The Revived Tolkien Trivia

I've been worried that this one is a bit too hard, so as a clue, this feature could take a hundred years after a momentous event to show itself.
 
I don't have any books, but don't Gimli and Legolas use language like this? Gimli comments how the stonework in Minas Tirith was better in the beginning. He laments that the work of Men gets worse. But Legolas tells him how the promise is still always in the seed... and that it can recur at any time, i.e. Aragorn.
 
Sorry Boaz, it's nowt to do with that.

Because I really think it was too hard and this might bring it up to normal levels, I'll reword the question:

With what are Men too easily satisfied?
 
Are you a High (Superior) Court judge (in which case I will address you as m'lord/your lordship (or milady/your ladyship, depending on the obviously unobvious facts)), or a lower court judge(in which case I will address you as Your Honour)? Or are you a Justice of the Peace, in which case you are entitled to the honourific "Your Worship", akin to a mayor.

Assuming that your appointment came from the Queen in Right of a federal level of government somewhere, or simply in the UK, I'll address you as m'lord.

M'lord, the natives in this place start getting restless at around the 24 hour mark. 48 hours is really pushing it, and three days is far too long. Five, in the words of Michael Palin (with regard to the Holy Hand Grenade), "is right out!"
 
Well, Clansman, in fact it's none of the above. I've always wanted to be called m'lady (shades of Lady P and Parker), but I'll settle for Your Majesty if you prefer.

But if the natives are revolting - as indeed they usually are in my opinion - I don't think it should be because I've been dilatory in this particular case. In fact my question came and went. It was so easy HareBrain solved it in less than 24 hours (and I suspect he'd got the answer long before that but was trying to spare me the embarrassment of having an answer posted by return!) so the last 4 days have been spent puzzling over HareBrain's conundrum.

So, I beg to be spared the axe and I ask that all natives peaceably return to their homes and fetch out their Tolkienania in order to solve the current enigmatic riddle.


J
 
Another clue?

This being too easily satisfied with whatever-it-is might, in the future, have led to children in Gondor playing unsavoury games of let's-pretend. No doubt if they did, some old people might be writing letters about it ...
 
Clues should bring one closer to an answer, not farther away. Old people write letters about EVERYTHING! Having myself crossed the threshold of 40 a few years ago, I have noticed a distressing tendency to seriously think about writing letters to the editor.
 
HareBrain said:
This being too easily satisfied with whatever-it-is might, in the future, have led to children in Gondor playing unsavoury games of let's-pretend. No doubt if they did, some old people might be writing letters about it ...
Click to expand...


Does this help any?
 
Not really, HB (but thanks for trying!).

Had pretty much decided this 3 hints ago, but Letters being what it is, it's a long slog when you don't have triangulation on the quote....
 
Triangulation? What kind of triangulation do you normally get for a quote in letters?

There are actually two letters that deal with this. I hoped one of them might have stuck in someone's mind. One final clue, then: what might a sequel to LOTR have been like?
 
*Wonders whether rabbits appreciate analogy, then (having been in HB's challenge "shoes" recently) decides not to put it to further test...:D*

The feature of men to be most regretted is "
....the inevitable boredom of Men with the good; there would be secret societies practising dark cults, and 'orc-cults' among adolescents...
Click to expand...
as extracted from
....a tale supposed to refer to the end of the reign of Eldaron about 100 years after the death of Aragorn.
Click to expand...
The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, #338 From a Letter to Fr. Douglas Carter 6[?] June 1972

(page withheld at Marky's request:D)

And, of course, the quote is to be found at the very end of the long slog thru the book.....:rolleyes:

Even if the quote above is NOT what you're looking for, another merry chase well led, my good rabbit!:D
 
Well done, Grim, that was one of the two I was thinking of. Heroic effort.

Though if you really had slogged your way through the book, you should have come across the other quote sooner :p

Since we are dealing with Men it is inevitable that we should be dealing with the most regrettable feature of their nature: their quick satiety with good.
Click to expand...

#256

(This was actually the only one that fitted my original question, but I guess we all kinda forgot about that when I changed it to "most easily satified")

*presents Grim with a good but plain bell, which has no chance of holding his interest*

Your floor, your fieryness!
 
Yep. Blew right by that one. Even had the "100 years" sitting right there in the first sentence of the Letter, too...:rolleyes:

Ah well, nice bell. It's silver and....*yawns*....kind of shiny and...*yawns again*...hey, is that an orc-cult over there?! *leaves bell on desk next to Tolkien reference material*

Kidding, of course. Thank you, oh wise hare. A challenge wanted, then:

What bore Sauron's device but were not his servants? Disguises not accepted!
 
Then it's not the statue at the cross-roads?

The brief glow fell upon a huge sitting figure, still and solemn as the great stone kings of Argonath. The years had gnawed it, and violent hands had maimed it. Its head was gone, and in its place was set in mockery a round rough-hewn stone, rudely painted by savage hands in the likeness of a grinning face with one large red eye in the midst of its forehead.
Click to expand...

LOTR, Book 4, ch7: "Journey to the Cross-roads"
 
Sorry for the double-post but I'll answer my own question: it's not the statue, I submit, but flies.

Flies, dun or grey, or black, marked like orcs with a red eye-shaped blotch, buzzed and stung
Click to expand...

LOTR, Book 6, ch2: "The Land of Shadow"
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Thread starter Similar threads Forum Replies Date
Extollager Tolkien's opposition to illustrating fairy-tales JRR Tolkien 24
B What Would Peoples of Earlier Eras have Thought Of Tolkien's Works ? JRR Tolkien 29
Extollager Malvern Hills -- Tolkien angle -- Country Life magazine 20 March 2024 JRR Tolkien 3
M Traditional grain planting method being revived - a move away from monocultures. Science & Nature 18
Whitestar Farscape Revived On SCIFI.COM!!! Farscape 2

Similar threads


Back
Top