For 6, challenge accepted.

Dwalin + something else....?

I mean, don't assume I wouldn't make a clumsy mistake, but in this case, no.

It could indeed!

"Is Luthien on the beach? No - she up the beech."

:D :D :D

(I warned you about the pun...!)

Dwalin is not involved in the answer. You're in the right gaggle of dwarves, though.

RUSSANDOL - Eldest son of the Urals with a little doll? Not I!
2. - Far Harad? Shelob's lair? Where it all began? Maybe, but the direction is secondary.
3. - I risk many things, but only the first four blossom.
NELDORETH - The middle of a funeral bell, a squashed door, the beginning of booze - is Luthien on the beach?
5. - Bein sei (east); dig deep and reverse it.
6. - Not you or I, but a choice of letters all the same. Pick a dwarf (doesn't matter which; you're in second place).
7. - Stand her on her head! Indeed, Bergil's threat applies here, to bad Roman Virginia.

hS

But you said it doesn't matter which dwarf I picked. Now you say it does. >.>

Thanks for the lovely greetings. You're all very kind but I fear you're also far too clever for me!

I'll have a stab at 2 ... Undergate? Or Underway?

Well, you have a choice of dwarves; that doesn't mean anyone from Durin the Deathless to Durin VII is appropriate.

There's 'clever', and then there's 'writing convoluted gibberish and giving hints until someone guesses it'. This password is... probably more of the latter. ;)

Nope; like Pervinca, you need to be more/less literal.

A good starting point would be trying to find somewhere that links Far Harad with a large spider, and then thinking about what 'where it all began' could mean.

hS

It all began in Valinor, of course. :)

It most certainly did not!

hS

As it is said in old lore, go not to Huinesoron for counsel, for he will say both less and more! ;)

Well, where else could it have began? And don't say it began in Bag-End, because it didn't. There were countless things that happened before the third age....

Dwarves
 

OIN is an anagram of 'No I,' which not very satisfyingly satisfies the clue, (that's not *much* worse than saying 'less and more.') ;)

I think 'You're in second place' means the second letter is the 'red' one, so it could also mean that several dwarves (although 'any' would be hyperbolic) would fit the bill ... well, Oin, Bifur, Fili and Kili in this case, since Gimli isn't in the particular *sub-gaggle* of Erebor dwarves who went on the actual Quest of Erebor.

Well, I've ended up in Buckland ...

Harad existed in the First Age, so maybe the spider is Ungoliant? Ungoliant still has a connection with Shelob.

:D

You're still not thinking literally enough.

It's not Oin, and there's no anagrams. :)

You're correct about the second letter being the one you're after, and that more than one (though hardly 'several') dwarves can fit the clue. It's not too much of a hint to say I originally wanted to write 'brothers', but wasn't sure if I could, is it...?

Yikes, don't go there!

Nah; earlier than that. :D

hS

NORI ('Nor I')

Bofur or Bombur?

Fili or Kili?

Nori or Dori?

These are the only others with matching second letters, I think.

Is it NORI? (NOR + I).

Before Ungoliant?

Must be the little-known spider in Varda's bathtub.

Or the tarantula JRRT stood on some time between 1892 and 1896.

EDIT: cross-post.

Password: RUINING?

If Pervinca's right, could 3 be Irisse? (Iris is a flower, and as everyone knows, she risked her own life to save another's)

'N or I', in fact, but 'D or I' was also a valid answer.

Yes, it must. ^_^

Nope...

But I'm going to give you IRIS. Check the clue again - but only the first four!

RUSSANDOL - Eldest son of the Urals with a little doll? Not I!
2. - Far Harad? Shelob's lair? Where it all began? Maybe, but the direction is secondary.
IRIS - I risk many things, but only the first four blossom.
NELDORETH - The middle of a funeral bell, a squashed door, the beginning of booze - is Luthien on the beach?
5. - Bein sei (east); dig deep and reverse it.
NORI - Not you or I, but a choice of letters all the same. Pick a dwarf (doesn't matter which; you're in second place).
7. - Stand her on her head! Indeed, Bergil's threat applies here, to bad Roman Virginia.

hS

Maybe Ea for 2?

