Tolkien Geek Challenge

[astro]

*Originally posted by Qadgop the Mercotan *
**Okay, now this is obscure trivia. Granted, Google makes anybody a contender these days, but I want to try it out anyway, and see who can answer the question, and ask equally challenging ones.

Who was the Vala of song, who could speak any language? **

Vana

[Fern_Forest]

Hmm, I’ve been looking for an excuse to say that Elrond is 6.25% Maia, 37.5% Human and 56.25% Elf.

[Cougarfang]

*Originally posted by 5 time champ *
**5TC-3 What sport was said to be invented with parts of Orcs?
**

Golf, I think… Bullroarer Took knocked the head off of the orc Golfimbul with a club during battle, where it rolled down a rabbit’s hole.

[sub]Geez, this is the only question that I actually know the answer to… :o[/sub]

[Johanna]

*Originally posted by 5 time champ *
5TC-4 Where were the Seven Stones originally placed?

1. Minas Anor
2. Minas Ithil
3. Orthanc
4. Osgiliath, under the Dome of Stars before its ruin (location of the chief and master of the palantíri)
5. Annúminas
6. Amon Sûl
7. On the Tower Hills that look towards
   Mithlond in the Gulf of Lune where the grey ships lie. (location of Elendil’s Stone)

Here’s one for you:
Where was Galabas and what family was named for it?

[Fenris]

Alright, as long as all you Tolkien geeks are here, I gotta question (it’s a real question, not a trivia question, I have no idea what the answer is):

Other than being real pretty, does the arkenstone “do” anything? Was it magic? Or just decorative? I’ve always wondered.

Oh, and who was the Children of Beorn’s Mom?

Fenris

[furt]

*Originally posted by DPWhite *
** Yet if they had wings, they were never useful for flying, because no balrog is ever recorded as flying, including the one that fell in Moria, when flying would have saved it. Moreover, Gandalf broke the bridge with the intent of causing said fall, knowing the capabilities of a balrog, and he wouldn’t have wasted his time if it were merely able to fly up. So if it did have wings, they weren’t for flying.

So what you’re driving at is that Balrogs are, in essence, horrifically nasty chickens.

Right?

[Qadgop_the_Mercotan]

*Originally posted by astro *
**Vana **

Sorry, not Vana.

[Qadgop_the_Mercotan]

While we’re waiting another day for the answer to my original post, I’ll add another really obscure one. Which two Vala were most sympathetic to Melko’s cause, and what was their relationship to each other?

[Qadgop_the_Mercotan]

Qagdop, if you’re going to post questions that can’t be answered without the complete annotated 35 volume set of J.R.R.'s grade school notebooks, I surrender!

LL, you don’t have the complete series? I am stunned!

[Katisha]

*Originally posted by furt *
**So what you’re driving at is that Balrogs are, in essence, horrifically nasty chickens.
**

Can I make that my sig quote?

BTW, here’s another article on the Balrog question that addresses the flying question in a bit more detail. It turns out to be rather complicated, but the conclusion the article reaches is that yes, Balrogs did have wings, or at least the one in Moria did (which is, after all, the most likely reading of “its wings spread from wall to wall”), and, being Maiar, they could probably fly if they wanted to.

Jomo Mojo’s question: Galabas is in the Shire, isn’t it? That’s where the Galbasi – shortened to Galpsi, and translated as Gamgee – family gets their name. (Admittedly, I looked this up – it’s one of the last things in Appendix F – but only to confirm my suspicion. :))

[Chronos]

Quoth Jomo Mojo:

                     1. Minas Anor 
                     2. Minas Ithil 
                     3. Orthanc 
                     4. Osgiliath, under the Dome of Stars before its ruin (location of the chief and master of the
                     palantíri) 
                     5. Annúminas 
                     6. Amon Sûl 
                     7. On the Tower Hills that look towards 
                     Mithlond in the Gulf of Lune where the grey ships lie. (location of Elendil's Stone)

Nope, the question said originally. Remember, the Seven Stones were in Numenor before they were brought to Middle Earth, and before that, they were a gift from the Elves of Tol Eressea. Based on the theory that they were Feanorian works, I’d say that they were probably originally placed in Feanor’s treasure house in Valinor.

As to Balrog wings, by the way: Some have supposed that Durin’s Bane didn’t have enough room to spread its wings fully in the narrow chasm, and so fell, but the same cannot be said of the one which fought Glorfindel in the escape from Gondor, which also fell to its death, but out in the open.

