The Hobbit Riddles: Bilbo vs Gollum
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Deep under the Misty Mountains, Bilbo played a riddle game with his life on the line. Here are all the riddles from The Hobbit's famous chapter in order, retold in our own words with answers and context, followed by original Middle-earth puzzles in the same spirit. See if you'd have beaten the Gollum riddles, precious.
Contradiction stacks bookend a long stretch of Middle-earth recall
The first ten cards are the riddle game itself, and six of those ten trade in contradictions rather than descriptions. Gollum opens with a thing whose roots nobody sees that goes up and up yet never grows, then asks about something that bites without teeth and mutters without a mouth. Bilbo takes his own turn with a box that has no hinges, key or lid and still holds gold. Read a clause like that as a list of facts and you stall. Read it as a denial and it deletes a whole category at once.
So work by subtraction. Alive without breath throws out everything that walks on land, and armor that never clinks throws out plate and mail. The leg-count scene needs the same refusal to add: those labels are nicknames around one small supper table, where one-leg is the table and three-legs the stool, while the fish, the man and the cat wear the other counts. Whichever clause cannot be true of anything ordinary is the clause carrying the answer.
Later cards lean on recall: the moon-letters and the burglar's one fourteenth need the book rather than a second reading, and six quiz rounds ask about the chapter directly. A fresh run of contradiction riddles closes the page, and a few more sit among the recall, so the habit from the first ten keeps paying. For contradiction stacks with no story attached, the hard riddles work the same way.
- Riddle 8: most people say Four different animals. Five leg counts in one sentence make people picture a menagerie. Legs is the word to trust and not the sum: one-leg is a little table, three-legs the stool beside it, and only the remaining counts belong to anything living.
- Riddle 45: most people say Invisible ink. Invisible ink is the right instinct and the wrong craft. The clause about matching the season and the shape of the moon sets a condition no bottle meets, which is what marks this writing as dwarf work.
- Riddle 84: most people say Gandalf's spell. The wizard is in that scene, so readers credit him with the stonework. First pale light over the hills is the phrase that rules him out, since it points at an hour of the morning and not at a spell, and daylight alone petrifies trolls in this story.
- Riddle 13: most people say A rich old miser. A hoarder asleep on money he never spends sounds like a miser out of a village tale. Fly is the word that deletes him, since no miser leaves the ground, and own no feather rules out the birds as well, leaving a winged sleeper on a mountain of treasure.
Treat every impossible clause as a filter and ask what it deletes, not what it describes.
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1. Gollum's first riddle asked about something with roots that nobody sees, standing taller than the trees, going up and up yet never growing. What is it? Easy
Most people first say: A tall tree
Need a hint?
Bilbo was sitting inside one at the time.
Show answer
A mountain. An easy warm-up for Bilbo, since he'd just walked under the Misty Mountains to get into that cave.
Roots and height send you to a tree, but never growing cancels anything alive. What is left has to be a shape that rises without adding a single inch, so those roots are stone.
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2. Bilbo answered with a riddle about thirty white horses on a red hill: first they champ, then they stamp, then they stand still. What are they? Medium
Most people first say: Piano keys
Need a hint?
Open your mouth and count.
Show answer
Teeth. Poor Bilbo immediately regretted reminding Gollum about eating.
Thirty is the count that decides it, since keyboards and pearls come in other numbers. Champ, stamp, then stand still is chewing that stops, and the red hill under them is gum, not soil.
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3. Gollum's next puzzle described something that cries without a voice, flutters without wings, bites without teeth, and mutters without a mouth. What is it? Medium
Most people first say: A ghost
Need a hint?
You hear it whistle through the crags.
Show answer
The wind. Gollum learned this one long ago, before he crept under the mountains.
Four denials strip away every creature: no voice, no wings, no teeth, no mouth. Whatever is left must be felt rather than seen, and only moving air can bite a face and rattle a shutter.
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4. Bilbo countered with an eye in a blue face that saw an eye in a green face, saying that eye is like this eye, but in low place, not high place. What is it? Medium
Most people first say: The sky and the grass
Need a hint?
Day's eye. Say the flower's name slowly.
Show answer
The sun shining on daisies. A cruel choice, since Gollum hadn't seen the sun in ages.
You have to hear the flower's name to crack this one, because a daisy is day's eye. Once that lands, the blue face is sky holding the higher eye and the green face is a meadow holding the lower.
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5. Gollum hissed about a thing that can't be seen or felt, heard or smelt, that lies behind stars and under hills, and fills empty holes. What is it? Hard
Most people first say: Empty air
Need a hint?
Turn off every light in the house.
