Needed some advise on this riddle if you please,
Before the red flame flew from the north,
one king did order what men to sally forth,
Down he went to the unstopable flame,
and twas only a descendent who erased the blame.
one or two word answer is acceptable…
ideas?
The time frame would be before Smaug appeared in ME—I think. That may be a help in limiting the list of kings to be reviewed. My guess is the answer is either the king’s name or that of his desendant.
Wasn’t Bard, who eventually killed Smaug the descendant of former royalty. [Hell of a long time since I read Hobbit but just rings a bell somewhere. If so you would need to check who the king was. Then as Ed says its probably one or the other or a connection between the two.
Steve
Sounds like its before Smaug to me too (so that would rule out Bard).
The ‘unstoppable flame’ part sounds like its referring to the Balrog of Moria. So maybe it’s referring to the Dwarven King that awoke the Balrog (Durin VI I think)?
But this is a total guess on my part.
Thanks for all your help gents. I’ll let you know how it turns out. 
jz
The riddle specifically says ‘men’, so it doesn’t sound like a Dwarf King to me. Can the riddles be from the Silmarillion or other ME histories?
It also says “one king” and “he” and then “until a descendent” 3 references to a single dude and 1 for me, I’d go with the dude… 
Yes, the riddles are from the entire breadth of ME History as far as I’m aware.
I like the ‘Bard’ answer myself, but never did I read about a ‘dude’. If you start throwing cowboys and surfers into the mix, I’ll never know what’s going on!
Bards ancestor was GIRION if that helps, killed by Smaug when he 1st attacked the Dwarves, helping them out. Sallied his men forth… Maybe the red flame flying from the North is the 2nd time Smaug tries to burn Dale where he has Bard waiting for him… I’d go with GIRION it sounds right.
Did the troops have a name???
The “what men” sounds like the key to the riddle to me and the rest is to narrow down who the leader of the troops was.
Adrian
Girion was mentioned in The Hobbit, the last Lord of Dale, killed by Smaug when he assaulted Dale and the neighboring Dwarfs in Erebor. 170 yrs after that Bard, his descendant, killed the dragon by shooting him with the black arrow.
Smaug was also one of the few larger fire dragons, only 1 of 2 that were named able to fly. the other being Ancalagon the Black. Smaug was haughty and believed he was invincible. Hence Bilbo and the comments on the laovely armoured belly, where he spotted the flaw in Smaug’s armour. Not too much of a stretch unstoppable flame- invincible dragon?
That looks right to me. Or at least it makes a lot more sense than my suggestion!
I don’t pretend to be good on riddles and since english is not my native language, I’m not sure I understand it right 
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Before the red flame flew from the north,
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Likely a dragon… not sure on this 
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one king did order what men to sally forth,
“”"
Sounds like an old king
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Down he went to the unstopable flame,
“”"
Couldn’t this be Mount Doom, and thus the king be Isildur?
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and twas only a descendent who erased the blame.
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Thus Aragon, Isildurs descendent, erased the blame by resisting the One Ring’s lure that lured Isildur to his death?
But like I said, english isn’t my native language…
A friend of mine suggested:
Feanor, concerning the Kinslaying. The descendant is Fingolfin.
I answered Isildur and it wasn’t correct…
I’m thinking it’s more about the men “what men” than the king…ack, the love of lore…
jz
Nume… (can’t remember how it’s spelled…) anyway Isildur’s people…
Guess I should read some more Tolkien, apart from LotR’s
But yeah, the line does say what men
I agree with this line of thinking as my above posts stated.
So… the Dalemen or the Nume men or Numenorians???
Adrian
The Witch King was a numenorean king wasnt he. Corrupted Rhudaur and evil hillmen joined the attacks against cardolan and arthedain. Muzzy then fled south to mordor when gondor and the elves turned up. Maybe the answer is hillmen or rhudaur hillmen.
Looking at the Silmarillion – I to am leaning towards Feanor Also, as it states Eldest son of Finwe (the only child of finwe and Miriel), half-brother of Fingolfin and Finarfin; greatest of the Noldor, and leader in their rebellion; devisor of the Feanorian script; maker of the Silmarils; slain in Mithrim in the Dagor-nuin-Giliath; He was himself known always by his mothers name for him; Feandro “Spirit of Fire” which was given the Sindarin form Feanor "
Fingolfin wasn’t his descendant though but his Half Brother !!
Feanor had at least 5 kids – 5th being Curufin “the Crafty” , his 3rd son named Celegorm “the Fair” was all i found so far !1
Looking at the Silmarils , they mention inner fire or make reference to it and fire – so this might have something to do with it !! Didn’t Melkor steal it did one of Feanor’s decendants gt it back – haven’t delved that far into it yet !!
Someone more up on ME lore can probably tell you more !!
Mike