Tree-Twisting Riddles

[Chrysophylax Dives]

Apparently my reading between the lines of the Dwarf's answer was non-PG13, or something. if you wish for the lash, you have to ask for it explicitly, it seems. o well, rules is rules. which rather takes the fun out of this one, so here is a clue. @Aranadhel, this one was for you - one begins just above the Angle and then heads West at one's own pace to the sea (on a slight northerly inclination).

[Chrysophylax Dives]

I am presuming it is Hobbit-friendly to inspect the answers before handing on the 'torch' to whoever says my name? feel free to delete the post/thread if i'm out of line on this.

I sort significant answers into two categories, (a) insight and (b) weird. The (a) category warrant the tree-toppling sound effects elicited by this astonishing answer:

Is it -- and this might be silly -- but could it be a hobbit hole, curving down on every side but built all on one level as it runs into the hill?

But i am learning to sample slowly as well as fast in this place. Because, in light of the true answer, is this answer any less astonishing and meritorious of all the thunder & lightening tree effects?

I had a strange dream in the wee hours this morning. I heard whistles, and I was running around in circles repeating like a mantra - Either side I am down, and then down again, But not down below. Nor am I more up than down - yo-ho-ho. Over and over and the persistent whistle.

Are you Bilbo's kettle?

Honestly, when i talk elsewhere of the pleasure that you folk give me i only speak what is in my heart. Two true flashes of insight that just fell short of the right form. And there was pleasure too, of a sort, with (b) the weird:

Is it a well???

I am still waiting for the penny to drop as to how this answer fell out of my double-down riddle, and no doubt the wait will be worth it (and then the category of 'weird' may give way to astonishing genius, or something). in the meanwhile, this turned out to be the answer to the riddle that i was myself struggling with at just the time in Gondolin. so egg-beggars lunching off elvish nests can't be choosers, but i declare defeat before the riddle at the very center of the plaza.

[Chrysophylax Dives]

The truth is, when i look at the map with all three answers lined up: Bag-end (i name it), Bilbo's kettle, a well... it does, freakily, actually all line up. what you have to appreciate is that i'm reading this bit of the map these days in terms of location (shifting) of Elvish Seeing Stones, the 3 Palantíri housed in the ancient North.

(This is why, even with no lashings of ginger-bear or, well, anything, this place is, when all is said and done and at the end of the day, unique and kinda neat.)

[Drífa]

Ah, that was very tricky. Wonderful! I am still unsure if I got it right, but are you, Bree? On either side, you have the Downs, and you are not at the bottom of the map but in the middle, so you are not more up than down.

*wags her beard like a puppy waiting for a treat and hoping after nearly three weeks of sniffing about, she has finally uncovered a bone*

[Chrysophylax Dives]

Voiceless it cries,
Wingless flutters,
Toothless bites,
Mouthless mutters.

[Chrysophylax Dives]

What has roots as nobody sees,
Is taller than trees,
Up, up it goes,
And yet never grows?

[Chrysophylax Dives]

It cannot be seen, cannot be felt,
Cannot be heard, cannot be smelt.
It lies behind stars and under hills,
And empty holes it fills.
It comes out first and follows after,
Ends life, kills laughter.

[Chrysophylax Dives]

Alive without breath,
As cold as death;
Never thirsty, ever drinking,
All in mail never clinking.

[Chrysophylax Dives]

This thing all things devours;
Birds, beasts, trees, flowers;
Gnaws iron, bites steel;
Grinds hard stones to meal;
Slays king, ruins town,
And beats mountain down.

[Arnyn]

@Chrysophylax Dives. Are you Chrysophylax Dives?

[Chrysophylax Dives]

@Chrysophylax Dives. Are you Chrysophylax Dives?

Wtf? I cannot even say 'no' without contradicting myself.

Arnyn, i've said before and i say again - i truly do appreciate your willingness to play along. and i am trying my hardest to point you all (anyone, please?) to say my name.

Please go and read carefully not only the map but the key to the starting-point and direction that i gave to @Aranadhel.

Edit: fyi 'Say my name' is the traditional end of an Anglo-Saxon riddle. It just means 'answer the damn riddle!'

i honestly assumed i had told everyone the answer by posting the map.

[Rivvy Elf]

I've spent much of my brainpower removing overt Tolkien references that would get me sued from a manuscript of my fic, so I saw your reference of Palantir and the map and the first thing that I thought of was the Tower Hills, where the palantir that gazes west is.

Is it a Tower?