Here’s a couple more:
By what name was Artanis better known?
How many humanoid races played a part in The Hobbit?

And just to make things harder for index searchers, here’s a compound question:

A certain unpleasent queen of Gondor had ten pets. What powerful being is the prince of those animals?

[DPWhite]

I just read the Michael Martinez link referred to above, where he argues convincingly for balrog wings. (Just as the Encyclopaedia of Arda argues for no wings convincingly.) Now I have always imagined the Balrog of Moria with wings, fitting in with the 70s movie and now Jackson’s wonderful interpretation. I also vague recall a privitive drawing by someone (just above stick figures in detail maybe by Tolkien) showing a balrog in man shape with a cape, but no wings, but I cannot remember where I saw it.

Martinez argues that Tolkien drastically changed what he meant by balrogs over time, finally only becoming demons for LOTR, and at one point late writing a note to himself that there weren’t a 1000, but only 7. Much of Martinez’s argument rests on the difference between Tokiens early conception and final realization, making the final realization quite different from the merely powerful warriors of early on. But it is clear to me at least that it is only from the non-LOTR writings that the nature of balrogs as fallen angels is realized.

Of course there is no requirement that balrogs all be the same. Why should they. Nor should Tolkien’s late note about there being only 7 be accepted. He didn’t publish it, and it is inconsistent with other writings further along in the process of being completed. Maybe some had wings and others did not. We must await further publications (and I gather that pretty much everything in any condition close to publishable has already been published in the 12 or so volumes of notes).

[Katisha]

*Originally posted by Chronos *
By what name was Artanis better known?

Galadriel.

(My sister uses the name as a handle at another site…

**How many humanoid races played a part in The Hobbit?
**

Hmmm…that depends on how you define humanoid, I suppose, but let’s see…

Hobbits (Gollum counts as a hobbit)
Dwarves
Istari/Maia (aka Gandalf)
Elves
Goblins/Orcs
Men
those giants playing football in the mountains
whatever Beorn is (skin-changer? were-bear?)

Which comes out to eight, but I’m probably forgetting some…

[Northern_Piper]

*Originally posted by Qadgop the Mercotan *
**While we’re waiting another day for the answer to my original post, I’ll add another really obscure one. Which two Vala were most sympathetic to Melko’s cause, and what was their relationship to each other? **

hmmm - Vala sympathetic to Melkor? I can think of two Maia, but Vala? hmmm. Any hints?

[furt]

I know nothing, but my Tolkien geek roomate asks:
f-1 Tom Bombadil renamed four ponies. What were the names?

[Northern_Piper]

Actually, he re-named five ponies - the four for the hobbits, plus their pack pony:

Hey! now! Come hoy now! Whither do you wander?
Up, down, near or far, here, there, or yonder?
Sharp-ears, Wise-nose, Swish-tail and Bumpkin,
White-socks my little lad, and old Fatty Lumpkin?

Fatty Lumpkin, of course, was Tom’s own pony.

[Qadgop_the_Mercotan]

*Originally posted by Northern Piper *
**hmmm - Vala sympathetic to Melkor? I can think of two Maia, but Vala? hmmm. Any hints? **

Think “early versions” of The Silmarillion

[Laughing_Lagomorph]

*Originally posted by 5 time champ *
**
BTW, 5 time champ is a he. **

Noted, dude.

Eorl the Young is correct as the grandfather of the skeleton, Garulf rode Hasufel, and Frar was a Dwarf killed with Balin at Moria.

Chronos, I’m guessing the Queen of Gondor is Beruthiel, but I don’t know who or what was the prince of her pets…

LL-5: How many different types of bird talk to a person (or persons) in The Hobbit?

LL-6: How many beings touch the Ring of Power at some point in LOTR (not counting flashbacks, like Isildur), and who are they? (I may be sorry for asking this…)

[teela_brown]

LL-5: Two, ravens and eagles, I believe.

LL-6: Six - Bilbo, Gandalf, Frodo, Tom Bombadil, Sam and Gollum, I think.

[Northern_Piper]

*Originally posted by Laughing Lagomorph

LL-6: How many beings touch the Ring of Power at some point in LOTR (not counting flashbacks, like Isildur), and who are they? (I may be sorry for asking this…) **

In “Real Time”

1. Bilbo

2. Frodo

3. Gandalf

4. Sam

5. Gollum
   Flashbacks:

6. Sauron

7. Isildur

8. Déagol

9. Sméagol/Gollum

10. Bilbo