6 Degrees of Separation

[William Cloud Hicklin]

OK, that works, but it wasn't the 6-stepper I had in mind

[Huinesoron]

Sauron > Galadriel > Legolas?

At Dol Guldur and Lorien, respectively.

I'm not too clear on what the aim of the game in this thread is. Are we trying to find the exact solution the question-setter thought of? Are we hunting for as many answers as possible? Or are we after the shortest answer? It's all a bit vague, it's driving me batty.

(I've been mostly assuming some form of 'match or beat the length specified by the setter', for the record, with the caveat that cheeky/sneaky answers may meet a reply of 'clever, but can you also do it properly?')

For a more serious answer...

1. Sauron captured and tortured
2. Thrain, who was the father of
3. Thorin, who was imprisoned by
4. Thranduil, who was the father of
5. Legolas.

hS

[Huinesoron]

Oh wait, you said no parent-child sets. Hrm. Let's try:

1. Sauron tortured
2. Gollum, who clearly had an encounter with
3. Grishnakh, who argued with
4. Ugluk, who duelled with
5. Eomer, who shortly thereafter met
6. Legolas.

Originally Posted by TTT

For a moment Pippin was silent. Then suddenly in the darkness he made a noise in his throat: gollum, gollum. 'Nothing, my precious,' he added.

The hobbits felt Grishnákh's fingers twitch. 'O ho!' hissed the goblin softly. 'That's what he means, is it? O ho! Very ve-ry dangerous, my little ones.'

Unless 'he says 'precious' a lot and has a bad cough' is valuable information for the spies of Mordor, I think it's clear Grishnakh and Gollum have met.

hS

[William Cloud Hicklin]

I'm pretty sure G did- but then, so did Ugluk! Although it appears nowhere in published writings, in his time-schemes Tolkien wrote that Gollum, while lurking outside Lorien waiting for the Company to emerge, was captured and questioned by Ugluk's team from Isengard (Saruman had been alerted by messengers from Moria that the Coy had passed through).

Anyway, I'll call that a win, although what I had in mind was a bit more roundabout:

1. Sauron was a Maia of
2. Aule, who was married to
3. Yavanna, who obliged Saruman to bring along
4. Radagast, who sent out
5. Gwaihir, who was spotted by
6. Legolas

[Huinesoron]

That is certainly roundabout.

So let's try this: the forced marriage pair.

Tar-Miriel > Aredhel

... without going through any Dark Lords.

I can do it in six, but I'm sure it can be done quicker.

hS

[Urwen]

I am going to use some assumptions here, if you don't mind.


Tar-Miriel - Elendil - Gil-Galad - Fingon - Aredhel

[Huinesoron]

Originally Posted by Urwen

I am going to use some assumptions here, if you don't mind.

Tar-Miriel - Elendil - Gil-Galad - Fingon - Aredhel

Looks good to me! I'd forgotten the GG-Fingon connection, so my version went Gil-Galad > Earendil > Idril > Aredhel, so well done.

Over to you!

hS