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What is the answer to the Griffon's riddle? So tired of beating my head against this one. I've solved the Sphinx, Unicorn, and Pegasus, but this one is killing me.

I am forever on the Way, but I will never reach its end. I see
the Way in three aspects. With my first eye, I see it as endless
motion; with my other eye, I see it as eternal stasis. Yet I
have a third eye, which sees both without contradiction;
perceiving entropy, the energy of the Way decaying inevitably
down to silence. What am I?

Taken from Praser 5 by Andrew Plotkin

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  • $\begingroup$ Sounds like this comes from a game/book/something... Can you add some more info and maybe a link (both for context and to avoid plagiarism issues)? Welcome to Puzzling. $\endgroup$
    – Alconja
    Jan 15, 2019 at 0:10
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    $\begingroup$ This is for the game Praser 5 by Andrew Plotkin; link here: eblong.com/zarf/zweb/praser5 $\endgroup$
    – Savida
    Jan 15, 2019 at 0:52
  • $\begingroup$ have you got any references to the Sphinx, Unicorn and Pegasus riddle/answers for those unacquainted with Praser5 - it helps to get inside the setter's mind! $\endgroup$
    – JMP
    Jan 15, 2019 at 11:13
  • $\begingroup$ Possible duplicate of puzzling.stackexchange.com/questions/10878/… $\endgroup$
    – rhsquared
    Jan 15, 2019 at 11:14
  • $\begingroup$ @rhsquared: It's not a duplicate, but Engineer Toast's answer links to this forum thread, where this riddle is also discussed. $\endgroup$
    – M Oehm
    Jan 15, 2019 at 11:25

3 Answers 3

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Unsurprisingly, the game was already discussed elsewhere. There is a post on PSE, which links to a longer discussion on The Grey Labyrinth. What you are looking for is in Amy's response to "aqqqqua*" in that discussion.

I've collected bits of information, which I present as increasingly more specific hints.

The riddle ...

... tries to make you think about time and such, but that is a decoy. The real answer is an object (and one that doesn't fit too well with the theme of mythological creatures).

I am forever on the Way, but I will never reach its end.

"On the way" is important here, the rest is misleading. Perhaps it should rather be: "I am (something that you might see) on the way".

I see the Way in three aspects.

The three "eyes" are real objects, and not, for example, instances of the letter I.

With my first eye, I see it as endless motion;

One eye means movement.

with my other eye, I see it as eternal stasis.

One eye means no movement.

Yet I have a third eye, which sees both without contradiction;

One eye means an intermediate state.

The three eyes ...

... have different colours.

What am I?

I think you can guess now who I am.

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Not sure about this, but have you tried

Time?

I am forever on the Way, but I will never reach its end.

Interpreting the Way to be...I dunno how you would say this - maybe life? - you could say that time is always a part of us, but it never ends.

I see the Way in three aspects. With my first eye, I see it as endless motion; with my other eye, I see it as eternal stasis.

Looks like the first eye is the present; the second eye is the past...

Yet I have a third eye, which sees both without contradiction; perceiving entropy, the energy of the Way decaying inevitably down to silence.

and then the last eye would be the future, which makes sense of the present and past, and yet where everything is sslloowwllyy decaying.

Another possible solution:

Maybe instead of time, the answer is the three tenses. Maybe it's the names of those tenses. Try some stuff along those lines - or if you already have, let me know.

Good Luck!

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  • $\begingroup$ sorry, Brandon, I think to copy of the question as comment will be visible for others. so I don't post it here. $\endgroup$ Jan 15, 2019 at 18:52
  • $\begingroup$ You can use rot13.com for comments that you want to hide. $\endgroup$
    – Brandon_J
    Jan 15, 2019 at 18:59
  • $\begingroup$ For example, Rot13(Urer V nz nfxvat jul lbh fhttrfgrq gung V qryrgr gur frpbaq cneg bs zl nafjre). $\endgroup$
    – Brandon_J
    Jan 15, 2019 at 19:00
  • $\begingroup$ thank you, Brand. I'll look this up tomorrow and try it out.: gc.de/gc/rot13 $\endgroup$ Jan 15, 2019 at 19:07
  • $\begingroup$ Yeah, "time" was the first thing I tried. And many other things related to time, the universe, and physics in general. $\endgroup$
    – Savida
    Jan 15, 2019 at 20:03
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I know it should not be an answer but for the "three eyes" part, I immediately think of

camcorder

endless motion

see through lens

eternal stasis

films

sees both without contradiction

screen

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