Archive of Riddles

Elanor - Oct 13, 2005 8:30 pm (#1145 of 2941)
Edited Oct 13, 2005 9:32 pm

Would it be Sir Patrick Properly-Decapitated Podmore? That is to say Sir Patrick Delaney-Podmore? Ok, ok, I will take pity of you... The answer was: "The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts", that Hermione mentions both in PS (she says Harry is in it) and in GoF (about the Dark Mark).

Troels Forchhammer - Oct 14, 2005 12:57 am (#1146 of 2941)
Edited Oct 14, 2005 1:58 am

You are a soft-hearted woman, Elanor. Yes, indeed. The Dark Mark (the ‘skull in the sky’) and Harry Potter are the only two things that we have learned that Hermione has read about in The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts. I was planning to make a very veiled hint, asking if you believed the Dark Arts were studied in the Roman Empire to make a reference to Gibbon's famous book

Troels Forchhammer - Oct 24, 2005 1:21 am (#1234 of 2941)
Edited Oct 24, 2005 2:22 am

Sorry - surprise family visit from Thursday to Sunday. Very nice, of course, but it interrupts everything else.

Kerstin wrote on Oct 23, 2005 in message #1212

Troels, is the word you're looking for Mudblood?

It is indeed. An MUD is an on-line game (Multi-User Dungeon) Well done Kerstin! Do you people want more questions of this kind?

Regards,
Troels

Elanor - Oct 26, 2005 1:41 pm (#1268 of 2941)
Edited Oct 26, 2005 2:42 pm

Congratulations again Troels! Here are the explanations:

"Not all those who wander are lost
Just ask his namesake, at little cost..."
That was the most difficult clue of the Riddle and a veiled reference to St Anthony of Padua. Since the Middle-Ages, people who had lost something used to pray St Anthony (and promised to give some money to the poor) because he was meant to help you finding those lost things. "
A light from the shadow shall spring

When the Queen will marry the King"
The wedding of the King and the Queen is only an image of the creation of the Philosophical gold, thanks to the Philosopher's stone. That's why I told you to think of alchemy, the Stone being able to turn metals into gold.

"All that is gold does not glitter "
It was another veiled reference to the Stone (stein in German), Goldstein meaning "golden stone".

I can't wait for your riddle Troels! But something tells me it will be a hard one!

Troels Forchhammer - Oct 30, 2005 1:19 am (#1304 of 2941)

Elanor wrote on Oct 29, 2005 in message #1303: So it is Avada Kedavra!

Yes. And now you even got to post it, having done all the work. Congratulations!

Elanor: LOL! You're right, we had all the clues:

Thank you.

Elanor: The Good Samaritan spoke Aramaic (from which come the words of the spell) but he wouldn't say such Dark Words (here I was right, wasn't I?)

Precisely. Aramaic (Samaritan Aramaic, apparently they had their own dialect) is probably the only language we can be sure he could speak. The original meaning of ‘Avada Kedavra’ is, as far as I have been able to ascertain, something like ‘be destroyed at my command’, something which, as you note, a Good Samaritan surely wouldn't command.

Elanor: The light of the curse is green and Harry saw it when he was a baby (in "the spring of his life") and the curse was used to "kill the spare" in GoF.

Yes, I don't mind admitting that I was particularly proud of that clue

Elanor: I had thought the green light could well refer to Avada Kedavra as well but the "tolling bell" and its warning use made me think more of Mors Mordre, silly me!

Well, I obviously intended the bell to refer to the announcement of death, but that clue is somewhat ambiguous (I couldn't spell out the death-theme too clearly), hence the ‘related to’.

Elanor: That was a brilliant riddle, Troels! The "light of spring" was really a wonderful clue.

Thank you :blushes:

Regards,
Troels

Elanor - Nov 1, 2005 7:03 am (#1348 of 2941)

Congratulations Kaykay! The answer of the Riddle was indeed "Chimaera"! As JKR says in FB, the Chimaera is a Greek monster "with a lion's head, a goat's body and a dragon's tail". Actually, the word "Chimaera", in Greek, simply means "she-goat", hence the Aberforth clue and the fact I told you the "goat" was the key. About the other clues:

You can seek me
Either in the infinitely great
The Chimaera is also a marine fish, and the "infinitely great" referred to the oceans.

