Can we have a hint, please? This question kept me up last night and I still couldn't find a relationship between Legolas and Saruman. I think it might be something they said? :)

Oh, Yes, indeed, since you ask, it was expressed by something they said. It was a kind of... common view of things :) Like for example if they had met somewhere (if they happened to sit together in an inn, or in a train or something ;) ) and started to talk, they could discover that they have this thing in common.

Clearly this is a two-hint question. :p

All right, you see, this is something they would both agree on, some kind of opinion they had in common, and they both expressed it in their words at some point. Each of them at least once. But they both did not necessarily express it just by words - only I think the words are most apparent.

Hmm, I had some better hint in mind last time when you asked, but unfortunately, I forgot it, apparently :D But if you ask for more hints, hopefully I can come up with something better. This is just for now.

Would it be something along the lines of both believing the time of the Elves to be over, and the time of Men beginning?

Nay. I am sure there were more people who thought that - many Elves, like Galadriel, for example.

The thing in concern was expressed by Legolas in a far "milder" way than Saruman did. Nevertheless, it is obvious that their opinion on this thing is shared.

They would disagree on this with almost all the other characters in the Fellowship.

They both disapproved of / were annoyed with other people smoking the weed of the halflings.
I don't have the books with me to give you exact quotes, but the situations were these:
- Legolas with his companions in the ruins of Isengard (Flotsam and Jetsam)
- Saruman with Gandalf at the White Council, before he took up the habit himself (somewhere in Unfinished Tales).

Now, that's what I call a 'Downs entrée! It is exactly like that, indeed. Well done, and let me welcome you by the means of this on the Downs, Pitchwife! And you can post a new question here rightaway. :)

Wow, good job there!

Thanks for the warm welcome!
Now let me see... off the top of my head, here goes:

Tuor
Maglor
Thorin Oakenshield
Galadriel

They all played the harp?

Hmm, the only thing I see connecting the dwarf to the other characters is Orcrist.

So, maybe they all had something made in Gondolin.

Thorin with Orcrist.
Galadriel with the Elessar.
Tuor had... Idril? Or something else, he did live there after all.
And Maglor...bah, no idea at all there. :(

EDIT: somehow I feel Lommy is correct.

Exactly!

Alright, then. :D

What do

Frodo, Sam, Merry and Pippin

have in common with

Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli?

Both groups lost their horses/ponies at some point of the story? (FSMP at Bree, ALG on the outskirts of Fangorn Forest after their encounter with Saruman/Gandalf/Saruman's spectre/Gandalf's spectre/whoever it may have been...)

Pitchwife's connection is excellent, but I'll have a go.

Perhaps I would be right in saying that the third-person narrative only follows the four hobbits and the three hunters? It does not follow Gandalf or Boromir when they are alone. I do not remember if Gimli, Legolas, and Aragorn are ever followed separately; maybe this is why you grouped them together.

(but the narrative also follows Fatty Bolger, and maybe more)

Pitchwife is on the right track, but I'd like him to give a more precise answer. ;)

Maybe that someone else deliberately got rid of the rides?

So this spectre/Saruman/whatever scaring the horses off into the plains of Rohan and someone else letting the ponies ride away in search of Lumpkin.

I have a feeling it's more like:

Frodo, Sam, Merry, and Pippin had their ponies scared off, but they were found by another horse: Fatty Lumpkin.

Aragorn, Legolas (and Gimli) had their horses, Arod and Hasufel, scared off, only to be found by another horse: Shadowfax.

So both groups had horses fall into the care of another..."uber-caretaker-equine" if you will.

Yes, Beregond, that's what I was thinking of. :) Please take the thread (unless you wish to be very gallant and give it to Pitchwife ;)).

I actually do want to be very gallant and give it to him, because there's no way I would have connected the missing horses as the one thing in common! Like Morgoth, I merely "refined" what was there. :p

But I don't want to delay the thread. Pitchwife, if you see this, go ahead andask a new question! Otherwise, if a day has passed, I'll try to think one up myself.

Seems like a good solution. :)

Thanks for the offer, Beregond, but I don't have a question ready at the moment and won't be able to post for a couple of days anyway. Go ahead!

This is hard! :eek:

Okay - what do Glorfindel and Pippin have in common?

They both have fair hair?

Thanks for guessing, but, no! :)

They are both saving somebody who is just fainting from being almost killed by Nazgul? :)

That's a good connection, but not what I'm looking for. :)

Maybe fighting to save someone they cared for?
Glorfindel with the Balrog like Pippin with the troll?

I don't think that would be unique to them...

You're not warm. ;)

Both of them left a jewel behind as a sign for somebody following: Glorfindel's beryl on the bridge of Mitheithel for Frodo and Aragorn, Pippin's Lorien brooch in the grass of Rohan for the Three Hunters. (Note that Aragorn was involved in both cases!)

Aha, very cunning, and 100% correct! :D

:D
That was a nice one.

OK - while we're talking about Glorfindel, what does he have in common with Fingolfin?

I'd hate to kill this thread, so here's a hint: It happened to both of them after their death. (And yes, that means I'm talking about Glorfindel of Gondolin, whether he was the same person as Glorfindel of Rivendell or not.)

Their bodies were salvaged by Thorondor.

The Ban was lifted?

Nerwen, you've got it - Thorondor the Winged Undertaker is the answer.
Your thread!

I have returned from delving into the prehistory of the Downs. All these ancient, forgotten names... what has become of those who bore them once? Do they lurk here still? Or have they moved onwards, seeking greener forums?

*blinks*

...Er, I mean, I've been going through this thread, looking for something that hasn't been done already. Quite hard.

Well, then. What do

Arwen

and

Celebrimbor

have in common?

They both gave something valuable to Galadriel's keeping?

Sorry, no. (But yes, Unfinished Tales is relevant).