The Revived Tolkien Trivia

[HareBrain]

My official guess is Fortinbras Took. I don’t know what it means. But I see the FORT in the name and I know that means strength in Latin. How can a baby be strong?

It means "strong in arm" apparently. Another good effort, though a baby could be thought stronger than usual. But I can't imagine how you managed to find that one but missed the actual answer!

I'll enhance the clue. I said this character grew into their inappropriate name. It might be better to say they aged into it.

 

[farntfar]

Was the old Took called that since his school days?
Ah, but his name was Gerontius, which means the old one, like gerontology.
A good name for a baby; presumably born with a silver trumpet in his ear.

 

[Pyan]

Good thought, farntfar...

 

[HareBrain]

That's it, @farntfar. Well done. Indeed the name comes from the Greek geron, "old man".

(I'm not sure what Tolkien would have said if asked why Gerontius's parents named him that at birth. It's bothered me for some time.)

A dimly-heard bell to you.

 

[paranoid marvin]

I think that Tolkiem must have taken the longest time, and the greatest joy, in the naming of his hobbits. From Bandobras 'Bullroarer' to Gerontius 'The Old' to... Belladonna??

 

[Boaz]

@HareBrain That was a good one. I enjoyed it. My ancient Greek is limited to the few New Testament words that get thrown around in church… phileo, agape, charisma, etc.

@farntfar well done! I had no concept that Gerontius actually meant old. I just thought The Old was a nickname.

 

[HareBrain]

@farntfar , just a reminder that it's your question.

 

[farntfar]

Yes. I know, but there's hardly a line in any of the volumes that we haven't done already.

 

[Pyan]

Yes. I know, but there's hardly a line in any of the volumes that we haven't done already.

What, all of them?

• The Hobbit
• The Lord of the Rings
• The Silmarillion
• The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien
• The Children of Hurin
• Unfinished Tales

 

[farntfar]

Despite what we learn in the new Netflix series Tolkien seems to tell us that only one of theElven Rings was made of Mithril.
Can you tell me which one, and where it is stated?

 

[Pyan]

The ring is Nenya, the Ring of Water, the White Ring, the Ring of Adamant.

"But Galadriel sat upon a white palfrey and was robed all in glimmering white, like clouds about the Moon; for she herself seemed to shine with a soft light. On her finger was Nenya, the ring wrought of mithril, that bore a single white stone flickering like a frosty star."
RotK, Book 6, Ch. 9, The Grey Havens

 

[farntfar]

Well. All right. I expected it to take longer than that.
I suppose there aren't that many places the rings are described, but very well done Py.

A truesilver bell to you, and the next question.

 

[Pyan]

Ok, staying with the ring theme:

How many Ring-bearers were there in total? - that's the One Ring, I mean, not the Three, Nine and Seven.

No quotes needed, just a list.

 

[HareBrain]

Taking that to include those who handled it at all, I think it's:

Sauron
Isildur
Deagol
Smeagol-Gollum
Bilbo
Envelope (cheated out of passing into the West in my view)
Frodo
Tom Bombadil
Sam

 

[Pyan]

Yes, you got them all. Personally, I wouldn't count the envelope, but there you are.

A Kent Treble Bob Major to the Leporid, and it's his go next.

 

[HareBrain]

Thank you!

Tolkien tells us that "Elves (and Hobbits) always refer to the Sun as She". Who else refers to the sun as female? Quote please.

(ETA: there might be more than one right answer to this, so I'll accept any accurate one even if it's not what I'm thinking of. But for the purpose of this question, Gollum counts as a hobbit.)

 

[Pyan]

This is getting a bit like tennis!

It's Tom Bombadil - who is certainly neither hobbit or Elf.

'Good morning, merry friends!' cried Tom, opening the eastern window wide. A cool air flowed in; it had a rainy smell. 'Sun won't show her face much today, I'm thinking. I have been walking wide, leaping on the hilltops, since the grey dawn began, nosing wind and weather, wet grass underfoot, wet sky above me.
ForR, Book 1, Ch 7, In the House of Tom Bombadil

 

[HareBrain]

Wow, that was quick!

You might also be able to answer this: I was convinced that at one point Treebeard refers to the sun as "he", something like "he's already walking in the fields of summat-or-other", but I couldn't find it. Ring any bells? (You can have one of them if so.)

 

[Pyan]

I can only find Treebeard calling it 'the Sun', at least twice. (But see below...)

Right.
Today we think of a 'penthouse' as being the luxury flat on the top floor of the block, but it originally had a very specific descriptive meaning, and is used that way somewhere in Middle-earth. Where? Quote, please.

 

[Pyan]

You might also be able to answer this: I was convinced that at one point Treebeard refers to the sun as "he", something like "he's already walking in the fields of summat-or-other", but I couldn't find it. Ring any bells? (You can have one of them if so.)

I think you may be mixing up Treebeard with Legolas, here. As the Fellowship are trying to get back down from the snow-blocked Redhorn Pass, Legolas goes on ahead, walking on the snow rather than in it.
When he returns, he says: 'I have not brought the Sun. She is walking in the blue fields of the South, and a little wreath of snow on this Redhorn hillock troubles her not at all. But I have brought back a gleam of good hope for those who are doomed to go on feet.'