Some trivia questions for you all,......

I thought I'd open a trivia thread here. Not all of these have to do with the LOTR, so you're warned.

1. How many toes does a cave-troll have?

2. During the war in which J.R.R. Tolkien's son Christopher was fighting, J.R.R. wrote a good number of letters to him. One of these, Tolkien writes to his son asking him if he would approve of changing Sam's last name (Gamgee) to something else. What was J.R.R. Tolkien's proposed new last name for Sam?

3. What was the name of Legolas' grandfather, the first King of the Woodland Realm?

4. How tall was Tolkien's original version of the Balrog of Moria, and in that version, who broke the Bridge of Khazad-dum?

5. On Andor (or Numenore if you prefer) there was a small remnant of a Race of Man that was not of the Three Houses of Numenoreans. What were they called?

6. In their final destinations while they were all still under the control of the Free Peoples (Saruman counts as a Free Person in this case) in Middle-earth, where were the Seven Seeing Stones, the Palantiri placed?

7. What is the only kind of Hobbit that is generally good at boating, swimming and fishing?

8. What kind of Hobbit was Smeagol believed to be before his mutation?

9. According to this person, he would be the one to rule over Sauron's enemies once Sauron got the Ring. Who was this person?

10. Where are the hill-trolls known to live exactly?

Once enough people have had their guess, I will announce the answers and you can see if you got them all right.

9. The Mouth of Sauron, who brings the signs that they caught the hobbits, though it was Gandalf who first spoke what this messenger was thinking

I thought the Mouth of Sauron said it? Oh well, it doesn't change THAT much.

(nt)

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I thought I'd open a trivia thread here. Not all of these have to do with the LOTR, so you're warned.

1. How many toes does a cave-troll have?

If the creature referred to in the chapter "The Bridge of Khazad-dum" is a cave troll (bit of a debate about this on the Tolkien Mailing List right now) the answer is none.

2. During the war in which J.R.R. Tolkien's son Christopher was fighting, J.R.R. wrote a good number of letters to him. One of these, Tolkien writes to his son asking him if he would approve of changing Sam's last name (Gamgee) to something else. What was J.R.R. Tolkien's proposed new last name for Sam?

Goodchild

3. What was the name of Legolas' grandfather, the first King of the Woodland Realm?

Oropher

4. How tall was Tolkien's original version of the Balrog of Moria, and in that version, who broke the Bridge of Khazad-dum?

5. On Andor (or Numenore if you prefer) there was a small remnant of a Race of Man that was not of the Three Houses of Numenoreans. What were they called?

They were of the Druedain

6. In their final destinations while they were all still under the control of the Free Peoples (Saruman counts as a Free Person in this case) in Middle-earth, where were the Seven Seeing Stones, the Palantiri placed?

Minas Anor, Minas Morgul, Osgiliath, Amon Sul, Elostirion, Orthanc, and Annuminas.

7. What is the only kind of Hobbit that is generally good at boating, swimming and fishing?

The Stoors.

8. What kind of Hobbit was Smeagol believed to be before his mutation?

Of the Stoors

9. According to this person, he would be the one to rule over Sauron's enemies once Sauron got the Ring. Who was this person?

Gandalf said it, but it was the Mouth of Sauron

10. Where are the hill-trolls known to live exactly?

The Ettenmoors, I think

you're close Fanduilas, you didn't answer number four, and you were wrong on number 10.

Thanks.

10. Where are the hill-trolls known to live exactly?

In the hills. DUH.

You know Quickbeam, you remind of someone, and I can't quite put my finger on it,.....aren't you that other guy?

Sarcastic humor aside, I'll have you know hill-trolls don't actually live on hills any more than stone-trolls do on stones. So there!

(Lorco runs off in the opposite direction of the 15 foot monster laughing madly)

10: The Weathertop hills? Or is that too west?

MUCH too west indeed, although it's possible there's another location I haven't heard of.

Weren't they in just the foothills of the Misty Mountains?

Not really, the hill-trolls were basically different lesser versions of the olog-hai, that is, they were built for battle and though they would bite the necks of those that they slew (not an olog-hai trait that one), they were not simply monsters waiting to devour travellers, like the stone-trolls of the the Trollshaws for example. They were soldiers.

