20 Questions on ME

[Mithalwen]

Alive? No
Place? No
Has a name in a language created by Tolkien? No
Object? Yes
First Age? No
Man-made? Yes
Third age? Yes
A sword? No.
Could it be picked up by Aragorn? Yes
Is it a hobbit thing? Again an ambiguous question but no.
Made by Feanor? No, well neither known to be or likely to be.
Made of wood? No

[Urwen]

A jewel?

[Mithalwen]

Alive? No
Place? No
Has a name in a language created by Tolkien? No
Object? Yes
First Age? No
Man-made? Yes
Third age? Yes
A sword? No.
Could it be picked up by Aragorn? Yes
Is it a hobbit thing? Again an ambiguous question but no.
Made by Feanor? No, well neither known to be or likely to be.
Made of wood? No
A Jewel? No

[Urwen]

A standard?

[Huinesoron]

So what do we know? It's a crafted object, not extant in the First Age but around in the Third. It's small enough and light enough to pick up. It's almost certainly not a weapon - not a sword, not one of the Hobbits' knives, and not a bow or arrow (which would be wooden). It's not made by Feanor, which rules out... the Palantiri, I guess. It's not a jewel, so isn't the Arkenstone (the Elessar was already out by virtue of its name; it's kind of a shame this question didn't say 'jewellery', to get the Rings as well).

It doesn't have an Elvish name, which rules out a lot. While it could be the One Ring, most other things without Elvish names are 'regular use' items. So... hmm.

If it's not wooden, it could be metal, stone, or some form of organic material - cloth, food, paper, something like that. Metal would probably point to a Ring; it could be something like Pippin's brooch, but that would surely be a 'Hobbit thing'. It could also be armour. Stone... you know, I actually can't think of a liftable stone object that isn't already ruled out. Organics could be anything from the Book of Mazarbul to Denethor's dinner. (It could also be Aragorn's standard, but we're going to know that explicitly pretty soon. )

I like to think in terms of splitting the field in half, rather than trying to rule out specific answers. There's only a few metal answers still viable, only a few stone ones (if any), and not a whole lot of animal-based material ones. Add them together, and they probably equal the plant-based answers, and therefore:

-Is it made of a material that came from plants?

hS

[Mithalwen]

Alive? No
Place? No
Has a name in a language created by Tolkien? No
Object? Yes
First Age? No
Man-made? Yes
Third age? Yes
A sword? No.
Could it be picked up by Aragorn? Yes
Is it a hobbit thing? Again an ambiguous question but no.
Made by Feanor? No, well neither known to be or likely to be.
Made of wood? No
A Jewel? No
A standard? No
Huinesoron, to my mind the correct approach especially Were I to be strict about the 20 questions.
Made from material of plant origin? No

[Huinesoron]

Right, it's not plant-based. So it's not food, it's not general clothing. It's probably not a document, since I don't think any are explicitly said to be on vellum or something, so I don't think we'd have got a flat 'no' on plant-based.

(We're up to 15 question so far, so if we want to get in under 20, we've got our work cut out for us.)

I'm torn over whether to continue pushing the materials line, or try and narrow down something like use or location. Not knowing how famous this object is makes it tricky - if we're after 'Eowyn's helmet which she used to disguise herself as Dernhelm', asking whether it's something you wear would probably narrow it down faster than checking materials. But if it's something big-name, then finding out whether it's metal (and therefore probably a Ring) or leather (and therefore... I don't even know) would be more useful.

Wait - it's not one of the Rings, because it's only 'not likely to be' made by Feanor, whereas they are known not to be. So it's something without a known maker. Hmm.

Okay, I may regret this question, because I'm not sure it will tell me as much as I'd like, but:

-Is it something that Eowyn could wear? (Again assuming she was placed directly in front of it.)

(Why Eowyn? Why not Eowyn?)

hS

[Mithalwen]

Originally Posted by Huinesoron

Okay, I may regret this question, because I'm not sure it will tell me as much as I'd like, but:

-Is it something that Eowyn could wear? (Again assuming she was placed directly in front of it.)

(Why Eowyn? Why not Eowyn?)

hS

Indeed. This was the gasp since it was literally placed in front of Eowyn. Also why I quibbled an armour since is an uncountable noun like clothing.

Mind you I had a moment when it was asked about Aragorn picking it up. Could easily have happened offstage.

[Urwen]

I did it! I beat Huey!

Okay, fire away!

[Urwen]

Someone please ask some questions?! >.<

[Huinesoron]

Originally Posted by Urwen

I did it! I beat Huey!