Or in the infinitesimal...
According to the Oxford dictionary, a Chimaera is also "a DNA molecule with sequences derived from two or more different organisms, formed by laboratory manipulations"

You can seek me [...]
You can chase me [...]
But be warned, before you start the quest,
That nobody but one ever caught me...
A Chimaera is also a "thing which is hoped for but is illusory or impossible to achieve" (Oxford dictionary again). In short, it is an illusion: you can run after it but you'll never "catch" it.

The "but one" refers to JKR's text in FB: "There is only one known instance of the successful slaying of a Chimaera and the unlucky wizard concerned fell to his death from his winged horse (see page 42) shortly afterwards, exhausted by his efforts." That's why I used "to seek" and "to chase" in the riddle, to evoke Quidditch and thus someone flying. But I guess it wasn't such a good riddle.

CatherineHermiona - Nov 1, 2005 10:22 pm (#1356 of 2941)

Well. Troels, your answer is correct, although not what I'm looking for. I'm looking for the name of the thread. All clues fit as yours as well, but about the name we wish we never heard, I thought Voldemort. And I wanted to put 'most of us' on the end of first two lines. I said this one is the easiest!

Kate

Troels Forchhammer - Nov 3, 2005 12:18 am (#1369 of 2941)

Emily, Eglerio! A laita s'. That's it, Emily! And note that in OotP, when the kids met Lockhart in the Janus Thickey ward, the healer opened the locked door to the ward with an 'Alohomora!', and that Lockhart's mind was blocked down by the Chamber of Secrets. In general the Janus Thickey ward seems to be for patients whose minds are gone ... locked up. I imagine that Mr. Thickey was a patient of that ward that now bears his name after his wife found him.

Respectfully,
Troels

(NOTE: the riddle-creator did not state the answer outright in his post.)

CatherineHermiona - Nov 8, 2005 11:20 pm (#1435 of 2941)

Finn, your answer is correct! I told you, I can't make a riddle that isn't easy..........

Kate

(NOTE: The riddle's creator did not post an answer in her post. Unfortunately, the riddle-solver's post was not copied for the Archives.)

Lina - Nov 15, 2005 2:45 pm (#1492 of 2941)

We had a nice chat in the chat room tonight and I've been talked into joining the Potty club. So, here I am! I hope Kate will not be too angry with me! Five galleons already sent with the Owl, I now expect my sunglasses. Actually, I'm not the only one who should get credits for solving the Riddle, but I came with the right answer, so I know that it is the right answer and I won't put it in white - it's Moaning Myrtle. Now, the clues, I can only try, I can never do it as good as Elanor would, so I expect her to do it again (I have the Java version of the chat, so I can't do the copy/paste thing).

Were you brave and victorious?
I was there for you.
This one is the reference to the past. Roman soldiers who came victorious from the war, would get a crown with a myrtle in it as recognition for the victory.

Do you need some spice in your life?
I am there for you.
This one is the reference to the present. Myrtle is indeed a spice that can be added to the food.

Either old and weak or young and adventurous,
I'll be there for you too.
As for old and weak, myrtle has some healing properties too. Young and adventurous people can get into trouble as well, so they could need the healing properties, but as a matter of fact, Moaning Myrtle did help Harry and was there for Draco when he was crying afraid of failure.

But never forget there is more to me
Than meet (all) the eye(s),
She had glasses, so she had four eyes, and she met the Basilisk's eyes as well.

Or in your sleepless nights
Rosemary, for you, I will be.
She haunted Olive Hornby while she was at school to make it even for the teasing, she was her "rosemary" and didn't let Olive sleep. There. I'm sure I missed something and Elanor could make it more clear. I'll come with a new riddle (you can bet it will be much easier) as soon as Kate and I work something up.

Lina - Nov 16, 2005 2:19 pm (#1502 of 2941)

As I promised, the Riddle was simple, and yes, you are all right, but Tazzy was first . A little about the clues:

If you look at my first or last name
You'll understand the bad fame.
Here we really thought just about the names - Black meaning something dark, like dark magic, where he doesn't belong, and Sirius, like serious, which he was really not.

Even if you judge by look,
You aren't looking in the right book.
Well, he really looked like a criminal, especially right after he escaped Azkaban...

That kind of judging was my fate.
When the truth came out, it was too late.

In the cave we used to hide,
Me and the one I used to ride.
Those two were quite obvious and correct.

Am I he or she,
It's yours to see.
And this is just the need to put the question in the end. We are obviously not able to make a well camouflaged Riddle, but we are practicing, we are...

Now, looking for the new Riddle!

