Ghan-Buri-Ghan is all formality and manners when the Riders meet him, but I think the obvious choice here is Saruman.

I don't think there is an obvious one this time around...

Saruman and the Old Man Willow are both I think spot on - and with a nice twist even, while you could say that at least Faramir (possibly Bard as he is introduced against Mr. Moneybags) - and both Melian and Galadriel have a decent claim here.

Not to talk of Nienor, of whom I'd still say calling her uncharming would be a disgrace.

And the Spiders of Mirkwood would be just... well, fun.


So not obvious but actually pretty hard to choose from. Well at least if I had to choose.

Ditto. :)

This has been no picnic narrowing these down.

If I had to chose with no thought I'd have to say Saruman, but when I think about it Old Man Willow and Ghan-Buri-Ghan are better choices.

Ghan-Buri-Ghan

To see him on the list made me smile, but he really was charming in how he dealt with Theoden. He deserves more credit than he's given.

Gwath picks up his 2nd.

Sending all new red taters now and then we'll go to the next Round. Gwath judging "ridiculous"

Tally

the phantom - 3 (Honest, Insane, Violent)
Nogrod - 2 (Extraordinary, Peaceful)
Gwath - 2 (Neglected, Charming)
Kitanna - 1 (Deadly)
Menel - 1 (Cuddly)

-----

ROUND 10

Gwath, for "ridiculous" this could also be a challenging one to judge:

Mablung (the Hunter)
Entmoot
Ban of the Valar
Grima Wormtongue
Farmer Maggot
Oath of Feanor
Uruk-hai
Saeros
Hurin

**There were 2 problems that I couldn't get to until now because of my limitted internet, so there may be two more choices added on later/shortly**

---

ROUND 11

Green tater: Weary (lazy, lifeless, apathetic)
Judge: Kath

A difficult round to judge indeed...

I have to say I'm more taken with the "things" rather than the people. Entmoot, Ban, and Oath just sound better, and they are funny. Uruk-hai is also a bit funny, as it makes me think of Saruman experimenting with a new species and producing an army with arms growing out of their heads...

Mablung (the Hunter)- It's ridiculous that someone would send this in.
Saeros- Ditto above.
Entmoot- This one made me laugh. It's kinda true.
Ban of the Valar- Not so true, and not as funny.
Grima Wormtongue- Despicable, rather.
Farmer Maggot- He wasn't, & not in a funny way.
Oath of Feanor- Deadly serious, and not funny.
Uruk-hai- This one makes me laugh.
Hurin- Qualifies as blasphemy to play Hurin for this.

Ridiculous (absurd, ludicrous, preposterous)

Not in any sense ridiculous, not to the point nor fun:

Mablung (the Hunter)
Entmoot (saying it was ridiculous only betrays the suggester being ridiculous. :rolleyes:)
Ban of the Valar
Farmer Maggot
Oath of Feanor
Húrin

Which leaves only candidates which are neither brilliant or great either...

Grima Wormtongue - sad character rather, or then despicable, or even evil if one wants to look at him that way. But not so much ridiculous unless you wish to maintain that all puppets are ridiculous by definition.

Uruk-hai - To call the Uruks ridiculous sounds a bit odd as well. You could say deformed, twisted, cruel, maniacal, stupid; maybe mocking the nature and then by some way the products of a "ridiculous attempt at twisting nature" or something.

Saeros - I think comes the closest of the three: comparing men to animals sure is ridiculous, especially if done from jealousy (which is kind of self-contradicting) - then again, trying to ambush Túrin and get better of him far outreaches plain ridiculousness (okay, might go as ludicrous or preposterous) - and his fate is far from anything fun or to be smirked about.

My choice is:

OATH OF FEANOR

I believe it would come down to the Oath of Feanor or Ban of the Valar (with the Entmoot being an outside humour chance).

And now...Menel finds himself with 2.

Tally

the phantom - 3 (Honest, Insane, Violent)
Nogrod - 2 (Extraordinary, Peaceful)
Gwath - 2 (Neglected, Charming)
Menel - 2 (Cuddly, Ridiculous)
Kitanna - 1 (Deadly)

----

ROUND 11

Kath, these are your options for "weary."

Rivendell
The Old Forest
Gorlim the Unhappy
Maedhros
Mandos
Brown Lands
Mirkwood
Galion the Butler
Ringwraiths

Several places, but they rather fit and make sense with a few reasonable people too. :)

---

ROUND 12

I caved...and considering the alternative definitions this could also be interesting. Go crazy:

Green tater: Chewy (rubbery, gummy, stringy)
Judge: Lhuna

I think Galion is the obvious answer here.

Ringwraiths are being added.

I don't get Rivendell. The others are equally "ish". :D

BEST REAL ANSWER

Mandos- It's called the "Halls of Waiting" after all. Quite true.

