Rigged Riddle: Difference between revisions
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|Gollum|[[The Hobbit]]}}
''[[Riddle Me This]]: What kind of game do you never get the chance to play, because you've always lost before you've begun?''
Answer: A '''Rigged Riddle.'''
Specifically, where most riddles may have more than one applicable answer and is more a straightforward test of knowledge and/or creative thinking, the Rigged Riddle relies on very specific information that the answering party could not (or rather ''should'' not) possibly know. This almost always involves infromation that only the asker is privy to, and may even be personal info of some sort on the asker's part, though it need not always be the case - the fact that the one tasked with answering could not possibly have the knowledge required to answer correctly what makes Rigged Riddles distinct from "merely" difficult riddles that the asker is confident cannot be answered... not that there isn't an overlap.
It's not uncommon for such a riddle to be employed non-maliciously. It may even be [[Something Only They Would Say|a hint towards a stranger's identity]], or a way to [[Something Only the Culprit Would Know|fish out a duplicitous bystander]].
Rigged Riddles are often the domain of very powerful or else very spiteful [[Riddling Sphinx]]es, as well as [[Trickster God]]s.
{{examples}}
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== [[Literature]] ==
* In ''[[The Hobbit (novel)|The Hobbit]]'', Bilbo asked Gollum “What have I got in my pocket?” Understandably, Gollum asserts that this riddle isn't fair. Funny thing is, Bilbo was actually talking to himself when he said this, but Gollum interpreted it as part of their riddle game, and it is only after Gollum protested that Bilbo deliberately used it as the riddle.
== [[Live-Action TV]] ==
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== [[Oral Tradition]], [[Folklore]], Myths, Religion, and Legends ==
* Odin did this a couple of times in [[Norse Mythology]] - once in ''Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks'' (The Saga of Hervör and Heidrek), where a disguised Odin asked numerous riddles of King Heidrek, and again in the poem ''Vafþrúðnismál'' with Vafþrúðnir, who exchanged riddles with Odin. On both occasions, he used the same question: "What did Odin speak into Baldr’s ear before he was placed on the pyre?"
* In [[The Bible]], Samson tore apart a young lion on the way to wed his first wife (a Philistine woman), and when he later came across the corpse, a beehive filled with honey was inside. Samson used that as the basis of the following riddle: “Out of the eater, something to eat; out of the strong, something sweet.” Samson offered a prize of 30 soft under shirts (sedin) and good suits (chalipha) to the winner.
** This is one of the earliest examples of a "Rigged" Riddle that is "properly" formatted as a riddle, rather than a straightforward question with a secret answer - regardless, the Philistines present could not solve the riddle, and instead extorted the answer from Samson's wife, who weaseled the answer out of him. Samson realized this, but resolved to make good on his bet regardless - by traveling to Ashkelon and taking the clothes from the thirty Philistines he would murder there. This would culminate in a divorce and set in motion a divinely-ordained series of escalating fights between Samson and the Philistines.
* What is [[Rumpelstiltskin]]’s name?
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== [[Theatre]] ==
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* [[The Riddler]] is especially guilty of this in the [[Batman: Arkham|''Arkham'' series]] of ''Batman'' games, especially considering he outright accuses Batman (and by proxy the player) of cheating should the Dark Knight overcome some of his more difficult challenges.
** The interview tapes from ''[[Batman: Arkham Asylum]]'' exemplify this perfectly with Nygma's take on the famous [[Riddle of the Sphinx]]. [[Darker and Edgier|This being Arkham]], [[Jerkass|and Nygma being Nygma]], his version is... [[Dead Baby Comedy|a little mean-spirited]].
== [[Visual Novel]]s ==
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