The Revived Tolkien Trivia

[HareBrain]

You're right, @Boaz. And I only read that a few weeks ago. No points for my memory.

The only fictional hedgehogs I can think of (apart from Sonic) are Beatrix Potter's Mrs Tiggywinkle and one called Izzy from the Bill Badger books. I've just checked Google for others, but nothing seems to fit.

 

[HareBrain]

Gah, I thought of a hedgehog whose name could be a description -- Spiny Norman. ("Dinsdaaaaale!") But Monty Python was later than 1965.

 

[Pyan]

Yes, this happens much later and far from the Shire...

BTW, the question is solvable without reference to the furry animals - I suspect only those of a certain age will make the connection

 

[farntfar]

OK. Clutching at straws:

The uruk hai called Saruman Sharkey, which the hobbits consider an insult, but he considers "a sign of affection possibly" (The scouring of the Shire)
Page footnote Sharkû, oldman in orkish.
No idea wherethe hedgehog etc comes in.

 

[HareBrain]

BTW, the question is solvable without reference to the furry animals

For others, maybe. And furry animals are my bag.

Intriguingly, you gave the date of 1953, which is when Tufty the Squirrel first made an appearance. But attempts to identify other characters, apart from Bobby Rabbit and Willie Weasel, have proved in vain. It almost seems as if some great and ancient power has been through the internet and removed all trace ...

 

[farntfar]

Otherwise it's almost certainly refering to Watch with mother, although the only one in there I can think of is Tales of the riverbank which doesn't have a hedgehog or a mouse.

 

[farntfar]

Rag, Tag and Bobtail. (I was never very fond of that one.)

Spit!
Where do they appear in TLotRs

 

[farntfar]

Ah it's Saruman's dismissing the hobbits as small rag-tag.
And then Pippin complaining about not understanding things and refering to himself as small rag-tag, to which Gandalf replies that it meant that Saruman was very aware of them (Merry and Pippin).

"So you heard that", said Gandalf. "Don't let it rankle! ..... He had his eye on you, if it is any comfort to your pride." The end of The Palantir.

In Watch with Mother, Rag, Tag and Bobtail were a hedgehog, a mouse and a rabbit.

 

[HareBrain]

Bravo!

 

[Hugh]

Awe!

 

[Pyan]

Well done, farntfar! A small, furry bell goes to you, and it's your go...

 

[Boaz]

@farntfar Did someone throw your palantir out the window? I'm waiting for my daily crack and you have not yet supplied it! Maybe the words of Theoden will spur you on...

Arise! Arise Posters of Tolkien!
Fell typings awake; fire and slaughter!
Novels shall be shaken, appendices be splintered,
a searching day, a re-reading day, ere the sun rises!
Post now, post now! Post for Gondor!

With that Boaz seized a great laptop from Guthlaf his banner-bearer, and he typed such a post upon it that it burst asunder...

 

[farntfar]

Yes. Sorry Boaz, I haven't got anything ready.
And it would be a shame not to have a decent challenge, following the last few.

 

[Boaz]

It's all good! Come up with a real whopper that only pyan could get on his best day.

 

[farntfar]

Dang! Sorry Boaz. I thought I'd got a good one, which would need you to trace several references, only to realise as I got near the end that I'd already asked it but from another angle.

So! Start again.

 

[farntfar]

Ok. I don't want to keep you hanging about, so this is fairly straightforward.

Ithilien is to Rohan as Arnor is to Numenor.
Explain.

 

[Boaz]

Thanks, farny, for the daily crack. I'm cracking my brain now...

Ithilien is east of Rohan. Arnor is east of Numenor.

 

[farntfar]

Well I can't pretend it's not true, Boaz.
But this is more a people thing than a position thing.

 

[Boaz]

Yeah... that's just my opening line... I'm just warming up...

 

[The Big Peat]

Ok. I don't want to keep you hanging about, so this is fairly straightforward.

Ithilien is to Rohan as Arnor is to Numenor.
Explain.

The rulers of the former are descended from the rulers of the latter through the female line.