Riddle: Many people own a copy of me. Without me the world would fall. What am I?

Answer:

ATLAS

Explanation:

This is a Tricky Riddle. Eyezak the Riddle Robot uses an interesting tactic here to mislead you into thinking down a specific path, when in reality the answer lies down two separate paths, rolled into one. Tricky Riddles like this one try to hide the answer, but if you know that they are misdirecting you, you can compensate and adjust your answer to actually fit all the conditions. We are going to explore how this riddle is broken down and why it is such a Tricky Riddle.

The first thing to realize about this Tricky Riddle, is that it is not just talking about a single thing when it gives you the clues. It is referring to one name, that is shared by two different things. When Eyezak the Riddle Robot delivers clues to you, he does so by gluing together truths about two different things with the same name, in an effort to guide you down a singular thought process. Those two separate clues are as such:

  • thing #1 – many people have a copy of me
  • thing #2 – without me the world would fall

We should list out things that satisfy the description of thing #1, and then try to consider it in reference to thing #2. Hopefully we will find at least one thing that satisfies both, which provides us with the answer for Eyezak the Riddle Robot, to our Tricky Riddle.

  • best seller book
  • homework assignment
  • flyer to a party
  • atlas

Book

We can say with certainty that most books ever printed have been distributed to multiple people, and that as such, many people own copies. After all, that was the whole point of the printing press, to create many copies of a book that could then be distributed. Books are made on a wide variety of topics, and as a whole are said to encompass the completeness of Human Knowledge. But would this satisfy the second part of our Tricky Riddle: without me the world would fall?

No. Long before books were made, word of mouth was the primary method of passing knowledge. We as Humans have been partaking in this method of communication since the beginning of time, and do so even now. Even though books carry all that knowledge, there is still no substitute for basic Human interaction and face-to-face sharing of information. Eyezak the Riddle Robot knows this about Humans, and within the context of this Tricky Riddle.

Because we as Humans could carry on without books though, we can say pretty definitively that the world would not fall if they were gone. That means that it would not satisfy the second part of this Tricky Riddle, and therefore we should not try to answer our Riddle Robot Eyezak with this. Moving on…

Homework

When you are in school, you are always assigned homework. Everyone in class is given the same assignment and expected to solve it before the next class, be it in one day or two days. Therefore it is definitely a thing that many people have a copy of.

But would the world fall without homework? Ask any kid in school, and they will tell you an absolute “no” is in order. Homework, while important for some people to learn about a topic, is certainly not a requirement for others to succeed. They would tell you that, as a whole, they mostly feel like homework is unnecessary and a bit pointless at times. Because of this, we can say that this is not the answer either.

Flyers

Have you ever been at the mall and a random guy walks up to you because you are dressed nice, and says “yo, we are throwing this party,” as he hands you a flyer “and you should come.” It is pretty common in bigger cities, especially with younger people. Much of the time these flyers will include some art done by a local artist and a name, slogan, location, and details about the party. They might even reference local music. This does satisfy the first item from our Tricky Riddle, which is that many people have a copy.

But would the world fall if that party did not happen, or if you did not get that flyer as you were walking through the mall? No, not really. Maybe one person might think it was the end of the world, but this Tricky Riddle is referring to how most people would view it, not how one person would. Knowing this, we would not want to waste this as an answer for Riddle Robot Eyezak. This Tricky Riddle is still unsolved, and we only have one possibility left. Let us see if this next one is it!

Atlas

This Tricky Riddle is about an atlas. This is a picture of a book-style atlas.

An atlas is that type of map that many people have a copy of, which will explain how the world is geographically setup. It helps people traverse the world, by letting them know a general idea of what is coming up next on their travels, at least as far as geography is concerned. You can find most major cities and towns on an atlas, and their relative location in relation to other cities and towns.

Thie Tricky Riddle is about Atlas, an ancient Greek Titan. This picture is of a Statue of Atlas the Titan, holding up the world.

BUT, Atlas was also a person, more specifically a TITAN, from Greek Mythology. He was the mightiest being of the world, and literally held the world on his shoulders, preventing it from falling as a punishment from Zeus, for leading the other Titans in battle against the Greek Gods. There are many pieces of art that depict him holding the world on his shoulders, like the picture of a Statue in Germany found embedded into this page.

As you can see in the picture, Atlas is often depicted as a very muscular man, who is carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders. The symbolism often refers to Atlas being the thing that holds Gods close to Earth, but not quite touching it, because they are above it. In the context of this Tricky Riddle, he is meant to represent the thing that prevents the Earth from colliding with the heavens; therefore he is in some way preventing the world, and even heaven, from falling under the weight of the Gods.

As you can see, this is the answer to the riddle because it does actually satisfy both parts of the query, even if separately by using two different items of the same name to explain it. If you still have questions or corrections for this Tricky Riddle that Riddle Robot Eyezak asked and we provided an answer for, then please comment below and set us straight.

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