You raise a point that I had never thought about when I first read “The Hobbit”. I didn’t know a lot about Tolkien’s background as a Medievalist and a really accomplished one. Now that you mention it, he must have been mining that rich tradition of Anglo-Saxon riddles when he created that dialogue between Bilbo and Gollum. There’s an excellent book about him and the other fantasy writers contemporary to him. It’s called “Inventing the Middle Ages” and it discusses his relationship with C. S. Lewis and the effects of WWI on the world he (Tolkien) created.
The Riddler also comes to mind, a perfect villain set against the caped detective. The stakes are too high for me! I can't operate under pressure like that.
The Riddler was always my second favorite villain in the Batman series--after the Joker, of course. One of the things people tend to forget is that Batman has a closer evolutionary relationship to Dick Tracey and The Shadow than he does to super heroes. The comic book publisher was “Detective Comics (DC)”, and so his origin story wasn’t as fantastical and over-the-top as it later became. The Joker was just a mobster who became disfigured, and the Penguin was also just a gangster, a sort of Tammany Hall parody of the shifty politician-financier, and his mannerisms, way of talking, and the cigarette in the holder bore a resemblance to figures like FDR.
Nicely done! I guessed a swarm of bees, but that didn't quite fit... I love the old riddles and kennings, though they are usually so obscure I need help figuring out what they refer to. They're not just poetic, they're a secret code ;-)
I loved the way the metaphorical language was used as an almost sacred game. “Guess what I am?” It’s something so unique to the Dark Ages but I can understand why it was so important to them: it resonates at a very deep spiritual level.
Oh, that was so good. I sat there and looked at it for at least a minute of two. I couldn't for the life of me get it. And then I scrolled down and saw the answer. It makes so much sense when you see the answer. Give us more!
O, this riddle is wonderful!
Thank you, Sherman!
And I just occured to me that some riddles are life-threatening ala Bilbo and Gollum in the caves!
You raise a point that I had never thought about when I first read “The Hobbit”. I didn’t know a lot about Tolkien’s background as a Medievalist and a really accomplished one. Now that you mention it, he must have been mining that rich tradition of Anglo-Saxon riddles when he created that dialogue between Bilbo and Gollum. There’s an excellent book about him and the other fantasy writers contemporary to him. It’s called “Inventing the Middle Ages” and it discusses his relationship with C. S. Lewis and the effects of WWI on the world he (Tolkien) created.
Another great book about Lewis and Tolkien's friendship and their war experiences is "A Hobbit, a Wardrobe, and a Great War" by Joseph Loconte.
Excellent!...Just ordered it on Amazon!
The Riddler also comes to mind, a perfect villain set against the caped detective. The stakes are too high for me! I can't operate under pressure like that.
The Riddler was always my second favorite villain in the Batman series--after the Joker, of course. One of the things people tend to forget is that Batman has a closer evolutionary relationship to Dick Tracey and The Shadow than he does to super heroes. The comic book publisher was “Detective Comics (DC)”, and so his origin story wasn’t as fantastical and over-the-top as it later became. The Joker was just a mobster who became disfigured, and the Penguin was also just a gangster, a sort of Tammany Hall parody of the shifty politician-financier, and his mannerisms, way of talking, and the cigarette in the holder bore a resemblance to figures like FDR.
I couldn't either!
Nicely done! I guessed a swarm of bees, but that didn't quite fit... I love the old riddles and kennings, though they are usually so obscure I need help figuring out what they refer to. They're not just poetic, they're a secret code ;-)
I loved the way the metaphorical language was used as an almost sacred game. “Guess what I am?” It’s something so unique to the Dark Ages but I can understand why it was so important to them: it resonates at a very deep spiritual level.
Oh, that was so good. I sat there and looked at it for at least a minute of two. I couldn't for the life of me get it. And then I scrolled down and saw the answer. It makes so much sense when you see the answer. Give us more!
Thank you so much, Ben!!!
This was too cool! Love this, Daniel. I hadn't known that about Anglo-Saxon poetry.