Tolkien

1. What do the initials J.R.R. represent?

2. What were the events that marked the end of each of the first three ages?

3. How do the Dwarves know when Durin's Day has come?

4. Describe the people given on the left by the terms given on the right. Note that more than one answer is necessary.

   Finrod Felagund	Vanyar
   The Nandor	Noldor
   King Thranduil	Teleri
   Gildor Inglorion	Sindar
   Elwe	Moriquendi
   Ingwe	Calaquendi

5. From whom was Bard the Bowman descended?

6. What "Williams" river did a group of the hobbits (Stoors) live and fish on?

7. Under which mountain did the Paths of the Dead lie?

8. When did Smeagol first take the Ring? About how old does this make him during the time of the War of the Ring?

9. Write out a phonetic spelling of the name of Galadriel's husband.

10. What are the Sindarian and Dwarvish names for what men call Dimrill Dale?

11. (NOTE: Question #11 was entirely in some handwritten Tolkien-languageinscription that is not currently possible to reproduce here.)

12. Who populated the North country where Frodo's group encountered the Barrow Wights before their destruction? Where were those people from originally?

13. How is it that the Stewards ruled Gondor, i.e. what happened to the last King? (I esp. want a name and date.)

14. Where was the battle fought that forged the alliance between Gondor and the Riders of the Mark, and which mountain range was it closest to?

15. Aragorn and his party came upon a dead skeleton in gleaming mail while on the Paths of the Dead. Who was the warrior, and when did he die?

16. In "Many Meetings," the absence of King Elrond's wife is referred to. What happened to her? (I esp. want a name, a place, and a year.)

17. Who was it that had the pillars of Argonath made, and why and when were they built?

18. Describe the taming of Felarof the horse.

19. Who was the first Shire-thain, and when was the first year of his rule?

20. What is the name of the only Dwarf woman mentioned explicitly in the books of Tolkien?

21. How many palantiri were there originally? Where were the four remaining palantiri in Middle Earth right before the War of the Ring?

22. (a) What was the name for the group of wizards who came to Middle Earth from the West?

    (b) What were the Western names of the five principal wizards in Middle Earth?

    (c) What were the common names of the same wizards? (Note: Two are grouped together.)

23. What was the form and nature of Gandalf's warning to Saruman during the White Council of 2851?

24. In Bree, Frodo's group noticed a "squint-eyed southerner." How did he become an agent of the Dark, and who was his former master?

25. What was the name that the Black Rider who questioned Gaffer Gamgee went by?

Special Note: The author of this hour bonus is considering running a Free University course on Tolkien's World next Winter Study. What are your reactions, comments, suggestions? (This, of course, does not in any way affect any scoring for Trivia.)

Archive Note: A few of the names in the above bonus include umlauts, accent graves, or other punctuational jots that cannot be reproduced here. Our apologies to Smeagol, Elwe, Ingwe, Felarof, and you.