The Revived Tolkien Trivia

[HareBrain]

Bilbo by the spiders?

No, sorry. Bear in mind this bit:

a game the person in question was singularly unlikely to have been any good at

(Bilbo with his ring would have been extremely good at it.)

 

[farntfar]

So more like one of the trolls.
Or Frodo at Bombadils

But neither is a real guess.

 

[farntfar]

Shagrat and Gorbat?
(Sorry. Without the books I just have to throw ideas out there without being able to check first. I'll be going home tomorrow to where the books is.)

 

[HareBrain]

None of those.

 

[Boaz]

Farny, good guesses, but I think the word 'Bear' is a clue. It's been thirty-five years since I've read The Hobbit, but doesn't Beorn call Bilbo a rabbit hiding from him?

 

[HareBrain]

Nope. Please keep in mind the "singularly unlikely" bit.

 

[The Big Peat]

If memory serves, those speculating about Bilbo are half-right, but it is Bilbo calling it to Smaug when he is inside the mountain...

 

[farntfar]

To be " singularly unlikely to have been any good at" the person would have to be very big or very bright or very noisy.

 

[HareBrain]

If memory serves

It does! Well done, and over to you.

 

[The Big Peat]

Righto, I have a question for you all then. It's a bit of a stinker but for some reason it's the only good question I can think of...

"If a rose by any other name would smell as sweet, which character be deemed sweet indeed by someone with a bit of a lisp"

 

[HareBrain]

My assumption here is that there's a character name with a "th" in it which would sound like a synonym for sugary if the th were replaced with an s. Not that I can think of one, but maybe you could save me many wasted minutes by saying if that's completely wrong?

 

[Boaz]

What about the fragrance? What about May flowers? How about May’s rose?

Maedhros?

 

[Pyan]

What about the fragrance? What about May flowers? How about May’s rose?

Maedhros?

Well, if that isn't the answer, it damn well deserves to be!

 

[HareBrain]

Brilliant, Boaz!

 

[The Big Peat]

Boaz's guess is excellent, but, alas, not what I had in mind (and I believe the name rhymes with floss rather than rose). Along the right track though.

HB's guess is way off though.

 

[Cat's Cradle]

I'm hopeless at Tolkien trivia, though I do read new posts in this thread and admire you all for your knowledge.

I do have a guess, though. Did Gollum have a lisp? I can remember one creature he called sweet, though it wasn't a character, but food:

We only wish
To catch a fish
So juicy sweet!

I think that must be wrong, after Peat's comment that Boaz is on the right track.

 

[HareBrain]

The Lady Haleth was buried at a place called Tur Haretha, and Haretha is how someone with a lisp might say Haressa, and rose harissa is a thing, so... there's that.

 

[Boaz]

Well, I’ve been through all the names that begin with TH… That I could think of. So I’m thinking of names that have a TH at the end. The name that sticks in my brain is Ioreth. She is the chatty nurse in the house of healing. She annoys Gandalf, but she mentions the smell of the flowers in her home region. Is there some kind of flower that’s called Yoris?

@The Big Peat I tried to utilize and understand Tolquins pronunciations. But there are some that I will never change. In my head, Maedhros is Maythrows. Elros is Elrows. (The S is s, not z.) I’ve seen a few videos of Professor Tolkien discussing Middle-earth. I only understood about one word in five. That was not because of my lack of education nor of his expansive vocabulary. It was merely due to his pronunciation. I cannot believe that the master and I are native speakers of the same language.

 

[The Big Peat]

@Boaz - you were warmer with Maedhros.

Also things like your experience are why I say I'm bilingual! More written than spoken alas.

Btw, I feel like it might help if I note this involves a nickname

 

[HareBrain]

I feel like it might help if I note this involves a nickname

How does it feel to be so very wrong?