Hey everyone, welcome to Mythology Explained. In today’s video, we’re
going to discuss the Norse myth that inspired the riddle contest between Bilbo and Gollum,
one of the most beloved scenes in the Tolkien Legendarium.
First we’re going to look at a Norse myth that centres on a knowledge contest between Odin
and a giant, then we’re going to look at Bilbo and Gollum’s riddle contest,
and finally we’re going to look at how the two overlap.
Let’s get into it.
The myth we’ll be discussing is called Vafthruthnismal. It centres
on a contest of knowledge between Odin and Riddle-Weaver (Vafthruthnir in Old Norse),
said to be the wisest of all the giants. One of the most interesting aspects of this poem is that,
through the many questions asked and answered, we’re able to glean information about
many areas in Norse mythology, giving glimpses that would otherwise be unknown.
The poem begins with Odin consulting his wife. He explains that he wants to journey to Jotunheim,
the land of the giants, to test his wisdom and knowledge against Riddle-Weaver.
Frigg, Odin’s wife, counsels Odin to stay home because Vafthrudnir, of all giant-kind,
possesses the deepest knowledge and most profound wisdom. Odin disregards his wife’s counsel,
and makes the journey anyway. Eventually, he approaches Riddle-Weaver’s hall and enters
without knocking. Good Advisor is the name Odin uses, keeping his true identity a secret.
Introductions are made, and Vafthruthnir offers him a seat; at which point, the contest begins.
Here are several of the questions as presented in the Poetic Edda:
Riddle-Weaver says:
Tell me, ‘Good Advisor’, if you want to test yourself, sitting in your seat in my hall:
what is the name of the horse who pulls the sun over the humans below?
Odin says:
That horse is named Skinfaxi; he pulls the bright sun over the humans below.
Everyone thinks he’s the best horse who lives in Midgard - the mane of that horse always shines.
Odin says:
How did the moon come to be, the one that floats over the earth, or what about the sun, giant?
Riddle-Weaver says:
Mundilfari is the name of the father of the moon; he was also the sun’s father.
They will float across the sky every day to help the humans tell the time and season.
Like so, the back and forth continues - Riddle-Weaver trying to stump Odin
and vice versa - but no matter what was asked, there wasn’t a question that went unanswered.
Of the ancient past and the world’s deep knowledge, of anything arcane or secret,
neither god nor giant failed to produce the right response. After sometime trading questions,
Odin taps into his wily side, unleashing his cunning and revealing his disdain for fair play
Odin says:
I have traveled so much, I have tried much, and I have often tested the mighty.
How will Odin lose his life at Ragnarok?
Riddle-Weaver says:
A wolf will swallow Odin, but…[Vidar] will avenge him.
He’ll cut open the wolf’s cold jaws, the killer of his father.”
Odin says:
I have traveled so much, I have tried so much, and I have often tested the
mighty. What did Odin whisper in Balder’s ear, before he placed him on the pyre?
Riddle-Weaver says:
“No one knows what you said in those ancient days, in your son’s ear. I have spoken my aged wisdom,
I have told you of Ragnarok, I have spoken with a doomed mouth. Now I know
that I wagered my head against Odin’s in Wisdom - but you, Odin, are forever the wisest of all.
Now that we’ve covered Odin’s knowledge contest, let’s take a look at Bilbo and Gollum’s.
On a stormy night, Bilbo, Gandalf, and 13 dwarves wind their way through a craggy
mountain path. They find shelter in a cave, but to their dismay, they soon discover that
this particular cave is someone’s property when a group of Goblin’s descend on them.
They’re taken as prisoners and brought before the Goblin king, where, after some interrogation,
Gandalf rescues them, allowing the group to break away from their captors and flee.
Not long afterwards, while racing back to the entrance, Bilbo falls into a chasm, bumps his
head, and tumbles into the blackness. He regains consciousness deep beneath the mountain on the
shore of an underground lake. He gropes around, finds the One Ring, and slips it into his pocket.
Gollum, whose eyes were attuned to the darkness from centuries of gloomy solitude,
is cognizant of Bilbo from the first moment he sees him. His home was on a small island
in the middle of the lake, and when he saw Bilbo alone and seemingly helpless,
he crept into his little boat and stealthily paddled towards him. He makes contact, but Biblo,
armed with an elvish blade, proves more dangerous than Gollum first thought. The two of them enter
into a riddle contest, a sacred and ancient pact. If Gollum wins, he gets to eat Bilbo,
and if Bilbo wins, Gollums has to show him the way out. And with the terms set, they begin.
(All of the answers for the upcoming riddles are included in the description.)
Gollum says:
What has roots as nobody sees, is taller than trees, up, up it goes, and yet never grows?
Bilbo says:
Thirty white horses on a red hill, first they champ, then they stamp, then they stand still.
Gollum says:
Voices it cries, wingless flutters, toothless bites, mouthless mutters
Bilbo says:
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
Gollum Says:
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.
Bilbo says:
A box without hinges, key or lid, yet golden treasure inside is hid
Gollum says
Alive without breath, as cold as death;
never thirsty, ever drinking, all in mail never clinking.
Bilbo says:
“No legs lay on one-leg, two-legs sat near on three-legs, four-legs got some”
Gollum says
“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.”
At this point, Bilbo is out of riddles, and the conditions of the contest,
which included some gangly lurking thing wanting to eat him, prevented him from thinking up any
new material on the spot. His hands felt around inside his pockets, where he touched the ring,
inspiring him to ask what he had in his pockets - not exactly a fair question,
but he stuck to it. Despite three attempts, Gollum isn’t able to guess. Though he loses,
Gollum goes back to his island to fetch his ring, one that turned him invisible, a power that would
allow him to throttle Bilbo without putting himself in harm’s way. Well, it was this very
ring that Bilbo found on the shore earlier and subsequently put in his pocket. Many near death
scrapes ensued, but with the help of the ring, specifically, the invisibility it bestowed,
Bilbo negotiates all of them and escapes after Gollum inadvertently shows him the way out.
With both the Norse myth and Bilbo and Gollum’s riddle contest covered,
let’s look at the similarities, diving into exactly how the former inspired the latter.
First and foremost, each story centres on a contest between two people. In the Norse myth,
Odin and Riddle-Weaver go back and forth, asking each other questions to ascertain who among them
is the wisest and most knowledgeable. In Bilbo and Gollum’s contest, the structure
is the exact same, only asking riddles instead of questions of a more straightforward nature.
Beyond the general structure of each contest, the most important parallelism is the final question
posed in each story. Odin asks what words he whispered into his dead son’s ear as his body
lay on the funeral pyre, and Bilbo asks what he has in his pocket. Though not expressly forbidden,
each question goes against what most people would consider fair. Bilbo and Odin each ask a question
only they could answer correctly. No matter Riddle-Weaver’s knowledge, he could only guess
at what Odin whispered to Baldr, and no matter Gollum’s cleverness, he could only guess at what
Bilbo had in his pocket. Basically, Both Odin and Bilbo win by asking the same type of question.
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