[Chrysophylax Dives]

I've spent much of my brainpower removing overt Tolkien references that would get me sued from a manuscript of my fic, so I saw your reference of Palantir and the map and the first thing that I thought of was the Tower Hills, where the palantir that gazes west is.

Is it a Tower?

O Morgoth! I saw it was you and opened with hope in my heart. But: no, it is not a tower.

I am not quite sure what is going wrong here. Can you just try to follow the instructions i gave with the map with the riddle in mind? (Might be wise to check the riddle again )

[Arnyn]

@Chrysophylax Dives. Are you Chrysophylax Dives?

Wtf? I cannot even say 'no' without contradicting myself.

You're welcome!

[Arnyn]

A road? A river?

[Chrysophylax Dives]

A road? A river?

A tree, or a song?

--- is this how you do RP or some other name you have? keep going, please. we could make something. but alas, not a correct answer.

[Rivvy Elf]

I see two angles in terms of mountain ranges here. Is it the angle near Annuminas, or is it the mountainous angle near Harlindon?

[Chrysophylax Dives]

I see two angles in terms of mountain ranges here. Is it the angle near Annuminas, or is it the mountainous angle near Harlindon?

No. Listen, let me make clear that i totally appreciate this double admin help. that you are trying is all i care about in my heart - that and getting off this particular stage asap. so please don't take it amiss if i tell you some domestic lore as i have long explained it to my 3 older children: they appear to have one brain-cell between them, and it seems that often they forget to hand it over when they should. I love them all, of course.

[Rivvy Elf]

"and it seems that often they forget to hand it over when they should" Food? Wasn't that what Gandalf inscribed on the door? Free food?

[Chrysophylax Dives]

"and it seems that often they forget to hand it over when they should" Food? Wasn't that what Gandalf inscribed on the door? Free food?

You made me spit out my coffee!
Hahahaha

[Rivvy Elf]

Hehe. I'll see if I can make a better guess tomorrow. I need to focus on getting these 300 pages scrubbed clean of anything that can be scrubbed. Believe it or not, there's a lot of intersection between Chinese mythology and the Legendarium (Penglai Islands or the Pure Land can be interpreted as Valinor. Queen Mother of the West is a thing in China. Daoist Immortals could be interpreted as elves, etc.)

[Chrysophylax Dives]

What have I got in my pocket?

[Chrysophylax Dives]

Alright, technically it is your go @Drifa. But for the meanwhile, here is the one that i did not do because you will guess in 2 seconds. M-e related.


Either side I am down, and then down again,
But not down below.
Nor am I more up than down.

Say my name!

[Drífa]

I hate to be a party pooper, but it's Thanksgiving in Canada, and I am heading out into the great outdoors to mingle with the woodland creatures, the falling leaves, and the Autumn smells.

Dragon, my brain has turned to mush over this puzzle, and well done!

But, before I go, are you Himling?

[Chrysophylax Dives]

I hate to be a party pooper, but it's Thanksgiving in Canada, and I am heading out into the great outdoors to mingle with the woodland creatures, the falling leaves, and the Autumn smells.

Dragon, my brain has turned to mush over this puzzle, and well done!

But, before I go, are you Himling?

Ah Dwarf, that sounds wonderful! Enjoy. We don't really get autumn here, it is just a spectrum sun - rain. we are now in first rains, which is just so nice. I am not Himling, and by this point i am not going to even try to think of how you got to that one.

When you return, I trust that someone will have had one of those moments that we call 'illumination' and everyone else, after it is explained three times, will have kicked themselves. And then you can too. In the meanwhile, I go back to the East - West crossing.

[Chrysophylax Dives]

Either side I am down, and then down again,
But not down below.
Nor am I more up than down.

Say my name!

@Aranadhel, this one was for you - one begins just above the Angle and then heads West at one's own pace to the sea (on a slight northerly inclination).

[Arnyn]

There is a reason I don't do riddles! I don't see it, sorry. Good luck to everyone else!

[Chrysophylax Dives]

What have you got in your pocket?

[Silky Gooseness]

at the risk of being yelled at again to read the map, the Shire

[Chrysophylax Dives]

Well. Well. Well.

at the risk of being yelled at again to read the map, the Shire

The Shire is (of course) the correct answer.

Well done, Goose. I'd like to say that i had faith all along, but it would be more honest to say that i'm proud of you.