Or VOID?

Is IRIS a reference to the flower as it grew in Ithilien, or is it something to do with the Gladden Fields, which were named after a variant of it?

Password: Rainbow

Earlier.

Earlier. ^_^

Hang on, let me check... apparently the specific reference is to the gladden, in Tolkien's parlance.

Is correct!

RUSSANDOL - Eldest son of the Urals with a little doll? Not I!
2. A - Far Harad? Shelob's lair? Where it all began? Maybe, but the direction is secondary.
IRIS - I risk many things, but only the first four blossom.
NELDORETH - The middle of a funeral bell, a squashed door, the beginning of booze - is Luthien on the beach?
5. B - Bein sei (east); dig deep and reverse it.
NORI - Not you or I, but a choice of letters all the same. Pick a dwarf (doesn't matter which; you're in second place).
7. W - Stand her on her head! Indeed, Bergil's threat applies here, to bad Roman Virginia.

If you figure out why, it...

... uh...

... probably won't be much help with the other clues, to be honest. But it might!

hS

Time for blind shots.

7. Eowyn

Maybe each answer is connected to a colour of the rainbow?

RED: Red hair for Russandol.
YELLOW: The Iris?
PURPLE: Nori's hood.
GREEN: Neldoreth, because it's a forest?
ORANGE: The Orange Free State, South Africa (given G55's inspired and clever guess downthread).

That leaves:

BLUE
INDIGO

since purple = violet.

There is one blue flower: MENELLUIN.

From Tolkien Gateway:

"Idril Celebrindal's device, depicting a menelluin
menelluin is the Elvish name for "cornflower".
It was the emblem of Idril Celebrindal, is stated to be an inlaid plaque saved from Gondolin and descending through Eärendil and his son Elros and influenced Númenórean circular designs. The Emblem was taken to Gondor by Elendil."

I can't get the flower or Idril to fit either of the remaining clues, though. (I say either, because I presume (South) Africa is right).

2. [South] Africa???

Will fill out the password in the morning, but for now:

'Africa, South' is right for #2.

Menelluin is not right. Nor is Eowyn.

The colour connections proposed by Pervinca are spot on. Tolkien specifies yellow irises in a letter.

For the purposes of this password, the rainbow should be read as red-orange-yellow-green-blue-purple-pink.

(Because indigo is an invention of Isaac "Numerology" Newton. I mean, my colour blindness means I don't believe in purple either, but Tolkien used it, so I shall allow it.)

Blue and pink to go, then.

What a wonderful idea for a password, Huey!

(Pink instead of indigo matches the colours in the song 'Sing a rainbow,' which my dad used to sing to me when I was a nipper).

So …

BLUE CONNECTION:
5. B - Bein sei (east); dig deep and reverse it.

PINK CONNECTION:
7. W - Stand her on her head! Indeed, Bergil's threat applies here, to bad Roman Virginia.

For 5, all I can see is elements kind of resembling parts of SEIN, the German for 'to be' and possibly 'mine' for 'dig deep.' Could it possibly be something to do with the Blue Mountains? But what on earth does 'bein sei (east)' signify?

For 7, the only female characters I can find at the moment are WANDLIMB and WIDOW RUMBLE! As Wandlimb (Fimbrethil) is Treebeard's long-lost wife, could the 'pink' element be that the Entwives wanted more plants and flowers, and hence left? Maybe she left Treebeard and went looking for pink carnations, or something? :D

I've looked through the Ent and Entwife duet, and blossom is mentioned, but it is described as 'like a shining snow.' But I suppose if you wanted to stretch it, and say that blossom *can* be pink ….

Huey, colour blindness is not limited to red/green, then?

