In this episode, Shawn, still pretending he is an early teenager in 2001 pretending he would fit just right in with the fellowship of the ring, once again dives into Middle-Earth to talk about Bilbo Baggins, and his riddle contest in the dark with the creature Gollum resulting in him bearing the one ring, but NOT before Shawn goes over 2 similar situations with the god Odin, who also gets into a contest of riddles.

The funny thing is that both Bilbo and Odin win their riddle contests without actually stumping their opponents with riddles (wtf). They both walk away with the “W” thanks to a gap in the rulebook, the kind of gap that basically lets someone shrug and say, “Well, nobody said I couldn’t.” Odin exploits the loophole on purpose, while Bilbo does it through sheer panic, dumb luck, and maybe a subtle shove from a cursed piece of jewelry that really, really wants to get out of the caves under the Misty Mountains.

Shawn talks about how technicalities and loopholes in the system are often exploited on our world as well. Whether in sports or politics, or our own lives like with "work emails", the latter of which Shawn spends a suspiciously large amount of time discussing as being exploited by humans.

Sources Used:

• The Poetic Edda (Hackett Publishing) - translations by Jackson Crawford
• The Prose Edda: Norse Mythology (Penguin Classics) - translations by Jesse Byock
• The Saga of Hervor and Heidrik (Hackett Publishing) - translations by Jackson Crawford
• "The Hobbit" - JRR Tolkien

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