Well that's a very grim description of Edoras.

This riddle is actually entirely literal.

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Under shadow, under earth,
By foul magics hid from sight.
To the deepest place I venture,
And its denizen bring to light.

hS

Sam's rescue of Frodo?

I can see where you're going with that, but no.

hS

If it weren't for your hints, I'd say Beleg, or Gwindor.

They wouldn't fit the whole riddle, though.

hS

But if it's entirely literal, there's nowhere deeper than the depths of Moria, unless you're talking about an obscure mermaid or something. Or a castaway Silmaril (which would take us into the future).

Wait, then the speaker themselves are hidden from sight by evil magics, as opposed to the place they ventured to? And yet, they bring someone to light, implying that they are a good person......

The implication is 'deepest in [somewhere]', not globally deepest. I could never calculate whether Utumno, Moria, or Mandos ran deepest.

Yes and yes.

hS

Then it's one of the bearers of One Ring, for that's the only thing of evil magics that could hide someone from sight.

Except that none of them fit the whole riddle either, even though they do fit parts of it. (Well, Sam does, but you said no to that)

It is!

I promise you're wrong. :)

hS

It's Bilbo's rescue of Thorin from Thranduil's dungeon, isn't it?

Then it's either Bilbo or Frodo, and Bilbo fits better, because he visited Taur-nu-Fuin

Assuming my guess is correct, here's the explanation:

Under shadow, under earth, -In subterranean halls in Mirkwood.
By foul magics hid from sight. -Made invisible by the Ring.
To the deepest place I venture,
And its denizen bring to light. -Thorin was imprisoned "far down in a deep place".

We have a winner! Explanation is exactly as you say.

I was expecting to decoy you all by making it all sound evil (hence 'denizen' in particular), but Urwen clocked immediately that 'brought to light' implied a good character.

hS

I did that with Huan once. Before your time, I think.

For salvation given,
From a cold hand taken
That vows be kept
In a land forsaken.

Brought down years uncounted,
From lands sea-riven,
From a cold hand taken
For salvation given.

That also elicited my silly Les Mis comment. Valjean sings 'And I will bring her [Cosette] to the light.' ;)

Could it be the Ring of Barahir?

Yep!

Ring of Barahir?


For salvation given - To Barahir
From a cold hand taken - Barahir's
That vows be kept - Finrod to Beren
In a land forsaken. - Beleriand

Brought down years uncounted,
From lands sea-riven, - One of heirlooms of Numenor
From a cold hand taken
For salvation given.

I am sure getting ninjaed a lot today.....:(

Yes, and that's the correct explanation (with the last bit referring to Arvedui giving the ring to the Lossoth). But I'm afraid Pervinca got in before you, so it's her turn.

Take it if you like, Urwen. I'd have been a little slower if I'd stopped to write explanations.

Nah. Make one.

No time! You do it.

In the first
I was given to him by a foster mother
Though ultimately
I was meant for his blood brother

In the third
I was given to those who sought flame
Though they ultimately parted ways
Could you guess my name?

Lembas?

In the first
I was given to him by a foster mother
Though ultimately
I was meant for his blood brother -Melian gave Beleg lembas for Túrin, whom she had fostered and who could be described as "blood brother" to Beleg.

In the third
I was given to those who sought flame
Though they ultimately parted ways
Could you guess my name? -Galadriel gave lembas to the Fellowship of the Ring, whose goal was Mt Doom.

Yup.

Beleg? He trusted Mim, he was saved by Androg, whom he mistrusted, and his best friend killed him.

No. I thought someone would guess Beleg- but how would you explain the first line?

Turin then? He was born from Houses of Hador and Beor, he hated Brandir, who saved his life after he came to Brethil, and he was slain by Anglachel, which was loyal to Beleg.

Well, loyal to Beleg apart from that time when it sort of wasn't... but yes, Túrin would fit. It's not him, however.

One of Half-Elven, then?

*declines to answer*

I'm only going to confirm or deny specific guesses, not broad categories. I think that's fair.

Faramir? His parents were people of Dol Amroth and Gondor, his father tried to burn him, and Gandalf saved him (Presumably, he, like his father, disliked Gandalf, though I have no hard proof of that)

Actually I'm pretty sure he held Gandalf in high regard- remember how he spoke of him to the Hobbits? Also, when was Faramir "slain"?

Well, I doubt anyone in the Tolkien-verse really hated anyone else (Maeglin, Mim and other bad guys being the exception, but then again, none of them were saved by anyone)


And why would this person be saved by someone they hated? Makes no sense to me.

Highly debatable, I'd say. (And Maeglin's life was saved by his mother, actually, though that's neither here nor there.)

At any rate the person in question was certainly very badly disposed towards the other party.

Exactly. WHY?:eek:

Yeah, but he didn't hate her. ;)