Trivia Question

[Eruve]

Name a town that had the same name as a character in LOTR. (Yes, one actually exists!)

[bmilder]

Hmm, a town on Earth?

[anduin]

Well, there's Dunedin, NZ....is that close enough? What's one letter? :P

[Eruve]

Yes, it's on Earth. I'll even tell you it's in Canada, which eliminates anduin's answer. This town has the exact same name as a character in LOTR.

[anduin]

I've got it!!! :D Gimli, Manitoba

[anduin]

What else you got? I love trivia :D

[Elanor]

Here's a question: What LotR character has a mother who's named after a deadly poison?

[gdl96]

Son of Poison?

[Eruve]

...anduin got the right answer. Gimli wasn't named for the Dwarf in LOTR, though. The town was founded before the book was written. It was founded by Icelandic immigrants, who gave it that name. Sorry, I'll have to think of some more. Anyone else have anything good?

[Eruve]

...forgot to answer yours. That would be Pippin Took whose mother's name was Belladonna.

[bmilder]

I have one: What does "sharku" mean and in what language? Btw, Eruve, do you have ICQ or AIM? :)

[Gimli the Dwarf]

Theres a city named after me?... wow, I didn't know I was that famous! I have no idea what Shuku means.

[Eruve]

Sharku means "old man" in Orc speech. No I don't have ICQ or AIM. You can email me at eruve@frodo.net. Cool addy, no?

[Eruve]

By what name was Gandalf known in Valinor?

[Fat middle]

Though this thread is a direct menace to mine in the JC (which is falling fastly page after page) i´ll jump into as a proof of gratitude to your attentive replies about orcs :) Olorin Easy question: what is a Gross?

[Hernalt]

A Dozen Dozen. French merhcants during the French and Indian War were recommended to have 'one half-gross awls' and 2-3 dozen pocketknives for trade with the Indians, thus solidifying their alliance. 1) What is a 'butt of malmsey'? 2) Although Mel Gibson was at one time 'Braveheart', who did Tolkien dub 'Brave heart'?

[anduin]

A butt of malsmey is about 2 hogsheads (125 gallons) full of a sweet wine.... As for the other.....ummm.....

[Elanor]

Actually Eruve was not quite right. Bilbo was the son of Belladonna Took. And the gross has been a standard measure since medieval times, when grocers came into being. I don't know who brave heart was, but does anyone know why you have to go through 7 tunnels (not gates) to get into the center of Minas Tirith?

[Eruve]

Garn! I knew I should have checked my sources! Memory is the first thing to go, they say... I can't think who the Brave Heart could be either... Is it someone from Sil? I can only come up with Turin but I'm sure that's not right. FM, sorry for the competition... I don't visit the Star Wars sites, unless of course they have Tolkien on them, too. I had originally only meant to ask the one question, not really turn it into a trivia game. But in spite of that, here's another: What was Mondos' real name. (Mandos is actually the name of his halls.)

[Hernalt]

'Brave heart' is found in ROTK, nowhere else, is spoken by no man, and regards no Hobbit.

[bmilder]

Well, I can't find my copy of the Sil :( But I believe his name was Irmo :) (Unless that was Lorien...)

[Eruve]

I can't find the "brave heart" reference in ROTK but I'm fairly sure now it refers to Eowyn. Irmo was Lorien.

[bmilder]

Thought so :P It's Namo then...

[Eruve]

Now you've got it!

[Hernalt]

"Brave heart" is found in ROTK, p82ish, when Faramir is fleeing the Dark Rider.

[IronParrot]

I've got a question for you all here... Tolkien corresponded with a reader who shared the namesake of a major character in LOTR. What was his/her name? (Character or person, doesn't matter - same anyway)

[Eruve]

Sam Gamgee!!! Saw that when I was skimming through Letters the other day! Good question!

[IronParrot]

Actually, I also read somewhere - I don't know where - that after corresponding with the real Sam Gamgee, Tolkien joked that he feared receiving a letter from an "S. Gollum".

[Elanor]

cool! About the tunnels: the 7 gates alternated between two corners of the city, and the people had to go back and forth across that side of the city between gates. There was a spur of the mountain jutting out right in the middle, so the main road was built through it in tunnels. Actually, now that I think about it, there were probably only 6. It describes this at the beginning of RotK. Not to offend anyone, but that's why I like LotR better than Sil--it's amazingly descriptive, and the story seems much more real.