Show answer
Dark. Gollum knows it well. It came to him easily, living down there in the black.
Every sense is ruled out at once, and that is the signal to stop hunting for an object. Lying behind stars and filling holes suits whatever remains once light leaves a place.
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6. Bilbo's turn: a box without hinges, key, or lid, yet golden treasure hides inside. What is it? Easy
Most people first say: A treasure chest
Need a hint?
Crack it open for the gold.
Show answer
An egg. Bilbo only thought of it while remembering breakfast back in Bag End.
With no hinges, key or lid, it cannot be a container built by hands, so box has to mean a natural case. Golden treasure then reads as yolk, and the shell is the part you break to reach it.
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7. Gollum asked about a creature that is alive without breath and cold as death, never thirsty yet always drinking, in armor yet never clinking. What is it? Medium
Most people first say: A knight in armor
Need a hint?
Its armor is made of scales.
Show answer
Fish. Gollum's favorite meal, which made the riddle easy for him and hard for a hobbit far from any river.
Alive yet breathless knocks out every land animal in one line. Never thirsty while always drinking makes sense only for a body already surrounded by water, and the silent armor is a coat of scales.
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8. Bilbo's hardest offering: no-legs lay on one-leg, two-legs sat near on three-legs, and four-legs got some. What's the scene? Hard
Most people first say: Four different animals
Need a hint?
Count the legs of everything in a small kitchen.
Show answer
A fish on a little one-legged table, a man sitting on a three-legged stool, and a cat getting the scraps.
The leg counts are nicknames, not arithmetic, so adding them leads nowhere. Sort them by what in a small kitchen has that many legs and the picture assembles: supper on a stand, a diner, and the pet who waits for leftovers.
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9. Gollum's final true riddle: this thing devours all things, birds, beasts, trees, and flowers. It gnaws iron, bites steel, and grinds mountains to meal. What is it? Hard
Most people first say: Fire, or a dragon
Need a hint?
Bilbo's actual answer was a panicked request for more of it.
Show answer
Time. Bilbo only got it by luck, squeaking for more time and accidentally shouting the answer.
Nothing with jaws chews through iron and mountains both, so the eater cannot be a creature at all. Accept an invisible force and the list of victims stops mattering, leaving only the slow wearing away.
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10. Bilbo's last question wasn't a fair riddle at all. Fiddling with something in his pocket, he blurted out: what have I got in my pocket? Medium
Most people first say: Handses or a knife
Need a hint?
Gollum called it his precious.
Show answer
The One Ring. Gollum demanded three guesses, tried handses, knife, and string or nothing, and lost the game.
Bilbo breaks the contest by asking something no clue can settle, and a reader hunting for wordplay is chasing what was never planted. Guessing is all his opponent has left, which is exactly why it worked.
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11. I have a round green door and a perfectly round window, and I sit under a hill but I'm no cave. What am I? Easy
Most people first say: A rabbit burrow
Need a hint?
Bag End is the most famous one.
Show answer
A hobbit hole. And that means comfort.
A round door and window would fit a cottage, and under a hill would fit a burrow, so neither clue alone lands it. No cave rules out bare rock, leaving a dug home with joinery and a doorbell.
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12. I arrive uninvited, eat all your seed cakes, and leave your pantry empty, yet you end up thanking me. What am I? Medium
Most people first say: A plague of mice
Need a hint?
Bilbo's unexpected party.
Show answer
A company of thirteen dwarves (and one wizard).
Thanking whoever emptied your larder is the contradiction to resolve, and it fits guests who bring an adventure along with the mess. Arriving in batches is what turns a raid into a party.
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13. I sleep on gold I never spend, I fly but own no feather, and one missing cup wakes my temper. What am I? Easy
Most people first say: A rich old miser
Need a hint?
He lives under the Lonely Mountain.
Show answer
A dragon. Smaug noticed a single stolen cup out of a whole mountain of treasure.
Flying with no feather is the impossible pairing, so cross off every bird and every hoarder in a house. Rage over one missing cup out of a whole mountain of treasure tells you the sleeper counts its pile piece by piece.
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14. I'm sharp in the dark and I glow blue when the wrong crowd gets close. What am I? Medium
Need a hint?
Bilbo named his after it stung a giant spider.
Show answer
An elvish blade, like Bilbo's sword Sting. It glows when goblins or orcs are near.
Sharp in the dark would suit any kitchen knife, so the blue shine is the clue that counts. The swords out of the trolls' hoard turn out to be old elf-work, and the hobbit carried a small blade away from that cave.
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15. Three of us argued about how to cook our dinner until the sun turned us all to stone. What are we? Easy
Need a hint?
Their names were Tom, Bert, and William.
