Can you solve this riddle?

[Renodox]

It starts with the meeting of two failures.
They next bring about two who they thought others would admire.
But ending wrong THIS had to pay dearly.

What is it?

[Calin Leafshade]

Sounds like an election.

Is it a country? The US?

[Andail]

I give up. Is it a cheese?

[Renodox]

No it's none of the above.  I'm not going to give up the answer so quickly though.  However, I will say, the clues are in there.  The wording is designed to be the clue.

[Ghost]

It starts with the meeting to two failures.

Phantasmagoria and Duke Nukem Forever.

They next bring about two who they thought others would admire.

Diablo 3 and Windows 8.

But ending wrong THIS had to pay dearly.

Er... Blue Screen of Death?

What is it?

Duke wrestles large ham actors on other people's servers running a new OS, and then the system crashes.

This doesn't even sound THAT far-fetched. Did I get it?

[Andail]

Spoiler

I get that it's probably about letters being added to form a word, and then there's something about the ending of the word, etc etc... am I on the right track?

[close]

[Renodox]

The Duke Nukem idea was wrong.

Spoiler

Andail is on the right track.

[close]

[Baron]

It starts with the meeting to two failures.
They next bring about two who they thought others would admire.
But ending wrong THIS had to pay dearly.

What is it?

Is this EXACTLY how the riddle is supposed to go, or are you paraphrasing?  For instance, it would seem more correct if it started "with the meeting of two failures" and next they "bring about two whom they thought others would admire."   

Regardless, my guess is the Florida Fertilizer & Agricultural Association.

[Renodox]

Ah, you're right.  It IS supposed to be OF two failures.

And you're wrong with the answer.

[Atelier]

It starts with the meeting of two failures.

So like, you begin with a compound of two synonyms of failure? Only obvious one is defeat. Or it could mean a failure in the sense of 'engine failure' but that's unlikely.

Yet I'm thinking the answer is actually physically inside the riddle? 'Meeting' 'about (around)' 'ending' are all sort of prepositional in this context.

[Volcan]

Disney bought LucasFilm?

[Renodox]

The riddle could have been asked at any time.  I mean before the time of modern civilization and even most ancient ones.

Things like whom vs who, it's just various versions of english grammar.

[Stupot]

I think it is a trilogy of some sort, but can't think what...

Is it The Hunger Games?
1. Katniss and Peeta, both District 12 dwellers with nothing going for them.
2. Erm... can't see how that fits.
3. THIS = The hunger games themselves  - I won't spoil the ending.

Or is it.. 50 Shades trilogy?
Or Millennium Trilogy?

Or it doesn;t actually have to be a trilogy really. Could just be a movie or a book and the riddle gives us the basic plot structure, and the 'THIS' which pays dearly is the title of the book/movie.

Or am I just barking up the wrong tree altogether?


Haha, as I was typing you write that... I guess they didn't have The Hunger Games before modern civilization...

[Baron]

The riddle could have been asked at any time.  I mean before the time of modern civilization and even most ancient ones.

Setting aside the anachronisms of ancient civilizations being able to comprehend a riddle in modern English, I suppose you mean that the answer is somehow contained within the riddle itself and does not relate to things in the modern world, as such. 

1) Well, let's start with the obvious: THIS = THIS (thus THIS has to pay dearly).  Some of those early riddles are that simple, but surely the answer has to be more clever than that?

2) Two failures might be two minus signs, and the meeting might be the vertical joint used in serif fonts that make the letter "I".  The two they thought others would admire might be the two marks that make the letter "t", implying the possibility that someone, somewhere, for some reason might admire a cross.  Thus we have the word "It", which starts the riddle: "It starts with....    But ending wrong: when I see something wrong I *tsk*, which kind of sounds like "ch".  So the wrong ending of "It" might be "ch", which gives you "Itch", in which case it is your skin that pays dearly with the rashes, and the abrasions, and the blood and the gore and the Moohaven-nyu-hay!

[Ghost]

Moohaven-nyu-hay!

Gesundheit!

Really any time? But it would only make sense for a civilised human, yes? It's not something completely abstract that even a caveman could ponder? I don't want to twist your words, but we are talking about an actual riddle here, right?

[Stee]

Life / The world

It starts with the meeting of two failures.

The big bang

They next bring about two who they thought others would admire.

switching from science back to make believe, Adam and Eve?

But ending wrong THIS had to pay dearly.

Eve betrayed god and humans paid dearly by being able to suffer pain in childbirth

I have no idea, but I think it's something profound, like Life

[Corby]

My guess:

Spoiler

Art?

[close]

[Renodox]

No.  It's still not any of those things.

While ONE of the ways to solve the riddle is actually based on it being written in English the thing that I'm talking about has been around since recorded history.

Stee is CLOSE to the answer but not quite there.

[ZapZap]

Following Stee's idea into a more specific answer... HUMANITY had to pay for their mistakes (Adam-Eve's)? (also their sons Abel and Cain were kinda attention whores towards God, seeking his admiration?) Didn't find anything like "mankind" or "humans" in the riddle though...

[Tabata]

I'd go the same direction with Stee and Cleanic and presume the human being is meant here (in relation to what he has been done to nature and that he always has to pay for it - sometime and somehow)!