The only theme I can see so far is never-endingness.

I wonder if 'morrowless' might be the best one to start with, because it sounds simpler than the others. It refers to 'nightshade' ... 'And woods of nightshade morrowless.' (Last verse of the Song of Beren and Luthien). The nightshade never ends. (Because the morning/morrow never comes).

Legolas will never have peace again in Middle-earth if he hears the gulls. And if he sails west, he can never come back. And he's immortal.

The road goes EVER on and on.

Tom's songs go on for ever ... I mean he does.

In the dim morning Theoden rides out from dark Dunharrow, and never comes back (alive, that is).

So we can see the clues on this page:

So, then: a mildly cryptic hint on how to find the answers from the clues:

A roundabout divided

hS

Okay, will have another think.

In the meantime, folks with books - where does Legolas fall in? He himself sings two songs (about Boromir and Nimrodel). I think the only time he is the subject of a song/poem is in Galadriel's prophecy via Gandalf. Is that correct?



So what's in common among all these songs, and specifically these lines? Huey, if you were a mathematician rather than a chemist, I might have looked up the number of each line in the poem to see if they make up pi or e or another famous mathematical sequence or number. :D

Running through authors, singers, and listeners wasn't productive, and it seems too obvious given Huey's previous responses. Throwing out ideas in a different directions, most of these songs have some importance of location. Legolas is to leave Middle-earth, Galadriel is stuck on Middle-earth, Treebeard remembers lands in Beleriand, which are also mentioned in the Luthien song, and Theoden is leaving Dunharrow for Mundburg. The hobbit song and Hey dol are not clear to me; location is more tangential, the song calls for going somewhere forward.

Roundabout as in circular intersection, or as in merry-go-round?

No.

:D:D:D

???:confused::confused::confused:

To expand the hint into a full-blown crossword clue:

Nearby, a roundabout divided (6,5)

hS

There is the song *cycle* by Donald Swann, but not all these songs are in it, IIRC.

There aren't any roundabouts in Middle-earth!

Okay, okaaaay, I'll give you the hint straight. I was aiming for around & about: ie, the clues are all poems (as spotted) which were either said around or about the answer.

hS

They are all sung during the lead-up to, or perhaps one might say during, the War of The Ring. But that's not much more specific than saying they're all in LOTR.

There is also the theme of exile and homelessness ... until you try to make it fit the Tom Bombadil one.

Sorry, imprecision is a curse: EACH clue was said either around or about (ie, close to or concerning) ITS answer.

hS

I think they were all said in, around or about a forest or wood of some kind.

Might have been.

hS

1 Mirkwood
2. Neldoreth
3. Neldoreth
4. Woody End
5. Old Forest
6. Lorien (in Valinor)
7. Firienwood

Well, the Wolf bit kind of works.

Except you said 6 is 2nd letter, which makes it Woof. :D

1. Legolas Greenleaf
N eldoreth - I came in the autumn
3. Morrowless
W oody End - Home is behind, the world ahead
O ld Forest - Hey dol! Merry dol!
6. Here beyond the Sundering Seas (2nd letter)
7. In the dim morning

There is slightly more to #1 - I chose the exact quote from the poem deliberately. Similarly but different for #7. #3 you just got wrong. ;) And #6... I can't even say or I'll give it away.

hS

ERYN LASGALEN for #1?

And for #3 I'm thinking "woods of nightshade morrowless" might be TAUR-NU-FUIN?

And DRÚADAN FOREST for #7?

Is the password ENTWOOD?

Wondering if #6 is just ME-Lorien, or perhaps Lothlorien.

Some of my answers were actually right? ;)

(I couldn't remember the name of the forest from later in B and L's story, only the one she danced in at the beginning).

Ah, I had the wrong song. I thought it was Gildor and Co singing about 'Snow-white ... o lady clear.' Of course, it's Galadriel's 'O Lorien' and the next words I think are 'now fall the elven-tears.'

E ryn Lasgalen - Legolas Greenleaf
N eldoreth - I came in the autumn
T aur-nu-Fuin - Morrowless
W oody End - Home is behind, the world ahead
O ld Forest - Hey dol! Merry dol!
l O rien - Here beyond the Sundering Seas (2nd letter)
D 7. In the dim morning

'Lasgalen' of course translated Legolas' name. Galadriel was singing about her own Lorien, not the one in Valinor (and how often can you get the right WORD but still get the answer wrong?). The password is indeed ENTWOOD (well done, Nerwen), but #7 isn't Druadan Forest. Think about the specific line I'm quoting.

hS

But Dunharrow isn't a forest, is it? And I think you'd already said it was wrong?

