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The Inner Sun - Bootes - Sage's Keep Riddle


Logan Marquis

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As Bootes stands at the front of Sage's Keep, he looks at the map which was given to him. He studies it for a moment and believes the map indicates something new on the far side of the building. Shrugging his shoulders, Bootes winds his way to the rear of Sage's Keep only to be surprised by what he sees. To his astonishment, he finds a pair of lion statues he has never encountered before. After a moment's hesitation, he approaches the statues to study them. He examines the smooth features and lifelike visage of the nearest one and mutters to himself, "When did These get Here?"

Bootes starts to cross from one statue to the other, and as he does, the statues begin to move; a deep rumbling emanates from the stone lions as they move and is nearly deafening. Bootes, while shocked, stumbles back a bit but does not run. The lions quickly fix him with their gaze - eyes, bejeweled with diamonds, flash
with a fire that seems to go deeper than their facets would indicate - and roar in unison, "Give us the Answer we seek, and you will find Entrance to this keep."

He takes a step forward, clears his throat, and meets their gaze with one of his own and says, as bravely as a man can who has just been surprised by two lion statues that, until recently and to his knowledge, had not existed prior to this moment, "I seek Entrance, Guardians. What is the Question you will Ask of Me?"

The statues speak in unison again, with voices low and as smooth as marble. "Our riddle is a simple one, with an answer as plain as the Sun in the Sky and as obvious as the Rhythm of the Sea."

[b]"This substance can help a man to see, yet it can also be used to blind him.
With it, one can build castles, yet it can also be used to destroy them.
What is the answer to our Riddle?"[/b]


Bootes tilts his head and thinks deeply while rubbing the scruff on his chin for a moment before speaking.

=======================================================

This is your chance to contribute to help Bootes find his way into Sage's Keep!

If you have an answer or perhaps a word of advice/guidance, post a reply(once the thread is opened) and perhaps your answer can help Bootes!

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old and easy, it's [spoiler]sand! you can make glasses of it or it blinds you in a storm, you can build castles with it or use sand to extiguish them forever.[/spoiler]

i thought i'd rather set it under spoilers because people might like to think by themselves =D
ps: yippie, the first riddle in the forum i solved first :yahoo:

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The answer first posited makes a tempting choice, but the analogy breaks down on the last point. The destruction aspect seems strained, if not broken.

I would put forward a guess of iron: it can hold the lenses of the glasses that help one see, and iron nails might be used to blind. Iron is invaluable in constructing castles, from the tools used to bars, doors, and reinforcement. Iron swords might then be used by the invading army that ransacks that very castle.

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now, i guess i don't know the proper english words, but i'm very very sure that my answer is correct...
i've just googled the word for the last point, i think it should be "raze", and it can occur in desert lands, it means that a whole civilization can be destroyed in a single sand storm because of the polishing effect of sands at high speeds, the castle can be destructed completely and without trace within hours.

and i quite like the iron idea, but it seems a bit far to say the iron holds the lenses of the glasses...
and the idea about the swords seems not too bad, but you won't destroy a castle with swords, i'd rather say tools could be the iron things to help you...

still, i stick with sand, just because i've already heard that riddle hundreds of times and everyone says that the slution is sand =P

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I too agree with sand;

Sand is used make glass
Sand in your eyes will blind you
Children make sandcastles on the beach

The final point has several answers -
It is true that a sandstorm can raze castles
You sand materials to make them smooth
Sandblasting can be used to remove motar between stones

All in all a very good answer. Another is possible: Water

Water is used to lubricate the eye making it possible to see.
Water jetted into the eye or in the form of ice will blind
One may also contruct castles of ice as in the annual show in Finland
Water will wear away stone destroying the strongest castle

A third answer is: Time

We need time to see what is around us
Old age is a major cause of blindness
Rome was not built in a day - It takes time to make castles
Time too will destroy all of mans works

I came upon some rubble lying in the dust and upon the base of the broken statue was an inscription "I am Ozemandeus - King of Kings. Look upon my work yea mighty and dispair!"

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I really like the sand one, and I do think that it is better than my answer, but I guess I'll post the other thing that crosses my mind: Fire.

The light from a fire helps one see.
The light from fire can also blind if it is too bright, and direct contact of eye with fire inevitably leads to blindness.
Fire is used to smelt iron, create bricks, and shape objects required to make castles,
and fire also destroys castles.

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If I had to choose I'd say fire, or maybe sand or stone, but I also thought about something less material:
Fear, for one
One could be blinded by it or it could help keeping the eye ready to see.
It can be used to force people into building a castle or defenders into flying from it.
Not really a perfect one, but I think worth of some consideration.

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a guess, just because i like blowing things up

gunpowder
it lights the way with a flash of light but that light may be so intense it could blind a man.

build cities by clearing mountans or destroy them with a simple match(and alot of barrels of the stuff)

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Yeah umh, the thing I am seeing here is that should one pick a certain trait or characteristic, it would probably be correct, if one applied it to the correct possible contexts..
Like: Truth, helps man see, etc etc, but only if you apply it correctly and look at it from a fixed point of view.
Pride is another such thing, or confidence.

However, the riddle states that it searches for a [b]Substance[/b], thus time, light and fire(not really sure, but isn't it just a chemical process?) and other concepts which cannot be touched by hand.. are they not a false answer?
I'd say I'd have to go with sand, only because I can't think of a better answer for the moment..
As for water, if you (with the exception of lenses flowing out) go underwater and open your eyes.. one can still see, the fact that a storm is needed to blind you with water, requires it to be a combination of wind.. if sand is poured into your eyes, and thus only sand and no wind, then you are blinded as well..

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I don't think light can be ruled out just because of one word. Light can be measured and is a form of measurement, so it must consist of something. Scientifically it is both a wave and a particle, just because it's not on the periodic table doesn't mean it's not a substance.

As has been already stated by Repo, light is a obvious answer to the first sentence. You need light to help you build - how can you make something if you can't see what you're doing. In a destructive capacity, light bleaches the colour out of objects, it dries the moisture out of everything and can even burn objects if left in light for long enough. A castle needs night to cool the stone or else the mortar would expand and crack from the constant heat.


And if all else fails, everyone knows that 42 is the answer to life, the universe and everything!

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Light is not an obvious answer to the 'build a castle' sentence, because that way, you are saying that you cannot build a castle blind..

I am certain I can build a lego castle when I am blind.. it would look skewed and ugly, barely functional and ready to collapse, certainly. But what the riddle is aiming at, is the [b]driving reason[/b] to build a castle in the first place.
Castle's in the medieval ages were build to establish and maintain political and military power in the region, more like a desire to rule, and castles were build to rule more efficiently.
Light may be a prerequisite to build castles, but also to build other things, as is sand.. Which is why I don't like sand too much.. I just can't think of something better :mellow:

Now the riddle says with it, you can build castles.
But like i said, without light, one can still build a castle..

for example.. uh, termites and ants, they build stuff blind.. not really a good example I know..

Mmmh.. I guess the lego one still applies..

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I think that the answer is sand.

I think it is sand because you can use sand to help make glass and that will help you see but will also blind you if its thrown in your eyes, and you can make sand castles out of it and then make mud ball with sand to destroy it.

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yes
sand can be used to make glass causing one to be able to see
and
sand in the eyes can blind

sand can be mixed and made into brick and such to build up a castle
and
the strongest of sand storms can rip them down

in modern day you could liken it to sandblasting

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