Eöl - Maeglin - Eärendil - Elrond - Sam (or Frodo) - Shagrat ?

The one I had was: Eöl – Aredhel – Fingon - Gil-Galad – Sauron - Shagrat , but yours certainly works.

Your turn. :)

Thanks! I tried to avoid using Sauron.
Now what about
Barliman Butterbur -> Glorfindel ?
Special rule: Do not use any members of the Fellowship (including ponies;)).

Would that be 1st or 3rd Age Glorfindel? Or are they considered the same elf for this thread?

Glorfindel of Rivendell, the 3rd Age guy. The solution I'm thinking of doesn't depend on him being 1st Age Glorfindel reincarnated, if that's what you thought.

Are we allowed to count the nine Nazgul as one person?

Now that would be easy, wouldn't it? Try to pick one of them - and not 'Whichever of the Nine was in Bree at the time'. I want a name.

Barliman Butterbur->Bill Fenry->Witch King->Glorfindel

Almost what I thought of (indeed one degree shorter than mine). I'll accept it as correct (and bonus points for elegance) if you can give me a quote that proves Bill Ferny met the Witch King himself in person. Otherwise you need one more person to link them (not necessarily one whose name we know, but someone who can be identified by, let's say, three words).

I am guessing this other person is Squint-eyed Southerner. I cannot provide you with a quote that says Bill met the Witch King in person.

Yes, it's the Squint-eyed Southerner. For bonus again (and since you said you were guessing) - as the Witch King himself apparently (from Gandalf's report at the Council of Elrond) wasn't involved in the attack at the Prancing Pony, where are we told that he and the SqS had met before?
Anyway, correct answer is Barliman - Bill Ferny - Squint-eyed Southerner - Witch King - Glorfindel, so take the thread!:)

I thought of one.

Ungoliant->Elrond

Ungoliant- Melkor - Lúthien - Eärwen - Galadriel - Elrond

(the only one I'm not sure of is the Lúthien-Eärwen connection. They were cousins, but I can't recall an actual passage in which they met. It wouldn't surprise me if I were missing some simpler solution to this puzzle)

How about Ungoliant - Morgoth - Maedros - Elrond?

Skip, the thread is yours. That one works and it is I think the shortest one possible.

Bumpity-bumpity-bump
 

Skip?

Alrighty.

How about Ulmo -> Erendis ?

Would this work?
 

Ulmo > Ossë > Círdan > [Gil-Galad] > Tar-Aldarion > Erendis

I am not entirely sure, but I suspect that it may be possible to remove Gil-Galad and still make the connection.

Can't you go straight from Ulmo to Cirdan? Anyway, I believe you have it so I'm not going to try another version.

I believe you're right, Eönwe. Anyway, the thread is yours Saucepan Man. Give us a challenge!

Quite possibly, but I wasn't certain, so took the surer route.

OK, so let's try this one:

Carcharoth > The Watcher in the Water

Are we barred from using certain characters (like Sauron) in this one?

Carcaroth - Beren - Melian - Galadriel - Frodo - The Watcher

I tend to hold with the original poster's suggestion:

And I guess that applies to Eru too ... :D

Spot on skip. That's what I have, although I was wondering whether Beren and Melian might simply be replaced with Luthien.

Anyway, the thread is yours. :)

Yeah I suppose Luthien knew Galadriel well but since no meeting is mentioned I took the certain path.

Let's see then... How about

Mardil the Faithful -> Thranduil

Mardil > Eärnur > Witch King > any of the hobbits in The Fellowship > Legolas > Thranduil

Not the connection I had but that works just fine too. For bonus points, find an even shorter path!

It's quite hard coming up with a difficult one I think, as everyone knowns just about anyone with a 6 degree separation. Maybe it would be more challenging if we only allow a three character connection, like A -> 1 - 2 - 3 -> B?

Take it, Andsigil!

I'll hold off pending a shorter route by another player. If nobody finds it, I'll put up something tomorrow. I'm interested to see what it would be, after having given it some thought, myself, and come up short. :)

I like your idea of shorter separation degrees. Maybe we can specify how many moves each time we pose a puzzle?

Exactly. I think that's what people have been doing for some time already. Sometimes you are fine with 6, but very often people said "try to make it in..."

Yeah, that's a good idea. A clue to mine, there is one character that can replace both the Witch-King and the Hobbit

Would the missing link be Glorfindel?

Yep, that's what I had in mind!

How about if I take a slightly different route in this game while keeping faithful to its origins....

J.R.R. Tolkien > Kevin Bacon :D

JRR TOlkien>CHristopher Tolkien>Judi Dench(via JRRT: A Film Portrait of JRR Tolkien)>Pierce Brosnan(Via Golden Eye)>Robin Williams(Mrs. Doubtfire)>Nathan Lane(BirdCage)>Kevin Bacon(He Said She Said)....

Bravo!

I was going to go the route of J.R.R. Tolkien -> Christopher Lee -> (myraid of actors), but yours works just fine.

I'm so glad somebody solved that one. Your turn.

Radagast>Mouth of Sauron

Sorry every one that I thought of is easy...

Radagast--eagles--battle of on the fields of Kormallen(near Morannon)--mouth of Sauron
or Radagast--eagles--Bilbo--mithril chainmail--M. of S.
or simply Radagast--Gandalf--Mouth of Sauron

Morsul hasn't been around for a while, but the third one obviously works, and must be the shortest way possible, so you'd better go anyway, Galadriel55.

(Note for the future: as far as I know, all links have to be people, so you can't have anything like "chainmail" or "a battlefield".)

Maedhros---->Thror

Maedhros --> Elrond --> Thorin --> Dain Ironfoot/Nain (either) --> Dain I --> Thror

As for the earlier rules clarifications, I believe also that we were supposed to avoid using Gandalf and Sauron.

I can't remember if Elrond applies, too. If he does, then my answer is invalid (assuming I otherwise had the right answer) and the puzzle can remain open.