The Revived Tolkien Trivia

[Clansman]

Duh. Letters. Time to go see Humphrey...

 

[Pyan]

OK, I'm calling this one in - the more I think about it, the sillier the question seems to me.

In Letters, #178, (and others) to Allen and Unwin, JRRT says that the Shire "is in fact more or less a Warwickshire village of about the period of the Diamond Jubilee..." - thus the date and the importance to Bilbo, Sam and Frodo and also Marcho and Blanco, who, of course, were the leaders of the first hobbits to cross the Baranduin.

My apologies for the weakness of the link - perhaps Clansman, who got the Jubilee date, would like to set the next one?

 

[Clansman]

Well, gawrsh, little ol' me? Must think, and then read a little, and then think...

Back in a turn or two.

 

[Grimward]

Not weak; well-hidden, Green One.

In despair of ever finding an 1897 quote (literally) I had reached the point of re-reading Letters, but hadn't gotten to that letter yet....

Also, I think Clanny got it in principal, as much as was possible. Even if I had reached that letter, I wouldn't have made the leap to assume that the Shire of Bilbo and Frodo's time resembled the land that Marcho and Blanco "settled".

Take it away, oh Clansman sir.....

 

[Grimward]

Um, when I said "Take it away", you do realize that it's a figure of speech Clanny, right?

You can't keep the thread forever... *cough cough*

 

[Clansman]

Okay, okay.

A quote required, and this is an easy one, so my question will be posed in low verse:

I wondered who this was,
As I had on occasion heard the name,
But he never did appear,
Then, or now, or again.

Who was this person who
a gent of industrious kind
That might go walking in the hills
A-digging himself mines?

Why no gent at all says one
A place it truly be
From whence the stranger, early on,
Indicated himself to be.

For tho' it sounds like a gent,
A gent you will not get
For instead of being of walking kind,
The name is of a hamlet.

Okay, what the hell am I talking about. There are loads of clues in the verse, so unless people are really stumped, I'll stay quiet.

 

[Grimward]

His sword, Sting, Bilbo hung over his fireplace, and his coat of marvelous mail, the gift of the Dwarves from the Dragon-hoard, he lent to a museum, to the Michel Delving Mathom-house in fact.

The Fellowship of the Ring, Prologue Concerning Hobbits, and Other Matters

Bilbo had a corslet of mithril-rings that Thorin gave him. I wonder what has become of it? Gathering dust still in Michel Delving Mathom-house, I suppose.

Gandalf, elaborating on the uses of Mithril to the Fellowship before the West Gate of Moria, The Fellowship of the Ring, Book II, Chapter IV, A Journey in the Dark

Had me there for a bit, Clanny...good one!

 

[Clansman]

Actually, I was looking for a different quote, namely the one about the stranger from Michel Delving speaking to the Gaffer early on in "A Long Expected Party". However, two for the price of one, as they say.

A dust-gathering bell for Grim to put on display in his own museum...

 

[HareBrain]

Good (and creative) challenge, Clanny - completely foxed me. Well done Grim!

 

[Grimward]

Thank you Clanny, and you ...ah, ah, AH CHOO...too, HB.

*Blows nose with a fiery sneeze, extinguishes the burning handkerchief, then adds dusty bell to collection*

Had my own bit of nonsense in mind from the last time, and will play it now....

I am sharp, and yet land with a thud,
am widely known for drinking Orc blood,
'twas not a dwarf who with me did smote,
name me quick, and with a quote

Oh, and I'm not partial to internet quotes. Use them if you must, but know that the thrill of the search lies within the binding, not the web!

 

[Grimward]

Hmmm, I'd thought this one a rather easy chestnut, as the term goes. Do we need a clue?

 

[pdurrant]

I am sharp, and yet land with a thud,
am widely known for drinking Orc blood,
'twas not a dwarf who with me did smote,
name me quick, and with a quote

Well, this must be Glamdring, the partner to Orcrist. Or Beater, the partner to Biter, as the orcs name them. It's the sword that Gandalf took from the Troll's hord, forged by elves in Gondolin, long ago.

As Elrond said in the chapter "A Short Rest" in "the Hobbit":

"These are not troll-make. They are old swords, very old swords of the High Elves of the West, my kin. They were made in Gondolin for the Goblin-wars. They must have come from a dragon's hoard or goblin plunder, for dragons and goblins destroyed that city many ages ago. This, Thorin, the runes name Orcrist, the Goblin-cleaver in the ancient tongue of Gondolin; it was a famous blade. this, Gandalf, was Glamdring, Foehammer that the king of Gondolin once wore."

