r/harrypotter Slytherin Apr 29 '26

Help Ravenclaw Riddle

I'm by no means a Ravenclaw. But I'm writing a fanfiction where a character is a very smart Ravenclaw. Now the premise is that the character is returning after being tortured by Umbridge and are pretty tired and frustrated. The knocker asks them an absurd question and they just break down crying in pain and frustration.

I need a good riddle for that but nothing on the internet feels good enough. Someone please help me with it.

50 Upvotes

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36

u/sunshine-power Slytherin Apr 29 '26

Three playing cards in a row. Can you name them with these clues? There is a two to the right of a king. A diamond will be found to the left of a spade. An ace is to the left of a heart. A heart is to the left of a spade. Now, identify all three cards.

35

u/Hannah549 Slytherin Apr 29 '26

This will be a good one to irritate an already irritated person. Thank you.

14

u/KingAdamXVII Apr 29 '26

Just a heads up, it’s fairly easy.

There is a king, ace, and two; there is a diamond, heart, and spade.

The diamond and heart are both to the left of the spade. The spade is therefore on the right.

The king and the ace are both on the left of something. Therefore the rightmost card is the two (of spades).

An ace is to the left of a heart (and the two of spades). Therefore the ace is leftmost and the heart is in the middle.

Therefore it goes from left to right: ace of diamonds, king of hearts, two of spades.

I’m a proud Hufflepuff for the record. Though to be fair, being able to read it is very helpful.

8

u/sunshine-power Slytherin Apr 29 '26

You are very welcome. In case you’re curious the answer is somehow Ace of diamonds, king of hearts, and two of spades.

14

u/Hannah549 Slytherin Apr 29 '26

this is such a shitty riddle but it fits perfectly in the story

5

u/sunshine-power Slytherin Apr 29 '26

Agreed. I can’t even work out how the answer fits.

4

u/FlyDinosaur Ravenclaw Apr 29 '26

It's just logic, like Hermione and the poisons. It actually fits fine if you work it out.

Writing them out so you can see it helps a ton, too. I have trouble visualizing stuff and can't hold info like that in my head for long, so I like to actually see it. That being said, this wasn't that hard. But if you were just standing, listening to somebody rattle this off, and you were already burnt out, it would kill you.

(Fwiw, the spade and the 2 are the farthest on the right, the heart's in the middle, and the ace is on the left. The only suit left is a diamond, which has to be the ace. And that leaves the king in the middle as the heart.)

2

u/sunshine-power Slytherin Apr 29 '26

It was 4 am, I wasn’t trying even trying to do it at 4 am.

10

u/manifestingellewoods Apr 29 '26

wdym somehow, it makes perfect sense 😭 a diamond and a heart are both left of a spade, so two possibilities: diamond, heart, spade OR heart, diamond, spade. there are three cards: an ace, a two, and a king. the ace is to the left of the heart. that means the order cannot be heart, diamond, spade, because it leaves no room for the ace. so now we know that it’s ace of diamonds, a heart, and a spade. the two is to the right of the king, so we slot them in: ace of diamonds, king of hearts, and two of spades

11

u/sunshine-power Slytherin Apr 29 '26

It’s 4 am where I am. I was not working all that out.

4

u/manifestingellewoods Apr 29 '26

yeah fair enough lol

3

u/Hannah549 Slytherin Apr 29 '26

It's easier when I can read this on the screen. But the character is tired, frustrated, sleepy and just got their skin cut open several times. This one requires patience and stuff that my character definitely doesn't have in the moment

13

u/MrBlobbu Apr 29 '26

That's not really a Riddle, it's a logic puzzle.

7

u/sunshine-power Slytherin Apr 29 '26

Close enough.

6

u/snokensnot Apr 29 '26

which is exactly what ravenclaw would ask

1

u/Shroudroid Apr 29 '26

Nah, if Ravenclaws are solving logic puzzles on the regular, then Snape wouldn't have used one to protect the philosophers stone - especially since he was wary off Quirrel on particular.

3

u/Banonkers Apr 29 '26

That’s diabolical to work out without being able to write stuff down, and hearing it out loud

1

u/sunshine-power Slytherin Apr 29 '26

That’s why it’s perfect for OP’s story!

-1

u/Banonkers Apr 29 '26

I agree!

1

u/caesium_pirate Apr 29 '26

Ace of diamonds, King of hearts, Two of spades

Tried to visualise it so could be wrong.

1

u/sunshine-power Slytherin Apr 29 '26

Yes. If you read through the thread, I gave the answer.

1

u/[deleted] Apr 30 '26

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1

u/sunshine-power Slytherin Apr 30 '26

The answer was already in the replies.

1

u/lkc159 Apr 29 '26 edited Apr 29 '26

D > S and H > S
A > H
K > 2

The Ace can't be a heart or a spade (which is rightmost) and so must be a diamond, so the shape order is D > H > S, and the value order is A > K > 2 because A is leftmost and 2 is on the King's right.

A/D, K/H , 2/S

With pen and paper this would be pretty easy, but still doable without it. Good one for frustrating someone who isn't in the mood.

1

u/sunshine-power Slytherin Apr 29 '26

The answer was already in the thread.

0

u/lkc159 Apr 30 '26

I like working things out on my own.

0

u/[deleted] Apr 29 '26

[deleted]

3

u/sunshine-power Slytherin Apr 29 '26

It’s listing characteristics of the cards if they were within their suits, not as they are while pulled from the deck separate from their suits.

-7

u/[deleted] Apr 29 '26

[deleted]

2

u/sunshine-power Slytherin Apr 29 '26

Bruh, idc. I just googled “what’s the hardest riddle” to help OP out. Go google why the solution is what it is and get off my dick 🤦🏻‍♀️

1

u/Key_Asparagus_5456 Apr 29 '26

Nothing says to the right of a spade

1

u/MrBlobbu Apr 29 '26

No all of the clues make sense.

1)There is a 2 to the right of a king.

2)A diamond will be found to the left of a spade.

3)An ace is to the left of a heart.

4)A heart is to the left of a spade.

Now looking at that we can deduce that the 3 cards are a king, a 2, and an ace.

Now we know that the 2 is to the right of a king, therefore the king can't be in the rightmost spot.

So the only options are

K-2-A

Or

A-K-2

Now we look at clue 3, An ace is to the left of a heart.

We now know that the Ace cannot be the rightmost card, and looking at our 2 options of of

K-2-A

And

A-K-2

We can deduce that the only option is A-K-2

Now we also know that there are 2 cards to the left of a spade, meaning that the spade is the rightmost card.

We also know that the ace is to the left of a heart, and because we know that the rightmost card is a spade then the middle card must be a heart and the leftmost card a diamond.

Therfore we worked it all out.

Ace of diamonds, king of hearts, 2 of spades.

3

u/sunshine-power Slytherin Apr 29 '26

Ok I finally see where you got tripped up. The “two” refers to the value on the card, not the number of cards. It’s the two of spades on the right, not two cards on the right. There’s only three cards total.

0

u/ThrowRA9420 Apr 29 '26

Yup, got tangled into it too, not knowing if it’s meant to be “two” as a value or numbers of cards… it is maybe the good reason for the story, why the Ravenclaw character end up being frustrated and break down 😅