This is without a doubt my favourite scene in the book, and the movie. If you think about the consequences of this silly little riddle game, it could have ended so differently.. with massive implications for the entire Lord of the Rings series. Had Gollum won the riddle game he would have perhaps beaten poor Bilbo to a pulp, getting back the ring, which would of course mean the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy would never have happened.

But, back to the riddles, can you solve them? There’s a few more compared to the movie… enjoy:

 

25-Riddles-The-Hobbit

The Riddles in The Hobbit:

This thing all things devours:
Birds, beasts, trees, flowers;
Gnaws iron, bites steel;
Grinds hard stones to meal;
Slays king, ruins town,
And beats high mountain down.

 

What has roots as nobody sees,
Is taller than trees
Up, up it goes,
And yet never grows?

 

No-legs lay on one-leg, two legs sat near on three legs, four legs got some.

 

An eye in a blue face
Saw an eye in a green face.
‘That eye is like to this eye’
Said the first eye,
‘But in low place
Not in high place.’

 

Alive without breath,
As cold as death;
Never thirsty, ever drinking,
All in mail never clinking

 

It cannot be seen, cannot be felt,
Cannot be heard, cannot be smelt.
It lies behind stars and under hills,
And empty holes it fills.
It comes first and follows after,
Ends life, kills laughter.

 

Thirty white horses on a red hill,
First they champ,
Then they stamp,
Then they stand still.

 

A box without hinges, key or lid,
Yet golden treasure inside is hid.

 

Voiceless it cries,
Wingless flutters,
Toothless bites,
Mouthless mutters.

 

What have I got in my pocket?