Dorwinion for D? Not sure about the wandering bit, though. Unless the wine causes the mind to wander? ;)

EDIT: The location of Dorwinion wandered over time. Tolkien once located it somewhere on Tol Eressea.

Just to get it on this page ...

Edit: Almost the same guess twice, but SHARKEY for the last clue, for the same reasons as before?

Is the W one WIZARD? Maybe it's 2 letters of separation from 'ward' for 'keep' rather than from the zoological genera I was looking through.

They're generally wandering, if they're doing their jobs properly.

Is R RANGERS - perhaps referring to a game of some sort? I believe there's a game called Space Rangers.

WIZARDS But one or two letters of separation keep this genus from the Dark Lord.
A "Is me?" quoth Pandora.
NOLDOR Too dignified to be cut down to a palatal nasal epithet.
D On a western beach we sup.
ESTEL Stronger as jumbled iron.
RANA Too wayward a king.
E Pickle and a non-kosher delicacy.
R "Not a game" of chance.
S Patron of a most singular Eorling.


No to Rangers, yes to Wizards--though not the thinking I had in mind.

Wizard is one word from Lizard, (saurus), which is almost Sauron.

No to Sharkey.

No to Dorwinion.

DUNEDAIN: possibly a sound-alike for "dine"? The first half could either be directly explained as DUN = West(ern), or as "dune", whatever that's got to do with western beaches.



Also, from the start I couldn't stop thinking of "AM I" for "is me" in the second clue, but I don't think anything starts with that. I think it might help someone though in the collective thinking process.


PPS: 8. Russian Roulette :D
*goes away to giggle away the immaturity*

Amarie ... but did she wander? I think she stayed put.

R ... ROVERANDOM, with random for chance? I don't know about the game bit, though.

Maybe A is ARIEN? 'Aren't I' with the T left out?

For the Pickle clue: dill pickles are a thing, and EARENDIL is a wanderer who has, I guess, a pig's ear at the beginning? It might be a delicacy somewhere.

Or ELENDIL, with no idea how the first part might fit. ^_^

And for A: following the 'am' idea, why Pandora? Someone like AMROTH might work, since wrath is probably one of the things she let loose.

hS

Well, our dogs used to like pigs' ears at one point.

Pig ears are (or once were maybe) indeed a delicacy in some regions of Europe and possibly elsewhere. Is there a way to explain the EN?

Phonetic rendition of "and" or "an' "? Ear-an'-dill, coming to a MacTelcontar's near you!

hS

WIZARDS But one or two letters of separation keep this genus from the Dark Lord.
A "Is me?" quoth Pandora.
NOLDOR Too dignified to be cut down to a palatal nasal epithet.
DUNEDAIN On a western beach we sup.
ESTEL Stronger as jumbled iron.
RANA Too wayward a king.
EARENDIL Pickle and a non-kosher delicacy.
ROVERANDOM "Not a game" of chance.
S Patron of a most singular Eorling.


Three correct guesses--and for the correct reasons: Ear 'n Dill, Dining on the (western) dunes, and a random Rover!

Why 'not a game,' though ... is it because some football teams are -------- Rovers? Or a reference to the toy dog in Roverandom?

A - AMROD? No better reason than 'Rod' appearing in Pandora and Amrod wandering over to and around M-e to play Hunt The Silmarils, I'm afraid.

S - STRIDER, and a reference to his relationship with Eomer?

Okay, 'Pan-Dora' means 'all-gift', so the closest name that actually exists in Middle-earth would be ANNATAR, 'Lord of Gifts'.

Is there another Pandora? There's a handful of real people with the name, but none jump out as significant. Google wants to direct me to a jewellery company. It's the moon in Avatar, which might be a living thing; you could go from 'a moon' to AMON, but which of the many hills? There's no Amon Infilm or Amon Byjamescameron that I know of.

(It's also a moon of Saturn, but again...)

A couple of computer game characters, an Anne Rice vampire, genera of fungi and clams... there really is nothing leaping out.