Show answer
Trolls. Gandalf kept them bickering until dawn did the rest.
Arguing over a recipe is flavor; the fact doing the work is what daylight does to trolls in this book. A creature that cannot survive sunrise is petrified where it stands, which is why the wizard kept the quarrel going.
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16. I'm a mark on a door that means burglar wants a good job, plenty of excitement and reasonable reward. Who scratched me there? Medium
Need a hint?
The owner of the door was not consulted.
Show answer
Gandalf. He marked Bilbo's freshly painted door so the dwarves could find it.
Who scratched me sends most readers to the dwarves, since the note about a burglar is theirs. The mark was the wizard's doing, cut into fresh paint without a word to the householder.
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17. By day I set out honey and bread for my guests. By night, something huge and black-furred growls outside the door. I am one host, not two. Who am I? Medium
Need a hint?
Gandalf introduced the dwarves to him two at a time, very carefully.
Show answer
Beorn, the skin-changer who is sometimes a man and sometimes a great bear.
One host, not two blocks the easy reading of a man with a guard animal. Honey by day and a growl by night belong to the same body, so the shape changes while the household stays put.
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18. I carried fifteen travelers over a burning forest, and no thanks were needed, only wind beneath my wings. What am I? Medium
Need a hint?
The Lord of them lived on a high rocky perch.
Show answer
An eagle. The Great Eagles rescued the company from the goblins' fire.
Only wind beneath my wings is the pivot: the help comes from the air, so no rescue on foot fits. In this book the fliers who pluck a trapped company out of blazing fir-trees are the great birds of the mountains.
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19. I'm a black stream in Mirkwood. Drink from me and you'll forget your errand and sleep for days. What am I? Medium
Need a hint?
The fattest dwarf found out the hard way.
Show answer
The enchanted river. Bombur fell in and had to be carried, snoring, for the rest of the forest.
A black stream that makes you drowsy is not ordinary water, and the deciding detail is the lost errand rather than the nap. One dwarf tumbled in and was hauled, snoring, through the rest of the trees.
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20. I'm the one bare patch on a dragon's jeweled waistcoat, and one old thrush told an archer where to find me. What am I? Medium
Need a hint?
Bilbo spotted it first and talked about it too loudly.
Show answer
The hollow in Smaug's armor, the weak spot Bard hit with his black arrow.
Jeweled waistcoat is armor grown over a lifetime of lying on treasure, so the question becomes where the coverage failed. A bird overheard the hobbit describing that hollow and carried the news to a bowman.
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21. I'm a key that fits no door you can see, and I open a passage only on Durin's Day. What am I? Medium
Need a hint?
Thorin's map held the clue in moon letters.
Show answer
The key to the secret side door of the Lonely Mountain, when the last light of Durin's Day reveals the keyhole.
A key that fits no visible door sounds like nonsense until you add the calendar. The lock shows itself only when the last light of a particular dwarf new year falls on the mountainside, so the date is half of it.
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22. Escape from my halls came in empty wine barrels, floating down the river to Lake-town. Whose halls am I? Medium
Need a hint?
Thranduil never found out how his prisoners vanished.
Show answer
The Elvenking's halls in Mirkwood. Bilbo packed the dwarves into barrels and rode one out himself.
Empty wine barrels work as boats only if the cellar opens onto moving water through a trapdoor, and that gap is what the escape used. Bilbo packed the prisoners in and clung to the outside of one himself.
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23. I'm a game with strict rules, sacred and ancient, played for a hobbit's life in the dark. What am I? Medium
Need a hint?
This whole page is named after it.
Show answer
The riddle game itself. Even Gollum dared not cheat at it openly, for the game was sacred long before his time.
The description folds back on itself: a contest of strict old rules, played in the dark for a life, is the very thing you are doing right now. Naming it feels like cheating, and that is the joke.
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24. Which answer did Bilbo actually shout for Gollum's riddle about the thing that devours all things? Easy
Show answer
Time!
He meant to beg for a longer think, and panic cut the plea down to the one word that happened to solve the riddle, so Gollum had to count the slip as a guess.
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25. What were the stakes of the riddle game between Bilbo and Gollum? Easy
Show answer
A way out against being eaten
If Bilbo won, Gollum would show him the way out of the tunnels. If Gollum won, well, Gollum eats whatever he catches down there, and a hobbit counts.
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26. How many guesses did Gollum demand for the unfair pocket question? Easy
Show answer
Three
Three guesses, precious. He tried handses, then knife, then string or nothing. All wrong.
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27. Gollum solved Bilbo's egg riddle instantly without any trouble. Medium
Show answer
False.