BEST FUNNY ANSWER

Maedhros- Bet he got tired hanging by his arm all day, ha ha!

BEST COMBINATION ANSWER

Galion the Butler- Heh heh, yes indeed.

Weary (lazy, lifeless, apathetic)


Good picks:

Mandos - To the point. Weary of all the sorrows of the world only he and his brother understand and unable to basically do anything about any fate as that could mess with Eru's plans (well he made one exception though). And like phantom said: the Halls of Waiting... You could touch the laziness and apathy - and the lifelesness almost by definition...

Brown Lands - a good one. You could really attach all the attributes given to it - and the weariness looming over it by both the place itself in the absence of the Entwives who had made it flower times ago - and the longing of the ents projected on it...

Rivendell - A place dedicated to the reminiscence of heroic days of the past where along it's long halways elves recited old poems - and did nothing for an age even if they could have! A place which air was thick with weariness by the loss of the great history and the depressing thought of future fate of the elves felt. A place perfectly suiting the over-ageing Bilbo Baggins to wither away... A place of an eternal autumn.


I can see why to pick if not agreeing fully:

The Old Forest - It was an old forest indeed, waning in a way and weariness fits it well. The problem though is that it seemed not to be that lazy, lifeless or apathetic when it had something to do - like stray and catch some hobbits...

Ringwraiths - Haha! Yeah, I could see the point in here, but in the absence of a deeper view of the ringwraith psychology it is up to anyone to have their own minds about their disposition... ("Oh no, not again a trip to catch some miserable halflings from the other side of the ME... give me a break; I was just having a sweet daydream of my glorious past and would rather sleep over my sorry state." :rolleyes:)

Galion the Butler - I'd disagree with him being a good choice. He was lazy and fond of wine, but weary, lifeless, apathetic? No.


Poor choices / can't get the point:

Maedhros - except for the joke phantom refers to it's hard to see him as lazy, lifeless or apathetic - and his weariness in face of their deeds Maglor would have been a more fitting choice... Maedhros played - and firmly decided to play it - to the bitter end. A weary one would have resigned.

Gorlim the Unhappy - weary maybe in one sense, but then again if he had been weary in the other sense (bringing in laziness or apathy) none of the bad things would have fallen after the first tragedy - so on the contrary it was hope and desire that fell him even deeper...

Mirkwood - can't see any point in choosing this one (someone needed to discard a tater I presume?).

Rivendell
The Old Forest
Gorlim the Unhappy
Maedhros
Mandos
Brown Lands
Mirkwood
Galion the Butler
Ringwraiths

A lot of these work for weary! Some of them didn't strike me at all as I read them though and some of them I just don't know enough about so I'm discounting: Gorlim the Unhappy, Maedhros, Mandos and the Brown Lands. Also I don't think Galion the Butler is weary. Drunk and in massive trouble very soon but not weary. The Ringwraiths are having a new lease of life at the moment what with new steeds and all so though I originally thought of them as being quite weary I've changed my mind.

Rivendell is good. I think there is a heavy sense of weariness there, but really it's also the centre of hope (literally if you think of Aragorn).

It's the two forests that really work for me. Mirkwood for literal reasons - Bombur falling in the river and sleeping for long periods of time, and then the Dwarves passing out every time they get near the elf fires. But it's more evil than weary.

So I choose: The Old Forest

Lhuna gets on the board with The Old Forest.

Next round in precisely 1 hour.

Yes Kath! You got it! Although only half-way through: once again so near and so far at the same time. :( :)

But to be fair, I think The Old Forest was a great choice as well - not to talk of Mandos - or the Brown Lands... Kudos for those picking them!

Distracted by the beginning of the College Football season. :p But we begin new round...

Tally

the phantom - 3 (Honest, Insane, Violent)
Nogrod - 2 (Extraordinary, Peaceful)
Gwath - 2 (Neglected, Charming)
Menel - 2 (Cuddly, Ridiculous)
Kitanna - 1 (Deadly)
Lhuna - 1 (Weary)

----

ROUND 12

Lhuna, for chewy, there is clearly some nice creativity here...

Swan Knights of Dol Amroth
Draugluin
burrahobbit
Tuna
Bilbo Baggins
Gorbag
Maglor
Rose Cotton
Morgul-knives

----

ROUND 13

Green tater: Melodramatic (showy, sensational, theatrical)
Judge: sally

A chewy Burrahobbit! Hah, wasn't that what it all was about, chewy or not? :D (Bilbo loses to the Burrahobbit as a pick as Burrahobbit is spot on.)

Or well, Tuna... you know if prepared badly it can be a bit gunny or rubbery.

Never kissed Rosie Cotton so hard to say about that.


Hopefully more intelligent ideas later.

THESE ARE CHEWY

burrahobbit- So thought the three trolls.
Bilbo Baggins- So thought Smaug & Gollum.
Tuna- Ha ha ha!