Could it be a straight anagram? That 'quoth' looks like a keyword hinting something. But there's no Middle-earth names which start with A and come close to having the right letters, other than Andy Roper. AND' ROPA, then? :D Or Rowlie APPLEDORE sounds vaguely similar, but seems to have never left Bree.

Okay, so probably not an anagram... 'quoth' makes me think of Poe, and 'quoth the Raven, Nevermore'. ARAVORN is a chieftain of the Dunedain who almost has a raven in his name (and the difference could be a combination of 'raven' and 'urn', for Pandora's jar), and was I guess a theoretical wanderer... but that's a pretty weak justification.

We're going to be kicking ourselves over this one, aren't we?

hS

What is a patron? Either someone who supports you, or someone who is your customer. By and large, Formendacil's clues don't have a straight component ('Rana' is the main exception, with its combination straight-anagram indicator), so I think we're looking for a synonym for 'patron+Eorling' (or 'Eorling+patron') starting with S.

... ah, and I think Pervinca actually got the right answer! Saint Rider, right? :D

hS

WIZARDS But one or two letters of separation keep this genus from the Dark Lord.
A "Is me?" quoth Pandora.
NOLDOR Too dignified to be cut down to a palatal nasal epithet.
DUNEDAIN On a western beach we sup.
ESTEL Stronger as jumbled iron.
RANA Too wayward a king.
EARENDIL Pickle and a non-kosher delicacy.
ROVERANDOM "Not a game" of chance.
STRIDER Patron of a most singular Eorling.


Saint Rider it is! Though not because of Eomer, but because "rider" in Sindarin is "ro(c)hir"--the singular of "Rohirrim."

The "not a game" part was in quotation marks to indicate that "chance = random" was the important part. I had the game "Red Rover" in mind, but I'm not sure if that's mire universally known than in western Canada.

Not at all sure I was right, and hadn't thought of 'saint' for patron, just as Aragorn as Eomer's patron as Rohan is part of his kingdom.

You forgot the Pandora who was Adrian Mole's first girlfriend :D (No, I can't solve the clue from that fascinating piece of information, either). ;)

(But I remember Ian Dury singing the theme tune: 'Profoundly in love with Pandora').

I'm pretty hopeful about your 'Annatar,' though.

Ah, yes, I did forget to answer that: however, the correct answer has not yet surfaced.

The Pandora reference is not (at least not directly, since all uses of the name are generally at keast an oblique reference) to the character from mythology.

There's a jewellery company called Pandora.

There's also an online music streaming service, or something.

Arkenstone? Ainulindale? Can only be seen as very metaphorical wanderers.

P.S. Sorry, did not see that Hs had already mentioned Pandora jewellery.

..

I can think of a couple more characters that could be described as wanderers, but cannot work out the Pandora element.

Hint? Please?:Merisu:

It does seem a bit quiet here...

"Pandora" was acquired for this case by Googling roles of a famous actress.

AVARI? Or perhaps AVAR?

AVA for Ava Gardner, who played Pandora ... not sure about the RI, though ... I? Are I? ;)

Or Avar - the singular of Avari - plus I?

Some wandered in the hills, and I believe many later wandered westwards.

WIZARDS But one or two letters of separation keep this genus from the Dark Lord.
AVARI "Is me?" quoth Pandora.
NOLDOR Too dignified to be cut down to a palatal nasal epithet.
DUNEDAIN On a western beach we sup.
ESTEL Stronger as jumbled iron.
RANA Too wayward a king.
EARENDIL Pickle and a non-kosher delicacy.
ROVERANDOM "Not a game" of chance.
STRIDER Patron of a most singular Eorling.


Ava: "r i?" it is!

And that's the set.

Excellent password, Formendacil!

Here we go, then:

1. Initially Frodo’s pantry, but now in chaos for this beast!
2. Running flush – that’s him!
3. He uncoils for a springy sound. Not much, though.
4. No party for him?
5. He renders Thora blind, and Thorin bald!

Is #3 BINGO (Baggins)? (Anagram of "boing").

Indeed it is!

1. Initially Frodo’s pantry, but now in chaos for this beast!
2. Running flush – that’s him!
BINGO: He uncoils for a springy sound. Not much, though.
4. No party for him?
5. He renders Thora blind, and Thorin bald!