False. It stumped him for a good while, until he remembered stealing eggs from nests long ago and hissed out the answer.
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28. The riddle game in The Hobbit is described as an ancient and sacred contest whose rules even wicked creatures fear to break. Easy
Show answer
True.
True. The contest is old and sacred in this story, so a hungry Gollum kept to its rules and offered a way out instead of pouncing, while he sized up the little sword in the hobbit's hand.
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29. Bilbo won the riddle game with a proper, fair riddle. Easy
Show answer
False.
False. What have I got in my pocket is a question, not a riddle, and Bilbo knew it. Gollum accepted anyway and lost.
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30. Alive without breath, cold as death, always drinking, dressed in silent armor. Gollum's own favorite answer. What is it? Medium
Most people first say: A knight in mail
Show answer
Fish
Breathless cancels lungs, and drinking without thirst suits only a body that lives inside its own drink. Silent armor is the last filter, since plate would clink and a coat of scales never does.
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31. It fills the cave where Gollum paddles his little boat, it lies behind stars and under hills, and no lamp survives it forever. What is it? Medium
Most people first say: A deep well
Show answer
The dark
Two of the clues name places and one names a limit: no lamp outlasts it. Something that survives every flame while filling the space behind stars cannot be an object, only the lack of one.
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32. ⛰️ + 🌲🌲 + ⬆️ Easy
Need a hint?
Bilbo was standing inside the answer.
Show answer
A mountain (roots unseen, taller than trees, up it goes). Gollum's opening riddle in emoji form.
Read the row as one sentence rather than three objects: a peak set next to two trees means taller than them, and the arrow supplies going up. Their order carries the whole meaning here.
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33. 📦 + 🚫🔑 + 🟡 Easy
Need a hint?
Think of Bilbo daydreaming about bacon and this.
Show answer
An egg (a box with no key, golden treasure inside). Bilbo's breakfast-inspired riddle in emoji form.
The crossed key does the work: a container nobody can unlock has to be sealed by nature. Pair that with the yellow circle and the pictures land on breakfast instead of a strongbox.
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34. I'm the Heart of the Mountain, a great white jewel that shines by its own light, and the one treasure Thorin wanted above all the hoard. What am I? Medium
Show answer
The Arkenstone.
Heart of the Mountain is a title, not a description, so this one needs the book rather than logic. A white stone that makes its own light and outranks a whole hoard is named once and never doubled.
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35. I quietly slipped the Mountain's greatest jewel out of the treasure and handed it to Thorin's rivals, hoping to trade it for peace. Who am I? Medium
Show answer
Bilbo Baggins.
A jewel plus a peace offer sounds like a diplomat, and the surprise is that the thief did it. Handing the stone to the besiegers was a gamble to stop a battle, made behind the leader's back.
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36. I'm a famous blade drawn from a troll hoard and carried by a dwarf-king. The goblins who feared me called me Biter. What am I? Hard
Need a hint?
Thorin and Gandalf found a matching pair down there.
Show answer
Orcrist, the Goblin-cleaver.
Two names for one sword is the shape of this clue: goblins called it Biter, and the elves who made it had another word for it. A troll hoard plus a dwarf-king leaves the blade Thorin carried out of that cave.
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37. I'm the sword the goblins named Beater, forged long ago in a lost elf-city and carried through the quest by a grey wizard. What am I? Hard
Need a hint?
The lost city was Gondolin, and the pair still matched.
Show answer
Glamdring, the Foe-hammer.
The pair of goblin nicknames splits the two blades: Biter went to the dwarf and Beater to the wizard. Add the lost elf-city and one is left, the sword a king of Gondolin carried and the goblins hated by name.
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38. A giant Took ancestor once knocked a goblin king's head clean off into a rabbit hole, and folk say that stroke invented a certain game. Which game? Medium
Show answer
Golf.
Folk say marks this as a joke origin rather than history. A head knocked into a rabbit hole supplies the club, the swing and the hole, so the sport named here is the one played on grass.
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39. Thorin gave me to the burglar as a parting gift: a small shirt of rings, light as a feather yet harder than dragon scales, made of a rare silver metal. What am I? Medium
Show answer
A coat of mithril mail.
Feather-light yet harder than dragon scales rules out ordinary steel, so the metal carries this one. The little ring-shirt handed over in the treasure chamber is elf-work in a rare silver metal, first made for a young prince of that people.
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40. Chatting with the dragon, the hobbit boasted that he was Barrel-rider, Ringwinner, and Luckwearer, but he was far too clever to give this one thing away. What did he withhold? Hard
Most people first say: The magic ring
Need a hint?
Three titles were on offer, one plain word was not.
Show answer
His real name.