 

[Grimward]

First, allow me to welcome you to The Chrons, pdurrant. I hope you find the place to your liking. I haven't checked the Introductions sub-forum yet, but if you haven't already done so, add a post there and tell us a little more about yourself (if you have done so, I apparently have reading to do!)

Regarding the quote/weapon, this is not what I have in mind, but I will admit that it (mostly, with one significant exception!) meets the criteria. If no one else comes up with the weapon I have in mind, let's say in 4 more days, the bell and (as Py once so accurately put it) more ominously, the floor are yours....

 

[pdurrant]

First, allow me to welcome you to The Chrons, pdurrant. I hope you find the place to your liking. I haven't checked the Introductions sub-forum yet, but if you haven't already done so, add a post there and tell us a little more about yourself (if you have done so, I apparently have reading to do!)

I've posted over in the Introductions sub-forum (I think!)

Regarding the quote/weapon, this is not what I have in mind, but I will admit that it (mostly, with one significant exception!) meets the criteria. If no one else comes up with the weapon I have in mind, let's say in 4 more days, the bell and (as Py once so accurately put it) more ominously, the floor are yours....

Hmm... OK, if not Glamdring I'll think again. A rather easy chestnut, eh?

 

[Pyan]

I think it may be the Axe of Tuor - Dramborleg, 'Thudder-Sharp', so-called because it could be used as a club, but had a cutting edge as well.

..it is named and described in the original 'Fall of Gondolin' (1916-17...) where it is said that in Gondolin Tuor carried an axe instead of a sword, and he named it in the speech of the people of Gondolin Dramborleg. In a list of names accompanying the tale, Dramborleg is translated "Thudder-Sharp": "the axe of Tuor that smote both a heavy dint as of a club and cleft as a sword".

Unfinished Tales, Part Two, Chapter One: A Description of the Island of Númenor: Note 2.

 

[Grimward]

Dramborleg it is, your greenness.

*Tosses a bell to Py...it lands in his palm with a thud, ringing sharply*

And the floor, too, although I could humbly suggest possible alternative dispositions for the latter this time around...

*Elbows Py gently in the ribs, after floating upwards some 25 feet to do so*

 

[Pyan]

Ithenkyou...

Try this:

Whose testimony finally decided Gandalf to include Bilbo in the Quest of Erebor?

Quote, please.

 

[Grimward]

Balin?

'"Ah! I see your drift at last," said Balin. "He is a thief, then? That is why you recommend him?"

'At that point I fear I lost my temper and my caution. This Dwarvish conceit that no one can have or make anything "of value" save themselves and that all fine things in other hands must have been got, if not stolen, from the Dwarves at some time, was more than I could stand at that moment. "A thief?" I said, laughing. "Why, yes, a professional thief, of course! How else would a Hobbit come by a silver spoon? I will put the thief's mark on his door, and then you will find it." Then being angry I got up and I said with a warmth that surprised myself: "You must look for that door, Thorin Oakenshield! I am serious." And suddenly I felt that I was indeed in hot earnest. This queer notion of mine was not a joke, it was right. It was desperately important that it should be carried out. The Dwarves must bend their stiff necks.

Unfinished Tales, Part Three - The Third Age, Chapter III, The Quest for Erebor

 

[Pyan]

Balin it is, Grimmie - there could be a case for suggesting it was Holman, the gardener, a few pages previously - but I think this is the moment, the point of balance, the crux; that starts the Downfall of Sauron.

*Hands down a golden bell, reputed to have come from the Hoard of Smaug*...and you have the floor, again...

 

[Grimward]

Well, since Smaug doesn't know Grimward-scent, I'm safe (and what does he know about fire, anyway? Uppity worms, thinking they can just take whatever they want and push everyone else around, all because they've got bad breath....*receives Clanny's elbow in the ribs*....oh, right, sorry.....).

Thank you kindly, your greenness. As per usual, I'll be wanting a quote, and while there are several that might serve here, I'm looking for one in particular.

Where are the best rooms found?

pdurrant: Take another try! We're not always using the somewhat obscure Unfinished Tales....