In which case #5 must be BLADORTHIN, as an anagram of both parts of the clue.

The theme seems to be characters from drafts - maybe just The Hobbit, maybe more. Um... what was Smaug's original name? Something like Pryftan?

[Checks]

... good grief, how did I remember that?

So #1 must by PRYFTAN, as an anagram of F PANTRY. (Got there by way of 'initially... P antry' + 'beast', and worked out which parts were actually in the anagram from there.)

hS

PRYFTAN: Initially Frodo’s pantry, but now in chaos for this beast!
2. Running flush – that’s him!
BINGO: He uncoils for a springy sound. Not much, though.
4. No party for him?
BLADORTHIN: He renders Thora blind, and Thorin bald!

THEME: FORMER NAMES OF CHARACTERS IN EARLY DRAFTS:

Smaug was Pryftan
Frodo was Bingo
Gandalf was Bladorthin

HS, how can it be just The Hobbit when the first clue guessed was a prototype for a LOTR character? ;)

Good work on Bladorthin and Pryftan, though! (And Nerwen on Boing).

No way 2 can be TROTTER, eh?

Well, you see, it's a little known fact that originally, right, originally Bingo was another, uh, name for, um... the Misty Mountains?

Nah, I got nothin'. [Face of shame]

hS

PRYFTAN: Initially Frodo’s pantry, but now in chaos for this beast!
TROTTER: Running flush – that’s him!
BINGO: He uncoils for a springy sound. Not much, though.
4. No party for him?
BLADORTHIN: He renders Thora blind, and Thorin bald!

THEME: FORMER NAMES OF CHARACTERS IN EARLY DRAFTS:

Smaug was Pryftan
Strider was Trotter
Frodo was Bingo
Gandalf was Bladorthin

The Bingo Mountains? Not bad. Nice holiday resort for Ioreth and her sisters, perhaps?

Galadriel, it can indeed! A flush, in cards, is a group of cards of the same suit. A run is a group of cards of consecutive number. A trotter is a running flush, which has both criteria, is much rarer, and scores more highly than either of the first two. I learned this from my dad years ago. I think we were playing 'Brag,' but it probably applies to poker too. There's a sitcom character called Derek Trotter who's a wheeler-dealer in south London. I'm pretty sure the connotation of a term in cards (and hence possibly gambling) was fully intended. I think there's even a clip of him rearranging a hand of cards in the opening credits.

It looks strangely as if the password is simply FRODO, which doesn't fit the theme. Unless some character was formerly known as FROTO or FROGO or...?:confused:

PRYFTAN: Initially Frodo’s pantry, but now in chaos for this beast!
TROTTER: Running flush – that’s him!
BINGO: He uncoils for a springy sound. Not much, though.
???D???: No party for him?
BLADORTHIN: He renders Thora blind, and Thorin bald!

THEME: FORMER NAMES OF CHARACTERS IN EARLY DRAFTS:

Smaug was Pryftan
Strider was Trotter
Frodo was Bingo
??? was ???
Gandalf was Bladorthin

Password: FRODO (Pippin was Frodo).

One to go!

Hs, you probably remember Pryftan and the others from the Biography. That's where I learned about them. Years ago, but they stuck in my memory.

Originally the F clue was Gandalf (the original name of Thorin), but I then came up with boing and pantry, and liked those clues better.

Hmm... did you maybe move GANDALF (Thorin) to #4, then?

hS

No. :D

By the way, the number of question marks does not necessarily indicate the number of letters either side of the D.

Okay... how about FINROD (ie, Finarfin)? In D&D terms he left the party when he turned round at Araman; I'm sure I remember some mention of Alqualonde arming itself against him on his return, which would also be 'no party'.

hS

I did think of looking up some First Age and before names that might have changed, (didn't Luthien have a prototype called Melilot?), but once I had Frodo as a password (all with Third Agers), I didn't think I'd be able to make a password as successfully if I started adding more, (or I was too lazy, or both ;)).

Think of a synonym for 'party.'

P.S. Is 'leaving the party' a Dungeons & Dragons term?