Barrel-rider and Ringwinner sound like boasts, so the question reads as which prize he hid. Those titles were cover: he answered everything the dragon asked about himself and never once handed over a plain name.
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41. The goblins sang a cruel song about fifteen birds in five fir-trees as they piled kindling beneath the branches. Who were the fifteen birds, really? Hard
Most people first say: The eagles
Need a hint?
Nobody in those trees had feathers.
Show answer
The trapped company of Bilbo, Gandalf, and the dwarves.
Count the party and the song stops being about birds: thirteen dwarves plus a wizard plus a hobbit makes fifteen, and the goblins were jeering at prisoners stuck up in branches with kindling stacked below.
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42. To lure your many-legged captors away from your friends, you sing insults and call them Attercop and Lazy Lob. What kind of creature are you taunting? Medium
Show answer
A giant spider of Mirkwood.
Attercop and Lazy Lob are the insult words, and they belong to one scene in the dark forest. Many legs plus a captor you can taunt into chasing a singer leaves the web-spinners that had the dwarves bundled up.
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43. I ruled a foul cavern under the Misty Mountains and demanded to know why dwarves dared trespass, right up until a wizard's bright sword ended me. Who am I? Hard
Need a hint?
He howled at the sight of Orcrist before the lights went out.
Show answer
The Great Goblin.
Ruled a cavern, demanded an explanation, died by a shining blade: the third clue dates the scene to the tunnels under the pass. Only one cave lord in this book falls to the wizard's sword in the dark.
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44. I'm the Last Homely House east of the Sea, where a lord of the elves held Thorin's map to the moon and read the letters hidden on it. What place am I? Medium
Show answer
Rivendell.
Last Homely House east of the Sea is a quoted title, so this is recall rather than deduction. The map-and-moon detail pins it to the one stop where an elf-lord read what the mapmaker had concealed.
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45. I'm secret writing that stays invisible until moonlight shines behind me, and only on a night matching the very season and shape of moon when I was penned. What am I? Medium
Most people first say: Invisible ink
Show answer
Moon-letters.
The added condition is what rules out any chemistry: the letters show only under a moon of the same season and shape as the night they were written. Silver pens and dwarf runes did this work, and no bottle of ink keeps a calendar.
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46. I'm a whole town of men built on wooden posts out over the water, living in the long shadow of a dragon's mountain. What am I? Medium
Show answer
Lake-town, also called Esgaroth.
Wooden posts out in the water narrow it to a settlement standing on piles instead of soil, and the dragon's mountain overhead fixes which water. The place answers to two names in the story, so either one counts.
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47. I'm a grim archer of the lake, heir to the vanished lords of Dale, and I loosed the shaft that brought the great worm crashing down. Who am I? Medium
Show answer
Bard the Bowman.
Heir to the vanished lords of Dale picks him out of the archers holding the burning streets, since one man there came of Girion's line. The black arrow he let fly was an heirloom from his father, kept back until that shot.
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48. I'm an old bird wise enough to understand the speech of men, and I carried word of the dragon's one bare spot straight to the bowman's ear. What am I? Medium
Show answer
A thrush.
A creature that understands the speech of men is the odd detail, and it makes the messenger role possible. Ravens carry dwarf news in this story, so the flier who went to a man is the other feathered elder.
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49. I marched from the Iron Hills with five hundred grim kinsmen to stand beside Thorin's people, and after the battle I was named King under the Mountain. Who am I? Hard
Need a hint?
A raven brought word that Nain's son was coming.
Show answer
Dain Ironfoot.
Five hundred kinsmen out of the Iron Hills identifies the newcomer, since only one relative marches in late. Being crowned afterwards also tells you he outlived the leader he came to help.
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50. Men, elves, and dwarves nearly came to blows until goblins and wargs poured down and forced old foes to fight side by side. History named that clash for how many armies? Medium
Show answer
Five armies.
Counting the sides is the move: men, elves and dwarves make three, then goblins and wargs arrive as two more. Eagles and a skin-changer turn up too, which is why the remembered name undercounts the day.
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51. We were two young dwarf brothers, sons of Thorin's sister, and we died shielding our fallen uncle with our own bodies. Who were we? Medium
Show answer
Fili and Kili.
Two brothers, nephews of the leader, dead across his body: the family link picks the pair out of thirteen. They were the youngest of the party, which is why the story keeps their names together.
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52. I'm a creeping madness for gold that settled on Thorin among his recovered treasure, hardening his heart and making him break his given word. What am I? Medium
Show answer
The dragon-sickness.
A creeping greed with a name of its own is the clue: gold-hunger is treated as a disease you catch from a hoard, not as a choice. That is how a promise meant honestly gets broken.