Elanor - Nov 24, 2005 8:44 am (#1608 of 2941)

Congratulations Troels! It was the firebolt indeed! Some explanations?

I was here, now there,
That's because it moves very fast.

Proud and indestructible.
Proud because of the way it was presented at first in Diagon Alley in PoA and because everyone seeing it finds it to be a gem; indestructible because, as says the Lexicon (http://www.hp-lexicon.org/wizworld/brooms.html), it has an unbreakable Braking Charm (ok, that one was a bit twisted, sorry!).

From the mighty four elements
I was born

Its name contains "fire" and it belongs to the "air" element.

And harmony, balance,
From them too was torn.
That's because it has "unsurpassable balance", "aerodynamic perfection", etc...

Follow the phoenix, my friends,
He'll lead you to my name,
For he and I
Share more that can see your eye.
The phoenix is also "born" from the fire and belongs to the air element, the phoenix is born of ash(es) when the firebolt is made of ash wood (love that one! ) and, when the phoenix and the firebolt fly very fast all you can see are blurred colors, like at the Quidditch World Cup or when Fawkes delivers messages in OotP. And there was also the fact that "to follow the phoenix" you had to fly, hence needed a broomstick...

Congratulations again Troels! Your turn!

Troels Forchhammer - Dec 12, 2005 12:10 am (#1764 of 2941)

Hi again. I'm sorry about the delay, but I was laid low by the flu last week, so I couldn't get to the floo . . . Anyway, I've got to put a stop to the riddle. The answer is 'to say 'Shoo!' to a cat.' The two relevant quotations are:

As he pulled into the driveway of number four, the first thing he saw - and it didn't improve his mood - was the tabby cat he'd spotted that morning. It was now sitting on his garden wall. He was sure it was the same one; it had the same markings around its eyes.
'Shoo!' said Mr. Dursley loudly.
The cat didn't move. It just gave him a stern look. Was this normal cat behaviour, Mr. Dursley wondered. Trying to pull himself together, he let himself into the house. He was still determined not to mention anything to his wife.
(PS ch. 1 'The Boy Who Lived')

and

They followed Professor McGonagall past the silent figures of Neville, Dean and Seamus, out of the dormitory, down the spiral stairs into the common room, through the portrait hole and off along the Fat Lady's moonlit corridor. Harry felt as though the panic inside him might spill over at any moment; he wanted to run, to yell for Dumbledore; Mr. Weasley was bleeding as they walked along so sedately, and what if those fangs (Harry tried hard not to think 'my fangs') had been poisonous? They passed Mrs. Norris, who turned her lamplike eyes upon them and hissed faintly, but Professor McGonagall said, 'Shoo!' Mrs. Norris slunk away into the shadows, and in a few minutes they had reached the stone gargoyle guarding the entrance to Dumbledore's office.
(OotP ch. 22 'St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries')

In CoS Vernon 'shooed the shocked Masons back into the dining room' (the pudding) and Percy was seen 'shooing some of the younger students away' at the incident of Harry valentine from Ginny. In PoA 'shooed them away' (the Trio) when Hagrid was overcome with emotion after being made a teacher, 'All down ter you three.' To the best of my knowledge these are the only places in the books (Bloomsbury editions) that any shooing occurs. The two places cited are thus the only places where somebody actually says 'Shoo!', and in both cases the object of the shooing is a cat (albeit Vernon's 'cat' isn't really).

Troels Forchhammer - Dec 19, 2005 1:01 am (#1841 of 2941)

Elanor wrote on Dec 17, 2005 in message #1826

Troels, I was thinking about your riddle: would the answer be "to scream"? Harry once bought socks that scream when they get dirty, there are screaming yo-yos, screaming books too I think in the restricted area of the Hogwarts Library and Luna's lion hat that screamed too. I don't remember any wand screaming but it may well have happened sometime!

Bingo!

Well done, Elanor - not that I am terribly surprised, of course, but congratulations anyhow

The toy is of course the Screaming yo-yos you mentioned (on the list of prohibited items in GoF and mentioned, as far as I can find, only that one time), and the socks are from GoF as well:

They went into Gladrags Wizardwear to buy a present for Dobby where they had fun selecting all the most lurid socks they could find, including a pair patterned with flashing gold and silver stars, and another that screamed loudly when they became too smelly. (GoF ch. 27 "Padfoot Returns")

(Had to quote that in full: I just love that passage)

I hadn't thought of Luna's Lion-hat, though didn't that roar? In PS-7 "The Sorting Hat": however, the Sorting Hat "had barely touched [Draco's] head when it screamed, 'SLYTHERIN!'"