Edoras is a town.

It"s not Dunharrow.

But it's very close by.

hS

Dimholt?

E ryn Lasgalen - Legolas Greenleaf
N eldoreth - I came in the autumn
T aur-nu-Fuin - Morrowless
W oody End - Home is behind, the world ahead
O ld Forest - Hey dol! Merry dol!
l O rien - Here beyond the Sundering Seas (2nd letter)
D imholt - In the dim morning

[Theme: Woodlands]

I actually forgot Dimholt existed until I was doing this, probably because the movie turns it into the canyon from Last Crusade. But it's probably the 'dark' in 'From dark Dunharrow in the dim morning'.

I feel like this type of clue kind of works. It largely offsets the deduction process from the clues to the theme - once that was pinned down you rattled off the whole list very quickly. At the least, it was something a bit different. :)

Nerwen, I believe that's over to you if you want it.

hS

It was great to have a passwood based around songs. Am tempted to write another some time in the future, now you've shown us it can be done. ;)

I think that kind of puzzle does need to start with a general/theme hint, though, because otherwise there is no 'straight part' to the clue at all. You could probably find a wood or forest next to pretty much every place Tolkien created where a song was sung. ;) (With the possible exception of the orc song sung under the Misty Mountains. Or Gimli's song in Moria. Athough even that one mentions a green world). :D

Reminded me a little of a great one Galadriel did about Tolkien family members. It would be a few years ago now, I guess.

I had actually noted earlier that vegetation tended to show up in a lot of the songs referenced- but then I thought, "Well, duh, it's Tolkien! The man really, really liked trees, after all!"

Great clues, though, Huey! You are shaking things up here nicely!

Thirded! The password was very original, and brought a nice change to the pattern. I liked the concept, but I agree with Pervinca that maybe there should be a clue or hint that indicates the theme or how to get to it.

Oh yeah. It was a collection of Tolkiens, and there was no spelled password. It was quite a while ago now.

Do you have another password percolating, Nerwen? Need my mind taking off the weather ....

Here you go- hope I haven't messed up any anagrams this time!:o

1. Incarnation has a solitary element in this land of shadows.
2. Unsettled surfeit for the insatiable.
3. As he reflected, he lived in high places, in the company of a noblewoman.
4. Legendary one walked valley, bewildered, in dreadful mountains.
5. A mighty avant garde soloist, in retrograde. Or is that an echo?
6. Twice-twisted suffering? We have come to a pretty pass.
7. A venomous insect, yes- but me, a mixed-up globule? Take it back!
8. Star-power? She bottled it!

Note: there is a theme. All the answers relate to it in some way; none of them (save the password itself) are it.

You are a life-saver. I don't want to think about getting to work in the snow tomorrow, at least for a few hours.

8. Galadriel / Phial of Galadriel?

2. The Silmarils, because Ungoliant was still hungry after draining the Two Trees, but the Silmarils were not settled as part of the payment, and Melkor said that the Silmarils as well was too much (i.e. a surfeit)?

1. Incarnation has a solitary element in this land of shadows.
2. Unsettled surfeit for the insatiable.
3. As he reflected, he lived in high places, in the company of a noblewoman.
4. Legendary one walked valley, bewildered, in dreadful mountains.
5. A mighty avant garde soloist, in retrograde. Or is that an echo?
6. Twice-twisted suffering? We have come to a pretty pass.
7. A venomous insect, yes- but me, a mixed-up globule? Take it back!
PHIAL OF GALADRIEL: Star-power? She bottled it!

#2 is not the Silmarils but something closely connected to them. "The insatiable" is indeed Ungoliant, but "unsettled" and "surfeit" are on the cryptic side.

#6 - the Pass of AGLON comes close to being an anagram of 'agony' (=suffering); twice-twisted could indicate that one letter has been changed. I can't speak for its prettiness, though.

hS

4. ERED GORGOROTH, mountains of terror?

Not sure about other bits of clue - gorge for valley, Thor for legendary one?

Or gorge plus Orodreth? (Although not sure why he would be especially legendary).

The word 'glut' (surfeit) appears in Ungoliant. Could 2 just BE Ungoliant?