The Revived Tolkien Trivia

[Marky Lazer]

That's what I was looking for indeed, HB. A crooked bell it is! And the floor!

 

[HareBrain]

Thanks Marky.

Right, "ax" is an old colloquial variant of "ask", which (as far as I know) Tolkien uses only once in Lord of the Rings (see, I've narrowed it down already, aren't I nice?) But where?

(To help even more, it's used by a character who appears only once, and briefly, but who shares his/her name with another more major one.)

 

[Pyan]

I think it's said by Tom, the one of the characters in the song sung by Sam when the Hobbits and Aragorn stumble upon the troll-hole and petrified trolls mentioned in The Hobbit.

Said Tom: 'I don't see why the likes o' thee
Without axin' leave should go makin' free
With the shank or the shin o' my father's kin;
So hand the old bone over!
Rover! Trover!
Though dead he be, it belongs to he;
So hand the old bone over!'

The other Tom being, presumably, Tom Bombadil.

FotR - Book I - Chapter XII - Flight to the Ford

 

[HareBrain]

Pyan, I am seriously impressed that you got it so fast! Can I ask how you arrived at that, or did you just know it?

Here is a bell on a cushion of crimson velvet edged with gold tassels.

 

[Pyan]

It's just one of those things that sticks, I think - and it helps that the "folk" songs are my favourite of all the LotR verses - The Man in the Moon is another one I like.

Try this:

Can you find a link between, say, Ar-Pharazôn the Golden, and Medjedu-Khnum-Khufu?

 

[Grimward]

I don't think this is what you're looking for, but will offer it anyway:

(A description of Númenor under Ar-Pharazôn, after he brought Sauron to Númenor and made him an advisor)

For they built in their fortresses temples and great tombs in those days....

From The Silmarillion, Akallabêth, p. 274

(either that, or perhaps Ar-Pharazôn had a set of Cheops to think that he could challenge the Valar)

 

[Pyan]

On the right lines, Grim, but there's a more specific link somewhere out there...

 

[Clansman]

(either that, or perhaps Ar-Pharazôn had a set of Cheops to think that he could challenge the Valar)

AWW, Grim. That was a real GROANER!

 

[goldhawk]

If I remember correctly, the great pyramid, when new, was white with a golden top. This is similar to the monument the followers of Elendil erected at Umbar.

'The loss of Umbar was grievous to Gondor, not only because the realm was diminished in the south and its hold upon Men of the Harad was loosened, but because it was there that Ar-Pharazôn the Golden, last King of the Númenor, had landed and humbled the might of Sauron. Though great evil has come after, even the followers of Elendil remembered with pride the coming of the great host of Ar-Pharazôn out of the deeps of the Sea; and on the highest hill of the headland above the Haven they has set a great white pillar as a monument. It was crowned with a globe of crystal that took the rays of the Sun and Moon and shone like a bright star that could be seen in clear weather even on the coasts of Gondor or far out upon the western sea.

The Return of the King, Appendix A, Gondor and the Heirs of Anárion, page 401

 

[HareBrain]

Great was the anger of Ar-Pharazon at these tidings

The Akallabeth

(I believe that Khufu was also angry at some tidings or other)

 

[Grimward]

Hmm, both bore a sceptre (Khufu the Was Sceptre, Ar-Pharazôn the Sceptre of Númenor) as a symbol of their power.

The sceptre was the chief mark of royalty in Númenor.....The sceptre of Númenor is said to have perished with Ar-Pharazôn.

The Return of the King, Appendix A, Annals of the Kings and Rulers iii: Eriador, Arnor and the Heirs of Isildur, pp. 1018 and 1019, Footnote 3

If this isn't in the ballpark, I am noting the use of "say" in the challenge....

 

[Pyan]

Heh...

There is a use of the specific comparison, somewhere...but if it's not found within, let's say, 48 hours(ish), I'm going to give you that, Grim.

 

[HareBrain]

Well, there's this:

In many ways they [the Numenoreans] resembled 'Egyptians' - the love of, and power to construct, the gigantic and massive. And in their great interest in ancestry and in tombs

Letters, 281

 

[Pyan]

That's what I wanted, HB - a set of jingle bells to you, and away you go...

 

[HareBrain]

Thanks Pyan - when you said a specific comparison I thought it must be in letters.

My question is: from where does the world look wide and wild?

 

[Grimward]

Argh!

Even though I noted the use of 'say' in the challenge, I threw that specific quote out from my consideration because it wasn't specific ENOUGH!!!!

*Winks out briefly, reduces an abandoned steelworks in an alternate reality to so much slag, then returns.*

OK, I feel better!

 

[HareBrain]

I think you've got it, chief. Read right over that, I did....

Even though I noted the use of 'say' in the challenge, I threw that specific quote out from my consideration because it wasn't specific ENOUGH!!!!

Not much good at this, are you?

 

[Pyan]

Umm..just check that question of yours again, HB - are you sure that you've put down what you meant to say?...

 

[HareBrain]

Pyan, note that there are no quote marks around it so I can paraphrase how I like

I take it that means your answer is imminent?

 

[Pyan]

No, not now - I thought you may have typed "world", intending "woods", but if you didn't, I'll have to go back and try again...