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I'd like to request that this question be reopened, and to respond to the reasons given for its closure.

The blue box states that the question "needs details or clarity".

  • I would say that it doesn't have a clarity problem, although I accept that's just my opinion.

  • As for details, I believe that it does have enough to be answerable. The OP for that question states that it:

    1. Was a gamebook, with at the very least the "If you do X, turn to page Z" CYOA mechanic.

    2. Featured a sword that needed to be reforged.

    3. Involved dwarves.

Now, a lot of gamebooks would involve a magical sword which was either necessary to obtain as part of the plot, or at least necessary to give yourself a power boost for the Big Bad boss fight at the end. But in most of these cases, the sword would be ready to use as soon as you found it.

So in this question, the fact that something needed to be done to make the sword usable eliminates a lot of possibilities straight away.

In fact, the question even states what this thing was! The sword had to be reforged. This rules out, for instance, Tower of Destruction, where you just needed Tassaskil the elf spirit to touch it. Or Vault of the Vampire, in which you had to shed some of your own blood into a chalice. In fact, that one condition ruled out every Fighting Fantasy or Lone Wolf book I remembered reading.

(The only one that came close was Night Dragon, in which you needed to help revive a group of ancient dwarves who had been turned to stone so that they could repair a suit of magical chainmail armour. Although the book also involved a magical sword which you would use alongside the armour, this didn't quite seem a close enough match.)

I have posted an answer on that question - it was the ONLY search result on Google Books I could find that matched all of the criteria, and I believe pretty strongly that it is the correct one. However, if it isn't, the question closure prevents other users from posting the real solution.

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  • 7
    At the very least, the fact that the question was apparently fine for 9 years, and only deemed close-worthy when it collected a high-quality answer seems... odd.
    – DavidW
    Commented Mar 28, 2022 at 2:56
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    The question has just been reopened! Thanks to @Valorum and everyone else who voted to reopen. Commented Mar 28, 2022 at 11:39

1 Answer 1

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In this case, I think it probably should be reopened, and I've voted accordingly.

For my money, it meets the smell-test of being just about answerable, due to the presence of a few different tropes (dwarfs/sword being reforged/noticeable LOTR feel) and a fair description of the level of the book (young-reader) and its age (pre-1990), which rules out a considerable number of books written for an older teen audience and newer books.

Even if it inspires a list of answers, the list is likely to be very short.

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    It's just been reopened - thanks for your vote! Marking this as accepted. Commented Mar 28, 2022 at 11:40

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