Then, as you mentioned, when Harry took out the book in the Restricted Section in PS-12 "The Mirror of Erised":"A piercing, blood-curdling shriek split the silence - the book was screaming!"

Rather less seriously, during the "Priori Incantatem" (GoF ch. 34): "Voldemort's wand began to emit echoing screams of pain."

I did consider also listing a wood and Harry's muscles:

When, at the Quidditch World Cup, the Dark Mark appeared in the sky, "the wood all around them erupted with screams"(GoF ch. 9 "The Dark Mark")

And, once again in GoF, as Harry was emerging from the lake after the second task, his "muscles were screaming in protest" (GoF-26 "The Second Task")

Mentioning the Portrait of Mrs. Black might have made it a bit too easy, though.

Regards,
Troels

Elanor - Dec 21, 2005 7:15 am (#1863 of 2941)

Congratulations Haymoni and Troels! Yes, socks were the right answer. I told you it was an easy one! I'm really too soft-hearted when Christmas is in the air.

So, here were the clues:

"We were, or could have been,
The most wonderful present,
One that truly comes from the heart."
This was a reference to the sock Harry gave to Dobby in CoS, to the socks Dobby gave Harry for another Christmas and, of course, the "could have been" was a reference to DD telling Harry he would love to receive socks for Christmas but people keep offering him books instead in PS.

"Who would have guessed, in fact,
That we, always opposite and yet united like brothers,
Could make your dreams come true?"
The socks are opposite, on your feet, but united like twins too. And Harry's sock made Dobby's dream of freedom come true in CoS.

"Now, we can't sing
But let us still wish you,
A very Harry Christmas to you."
This one was written to make you think of Dobby and also because I wanted to wish you all a great Christmas time!

haymoni - Dec 23, 2005 5:05 am (#1883 of 2941)

Finn, you win! and Solitare, you get credit too!

Happy Holidays!

(NOTE: The riddle-creator did not state the answer in her post and the riddle-solver’s explanation was not archived before WX closed.)

Troels Forchhammer - Jan 6, 2006 1:08 am (#2015 of 2941)

Well done, Solitaire! That is indeed the solution. Congratulations!

And at Christmas Violet and the Fat Lady got "extremely tipsy" on chocolate liquers but that is hardly anything compared to HBP where they "drank their way through all the wine in that picture of drunk monks down by the Charms corridor."

I like Violet.

Regards,
Troels

Elanor - Jan 9, 2006 9:03 am (#2062 of 2941)

Congratulations Kate! The answer was indeed "The Lexicon Forum":

- a place where the sun and the moon meet: "sun" and "moon" referred to "night" and "day": there are people from all over the world who meet here at the same time, people for which it can be night or day.

- "every word, thought unspoken, is precious": we don't "speak" the words, we write them, and they're all precious.

- This is truly a golden place and we're all seekers here, aren't we?

Good Evans - Jan 29, 2006 12:29 pm (#2458 of 2941)

Yes well done Elanor, and Kate too as she guessed in the chat room

to explain

• a weather vane tells of wind - but not much else and is usually found on a church tower or steeple (near to the lord),

• Romilda gave chocolate cauldrons to Harry with love potions so the chocolates looked "sweet" but you tasted them at risk and could have ended up with emotional cords

• Canus Lupis rescued Romulus and Remus, Romulus being the masculine form of Romilda. and she is not a twin

• Frederick George Handel wrote the opera Xerxes, which featured Romilda, she was overheard singing in the garden by the king who fell in love with her - she did not love him back.

However Romilda as we know was a bit starstruck with Harry during HBP.

so that was it - hope all is clear now!!!! and well done to both of you

Elanor - Feb 1, 2006 1:04 am (#2474 of 2941)

Congratulations Lina! It was Sirius Black indeed!

Here are some explanations about the clues:

"Don't trust my name,
Don't trust my fame,"
Sirius is not as "black" as his name would make us think he is at first and he is "famous" for murders he didn't commit.

"But ask the mirror,
To show you the path.
And remember its answer:
Find it in your heart."
Harry asked the two way mirror about Sirius, when he was "lost" after his death, but the mirror didn't answer back: he had to find the right "path" in himself. It was also a nod towards the alchemical mirror that "shows what is hidden": there are many things hidden in Sirius's name indeed... Seriously!

Congratulations again! Your turn Lina!

