Who sees clearest?
[ ] [Clearest:] Child
[ ] [Clearest:] Fullbeard
[ ] [Clearest:] Elder
Who sees farthest?
[ ] [Farthest:] Child
[ ] [Farthest:] Fullbeard
[ ] [Farthest:] Elder
Who sees the most?
[ ] [Most:] Child
[ ] [Most:] Fullbeard
[ ] [Most:] Elder
This could be a Past, Present, Future riddle similar to "What walks on four legs in the morning, on two legs in the afternoon, and three legs in the evening."
If that's the case then the order is a pretty straightforward Elder = Most because something in the Future has seen the Most time pass, the Fullbeard = Clearest because they're focused on the present clearly in front of them, and then the Child = Past and sees the Farthest because they have their whole life ahead of them. However, I think we can rule out a riddle like this because these statues are not of the same person - its not a timeline of a person's life. Also, the child isn't crawling so its not a direct rip of the riddle either.
Instead I think it is asking about each life stage's perspective.
Taking it with the idea that the answer is the order presented, where Child = Clearest, Fullbeard = Farthest, Elder = Most. What is there to falsify this idea? We don't really have enough information to falsify this idea. Given that, I think we don't take this idea that the answer is the order presented - with these trials I feel like we can generally falsify things that won't work, since you are supposed to be able to reason your way to the correct solution for them.
Therefore, we can play an association game and try to put ourselves in each one's perspective. As a Child Snorri was naive, his eyes unburdened by biases, or trauma, or knowledge, or injury. If you look at that like a blank wall of clear stone, then in that way his vision was clear. He also did not know where to go, due to that lack of knowledge, and he had a lack of experience in order to plan - even though he does seek to do more. The statue in this case is looking at something invisible to us but clear to her.
I think we can rule out Farthest for Child based on the above, with strong support for Clearest. Could they see the Most? Maybe, if they live long they might, they certainly have the most life ahead of them. I'm not sure they see the most however, because for the Child the space of unknown unknowns is huge. They lack experience to make it smaller, and they are also kept isolated by dwarf society to protect them - they are not exposed to very much, certainly not as much as an elder or a Fullbeard. And the Statues of the Elder have his clothing being the most worn, and the Fullbeard has the most Stuff in it. The plaitling has the shortest hair/experience, the Fullbeard is kinda in the middle, and the elder has the longest beard.
The experience of Dolgi and Fjolla is that they were constantly focused on the present of their training, the moments clearest in front of them. The future and the past were sources of concern and regret but the focus was on what was in front of them. Snerra locked in on the runes clearest in front of her and then never let them go.
I figure putting it together, the Child sees Clearest.
A Fullbeard has reached the age where they've formed opinions and also have the capability to play out their dumbass ideas to fullest extent. The world may have hurt them and the clarity of their vision. The Statue of the Fullbeard wears spectacles and that does not make me think of clarity - it makes me think of blinkers or of someone needing correction with some form of assistance. I don't think the Fullbeard sees Clearest.
So does a Fullbeard's perspective see the Farthest or do they see the Most? That he has a lot of books and scrolls doesn't make me think of clarity, but Quantity. A Fullbeard Runesmith is about the age they go on a Journey, and they go Far in those journeys and see a Lot - that's a wash. A Fullbeard has probably finished their apprenticeship, they are no longer unworked stone. This does mean they might be able to see their career, far into the future. Maybe they have a Master they want to exceed. Our Snorri was looking forward to his future with his Wife. Ambition also drives Fullbeards to look at the future.
Our Fullbeard apprentices generally had far reaching goals, even if they didn't necessarily know how to get there. They had the experience to plan ahead. They also had wealth, and more than their share of pains. But all in all, my reasoning and gut doesn't lead to Most for the Fullbeard.
What about the Elder? Reasoning it out, the Elder has had an immensely long life - full of opinions, growing stubbornness, injuries and infirmities. The elder in our statue needs a cane - he's at the end of his life, when the body begins to fail and thus even superlative vision may cloud. This also implies he might not see far for himself - he's not got much left to live and his future is limited. He almost certainly looks to the future of his Clan and over the past of the regrets and experiences of his very long life.
But we can't have statues in more than one answer pedestal, and the way its structured implies to me only one goes in each. What supports the Most - well if he's looking into the past, then he has the most life to see, being at the end. His clothes are the most worn, his body the most scarred, his mind the most burdened by experience and Grudges.
Amusingly this get us back into the order presented. Which is encouraging to me because there
is a path of reasoning back to this idea if you break things down and then build it back up -
which is what Thungni does.
He takes tiny pieces, one after another after another, and builds up to something. Maybe that ends up falsifying your original impression, like it did for me here.
[X] Plan Child Sees the Clearest, Fullbeard Sees the Farthest, Elder Sees the Most
-[X] [Clearest:] