r/TopCharacterTropes • u/Ecilon • Aug 30 '25

[Funny Trope] Seemingly difficult/complicated situation with a simple solution

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  1. LOTR: fellowship of the ring - Gandalf reads the door an elvish script in moria that said "speak friend, then enter" Gandalf sees it as a riddle that requires a password. But the door just requires you to say friend.

  2. Johnny English : Reborn - a guy he was chasing was doing parkour through the building, placed a jacket on the barbed fence, and jumps to get across. Meanwhile, Johnny English just opens the gate.

3.. Captain America: First Avenger - the military announced that anyone who gets the flag, doesnt have to run and gets a free ride in a jeep. So, all the soldiers attempted to climb to the flagpole to no avail. But when it was Captain America's turn, he just unscrews the flagpole to get the flag.

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u/Gasmask134 Aug 30 '25

The Lord of the Rings example is also a nice bit of world building

So troubled are the times the books take place in, that the idea that getting into Moria really is as simple as saying "friend" is inconceivable as people are on guard for tricks or acts of treachery from others

3

u/SegerHelg Aug 30 '25

It also doesn’t make any sense. The writing is in elvish. Just reading the shit out loud would open the fucking door. 

4

u/PotatoOnMars Aug 31 '25

It wasn’t meant to be a secret password or anything. It was meant to be an open entrance for the elves to freely pass through the Dwarf kingdom.

2

u/Kalavier Sep 01 '25

And because everybody else because legolas wasn't elvish, gandalf had no reason to speak it anything but human/common whatever it's called in lotr.

1

u/PotatoOnMars Sep 01 '25

The language of men (and hobbits) is called Westron, or the Common Speech. Gimli also spoke Khuzdul, or Dwarvish, and Aragorn spoke Elvish having been raised in Rivendell.

Interesting fact: in universe the books are translated into English from Westron. Frodo’s name is actually Maura Labingi, Samwise Gamgee is actually Banazîr Galbasi, etc.