7. Myrtle Burrows?

Oh - that could be the funny thing needed to be done to find the letter, of course. ;)

(I did mention rotating Z to get N, or vice versa, not long ago in Huey's previous password). ;) (I was wrong then, though).

What on earth is the Roman Virginia thing all about, though?

Thank you! Kind of regretted it when I hit... anything past red and green, though. ^_~

I CAN SING A RAAAAAAINBOOOOW...

You've got absolutely everything right here. 'sei' is (at least per Google) the present tense (maybe infinitive?) form of 'be'.

Nice thought, but neither of them.

My working theory is that my red-detection cones are vitually useless, meaning a) red isn't a particularly bright colour for me, b) it's easy to conflate reds and greens, and both with browns (brown, after all, is just dark yellow), and c) there's no 'purple' area between red and blue.

Just yesterday I looked at a rose bush down the length of a garden and didn't spot the huge red rose on top for about ten seconds. I halfway ended up picking it out by shape.

Anyway, tl;dr: purple is a lie invented for the sole purpose of winding me up.

Oh, now that would have been better... no, but I had to double-check. You're in the right part of the world, though.

[Checks again]

Oh, blast, and I need to retract what I said to Kath - maybe you should go to Buckland...

Perhaps that's where the idea came from, I don't remember. :)

RUSSANDOL - Eldest son of the Urals with a little doll? Not I! (Red-headed Son of Feanor)
AFRICA, SOUTH - Far Harad? Shelob's lair? Where it all began? Maybe, but the direction is secondary. (Home of the Orange Free State)
IRIS - I risk many things, but only the first four blossom. (Yellow flowers of the Gladden Fields)
NELDORETH - The middle of a funeral bell, a squashed door, the beginning of booze - is Luthien on the beach? (Green woodlands)
5. B - Bein sei (east); dig deep and reverse it.
NORI - Not you or I, but a choice of letters all the same. Pick a dwarf (doesn't matter which; you're in second place). (Dwarf with a purple hood)
7. W - Stand her on her head! Indeed, Bergil's threat applies here, to bad Roman Virginia.

hS

7. Crickhollow? (I mean, it does look pink...in the picture...if you squint...)

SEI is the imperative. For example, 'Sei ruhig!' = Be quiet!

(No further thoughts on the clues yet, I'm afraid).

And Blue Mountains is apparently wrong, so I didn't have everything right there. ;)

Hang on ... there's something else blue. Two wizards. And they went into the EAST.

Is the answer BLUE WIZARD(S)? Their actual names don't have the letter required, as far as I can see.

Nope. It be a person.

Not the Blue Wizards (I tried to avoid using the actual colour words, to keep from giving it away). And the answer isn't "Blue Mountains", but 'something to do with the Blue Mountains' is correct (in fact, they're the colour link).

hS

Is there even a person from Buckland with 'W' in their name?

Not as far as I know.

hS

Then why did you say 'go to Buckland'?

hS

I don't get it...

We're looking for a hobbit name starting with M, I think. I presumed that was why you guessed MYRTLE, Urwen? You get the W by turning the M upside-down.

Glad we're narrowed down to the Blue Mountains, because aside from VILYA I was struggling to think of blue things ... eyes in Tolkien seem to be grey, brown or yellow. I think Faramir gives a blue dress or cloak that was his mother's to Eowyn, though. And I tend to picture Luthien in blue, but that might be various pieces of artwork talking to me.

EDIT: some dwarves have a blue beard or hood, too, but it's possibly unlikely there'll ne another 'dwarvish' clue ... at least of the appearance/sartorial variety. (The Blue Mountains themselves have a very dwarvish connection, of course).

Now, M ... is MIMOSA pink? I think there's a Mimosa.

...

Yes, as I thought. She's a Bunce who marries a Baggins. Perhaps not near enough to Buckland, then.

If that's true, then maybe it's Malva Brandubuck nee Headstrong. She is pink and is of Buckland.

Further, latin for bad is Mal, add Roman Virginia to that and you have Malv.