Reading some info about Alice in Wonderland I came upon something interesting the author wrote. The Mad Hatter's riddle "Why is a raven like a writing desk?" never intended to have an answer just to be a simple question. Over time people have come up with answers to the riddle with one being "Because Poe wrote on both." This really has me wondering does a riddle have to have an answer to be a riddle? Or can there be no answer at all with it being just some nonsensical statement like the Mad Hatter's?

Could a sphinx ask the question, if not it isn't a riddle. IMO.

I finally know what my pet sphinx is good for now! It was a pain just having it lying around all the time, moaning about having nothing to do.

I present to you: THE RIDDLE DETECTOR 3000! RidDect3000 for short.

Good question. The free dictionary def. a riddle as
riddle
n
1. a question, puzzle, or verse so phrased that ingenuity is required for elucidation of the answer or meaning; conundrum
2. a person or thing that puzzles, perplexes, or confuses; enigma
vb
1. to solve, explain, or interpret (a riddle or riddles)
2. (intr) to speak in riddles

It does not directly define it as needing an answer.

The thing is a sphinx will tell a riddle and you will have to answer it to pass through, if you can't the sphinx will [censored] you up.
Could you imagine the story of the sphinx if it said "Sorry there never was an answer".

Oh I'm disappointed now, I thought you were going to give us a riddle. I love and hate them in equal measure.

It's official meaning might be something else, sure, but I personally think that a phrase that makes no sense, isn't a riddle, it just doesn't make any sense.

Such as "How does a cat reach the moon?"

Well, darn I just came up with a solution for that.. just follow the mouse to the cheese.. But sincerely though, if a phrase doesn't make any sense, it's not a riddle.

Why is the US of World War II strongly related to Charlie Sheen? (What defines a riddle being a riddle?)

What have I got in my pockets?

-Bilbo Baggins, riddlemaking champion

A riddle needs to be solved, and if there is no answer there is no way to solve it, thus making it nothing but a statement or a phrase/question. I've always seen riddles as "puzzles", and puzzles are made to be solved. We've also got those philosophical "riddles" that requires you to find a deep answer yourself (or there is no definite answer), but I wouldn't count them as riddles since they are way to open. A riddle only have 1 correct answer.

Atleast that is how I see riddles. The Mad Hatter's riddle wasn't meant to have an answer, therefore it cannot be solved, making it nothing but a question.

The entire point of a riddle is for it to be solved. Imagine if riddles could have no solution. The Riddler would get away with every crime.

Because they win ?

It was never proven that the Sphinx was immortal and it died of a high fall by throwing itself off a cliff.

If it can die, it can die.

Now we just got to find a way to sneak up on it.

Or before it says anything give a riddle of your own........

I like the Poe answer, lets stick with that being the answer.

Here's a riddle: What is yellow and writes?

Sheogorath after he's eaten too much cheese and became interested in love poems?

Either that or anyone who has painted themselves yellow and then writes something.

I read about that too. A neat little fact, but I didn't read too much into it. Mad men are mad.

A riddle should have an answer, however, and I'm sure if the Hatter asked that riddle, he would have an answer for it. Whether it makes sense or not is up for debate

I liked the answer given in the dead poets society, "they both can fly" *Throws desk off roof*

Personally I would say Pikachu with a writing implement with a pen/pencil. Or a cowardly Ewok running away turning yellow writing their stuff later on.



Glad to see some interesting answers i've just been thinking about that Alice In Wonderland riddle from the Mad Hatter. Your possible right though Jerhicco where a riddle will always have an answer be it sensible or nonsensical in nature. Trying to write my own riddle similar to the Hatter's the problem is I svck at making riddles. You have to give the person a question that makes them ponder the object but give them enough to put them on the right path. On the opposite side of the coin you can't give them too much because it will defeat the purpose of the riddle.


Trying to think of a riddle along the lines of Can an object of darkness be touched within darkness itself? The answer i'm trying to tune that riddle to is "No it can't because the object doesn't exist to begin with."

Whenever you read a book, and apply that knowledge to your own life, you're reading something that the author didn't intend to put there, right? Shakespeare didn't sit down and think, "Yeah, I'm going to tell Bradly Smith, a kid who will be born several hundred years from now, that he should really chill out and slow down with Susan, because just assuming that every little fling is your one true love is a damned stupid idea." But if Bradly Smith gets that message from "Romeo & Juliet", is he wrong?

Whenever you get meaning from a bunch of little ink marks on a page, you're the one who puts the meaning there. It doesn't really matter whether or not the author specifically intended to put that meaning in, imo. So what if the guy who wrote down the riddle originally didn't intend for it to have an answer? If his stories had never been published, and someone came up with the raven riddle now, would there be anything wrong with that?

I'm of the opinion that there needs to be an answer for it to truly qualify as a riddle.

A http://photo-dictionary.com/photofiles/list/459/836pencil.jpg.

I actually quite like the concept of a riddle not having an answer, and it always makes me upset when someone tries to answer the Mad Hatter's riddle, because to me, the fact that it is an unanswerable question basically states that not all things need answers or explaining, and just need to be enjoyed.

You guys have all obviously not seen the first episode of Adam West Batman, or you'd know that the answer was *snap* a ballpoint banana!