Well, you have found the right person.

And the results of the kings' footrace are in!
amroth - In first place, the doll-king who simply is rage!
elendil - In second place, the exiled king to borrow sickness from!
3. Next, he would have been first had he not run backwards; this king's son's legs? Far more famous.
amdir - In fourth place, things are just short of desperate for this grey king.
oropher - Coming in second from last and feeling a bit green, this king's memories could be of him, or...
gil-galad - And in very last place, this elven-king fears things will shortly go ill; glad he didn't win, then.

The ellipsis was meant to suggest that you need to finish the sentence; the natural conclusion (to me) was 'of him, or of her, which... well, you see it. :)

One to go! And someone needs to find the password, too!

My earlier hint for #3 still stands: what does an apostrophe mean?

hS

3. Thranduil, as Legolas is his son and more famous?

But going backwards, so Liudnarht.

And the results of the kings' footrace are in!
amroth - In first place, the doll-king who simply is rage!
elendil - In second place, the exiled king to borrow sickness from!
thranduiL - Next, he would have been first had he not run backwards; this king's son's legs? Far more famous.
amdir - In fourth place, things are just short of desperate for this grey king.
oropher - Coming in second from last and feeling a bit green, this king's memories could be of him, or...
gil-galad - And in very last place, this elven-king fears things will shortly go ill; glad he didn't win, then.

Ding! There it is - this king's son(is) Legs. :D I apologise sincerely. And the key letter is indeed the last.

... but can you find the password?

hS

I doubt if Saruman, with all his experience of draining rivers for treasure, would be able to find your password.

You can almost make AEGLOS with the first letters and the L of Thranduil, but the S is missing.

Unless one of the Valar was standing by and shouted 'Goal! Ea!'

Wel, that's a bit harsh.

I literally plastered numbers all over the clues.

hS

I'm sorry. I probably shouldn't try to look for passwords at all when my head and eyes ache from 'flu.

I can almost make ALLIES from the number clues, but again, there is no S.

ALLIED?

And the results of the kings' footrace are in!
Amroth - In first place, the doll-king who simply is rage!
eLendil - In second place, the exiled king to borrow sickness from!
thranduiL - Next, he would have been first had he not run backwards; this king's son's legs? Far more famous.
amdIr - In fourth place, things are just short of desperate for this grey king.
orophEr - Coming in second from last and feeling a bit green, this king's memories could be of him, or...
gil-galaD - And in very last place, this elven-king fears things will shortly go ill; glad he didn't win, then.

Password: ALLIED. Theme: kings during the Last Alliance.

I would have much preferred ALLIES, but the only way to get an S would be to use Isildur, and I couldn't find a way to use his last-place position to clue the second letter. (Well, I could have done Sauron, but that might have muddied things...)

I actually wanted to clue ALLIANCE, but had to change it because literally no-one had a C in their name.

Anyway, sorry that turned out so tricky! Over to you, Pervinca, and well earned.

hS

It looks so cool with the letters in red. How do you do that?

I thought your number placings were just a part of the 'kings having a race' conceit. It does look a lot easier now I see that there was a dual purpose to this. ;)

The Kings' Race conceit was just a way to hide the numbers in plain sight. ^_^

The code for red and bold is (highlight)this(/highlight), but using square brackets. If there's a button for it, I haven't found it.

hS

Now that the memories of Allied Carpets ads from the 70's/80's and the images of all the Last Alliance heroes taking part in the Wacky Races have left my flu-addled brain, here is a password puzzle.

It was a really good password, though. I can't believe I was dense enough not to realise what the numbers meant. And the way all the clues worked together as part of one conceit reminded me of the way some Logic puzzles used to create a sort of mystery story.

Just a quick one this time.

1. Scent loses pilgrim for him.
2. Muppet initially changed for him.
3. The high table at Rivendell was on one of these!
4. Wilful vassal of reformed Muppet.

Thanks.

Okay, so... was the high table on a dais?

hS

That it was!

1. Scent loses pilgrim for him.
2. Muppet initially changed for him.
DAIS: The high table at Rivendell was on one of these!
4. Wilful vassal of reformed Muppet.

Is #2 ULMO, from the Muppet and prospective father of Celeborn Elmo?

hS

Ulmo is correct.

1. Scent loses pilgrim for him.
ULMO: Muppet initially changed for him.
DAIS: The high table at Rivendell was on one of these!
4. Wilful vassal of reformed Muppet.

Okay... so maybe the 'reformed Muppet' of #4 is Ulmo, which would make his willful vassal OSSE?

hS

'Tis e'en so.

1. Scent loses pilgrim for him.
ULMO: Muppet initially changed for him.
DAIS: The high table at Rivendell was on one of these!
OSSE: Wilful vassal of reformed Muppet.

