The Revived Tolkien Trivia

[farntfar]

Thank you Cat's. But don't just watch. Keep playing!

So Arwen's grave is the mound of whom?
And who is buried in the mound of Arwen?

 

[Grimward]

So, now I retire to the more passive role of observer.

Nonsense. You messed nothing up, and I at least could never be described as functioning like a well-oiled machine. Please toss your hand, gauntlet, two cents, etc. in the fray as often as the spirit moves you.

 

[farntfar]

Grim's right, Cat's. You didn't muck up.
This is the Chrons.
The only way to muck up is to be deliberately malicious. And ain't noone gonna accuse you of that.

Now. Back to the question.
Please note that some or all of the words are translations to/for/by/with or from an ancient language.

 

[hopewrites]

*scoots over on the observers bench*


*passes popcorn*

 

[farntfar]

Go on Hope.
You can do this, even with you books in an unnamed box.

 

[Cat's Cradle]

Thanks all....and thanks for making room, Hope!

Sad truth is that I am an observer more from poor memory, than shyness. But I promise, should something spark in the old grey matter in the future, and I think I can make a fair guess without embarrassing myself, I will gladly and boldly shout forth an answer! Meanwhile, I'll enjoy the thread, and lurk for a spell in the shadows. CC

 

[farntfar]

Well I've just the question for you, next time it's my turn to ask then, Cat's.

 

[Grimward]

Have to ask a clarification, far, as to whether the ancient language in question originated with Tolkien's works or in the wider world beyond (ie, actual ancient language).

 

[farntfar]

All languages involved are either English or one of Tolkien's own, Grim.
Sorry I wasn't clearer. (Greek, Latin, Aramaic etc are not involved)

 

[farntfar]

You need a clue?

How the heck do you expect me to give you that.
Honestly I'm beyond carin'.

 

[Grimward]

I have (and had) the first part (or at least think that I do!). Still working on the 2nd (but it's been crazy long hours for work this week), so no worries; I've not abandoned you to the cricket chorus....

(hmmm, I should clarify that the cricket chorus is my thinking on the thunderous silence that descends here when there are no nibbles at the challenge; as such, the phrase should not be construed as commentary on any of the members of this august assemblage!)

 

[farntfar]

Those clues are phonetic, by the way, and in the wrong order; but I expect you already worked that out Grim.

 

[Grimward]

Another merry chase, far. Hoping I've got this right:

So Arwen's grave is the mound of whom?

Arwen's grave is the Mound of Amroth.

'Behold! You are come to Cerin Amroth,' said Haldir. 'For this is the heart of the ancient realm as it was long ago, and here is the mound of Amroth, where in happier days his high house was built.'

The Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring, Book Two, Chapter VI, Lothlorien.

'There at last when the mallorn-leaves were falling, but spring had not yet come, she laid herself to rest upon Cerin Amroth; and there is her green grave, until the world is changed, and all the days of her life are utterly forgotten by men that come after, and elanor and niphredil bloom no more east of the Sea.'

The Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King, Appendix A-I.

And who is buried in the mound of Arwen?

The Mound of Arwen is the burial place of Haleth

Barrow is an ancient name for grave, or "Mound", both in Tolkien and in real life. In the ancient Sindarin language, however, "mound" translates to "haudh", and "Arwen" translates to "lady"...?

"And Haleth dwelt in Brethil until she died; and her people raised a green mound over her in the heights of the forest, Tûr Haretha, the Ladybarrow, Haudh-en-Arwen in the Sindarin tongue."

The Silmarillion, Quenta Silmarillion, Chapter XVII, Of the Coming of Men into the West

 

[Cat's Cradle]

Wow, that's very impressive, Grim. I'm still watching the thread, btw...but I'm realizing how poor my memory of the specifics of the book are. May I ask...you guys have read the books so often that you must have most of the text memorized, huh? If so...just wow. If anyone ever thinks to ask the names of the three Hobbits who set out with Frodo at the beginning of The Fellowship of the Ring, I will absolutely set down an answer...guess..? Love the thread! CC

 

[goldhawk]

No, I haven't read them often, only about 30 times or so.

 

[farntfar]

All correct Grim.

And hence my poor phonetic clues
How the (Haudh) heck do you expect me to give you that.
Honestly I'm beyond carin'(Cerin).

Well done.

As for knowing it word for word, it's not so for me Cat's, but I'm not sure about Grim and some of the others.
But I do enjoy the language bits. (and use the appendices at the end of the Silmarillion quite a lot in some of my questions.)

So a bell from the barrowdowns to you, Grim, and the next question.

 

[Grimward]

The entire text, memorized?

*gasp*

There are folks who have that eidetic memory thing going on, but I had to look up the mere spelling of the word (and so too apparently does my spell-checker ); in short, I'm not one of them. Like Sir Goldhawk, however, I have read the trilogy many times (it might be in that same 30ish neighborhood...I've really lost count!), so I do remember that there ARE references, and it's not uncommon that I recall the general "neighborhood" where the quote might be found . After that, my searches are the same enjoyable slog thru the books to find the quote(s) that I expect others experience.

And, in the full disclosure here, I will share the humorous part of my quote research, so you can see how clueless I really am! I had no prayer of arriving at haudh from heck, and I completely misinterpreted carin' as 'cairn' which of course send me off on a wild good chase (if Tolkien uses the word 'cairn', it's not often!). Cairn, however, did get me thinking about other words for 'grave', which led to barrow, which of course led me to cursing that there were no references to Arwen in any of the chapters and appendices that involved the Barrow downs first BEFORE I remembered that I'd seen Arwen at the end of a place name somewhere, only being the computer guy I kept wanting to call it "Baudh-something-Arwen", and so wasn't far enough into the index to find it quickly....

So, as I have noted before, I'm HARDLY a well-oiled machine when it comes to this. Enough of my cluelessness, and back to the challenge.

Thank'ee kindly, far, and good challenge. As for the next, there may be some difference of interpretation, but here goes....

Five sires have I, though but two remain. The wait for me was not in vain.

As always, quotes enjoyed, but not required.

 

[farntfar]

The clue was supposed to be HOW THE, Grim, not heck. Haudh is pronounced howth. and Cerin like Caring (without the G). I told you they were lousy clues.

Now this one will take some thinking about.

 

[Grimward]

Clue #2:

The journey to me covers much ground. In an unlikely place new hope was found.

 

[farntfar]

I suspect this is all to do with the tree that Aragorn found in the snow, though at that point I get a bit lost as I can only find 3 sires? (And none of them are left)

Of course new hope could apply to Aragorn himself (who after all covers much ground), but I'm still lost on the sires.
The snow in which the tree was found covers much ground but that gets me nowhere.

And otherwise the new hope takes me to Luke Skywalker.(with his shining belt?)