All: i do apologize for getting in a flap and not sleeping last night. but do, all of you, please look at the map, mark out where are the 3 Palantiri (one moves), and now look at the Shire and think of the three first answers: a Hobbit-hole; Bilbo's kettle; a well. As i said, the last one is the odd one, but somehow it works (for me, at least). So please forgive me for ranting and railing at you all, its just that from where i am standing we got something good going on here - though i am aware that none of u has a clue what i am talking about.

So, all good and all done. Goose, the Dwarf is just off callibrating the machine. When she gets back i'm sure @Drifa will be very happy to show you the ropes of asking your first riddle. Personally, i reckon you could make a riddle in your sleep and don't need to wait. But it is your choice.

Finally, when i guess wrong on your riddle you do not have to use a whip; but note that, like the Dwarf, i have tough skin and feel it as a gentle tickle.

PS. @Lail, you are of course innocent of all mischief. but i would like to say thank you for a conversation a little while back.

[Silky Gooseness]

I’m not sure I’m capable of writing a riddle at all. I think I need to go and have a lie down if anyone would like the floor whilst I recover, feel free. I would not have got this without some very detailed instructions, to be quite honest… neither riddling nor mapreading is my forte

[Chrysophylax Dives]

Goose. Plaza rules = plaza rules. Now you gotta ask a riddle.

If you do not then the thread is busted - then we got to go ask the admins to fix it, and that always seems to make a rumpus and never actually seems to get anywhere (note that i am still as mystified by the Chubb-Baggins genealogy as when i first came to you all). And though it is none of my business, i must say that you appear to have exhausted your two colleagues already with this riddle rigmarole and they might not thank you if we return to the Admin thread...

But I think Drifa's away for a few days, and this thread can take a week off after recent usage. So no hurry. Remember - you are in a safe space and we all got your back. Or put another way: there are no stupid riddles, only stupid people (just keep saying that to yourself and you'll be OK).

[Lail]

@Chrysophylax Dives oh yes of course I am all innocence!! I have no idea to what conversation you refer but you are most welcome!

can someone help out a sleepy tree - which riddle are we currently solving?

[Drífa]

Hi, @Lail ! The riddle was solved by @Silky Gooseness. Sil can make a riddle or open the floor for another riddle maker.

[Silky Gooseness]

I did open the floor, I think! Apologies if not clear.

[The Good Hunter]

The thread has become meta, the riddle to solve is which riddle the riddler riddles with.

[Drífa]

Oh, you did, @Silky Gooseness. I missed it.

[Aikári Salmarinian]

Hmm is the floor open? I am only take it once in here. Hope you don't mind.

I was revered once, but now largely forgotten
Some had the joy to know me and though
History shall not tell, but I am alive.
Is it possible you can guess me?

[Hint: Tolkien related]

[Chrysophylax Dives]

Aiks, my apologies for spamming your riddle with complaints about removal of the old riddle before an answer is given. As it is though, I am afraid my mind cannot cope with another riddle while still clogged with such phrases as 'unlockable lock' and 'symbolic red patch.' So I will sit this one out, and subsequent riddles, until the unlockable lock is unlocked.

Good luck on this new riddle.

[The Good Hunter]

Maglor, perchance?

[Aikári Salmarinian]

Frost: Not Maglor, but you are getting in the right direction.

[Drífa]

Are you Círdan?

[Aikári Salmarinian]

Drifa: Sorry, I am not Cirdan, and you are a bit tiny farther away than Frost.

[The Good Hunter]

Daeron? Can't remember if he's recorded dying or not

[Aikári Salmarinian]

Sorry it is not Daeron, but you are a bit burning your fingers, good guess. Recorded dead or not, ain't important. You have come close.

[Lail]

Glorfindel?

[Aikári Salmarinian]

No, not Glorfindel, I am sorry. But it is fine guess.

[The Good Hunter]

Melian? She sort of fits the description if you squint

[Chrysophylax Dives]

The thread has become meta, the riddle to solve is which riddle the riddler riddles with.

Yeah, this is my bottom-line point on 'A Case for Lore'. The plaza has art competitions and story competitions. I used to be bugged that there were no Lore competitions but came to understand that was stupid on my part. But why there is no Plaza Riddle Award is beyond me. Riddles are integral to the story-making of Tolkien and if you are in one of his stories then you are in a riddle. (The thread never became meta, you just noticed that it was.)

[Drífa]

A good king would be revered. Yet, if he dwells in a place beyond the Great Sea, where the gods live, he will eventually be remembered but out of mind. And if that place, beyond the Great Sea, is known as the Undying Lands, this king may still be alive.

Are you Ingwë, The High King of the Elves?