Lina - Feb 8, 2006 2:16 pm (#2682 of 2941)

Oh, as I said, actually, as "he" said, I knew it would be guessed in no time...

Peeves is not at all a bad idea, but I was hinting at the meaning hidden in the name... And to play in Latin is “ludo” and the person who collects money to "provide" some safety is called a “bagman” (it says so in the Lexicon). He didn't want to pay to the Weasley twins the money they won in betting, and I tried to hint his love for betting at the almost end of the Riddle.

Some hints were obviously too good, so it's your turn again, Elanor!

Elanor - Feb 13, 2006 10:39 am (#2723 of 2941)

Congratulations Nick! It was indeed the Common Welsh Green! 50 points for your house!
Mare, you were very close to the answer!

Here are some explanations about the clues:

"I'm here,
But you will hardly see me."
FB says about the Common Welsh Green that it "blends well with the lush grass of its homeland though it nests in the higher mountains" and that it prefers "to prey on sheep and [is] actively avoiding humans unless provoked."

"Born from the earth,"
That one was because of the "mountains" where is nests and because its eggs are "an earthy brown" (ok, I should be ashamed of that bad pun here, I'll iron my hands for that one! )

"I keep its fire burning."
Of course because of its fire-breathing abilities.

"A warm place to meet some friends
Though, may I be, in the end..."
This clue was what gave me the idea of the Riddle at first: I always wondered if the "Green Dragon" inn of the LotR was named after a Common Welsh Green... It is the place where the hobbits like to gather and, on their journey, the 4 hobbits will remember it as a nice place where they'd like to go again. It is where we also see them gather together (at least in the movie) in the end.

Your turn Nick!

Nicholas Schouten - Feb 15, 2006 9:01 am (#2740 of 2941)

Yes Marè: it's the Black Family Tapestry:

Black all over in ancient times -- at the start it was just the Black family on the Tapestry (whether in Latin, French or English);

Now I count my years by aged lines. -- the lines are both the marriage lines and the descendant lines;

Showing what was fated, –- looking backwards at history

Yet now made holy through hatred. -- actually hole-y as in holes blasted into the tapestry

Like felons of old
Many left swinging cold -- many felons of old were hanged and so the hangman's knot was used, emphasis on "knots";

I am hung with ties that bind; -- a double reference: tieing the marriage knots and hung with ties that bind the tapestry to the wall;

And remain as guardian for the righteous kind. -- Tousjours Pur

Congratulations Marè, and good guessing on everyone else's part.

- Nick

Marè - Feb 27, 2006 6:51 pm (#2930 of 2941)

Elanor! you are back! And you solved the Riddle (Although many other people came very close as well). Sorry if it was a bit confusing, it was my first homemade riddle...

So, explanation:

The opal necklace:

Hidden in a shady place; Burgin and Borkes is described as shady.
Magnificent as we may be; The opal necklace is described as magnificent.
Nineteen fallen, one escaped; As said, the necklace killed 19 Muggles, but Katie escaped.
Our goal we never reached; The necklace didn't kill Dumbledore, which was Draco's intention.

The bottle with blood with the opal stopper:

Hidden in a dusty place; The cabinet is described as dusty.
Between the hated and the loved; All the stuff that Sirius hates so much is loved dearly by Kreacher.
Serving what is old and dark; The ancient and most noble house of black.
By keeping pure their blood; The opal stopper on the bottle keeps out dust and bacteria, thereby keeping the blood inside literally clean.

The opals that Madam Maxime wears:

Open in the bright blue sky; Madam Maxime and her students arrive in a powder blue carriage flying through the sky.

The high and mighty we adorn; Madam Maxime is quite high, and as headmistress of Beauxbatons most likely a very powerful witch too. She is always described as wearing several opals on her neck and fingers.

Beautiful yet terrible all of us can be; this sentence refers to the opals as well as Madam Maxime, for the opals goes that most of them encountered in the books predict nothing good, and Madam Maxime's terrible side refers to her giant parentage. Although Grawp proofs that they can be quite gentle, we know that giants have a rather brutal side as well.

Treachery or trust, do you know what we may be?; Tricky sentence, refers to an old theory: two out of three cases in which we come across opals in the books they seem to have something to do with the darker side of magic, what does that say about Madam Maxime? Can we trust her? Or any opal item we may come across in the future for that matter?

Anyway you didn't really need the last sentence, the rest of the Riddle should have already pointed you to the right answer: Opals!

So? Next thread, new riddle? Elanor?