Awesome.

Sadly, I'm at a complete loss for password, theme, or #1. I feel like 'pilgrim' is likely to be a specific person, rather than a synonym; the obvious synonyms for pilgrim are too long to be removed from anything. There's nothing indicating an anagram, but none of the words I can come up with for 'scent' spring out as a Middle-earth name with another word spliced in the middle.

Ulmo and Osse together immediately points at the ocean, but what are we to make of dais? Obviously the answer is less direct. (The obvious third is Uinen, but she's female!)

And the password? If it's from the first letter, I can't conjure up a single word that describes a theme or is a Middle-earth word. Ludo? But we're not in Labyrinth, and Tolkien was silent on the board games of the gods. Judo? I'm sure Ulmo would love to throw Osse across the dais a few times, but... :D

With three four-letter words, the password could actually spring from any of the letters... _LAS, _MIS, _OSE. Any of those could make a word - 'Alas!' 'Nose!' - but no obvious connections to the answers are jumping out.

So that's where I am. Maybe someone else will read this and the answer will come to them!

hS

Hi, Huinesoron!

This password doesn't have a theme. It has a couple of other special(ish) features instead.

I have posted two passwords like this before, but not for a long time.

So, given that there *is* no theme, (it's only fairly recently that passwords have had themes), how about a guess at a password?

Okay. The 4x4 square seems important, but I don't think a 16-letter password is likely. So it's probably another 4-letter word. But it can't be from the initial letters, because then the square is irrelevant. So...

... this is your revenge for the Dagorlad Wacky Races, isn't it...?

... is it ROSE, from the final letters?

hS

___R: Scent loses pilgrim for him.
ULMO: Muppet initially changed for him.
DAIS: The high table at Rivendell was on one of these!
OSSE: Wilful vassal of reformed Muppet.

I'm not generally capable of anything as organised as revenge. ;)

But tell me ... which king would you see as Dick Dastardly?

Has to be Thranduil. You just know he'd have set up some elaborate trap for Bilbo if he'd known he was wandering around. (Legolas can be Muttley.)

As for the final word... I'll start off the guessing with 'him' being DOUR (as several people are in Middle-earth), having been 'odour' and losing the initial O. I don't know why O would be a pilgrim, but it's the only guess I've got so far.

EDIT: Oh. Oh. DIOR, because the full name of the perfume is Christian Dior. Phew; I'm glad there are so few four-letter Middle-earth names.

hS

DIOR: Scent loses pilgrim for him.
ULMO: Muppet initially changed for him.
DAIS: The high table at Rivendell was on one of these!
OSSE: Wilful vassal of reformed Muppet.

And Christian was the pilgrim in 'The Pilgrim's Progress.'

They're pretty lame passwords. There are just two of them. :D

I think Dudo is the brother of Dora and Drogo, or something.

I had a thing at one point about making perfect squares of characters/Middle-earth words for some of my passwords. I wanted to make the diagonals M-e words as well. But the best I could ever do was 4 four-letter answers and the first and last columns. And on this last one, I even had to include the word dais' to make it work! So I am now going to retire from square passwords.

Over to Huinesoron again!

I am so glad I didn't have to guess Dudo. Stars above, those Hobbit family trees are a nightmare...

I feel like a perfect square password should be possible... perhaps a computer could be tasked with finding one? That does assume there are enough 4-letter names in Middle-earth. (You just know I'm going to end up trying this...)

Okay, moving on:

1. In the dark, send a message for the fastest bearer.
2. Only the greatest can slay the steadfast, if you replace half his ring with another article.
3. From Goldilocks to the evening he rides on.
4. Black bird croaks with its head and tail cut off.
5. His catlike tread fills us with dread, forgiveness unfulfilled.
6. In the storm, the king's kings are named only for the king.
7. One staff given to two friends.
8. The King rode her in - but never say die!
9. Stubby, slow, and not happy enough to go.

hS

4. Roac?

7. Arod? A + rod, whom Legolas and Gimli rode?

1. Shadowfax (Shadow + fax).

Theme: Beasties.

I wonder if 8 is Roheryn (similar to 'rode her in'). Aragorn's horse. (Take out 'die' and you are only missing the 'y').

Shadowfax - In the dark, send a message for the fastest bearer.
2. Only the greatest can slay the steadfast, if you replace half his ring with another article.
3. From Goldilocks to the evening he rides on.
Roac - Black bird croaks with its head and tail cut off.
5. His catlike tread fills us with dread, forgiveness unfulfilled.
6. In the storm, the king's kings are named only for the king.
Arod - One staff given to two friends.
Roheryn - The King rode her in - but never say die!
9. Stubby, slow, and not happy enough to go.

Yes, yes, yes, and yes!

