Riddles in the Dark

[KingODuckingham]

Ooh, I like the train of thought. This is a Shire related location though! (To give another hint)

[Dwim]

Oh! I think I've got it!

It must be the Brandywine Bridge, right?

[KingODuckingham]

It sure is!

Alcohol combined with alcohol --- Brandy + Wine
Only during the day -- The sign in ROTK said no admittance between sunset and sunrise
A rocky genuflection -- Originally called the Bridge of Stonebows, which I stretched a bit by playing on the meaning of bows
Keeps enemies at bay -- Yep.

You're up!

[Lychfield Ghoul]

Oh my goodness, that is such a good riddle!

[Dwim]

I agree, that riddle was fantastic! Here's another Middle-earth related one:

With different names I journeyed far,
One name was of hope, another a star.
Great deeds and aid given undercover,
My true identity revealed by another.

[Almarëa Mordollwen]

Aragorn, it sounds like?

[Dwim]

@Almarëa Mordollwen, Aragorn it is! Your riddle expertise knows no bounds. The floor is yours.

[Almarëa Mordollwen]

I never know how easy or difficult to make these, but here goes:

Strong, secret, shut; yet vulnerable, beleaguered, and overthrown. What am I?

[KingODuckingham]

Make them as difficult as you possibly can!
Just kidding, anyone that's made a riddle I think can relate. It's a function of them being rather binary. As I tell my students when they complain about difficult questions on tests: "Any question is easy or hard if you do or don't know the answer."

With this riddle I think the difficulty comes in not knowing what category of thing this might be. My mind darted all over the place. I have several guesses lined up, but I'll start with a non-literal location: the mind of Denethor.

[Almarëa Mordollwen]

I suppose I should give some categories, shouldn't I? Sorry, forgot that part! It could be a person or a place. And alas no, it is not the mind of Denethor.

[KingODuckingham]

Is it the Paths of the Dead, where the way is shut but they surrendered and were cursed because they believed the cause against Sauron a lost one?

[Dimcairien Luiniel]

Or is it possible the secret door in the Hobbit? It's a dwarven door, so it is secret when shut, strong as it's made of stone, but Smaug managed to break it into pieces.

[The Elf Imperishable]

The chamber of mazarbul?

[Dwim]

Gondolin?

[Almarëa Mordollwen]

@Dwim has it! All of those words are used to describe the Hidden City within about three or four pages of "Of Tuor and the Fall of Gondolin" in the Silmarillion.

[Dwim]

Thanks Alma! I didn't remember that passage, but those words seemed to fit Gondolin well!

Here's a new one:

How can one see the night sky
While Arien is yet still high?
Or a reflection of a crown
Foretelling of future renown?

[The Elf Imperishable]

The banner that Arwen made for Aragorn that was unfurled in the pelennor fields?

[Dwim]

I can see how that fits (in fact it fits remarkably well) but that is not the answer I'm looking for. I am referring to perhaps a more vivid image of the night sky.

[Lailyn]

Is it the starry mantle Faramir gives Eowyn in the Houses of Healing?

[Dwim]

Not that either, sorry.

I guess I'll point you in the direction that this could describe a place rather than an item.

[Almarëa Mordollwen]

Is it Kheled-zâram, also called the Mirrormere?

[KingODuckingham]

Is this referring to the the Mirror of Galadriel?

[Dwim]

@Almarëa Mordollwen, it is the Mirrormere! Well done.

When Durin I discovered the Mirrormere, he saw a crown of stars above his head when he looked in the reflection of the lake, even though it was day time. He took that as a sign and decided to found KD. When Gimli and Frodo both later looked in the reflection, they also saw a crown of stars, also during the day time.

[Almarëa Mordollwen]

I was light, and I was dark;
Clean, and tainted;
Beautiful and ghastly;
Watching, and always watching.

Possible categories: person or place

[Dwim]

Could it be Minas Morgul?

[Almarëa Mordollwen]

@Dwim has it! Minas Ithil, later known as Minas Morgul.

[Dwim]

Three ways in, two ways out,
Deep inside they sing and shout.
Deeper still where none should be,
Escape from here does not come free.

Where am I?

[Lychfield Ghoul]

Are you in Moria

[Lychfield Ghoul]

Och. I see it now. Serves me for being so hasty

[Dwim]

Moria is not the answer to mine.

[Yávië]

Are you under the Misty Mountains in the caverns of Goblin-town?

[Dwim]

@Aerlinn, I sure am. Your turn!

[Yávië]

Sorry for the wait, my friends. I'll give a Tolkien one a go, finally...

Made by one who wanders yet
I tell of firsts and sorrows met,
of ways barred and blood let.

[Lychfield Ghoul]

Is it the Noldolantë? Composed by Maglor, who is said to still wander along the shores of Middle Earth, and which deals with the Kinslaying at Alqualondë and the Fall of the Noldor.

[Yávië]

Yup! You're up, @Balfur

But Uinen wept for the mariners of the Teleri; and the sea rose in wrath against the slayers, so that many of the ships were wrecked and those in them drowned. Of the enslaving at Alqualondë more is told in that lament which is named Noldolantë, the Fall of the Noldor, that Maglor made ere he was lost.
Of the Flight of the Noldor

[Lychfield Ghoul]

Hurray! Mine will be quite less... Tolkienesque (more terrible rhymes forthcoming)
This is probably an easy one, but I have been out of the game for literally a decade. And I am on holiday.

I unlock a golden treasure,
providing superior pleasure.
those who gain it,
often do so without measure.

[Lailyn]

Is it a Golden Ticket to Willy Wonka's chocolate factory?

[Lychfield Ghoul]

That is actually a really good guess! But I'm afraid what I am looking for is somewhat more... rooted in reality.

[Ta'leus Shieldsong]

@Balfur I can honestly say you're stumping me completely with this. Hmph!

[Lailyn]

Haha ok, ok. Is it a door that leads to the sunlit world outside?

[Menolly]

I'm really stumped on this one too. Is it an egg?

[Lychfield Ghoul]

Goodness, I had not expected to stump people with it. I thought it was quite easy, but at the time I was literally staring the answer in the face.
So to help you out, Balfur has written a second verse, forgive his rhymes: he's in his barrels again.

Glass soldiers with sealed helmets
stand no chance against my threats.
My wielder desires their ichor
from the neck he drains them, regains his vigour.

What am I?
Hope that helps!

[Li.]

My guess is A SPOON!

[Yávië]

Is it a corkscrew?

[Dwim]

Haha now I think I know it! That was really tricky at first. Corkscrew sounds close but I believe a bottle-opener would be more accurate?

[Li.]

I still maintain that it can be done with a spoon :p

[Dwim]

Well yes, and also with a lighter, among other things.

[Lychfield Ghoul]

Bottle-opener is correct, @Dwim! Though @Li. is right a spoon could serve as one. But I would not called it its primary function. Now please excuse me as I go fetch my own to celebrate the start of the weekend!

[Dwim]

*cracks a beer with @Balfur*

Here's a new one, not Middle-earth related:

Through your brain a little worm,
Can be caused by me to squirm.
Not seen, just heard, typically,
Unless on paper you look at me.

What am I?

[Yávië]

................the baby shark song? Or, more generally, a song that gets stuck in your head?