6 Degrees of Separation

[Urwen]

Those answers are both acceptable, but I kinda like the first one better.


You're up.

[Huinesoron]

Thanks! Let's move on from your favourite character to one of my bizarre obsessions: the Witch-Queen of Numenor theory (using the term 'theory' loosely).

Tar-Telperien -> The Witch-King of Angmar

Without going through Sauron, I can do it in six solid steps, or five with an assumption in the middle. Perhaps you can do better!

And as a bonus round of sorts, the one I can't get below 8: Tal-Elmar (of Tal-Elmar) to Borlas (of The New Shadow). Would love to see any solutions that use less names, even if they don't hit 6 and qualify for this game.

hS

[Urwen]

That's a hard one without going through Sauron....

[William Cloud Hicklin]

Okay, Ill give it a crack.

1. Tar-Telperien was the mother of
2. Tar-Minastir, who came to the aid of
3. Gil-Galad, whose other sub-commander in that war was
4. Elrond, in whose house dwelt
5. Glorfindel, who at Fornost routed and prophesied the destruction of
6. The Witch-King

(If one assumes Glorfindel was already present and was one of G-G's generals, we can skip Elrond)

Alternative:

3. Gil-Galad, who received two Rings from
4. Celebrimbor, who also made the Ring of the
5. Witch-King

[Huinesoron]

That's the one I got, sure enough (though I believe Minastir was her nephew, not her son), including the 'can we assume Glorfindel met Gil-Galad' potential shortcut.

Over to you, William!

hS

[William Cloud Hicklin]

All right:

SAURON -> LEGOLAS, without using ANY members of the Fellowship or Council of Elrond.

[Urwen]

Sauron>Gil-Galad>Oropher>Thranduil>Legolas


Do I get a cookie?

[William Cloud Hicklin]

Well, Gil-galad > Oropher is a bit more distant than I had in mind. Just a graham cracker.

HINT: There are no parent-child relationships

[Huinesoron]

Originally Posted by William Cloud Hicklin

Well, Gil-galad > Oropher is a bit more distant than I had in mind. Just a graham cracker.

HINT: There are no parent-child relationships

It's not that distant - weren't they both commanders in the Last Alliance?

Of course, there's always this:

Sauron > Mouth of Sauron > Legolas.

Legolas is present at the parley, though he doesn't speak. (Similarly, Sauron > One of the Nazgul > Legolas, who shot at it.)

But I doubt that's what you're thinking of.

hS

[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

[Urwen]

Let me take this opportunity to use another pair of my favorite characters....


Turin - > Tar-Miriel

[Huinesoron]

Originally Posted by Urwen

Let me take this opportunity to use another pair of my favorite characters....

Turin - > Tar-Miriel

There's always the 'opposite assumption' version passing through Gil-Galad son of Orodreth, but I'd like to go for something a bit more subtle, so:

1. Turin was fostered by
2. Thingol, who travelled to Aman with
3. Ingwe, who sits at the feet of
4. Manwe, who sent forth the
5. Eagles of Manwe, which were seen by
6. Tar-Miriel as they flew over Numenor.

How's that?

hS

[Urwen]

Good enough for me

[Huinesoron]

Thanks. Can I ask what your solution was?

And, in honour of your guess from the Bad Guys thread:

Huan > Bereg

(Note that's Bereg of House Beor.)

I can definitely do this in 6, but I'll be interested to see the routes others take.

hS

[Urwen]

I can do it like this

Huan - Celegorm - Meadhros - Amlach - Bereg

Or if you want it longer, I can do that too.

[Urwen]

Originally Posted by Huinesoron

Thanks. Can I ask what your solution was?

I had none. I had some vague idea that it could go through Tuor somehow, but yours is better.

[Huinesoron]

Originally Posted by Urwen

I can do it like this

Huan - Celegorm - Meadhros - Amlach - Bereg

Or if you want it longer, I can do that too.

Nope, that's good. I went Huan > Carcharoth > Morgoth > Morgoth's emmisary > Amlach > Bereg, but yours is much tidier (and shorter is always better!).

Back to you.

hS

[Urwen]

Do you want an easy one or the hard one?

[Huinesoron]

Originally Posted by Urwen

Do you want an easy one or the hard one?

Hard. Always hard. ^_^

hS

[Urwen]

Hard one it is!

Let's try these two who bore the same epithet....

Glaurung - > Phary

[Urwen]

Is it too hard?

If it is, tell me and I'll make something easier....

[Huinesoron]

No, no, we can do this. How about:

1. Glaurung the Golden, while young, was shot at by
2. Fingon, who was best chums with
3. Maedhros, who with his brother found the young
4. Elrond, who went volcano-spelunking with
5. Isildur, who had the guards set on him by
6. Ar-Pharazon the Golden, prospective immortal.

That last step is the only one I'm dubious about; I'm not sure Golden Boy was directly involved. (I think it's from The Lost Road; Isildur's trying to rescue a fruit of the White Tree.)

hS

[Urwen]

Back to you.

[Huinesoron]

You know what the problem with this thread is? Too many nobles. We need a bit more representation from the commons.

Rosie Cotton > Nellas of Doriath

I can do this in six. What I haven't yet managed is the bonus challenge: to do it without passing through anyone who held the title of 'king'.

hS

[Urwen]

All right.

Rosie Cotton - Sam - Gandalf - Nienna - Tulkas - Nessa - Melian - Beleg - Nellas

I am assuming that Nienna and Tulkas have met

[Huinesoron]

Originally Posted by Urwen

All right.

Rosie Cotton - Sam - Gandalf - Nienna - Tulkas - Nessa - Melian - Beleg - Nellas

I am assuming that Nienna and Tulkas have met

That's a good start! Now you just have to trim it down to six names somehow.

hS

[Urwen]

Hold on. You said no Kings. You never said no Dark Lords.


Rosie > Sam > Gandalf > Nienna > Melkor > Turin > Nellas


And....this is the best I can do....

[Urwen]

Or

Rosie - Sam - Galadriel - Melian - Beleg - Nellas

Or

Rosie - Sam - Galadriel - Melian - Turin - Nellas

[Huinesoron]

Originally Posted by Urwen

Or

Rosie - Sam - Galadriel - Melian - Beleg - Nellas

Or

Rosie - Sam - Galadriel - Melian - Turin - Nellas

And there we go. I knew someone would do it!

I'd managed to forget about the Galadriel-Melian connection, so my best was Rosie-Sam-Galadriel-Orodreth-Turin-Nellas, which obviously runs through a king. So over to you!

hS

[Urwen]

They were killed to kick-start the two great tales.....

Feanor - > Eilinel

[Nerwen]

Fëanor - Finrod - Barahir - Gorlim - Eilinel

[William Cloud Hicklin]

I think Finarfin has to go between Feanor and Finrod

[Urwen]

Originally Posted by Nerwen

Fëanor - Finrod - Barahir - Gorlim - Eilinel

Correct.

[Nerwen]

Originally Posted by William Cloud Hicklin

I think Finarfin has to go between Feanor and Finrod

Well, I'm assuming Fëanor met his nephew at least once- but even with Finarfin, it still gets there in six steps.

Okay... let's see:

Bill the Pony -> Mîm.