I apologise for the abundance of equines; Tolkien really liked naming horses, it seems.

hS

Password: SHARP-EARS.

One of Merry's ponies, named by Tom Bombadil.

Shadowfax - In the dark, send a message for the fastest bearer.
H - Only the greatest can slay the steadfast, if you replace half his ring with another article.
A - From Goldilocks to the evening he rides on.
Roac - Black bird croaks with its head and tail cut off.
P - His catlike tread fills us with dread, forgiveness unfulfilled.
E - In the storm, the king's kings are named only for the king.
Arod - One staff given to two friends.
Roheryn - The King rode her in - but never say die!
S - Stubby, slow, and not happy enough to go.

I'm impressed! (See what I meant about equines?) Only five more to go!

hS

Is H HUAN? And does he only slay the steadfast because he takes (nearly) half the letters of 'his ring' from Hurin and replaces them with 'an?'

A for ASFALOTH, with Glorfindel as Goldilocks riding him to Frodo and Company in the evening? (Just so long as evening isn't a reference to Arwen (grrrrrr!!))

Shadowfax - In the dark, send a message for the fastest bearer.
Huan - Only the greatest can slay the steadfast, if you replace half his ring with another article.
Asfaloth - From Goldilocks to the evening he rides on.
Roac - Black bird croaks with its head and tail cut off.
P - His catlike tread fills us with dread, forgiveness unfulfilled.
E - In the storm, the king's kings are named only for the king.
Arod - One staff given to two friends.
Roheryn - The King rode her in - but never say die!
S - Stubby, slow, and not happy enough to go.

#2: 'Only the greatest [wolf] can slay' is a straight clue. If you take half of 'ring' (ie, the 'ri') from Hurin, and replace it with the article 'a', you get Huan.

#3: 'Ride on' is apparently the translation of Noro lim, so 'he rides on' is the straight clue. Goldilocks is a translation of Glorfindel. As to whether Arwen's in this one... uh, do I have the right to remain silent? :D

The remaining three come from three different books, so that's fun.

hS

I believe #9 is STYBBA? (Merry's pony, too slow to charge into battle on- and I think the name means "Stubby").

P = PARD, I think. Mentioned in the poem 'Cat' from 'The Adventures Of Tom Bombadil.'

(Pardon minus on and short for leopard).

Was going to guess Stybba, but stumped on 'not quite happy.'

And could #6 be EAGLES (OF MANWË)?

Shadowfax - In the dark, send a message for the fastest bearer.
Huan - Only the greatest can slay the steadfast, if you replace half his ring with another article.
Asfaloth - From Goldilocks to the evening he rides on.
Roac - Black bird croaks with its head and tail cut off.
Pard - His catlike tread fills us with dread, forgiveness unfulfilled.
Eagles of Manwe - In the storm, the king's kings are named only for the king.
Arod - One staff given to two friends.
Roheryn - The King rode her in - but never say die!
Stybba - Stubby, slow, and not happy enough to go.

Theme: Named animals.

Ping, ping, ping! Stybba is not Merry enough to go along (because, well, Merry got to go along).

I believe that's back to Pervinca for getting Sharp-ears.

hS

An update on the Perfect Password Square project: my generator (written entirely in Excel) has spat out its first candidate!

NGAW
ARCA
LOTR
ARAS

(With vertical words NALA, GROR, ACTA, and WARS.)

For obvious reasons, I didn't think it was worth saving up for use as a password... :D Ngaw is an Elvish root word, Arca is Quenya, Aras is Sindarin, Nala is Khuzdul, Acta is Latin(!)... throw in an acronym, a dwarf, and a single English word, and we have our set.

The usability of the generator could, paradoxically, be improved by having less words to choose from. Not only did it take upwards of 15 minutes to come up with that (it starts from a random word, hence the initial N), but the wordlist consists of every 4-letter article name from Tolkien Gateway, plus the first word of every article that starts with a four letter word followed by a space (coming to around 1500 words, with repeats). Hence 'Acta', from Tolkien's Acta Senatus, a Latin report on a Latin debate in 1911.

But even so: I am pleased to confirm that a non-diagonal Perfect Square using Tolkienian words is indeed possible. ^_^

hS

UPDATE: Using a smaller and saner dataset (the Encyclopedia of Arda page-list, subjected to the same treatment), it is now merrily churning out perfect squares in a matter of seconds. Only one problem...

MAIA
AMAN
IANT
ANTS

... they're symmetrical!

Clearly need to check that column 1 isn't identical with row 1... back to the grindstone!

UPDATE 2: And now it's developed the trick of finding words that differ only by their last letter. It particularly enjoys when they're an a/e pair, because then it can use 'ents' and 'ants' as its Row/Column 4 results.

hS