Riddle-game

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Ted Nasmith - The Riddle Game

Riddle-game was an ancient game of the Hobbits, used as a means of settling disputes. The players continued to ask each other riddles until one failed to provide a correct answer.

History[edit | edit source]

The origins of the game are not known, save that it was very ancient and its rules were agreed by the Authorities and respected as sacred.[note 1] According to Frodo, riddles of similar folk were asked by other folk besides hobbits, although Bilbo and Gollum knew the same ones.[1]

What has roots as nobody sees,
Is taller than trees,
Up, up it goes,
And yet never grows?[note 2]
Gollum[2]

The most famous riddle-game was the one in which Bilbo Baggins and Gollum competed. If Gollum failed to answer a riddle, he would show Bilbo out of the Misty Mountains. However, if Bilbo lost, Gollum would eat him. The two exchanged several riddles, and Gollum's knowledge of the answers suggested to Gandalf years later that he had possibly been a hobbit once. At last, strapped for riddles to ask the loathsome creature, Bilbo, touching the ring he had found in the tunnels, asked "What have I got in my pocket?".

Gollum assumed it to be a riddle, and while he had the right to reject it, his attempt to answer bound him to the rules of the game.[3] Knowing it was an improper question, he was given three guesses, but he guessed incorrectly nonetheless. Reneging on his promise, Gollum plotted to use his "Precious" to murder and eat Bilbo, but when he found it missing, he too late guessed the right answer to Bilbo's "riddle".[2]

Other riddles[edit | edit source]

Gandalf recited a poem alluding to the Ents to Théoden, who described it as a riddle.[4] Gollum yet again incorporated his riddle about fishes in one of his songs.[5][6]

Inspiration[edit | edit source]

Asked about the The Hobbit{{{'}}}s links to Beowulf and other branches of mythology, Tolkien commented that "There is work to be done here on the sources and analogues" concerning the riddles.[7]

Douglas A. Anderson has claimed to having identified possible inspirations behind eight out of nine riddles;[8] José Manuel Ferrández Bru has noted a resemblance between the remaining riddle ("Voiceless it cries") with a riddle published by Cecilia Böhl de Faber. While admitting that the similarity between the two riddles is "surely a mere coincidence", Ferrández Bru also speculates that Tolkien may possibly have read or heard the poem in his youth through Father Francis Xavier Morgan, Böhl de Faber's great-nephew.[9]

As for the riddle for "Time", John D. Rateliff suggests one more connection with the description of Old Age in the French poem Roman de la Rose.[10]

Portrayal in adaptations[edit | edit source]

1966: J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit:

This event takes place almost immediately after the Troll Encounter, Bilbo falls through a hole, and goes Down, down to... Craglin town. When he reaches the bottom, he lands on an island, the Island of Gollum (pronounced Go-loom) And finds the Ring of Power. It should be noted that Gandalf apparently had some form of desire for it, which, in addition to his Tower, makes Gandalf feel more like Saruman. Bilbo puts on the ring and gets out of there with little struggle.

1977: Rankin/Bass' The Hobbit:

After a catchy tune and a chase sequence, Bilbo hits his head on a rock. He falls off Dori's shoulders into the abyss below. Unlike the book, Dori stops to call after, and presumably to search for, Bilbo. Bilbo wakes up to find the One Ring on the ground and takes it. Afterwards, the encounter is very much similar, although 2 exchanges are removed, The Dark Riddle is told via a song, and Bilbo's riddle that responds to it is missing. Bilbo Actually does say "Give me some time" but Gollum interprets this as his attempt to answer. Bilbo also deliberately asks Gollum what he has in his pocket, to which Gollum willingly surrenders. Gollum is a lot more chatty in his discovery of the Bagginses' treachery, in Bilbo's words "my, he does carry on!" Afterwards the chapter is similar, although Bilbo never thinks of killing Gollum. The escape from the Goblins is brushed aside, presumably to save time.

2001: The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring:

In a contradiction of what would later be shows in later films, the Ring leaves Gollum on his island to rejoin its maker, "when it was picked up by the most unlikely creature imaginable" Bilbo baggins, portrayed by Ian Holm although the later films would use Martin Freeman. The ensuing Riddle-Game is skipped, although Bilbo still spares Gollum.

2012: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey:

Bilbo falls down a chasm whilst fighting a Goblin At the same time the other dwarves were facing the Great Goblin. Gollum first appears euphoric as he comes across the dying goblin. However, in dragging him away the goblin attacks him and in the ensuing struggle ring falls out of Gollum's pouch. As Gollum drags the goblin to his island in the middle of his lake, Bilbo picks up the ring and puts it in his pocket. Curious of Gollum, Bilbo follows and sees him killing the goblin on his island, joyously singing the cold hard lands. Gollums spots Bilbo and silently travels across the lake in his boat. He approaches Bilbo asking, 'what is it, precious?' With his sword in hand, Bilbo demands that he be shown a way out. They agree to play a game of riddles; if Bilbo won Gollum would show him the way out, if Gollum won he would eat Bilbo. Most of the riddles in The Hobbit are asked and answers in similar terms as the book, including Bilbo's questionable last "riddle", 'what have I got in my pocket?' Gollum fails to answer in three guesses but become enraged when Bilbo refused to tell him what he had in his pocket. He deduced that Bilbo had stolen the ring and proceeds to chase Bilbo. In the process Bilbo slips through a narrow chasm in which he loses his buttons on his coat. He then fall over and the ring falls onto his finger, making him invisible. Gollum heads for the exit and Bilbo follows. Gollums hides as the rest of Thorin and Company run past, escaping the mountains and the goblins. Bilbo then contemplates killing Gollum, but decides not to and leaps over Gollum and escapes. In anger Gollum declares that he 'hates it [Bilbo] forever'.

See also[edit | edit source]

Notes

  1. Robert Foster in The Complete Guide to Middle-earth interprets this by saying that the rules "were held among the guardianship of the Valar"
  2. "Mountain" is the answer.

References