Morgul-knives is added as well.

I liked "Tuna" as well.

Also, it helps to look at the list from a dragon's perspective. I'd go with Maglor in that case, as elves stay nice and juicy year after year while the rest get tough and stringy with age.

What about things that chew?

If we want to enlarge the scope of the word "chewy" then maybe we should also consider characters that are chewy as characters - so unlike Rosie Cotton who is straightforward good and nice and Gorbag who is straightforwardly bad and evil - then with characters like Maglor you need to chew a little bit more; and they are gummy or rubbery enough they are not that easily put into a mold to stay there nicely. :rolleyes:

Thank you, Kath! I dedicate this win to Boro. :D

I actually have an instant pick but I am still willing to be won over.

Well, we can't possibly judge whether to try and sway you if you don't first know your instant pick, heh heh. ;)

In my opinion though those three I listed earlier are in their own class.

Much of the allure of burrahobbit is the simple humor in the name itself, because realistically Bilbo Baggins is superior as Bilbo is burrahobbit, and as Bilbo also found himself in other "chewy" situations (notably Smaug, Spiders, and Gollum of course) his chewiness exceeds that of burrahobbit.

And then Tuna works great as an absurd word-play pick- it would very likely win most RL rounds of Taters I would say.

In the end it's down to preference- the punny Tuna, or one of the two Bilbo taters.

Of the two Bilbos I think Burrahobbit is far funnier and more spot on. I mean you can say Bilbo entered also other "chewy" situations, but the scene with Bilbo managing to get himself called a burrahobbit is exactly a situation where it is a question of how he would taste and how to cook him...

Tuna still remains a favourite for me as well.

I'm also beginning to like the idea of picking a character you have to chew a little and not just put simply in a category like "good" or "evil". From that POV Maglor would be a perfect candidate - and if someone is stringy, then he is!

Rosie Cotton might be a wildcard as well.

My internet is spotty and I have to retire early, so I'll cast my vote hours ahead of the deadline.

I imagine Draugluin and Gorbag to be a tad leathery, for some reason. burrahobbit is a fitting choice especially in the context it was mentioned in the book, and would have won had not ++Túna made me chuckle out loud.

Sally has now made it onto the board. Heh, Tuna...clever use of that one, although I thought burrahobbit would take it.

All new red taters are going out now, and sicne I've cleared out my inbox, if I've accidentally forgotten to send anyone their "chewy" replacements, please let me know. :)

Tally

the phantom - 3 (Honest, Insane, Violent)
Nogrod - 2 (Extraordinary, Peaceful)
Gwath - 2 (Neglected, Charming)
Menel - 2 (Cuddly, Ridiculous)
Kitanna - 1 (Deadly)
Lhuna - 1 (Weary)
sally - 1 (Chewy)

----

ROUND 13

sally for "melodramatic"...again have fun picking the winner out of this grouping: :p

Fingolfin
Aredhel
Gil-galad
Gandalf the Grey Uncloaked
Sack of Nargothrond
Legolas
Shelob
Eru Iluvatar
Horn of Gondor
Sador the Lame

-----

ROUND 14

Green tater: Rank (smelly, odorous, stinky)
Judge: Nogrod

....That cannot possibly have just happened.

All right. The rest of you have until the deadline to convince me that I shouldn't just pick Gandalf the Grey Uncloaked. I wish you luck.

With it being a holiday over here and things slowing down I was actually going to announce let's have a break today and continue again on Tuesday.

Enjoy the day. Cheers. :)

That's the only right answer this round, Sally. I'm not going to bother making opposing arguments.

And now- I'm off to enjoy my schedule-free day! :cool:

Surprise us Sally and don't go with the trump card.

Think fex. of Fingolfin's Melodramatic story - being rewarded from his righteousness after all the toil, sorrow and heroic crossing of Helcaraxë, becoming the High king through his might and trueness - and his son's deeds.

And how does it end? Hearing a false story of his side losing he rides ALONE to challenge Morgoth himself into a duel! And he deals Morgoth a good deal of blows nobody had done or would (fex. making him to limp for the rest of his corporeal being)... and dying, of course, like any melodramatic hero needs to do. But even in death his body was rescued by none else than Thorondor and a cairn was built to honour his memory...


I mean what melodramatic is in Gandalf cloaked or uncloaked in comparison to that story?

When I was already out of town I realized that I forgot to tell you guys I won't be here for a couple days. Sorry. :(


For melodramatic, I would say Aredhel and Sack of Nargothrond are quite accurate, but Mr. Uncloaked trumps them all. :cool:


PS: Boro, I didn't get a new red tater to replace chewy one. May I please...? :Merisu:

I'm not sure why Gandalf the Grey Uncloaked seems to be the obvious choice here. Sure, it's hilarious, but how is it melodramatic?