The Revived Tolkien Trivia

[farntfar]

Well all right then Grim.
The return of the king and the return of the shadow.
But Thomas Hardy does better with the return of the native, with 2 letters matching the KING
The return of the pink panther (film and possibly book) 3 letters
The return of the giant hogweed (song Genesis) 3 letters. (one of them twice)

It's more subtle than that I hope.

 

[Grimward]

Indeed it is (just a little), you DO have the words right, yet not the book, and "ALMOST" does not refer to the words almost matching among the existing titles...

Finding the quote will take even more than just matching letters, although if you match a letter you will surely find it. (Sorry, I couldn't resist)

 

[Grimward]

OK, I suspect I'm being a little too demanding, cryptic, or both here; apologies far. It's possible you don't even have the book that you need to solve this, despite the fact that you have identified the phrase you need to match...

 

[hopewrites]

Norgal the Magician 1977 => Nazgul?
The Shadow Laughs 1933 ?

No-no I've got it!

Eyes of the Shadow 2004 => Eye=Suaron who is also the Shadow of Mordor (or at least he employs them heavily.)

*hopes her shots in the dark haven't hit anyone*

 

[Grimward]

*Grins ruefully whilst dodging shot*

I'm seemingly leading everyone astray here. Unfortunately no, hope; from his last post above, far does have the phrase I was looking for but not where the ALMOST similarity occurs. In retrospect, I probably shouldn't have chosen this particular source quote...apologies.

Incidentally, regarding "The Shadow Laughs", I thought that was his trademark: When did the Shadow NOT laugh in a story? I've not ready that particular story (or heard the serial radio re-broadcast), but Gibson must have been hard pressed for a title when he wrote that one.

 

[Grimward]

OK, clearly I wandered beyond the realm of reasonable with this challenge. Apologies, all.

In Letters, at least two letters to Rayner Unwin (#s 136 and 139) reference a willingness on Tolkien's part to call Book I "The Return of the Shadow" before finally settling on "The Fellowship of the Ring". Some 10 years after this title decision, Walter Gibson's "Return of the Shadow" was published.

A shadowy, laughing bell to you, far, and the floor.

 

[hopewrites]

Well Played Grim.

 

[farntfar]

Grim,
I understood your hint that it was in the letters immediately.
I own the book of the letters but have read very little of it, being far too lazy.
Whilst I'm happy to learn as much as possible about JRRT's thinking processes and story and language development, I'm afraid the letters never really grabbed me.
And especially at the moment I haven't got a lot of spare time to go digging through them, so your hint fell on stoney ground.

On a similar note, you'll probably have to wait a few days for me to find a question, and it probably won't be very challenging at that.
But thanks for the laughing bell.

 

[farntfar]

Still no time to look, so a more straightforward one.

This dainty is not for whom?
Who will send for it and when?
What is the "dainty"

 

[Grimward]

Well Played Grim.

Thank you, Ms. hope. Although if you don't have that one, I'll refrain from quoting exclusively from it going forward.

Grim,
I understood your hint that it was in the letters immediately.
I own the book of the letters but have read very little of it, being far too lazy.
Whilst I'm happy to learn as much as possible about JRRT's thinking processes and story and language development, I'm afraid the letters never really grabbed me.
And especially at the moment I haven't got a lot of spare time to go digging through them, so your hint fell on stoney ground.

On a similar note, you'll probably have to wait a few days for me to find a question, and it probably won't be very challenging at that.
But thanks for the laughing bell.

Re the hint, far, figured you did. Finding quotes in letters can be worse than any of the other books, though, and I kept trying to think of ways to leave the right bread crumbs!

I'd been in the same state as you with regard to Letters until about 5 summers ago. Had owned the book for a while, but not read it thru. Finally, I took it with me on a mini-vacation my family takes around July 4th every year (there's scant internet coverage and lots of time to read). Some interesting things to be found within.

 

[hopewrites]

I'll put it on my Wish List.

*ponders daintiness*

 

[Grimward]

This dainty is not for whom?
Who will send for it and when?
What is the "dainty"

Sorry far, a little distracted from this until now...

Sauron, "at once", and the dainty is "a hobbit", specifically Pippin.

But he said: "Wait a moment! We shall meet again soon. Tell Saurman that this dainty is not for him. I will send for it at once. Do you understand? Say just that!"

The Lord of the Rings, The Two Towers, Book Three, Chapter XI, The Palantír

Interestingly, I don't think Tolkien quite made the character change away from hobbit think-speak to Evil Maia think-speak here; it's difficult to imagine Sauron at this stage in Middle Earth history (ie, in full Dark Lord character) telling someone to "Wait a moment", even if it IS Pippin speaking his words.

 

[farntfar]

Well done Grim. That's what I was looking for.

So this dainty bell is not for you. (Well ok. 'Tis really.)

No worries for being othewise engaged, but now you have to find the next question, and we will brook no delay obviously.

 

[Grimward]

Thank you kindly, far.

Well, I don't know about brooks, but what has chambers, halls, domes, and stairs, all following each other?

 

[farntfar]

The Caverns of Helm's Deep. or The glittering caves of Aglarond as Gandalf calls them.

"There is chamber after chamber, Legolas; hall opening out of hall, dome after dome, stair beyond stair; and still the winding paths lead on into the mountains heart."
The road to Isengard.

 

[Grimward]

Very good, far. An architectural bell to you, along with the privilege of setting the next puzzle.

 

[farntfar]

Thanks Grim. One small chip in a whole anxious day. (I'd be ruddy starving by suppertime.)

So where and how might you hear the voice of the horns of Oromë and the hate of Morgoth, when neither Oromë nor Morgoth were present.

 

[farntfar]

Come on people, or are you all on holiday?
I know the question is a bit of a dog but not even a guess?

 

[hopewrites]

I want to think that I read about it in the appendixes once. Something about the land of the elves before they came to middle earth. Before the time of Man even. But it's a fussy memory and I'm positive I'm wrong and so haven't even tried to look it up.

 

[farntfar]

Sorry Hope. I know I normally use the appendices and the notes on translation and stuff but not this time.
It's in the main body of the work in question.

Well here's a thing older members might find helpful. One member endlessly makes veiled references to clever puns.
Mine are right in the text.

Oh, all right, daughter of the twilight! (As I assume you must have been when you wrote that message. (Not sure exactly which time zone you are in.))
Here's a clue in the back pages.