[bmilder]

Yeah, sometimes I think of the Sil as a history book - just the facts, few details or "fleshing out" of characters. LotR is more of a story. It was very good, though, of course :)

[anduin]

Eruve, which Letters are you referring to? Letters from Father Christmas or The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien? Have you heard of the latter book? Has anyone? I gave that book to someone a long time ago, and I have been looking for it ever since....

[Eruve]

I meant The Letters of JRR Tolkien. Never lend books! I learned the hard way in high school, when I convinced a friend to read LOTR. I leant her my copies and only got Fellowship back. I never saw the other two volumes again!

[anduin]

Yeah, I lost my first copy of LOTR the same way....but I did not lend The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, I gave it as a gift. You wouldn't happen to know where to get a copy? I have checked and I don't believe it is in print anymore.

[Eruve]

anduin, you're the second person who's told me that (about Letters being unavailable). That surprises me because I only bought my copy around 3 years ago. I got it in a regular bookshop. But I live in Canada; maybe it's no longer available in the US... My edition is published by Harper Collins and comes direct from London. Have you tried Amazon? If not, I think Chapters has a website where you can order books. Chapters is a Canadian bookstore. I think the url is something like <A HREF=http://www.chapters.ca >http://www.chapters.ca </A>. Good luck! Edited to add: I just checked the Chapters site and it's available here in Canada and can be ordered from their site.

[anduin]

Yeah, I have tried amazon.com. I even signed up to be emailed if it ever becomes available at auction, but I haven't heard anything yet. :( I may just ask if my friend still has the book, and if he would be interested in selling it to me or something...

[Hernalt]

Books about Tolkien and Middle-earth (http://www.daerons.demon.co.uk/tolkabut.htm) Don't accidentally order Bored of the Rings...

[anduin]

Is that a comment directed towards the book? I mean, is it worth even bothering about?

[The One Ring]

I haven't read it but I heard it's fairly funny.

[Hernalt]

Bored of the Rings had authentic humor for some portions. But the *comedians* may have just as well used the HTML tags [we'retiredofwritingthisdamnbookwepromiseddammit,ju ststopreadingandgiveusyourmoney] and [/we'retiredofwritingthisdamnbookwepromiseddammit,ju ststopreadingandgiveusyourmoney] for the sections where they ran out of Actual Wit™. I chuckled for some portions, but it required effort. You can always borrow it from a friend.

[anduin]

Sorry, what I meant is, is The Letters of JRR Tolkien worth trying to track down?

[Eruve]

anduin, yes, yes, yes, by all means track it down! It is very worth it. If you're hesitant about ordering on-line (because you could order it on that web site I gave you the link to). maybe try asking for a special order at your local book store.

[Elanor]

Does anybody want another trivia question? How about this: How many bodies has Sauron had since Melkor's final banishment?

[Finduilas]

The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien is apparently coming out in a new version with an improved index this year or next year.(There's been lots of discussion of this on one of the Tolkien Mailing Lists.

[Hernalt]

It's about darn time. We only have 2-some years before the movies come out. (I was waiting for this. YES!!!) Now if they can only come up with some large "Map-sized" maps of Beleriand, Middle-Earth, Numenor and Aman... Give it time.

[anduin]

I finally got a copy of "Letters".......I won a hardback at an auction :) $15.oo. Not to bad, eh? :) Still, I plan to buy the new edition.....but I just couldn't wait any longer.

[Glorund]

>>> Here's a question: What LotR character has a mother who's named after a deadly poison? <<<

there's no poison called Lobelia (though possibly there should be), but there is one called Belladonna, as in mother of Bilbo.

[andustar]

lol i would just like to say that theres a town in italy called turin, i had to study the industrial triangle at school...sorry if this is late
i have aim and pleaseplease IM me if you do to! cirdan160 ok? thank you....

[Fat middle]

In Spain we also name it Turin, but methinks that th right name of that city is Torino (if you are refering to that city at the north where they keep the santa sindone), but i´m not sure cuz i cannot speak Italian.

[Eruve]

I think you're right about the Italian name, FM. It's Turin in English, too, and also in French, but there's no accent on the u. ;)

[andustar]

ok thanks :)

[Hernalt]

The name of Beren's sword, please.

[anduin]

I am going to hazard a guess......
even though it is mentioned as a knife and not a sword.....
is it Angrist?

[bmilder]

I've made a quiz about Legolas for Ron Kittle at the BarrowDowns site, you can see it here (http://www.barrowdowns.com/Quiz6.asp)