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53. When the wizard turned up leaning on his staff at the garden gate, the flustered hobbit greeted him with two harmless little words, and the wizard promptly picked them apart every way they could be meant. What were the words? Easy
Most people first say: Nice to meet you
Show answer
Good morning.
Two harmless little words is a size clue, and the wizard's reply is the point: one greeting can be a kind wish, a claim about the weather, or a remark on the mood of whoever says it. He tries every reading in turn.
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54. The dwarves left a note offering the burglar cash on delivery and a share of the total profits, if any. What fraction of the treasure was promised to him? Medium
Show answer
One fourteenth.
Fourteen shares for a party of fourteen is the arithmetic behind the fraction, since the burglar counted as a member rather than a hired hand on a wage. The if any clause is the part that should have worried him.
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55. I sit on the hobbit's fire and whistle a cheery song the moment I'm ready to pour out tea. What am I? Easy
Show answer
A kettle
A cheery tune makes it sound like a bird on the hearth, so drop the singer. What sits over the flames and announces itself the instant it is ready has a spout and a handle.
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56. Hobbits love to hunt me in damp fields after rain, and I pop up overnight with a neat little round cap. What am I? Easy
Most people first say: Wild berries
Show answer
Mushrooms
Damp fields after rain would suit dozens of plants, so wait for the last clue. Arriving overnight with a round cap on a stalk rules out anything that has to flower first, and the pickers know the good spots.
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57. Fill me, light me, and watch a contented hobbit puff soft rings of smoke into the evening air. What am I? Easy
Most people first say: An oil lamp
Show answer
A pipe
Fill and light would serve an oil lamp just as well, so the rings decide it. A ring means smoke leaving through a small round opening that a mouth can shape, which no lamp offers.
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58. A hobbit eats breakfast, and because one meal is never quite enough, sits straight back down for me. Which meal am I? Easy
Most people first say: Elevenses or lunch
Show answer
Second breakfast
Which meal am I asks for a slot in the day, not a dish, so stop naming foods. Order the hobbit day and the sitting right after the first takes its name from counting rather than from the plate.
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59. I'm the green and peaceful country of rolling hills and tidy farms where hobbits live far from any adventure. What am I? Easy
Show answer
The Shire
Rolling hills and tidy farms would fit half of England, so lean on far from any adventure. The green country the burglar keeps aching to get back to is the one he leaves at the start and reaches again at the end.
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60. I'm a cold hollow deep in the mountain's heart, where Gollum once paddled his boat and something small and golden lay lost for ages. What am I? Easy
Most people first say: A mine shaft
Show answer
A cave
A cold hollow in the mountain could be a mine or a cellar until the boat appears. Deep water for paddling plus a lost golden thing put it in the natural chamber where the whole plot turns.
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61. Dragons hoard me, dwarves dig me from deep stone, and I gleam bright in the dark though I make no light of my own. What am I? Easy
Most people first say: A diamond
Show answer
Gold
Dragons and dwarves both bother with jewels, so those two clues leave several candidates standing. Gleaming in the dark while making none of its own is the filter: a polished metal throws back whatever light finds it.
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62. I fall soft and silver by night, I reveal the secret letters on a dwarf's old map, and I never warm a single stone. What am I? Easy
Show answer
Moonlight
Soft and silver by night would suit starlight too, so the map line does the deciding: one kind of glow brings out the writing hidden on a dwarf's parchment. Warmth is the last check, and it fails on purpose.
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63. Small and sturdy, I hauled the dwarves' baggage over hill and dale until trolls and rivers whittled our numbers away. What am I? Easy
Most people first say: A donkey
Show answer
A pony
Small and sturdy with baggage could be a mule or a donkey. Numbers whittled away by trolls and rivers narrow it to the pack animals the company rode out of Hobbiton at the start.
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64. Thorin's folk pluck me by firelight, and my deep tune of gold and mountains can make even a hobbit long for far-off caverns. What am I? Easy
Most people first say: A fiddle
Show answer
A harp
A fiddle is bowed, not plucked, so the first verb in the question drops it. That leaves a strung instrument, deep enough in tone to sound like caverns, and light enough for a dwarf to unwrap by a fireside.
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65. I'm a wise old black-feathered bird of the Lonely Mountain, friend to Thorin's people, and I carry their news on swift wings. What am I? Easy
Most people first say: A thrush
Show answer
A raven
Old and wise fits more than one bird here, so the friendship decides it: black feathers and a bond with Thorin's folk belong to the flier that keeps the Mountain informed. The other messenger took its secret to a man of the lake.