I guess what I'm saying is, there's no need for soldiers in the Misty Mt. foothills

I think you got me. If the stone trolls are at the troll shaws, than the hill trolls must be in the ettenmoors! Or some foothills of the misty mountains, or the Weathertop hills. Hold on, I'll get my maps out.

Okay, I cant find it. Just tell me over icq 67962109 or aim at gsfd1 and tell me the answer, but I'm almost late for a wedding, and I have to run.

Question 4: In the original version, it was a Black Rider, not a Balrog, so I'll guess human sized (6 feet more or less). The bridge cracked as Gandalf wrestled with the Black Rider.

The hill trolls were "out of Gorgoroth", according to ROTK, but does this necessarily mean they originated there?

Where did you read that bit about the Black Rider? I indeed was under the impression of a different version. In any case, you're right in the guessing.

Yes, the answer was the Plateau of Gorgoroth. (I doubt they originated there, but that wasn't the question, it was just "where were they exactly known to live"). The only place they were KNOWN to live was Gorgorth, not ofcourse relating to their origin (if we had to really go about guessing at that, I'd say at Angband, or wherever Melkor preformed his creations). I put "exactly" in there, because Mordor would be too general.

Here's the ones that have been answered

1. How many toes does a cave-troll have?

Answer: Yes I certainly think the trolls of Khazad-dum were cave-trolls, but I suppose I don't want to re-open debates. My answer that I was accepting though is that they were toeless.

2. During the war in which J.R.R. Tolkien's son Christopher was fighting, J.R.R. wrote a good number of letters to him. One of these, Tolkien writes to his son asking him if he would approve of changing Sam's last name (Gamgee) to something else. What was J.R.R. Tolkien's proposed new last name for Sam?

Answer: Goodchild

3. What was the name of Legolas' grandfather, the first King of the Woodland Realm?

Answer: Oropher

4. How tall was Tolkien's original version of the Balrog of Moria, and in that version, who broke the Bridge of Khazad-dum?

Answer #1: I've never heard of a version in which it was a nazgul, but that's unimportant because of the way I formed the question I now observe. You see I see I said 'how tall was the original version of the Balrog of Moria', not 'how tall was the Balrog in the original version of that battle', but maybe it can mean the same the thing. In either possibility (nazgul or balrog) the answer is man-sized.

Answer#2: In the first version of the Bridge of Khazad-dum that the Balrog was in, what caused the breaking of the bridge? This has yet to be answered.


5. On Andor (or Numenore if you prefer) there was a small remnant of a Race of Man that was not of the Three Houses of Numenoreans. What were they called?

Answer: The drug-folk, or the druedain as it was answered

6. In their final destinations while they were all still under the control of the Free Peoples (Saruman counts as a Free Person in this case) in Middle-earth, where were the Seven Seeing Stones, the Palantiri placed?

Answer: Minas Anor, Minas Morgul, Osgiliath, Amon Sul, Elostirion, Orthanc and Annuminas.

7. What is the only kind of Hobbit that is generally good at boating, swimming and fishing?

Answer: The stoors

8. What kind of Hobbit was Smeagol believed to be before his mutation?

Answer: He was of the stoors

9. According to this person, he would be the one to rule over Sauron's enemies once Sauron got the Ring. Who was this person?

Answer: I should rephrase that I now see to; "According to Gandalf", but you guys answered it right anyway (better than I did obviously), he is Urzahil, The Mouth of Sauron

10. Where are the hill-trolls known to live exactly?

Answer: The Plateau of Gorgoroth
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The remaining question is:

In the original version of the battle between the Balrog of Moria and Gandalf on the bridge of Khazad-dum, what broke the bridge?

I got that answer from the very last page of text of Return of the Shadow (ie. just before the notes to last chapter). This wasn't an actual text version, but rather came from a sketchy outline for the Moria chapter. This was likely the earliest version (but I don't know that for sure since I haven't read HOME VII yet), not written out fully as text but as an outline to how the narrative was to continue.