And here I thought we were working together to get the answer...

Well done, I'd completely forgotten the vambrace, even though I used it in a riddle less than a month ago! Where's the 'sheepish embarassment' smiley?

hS

[Mithalwen]

Alive? No
Place? No
Has a name in a language created by Tolkien? No
Object? Yes
First Age? No
Man-made? Yes
Third age? Yes
A sword? No.
Could it be picked up by Aragorn? Yes
Is it a hobbit thing? Again an ambiguous question but no.
Made by Feanor? No, well neither known to be or likely to be.
Made of wood? No
A Jewel? No
A standard? No
Made from material of plant origin? No
Could Eowyn wear it? Yes

[Urwen]

A helmet?

[Mithalwen]

Alive? No
Place? No
Has a name in a language created by Tolkien? No
Object? Yes
First Age? No
Man-made? Yes
Third age? Yes
A sword? No.
Could it be picked up by Aragorn? Yes
Is it a hobbit thing? Again an ambiguous question but no.
Made by Feanor? No, well neither known to be or likely to be.
Made of wood? No
A Jewel? No
A standard? No
Made from material of plant origin? No
Could Eowyn wear it? Yes
A helmet? No

[Galadriel55]

So what can you wear that is not plant-based in an age without polyesther? Woolen clothes. Metal armour. Weapons that aren't swords. Jewelry/decoration without an actual jewel in it. Belts and brooches. Horns. Leather shoes. Crowns. Detachable Balrog wings.

Joking about the wings, but that aside - we haven't narrowed it down one bit!

I agree with Hui that other weapons are unlikely as spears, arrows, bows, clubs all usually contain an element of wood, and shields as well. Woolen clothes and leather shoes - it would have to be a specific enough item, not just that hobbit's other uncle's cousin-in-law's friend's woolen cloak. Is there any specific note of clothes and shoes that you recall with reference to their material? Metal armour and chainmail are more than possible. So are decorations, brooches, belts, crowns, and horns.

Going through specific items knowing that it's not a "hobbit thing": none of the hobbits' gear, including the knives, mithril coat, Merry and Pippin's Lorien belts, Merry's horn, Frodo's pearl, One Ring and its chain, Sherrif feathers. I am not sure if I can exclude Lorien brooches altogether, but as Pippin's was the only notable one and we're talking singular object they can be put aside.

Enough about what it's not; what could it be still? Boromir's remarkable gear - his horn and Lorien belt. Aragorn's crown, and various lesser known crown-like objects. Any unnamed Ring - in particular Thrain's Ring, Saruman's makeshift ring. Ring of Barahir is out because First Age too. The Hobbit stuff: the necklace Bilbo gives to Thranduil. Stuff from earlier times. Lots of things I can't remember.

Oh, and there is the matter of "not likely" made by Feanor, ie maker unknown. Therefore horn is out, unnamed Rings are out, Lorien wearables are probably out as they were made tailored to the Fellowship. Orcish / outright evil stuff is also out.


So... three questions left...

Would Eowyn wear this thing on her head?

[Mithalwen]

[QUOTE=Mithalwen;720430]Alive? No
Place? No
Has a name in a language created by Tolkien? No
Object? Yes
First Age? No
Man-made? Yes
Third age? Yes
A sword? No.
Could it be picked up by Aragorn? Yes
Is it a hobbit thing? Again an ambiguous question but no.
Made by Feanor? No, well neither known to be or likely to be.
Made of wood? No
A Jewel? No
A standard? No
Made from material of plant origin? No
Could Eowyn wear it? Yes
A helmet? No
Would Eowyn wear it on her head? No.

Any other answer would be too loose an interpretation of wear and also not something in my humble opinion to be likely behaviour.

[Galadriel55]

Well darn.

[Mithalwen]

Alive? No
Place? No
Has a name in a language created by Tolkien? No
Object? Yes
First Age? No
Man-made? Yes
Third age? Yes
A sword? No.
Could it be picked up by Aragorn? Yes
Is it a hobbit thing? Again an ambiguous question but no.
Made by Feanor? No, well neither known to be or likely to be.
Made of wood? No
A Jewel? No
A standard? No
Made from material of plant origin? No
Could Eowyn wear it? Yes
A helmet? No
Would Eowyn wear it on her head? No.
Would it cover all /most of Eowyn’s body? No.

I think it would be perfectly possible to have got this in 20 with a bit more narrowing down early on but I guess it is easy if you know the answer.