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66. I hum through Beorn's tall meadows all day and turn his clover blossoms into sweet golden food for his table. What am I? Easy
Most people first say: A wasp
Show answer
A bee
A wasp hums over clover too, so the first half decides nothing. Turning blossom into sweet golden food is the filter: no other visitor to those meadows runs a small factory back at home.
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67. I'm a piece of folded old parchment marked with a Mountain and a hidden door, and Gandalf handed me across the table at Bag End. What am I? Easy
Show answer
Thorin's map
Old parchment could be any document until a Mountain and a secret door appear on one sheet. Handed across the table at Bag End dates it to the unexpected party, before anyone had read the runes that set the day.
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68. I trail the burglar everywhere in the sunlight, copying his every step, yet in Gollum's black cave I vanish completely. What am I? Hard
Most people first say: His reflection
Need a hint?
Only sunlight can make one, and Gollum's cave has none.
Show answer
A shadow
A copy that walks with you sounds like a twin or a mirror image, and the cave line rules the mirror out. A thing that needs sunlight to exist must be made of missing light, not of glass.
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69. Shout in the mountain halls and I fling the tail of your words back at you, though I own no voice and I die the instant you fall silent. What am I? Hard
Most people first say: A parrot
Need a hint?
Shout in a stone hall, then wait a beat.
Show answer
An echo
No voice of my own kills every animal answer, and dying the moment you stop shows this is an event, not a creature. Sound bouncing off stone hands back the tail of a shout and nothing more.
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70. I dance without feet and eat without a mouth, I swell when you feed me dry sticks, and Smaug breathes me though he is not my master. What am I? Hard
Most people first say: A dragon
Need a hint?
Dry sticks feed it, a bucket of water ends it.
Show answer
Fire
Dancing without feet and eating without a mouth are the two contradictions to clear, and dry sticks tell you what the eating means. The last line matters: the worm breathes this, so it exists apart from him.
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71. I curl up grey from a hobbit's pipe and from a crackling bonfire alike, here for a breath, then gone into the sky leaving no trace. What am I? Hard
Most people first say: Steam from a kettle
Need a hint?
Nothing you can hold, and nothing left over.
Show answer
Smoke
A pipe and a bonfire have almost nothing in common, so the thing they both make must be a by-product rather than an object. Grey rules out steam, and vanishing without a trace rules out ash, which stays in the grate.
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72. I have no legs yet I run for leagues, no mouth yet I roar over the stones, and a floating barrel once rode my back to freedom. What am I? Hard
Most people first say: The wind
Need a hint?
Roaring over stones means shallows, not a still lake.
Show answer
A river
Running with no legs and roaring with no mouth are borrowed verbs, so hunt for something that moves one way forever. The barrel line fixes it as water deep enough to float a cargo.
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73. I start at a round green door and go ever on, and though I never stir a step myself, I carry every traveler bold enough to set foot on me. What am I? Hard
Need a hint?
You travel on it, it does not travel.
Show answer
The road
Carrying without moving is the clash to resolve: this one does its work by lying still while feet do the travelling. Starting at a round green door places it just outside one particular hobbit hole.
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74. I'm born a thin silver sliver, I fatten to a full round coin, then waste away to nothing, and I do the whole thing over again each month. What am I? Hard
Most people first say: A silver coin
Need a hint?
Look up on clear nights for a whole month.
Show answer
The moon
Born, fattened, wasted away, then again is a cycle rather than a life, so no creature fits. Each month gives the length of the loop, and one object in the sky keeps exactly that schedule.
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75. I'm a dull dry biscuit the Lake-men bake for long journeys. No treat for the tongue, yet I'll keep a hungry traveler walking for days. What am I? Hard
Most people first say: Elvish waybread
Need a hint?
Four letters, and it rhymes with jam.
Show answer
Cram
Baked for long marches fits more than one food in this book, so the baker decides it: the skin-changer sent them off with honey and cakes of his own, while this dry ration came from the town on the lake.
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76. Bilbo pocketed me at Beorn's house and planted me back home, where I grew into a fine tree he loved to sit beneath. What was I? Hard
Need a hint?
It fits in a pocket and outlives the hobbit.
Show answer
An acorn
Pocketed at one stop and planted at home is a two-scene clue, so the answer had to survive a long journey in a coat. Only a hard seed that becomes a spreading tree fits both halves.
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77. I'm the dark power lurking in a black southern tower of Mirkwood, the real reason Gandalf slipped away from the company on urgent business. Who am I? Hard
Most people first say: Smaug the dragon
Need a hint?
Raising the dead is in his name somewhere.
Show answer
The Necromancer
The wizard's absence is the clue, not the tower: he leaves the company at the forest edge on business he will not explain. The power in the south is given a title in this book and never a name.
