelmynë Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Aboard Highwind, bound for Traverse Town Posts: 1,780	a plea Firefoot, I can't do maths. Help? I think even Lindo's given up... __________________ The seasons fall like silver swords, the years rush ever onward; and soon I sail, to leave this world, these lands where I have wander'd. O Elbereth! O Queen who dwells beyond the Western Seas, spare me yet a little time 'ere white ships come for me!

02-05-2005, 05:18 AM	#1031
Firefoot Illusionary Holbytla Join Date: Dec 2003 Posts: 7,547	Some help. Frodo's birth - 1368 Year a Took who goes off on a journey is born - Hildifons, 1244 Oldbucks occupy Buckland - 2340 Toby Hornblower plants pipeweed in the Shire - 2670 Day that comes after Lithe - 1 Should be much easier now. Last edited by Firefoot; 02-05-2005 at 05:27 AM.

02-08-2005, 02:35 AM	#1033
Sophia the Thunder Mistress Scent of Simbelmynë Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Aboard Highwind, bound for Traverse Town Posts: 1,780	Take it if you know, Lindo. I've figured out the year, but now the actual looking up of month and day is more effort than I have left. Firefoot you are just mean, mean, mean. Sophia __________________ The seasons fall like silver swords, the years rush ever onward; and soon I sail, to leave this world, these lands where I have wander'd. O Elbereth! O Queen who dwells beyond the Western Seas, spare me yet a little time 'ere white ships come for me!

02-08-2005, 02:31 PM	#1034
Lindolirian World's Tallest Hobbit Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Where the view is long Posts: 2,117	Couldn't have gotten it without the hints though... Bilbo returns to Shire with the Ring on April (Astron) 27, 2942. Sauron also reoccupies Mordor in this year, but probably not only on April 27. __________________ 'They say that the One will himself enter into Arda, and heal Men and all the Marring from the beginning to the end."

02-08-2005, 02:47 PM	#1035
Firefoot Illusionary Holbytla Join Date: Dec 2003 Posts: 7,547	You are a hair off - one year to be precise.

02-08-2005, 02:53 PM	#1036
Lindolirian World's Tallest Hobbit Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Where the view is long Posts: 2,117	Ack. I forgot to subtract the one year cause of Lithe. Astron 27, 2941 __________________ 'They say that the One will himself enter into Arda, and heal Men and all the Marring from the beginning to the end."

02-08-2005, 02:55 PM	#1037
Firefoot Illusionary Holbytla Join Date: Dec 2003 Posts: 7,547	And what happened on that day...?

02-08-2005, 03:00 PM	#1038
Lindolirian World's Tallest Hobbit Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Where the view is long Posts: 2,117	Aye yi yi. Well one year before Bilbo's return... The Unexpected Party? __________________ 'They say that the One will himself enter into Arda, and heal Men and all the Marring from the beginning to the end."