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78. I'm the goblin captain who led the mountain host to the great battle to avenge my father, who fell to the dwarves long ago. Who am I? Hard
Most people first say: Azog himself
Need a hint?
One short syllable, and his father was Azog.
Show answer
Bolg
Avenging a father who fell long ago dates the grudge to an older war, so the captain here is a son and not the goblin his people already lost. The book gives him a single blunt name.
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79. We're wild wolves in league with the goblins, and one fiery night we treed the whole company in a stand of fir-trees. What are we? Hard
Most people first say: Ordinary wolves
Need a hint?
Not the common word for wolf, an older one.
Show answer
Wargs
Wild wolves alone would need no special name, and the league with goblins is what earns one. The fir-tree night belongs to a single attack, when the pack held the company up in the branches.
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80. I'm tall in my youth and short in my old age, I weep as I work, and my single bright hair keeps the dark out of a hobbit's cellar. What am I? Hard
Most people first say: A pencil
Need a hint?
The weeping is what runs down its side.
Show answer
A candle
Youth, old age and weeping belong to a person, so strip the biography out. Something that shortens as it does its job, drips while it burns, and lights a cellar by one thread of flame is wax and wick.
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81. We're scattered like cold jewels across the night, older than the sun by the elves' reckoning, and no dragon's hoard can match our number. What are we? Hard
Most people first say: Jewels in a hoard
Need a hint?
You cannot pick these jewels up.
Show answer
The stars
Cold jewels is a comparison, not a material, and the number rules out any treasure a dragon could pile up. Whatever is older than the sun and spread over the entire night sky is not on the ground.
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82. I creep across the Mountain's stones on cold nights and write white feathery patterns on Bilbo's round window, yet a touch of sun undoes me. What am I? Hard
Most people first say: Fresh snow
Need a hint?
Cold glass, damp air, and no snow involved.
Show answer
Frost
Snow would settle on the sill instead of drawing on the glass, and that difference separates them. Feathery shapes form when damp air freezes straight onto a cold pane, and morning sun wipes the drawing away.
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83. Gaze into still water and I gaze right back, matching you move for move, yet I am no twin of yours and I shatter the moment the water stirs. What am I? Hard
Most people first say: A twin brother
Need a hint?
Water gives it back, and glass would too.
Show answer
A reflection
Matching you move for move while being no twin is the contradiction, and the water condition finishes the job. Anything that breaks when the surface ripples lives on that surface, not behind it.
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84. I am the one thing three squabbling trolls feared most, for my first pale light over the hills turned all their bickering into solid stone. What am I? Hard
Most people first say: Gandalf's spell
Need a hint?
Gandalf only had to keep them talking long enough.
Show answer
The dawn
Three squabbling trolls fix the scene, and the stone ending carries the fact you need: daylight rather than a spell is what ends trolls in this book. The pale light in the question is a clock reading, not a caster.
Gollum's riddles from Riddles in the Dark
Mountain, wind, darkness, fish, and time: the cave dweller's five puzzles retold in order, with the answers Bilbo scrambled for.
Bilbo's riddles with answers
Teeth, sun on the daisies, an egg, fish on a table, and the not-quite-fair pocket question that ended the game.
Original Middle-earth riddles
Past the famous ten the set turns to Middle-earth recall, with a run of new contradiction riddles and quiz rounds about the chapter itself.
Your score
FAQ about The Hobbit Riddles: Bilbo vs Gollum
How many riddles are in The Hobbit?
The riddle game holds nine true riddles: five from Gollum (the mountain, the wind, the dark, the fish, time) and four from Bilbo (teeth, the sun on the daisies, the egg, the legs scene). Bilbo then ends the contest with the pocket question, which makes ten exchanges in all.
Are these the exact riddles from the book?
No. Tolkien's verses stay in his book. The ten game cards retell each riddle in our own words with the same answer and the story around it, and past those ten the page leans on Middle-earth recall, with a run of new riddles built on the contradiction form.
Who won the riddle game, Bilbo or Gollum?
Bilbo won, and not by riddling. He asked what he had in his pocket, Gollum bargained for three guesses, and handses, knife and string or nothing all missed the ring.
Which riddle gave Gollum the most trouble?
The egg. He hissed and muttered over the box with no hinges for a long while before an old memory of robbing nests gave him the answer.
The contradiction drill travels well. Once you can hear a clause as a denial rather than a description, the same move opens the what am I riddles, where the thing doing the talking has no body to back up its claims. If it was the Middle-earth recall you came for, the Harry Potter riddles test the same kind of memory against a different shelf of books.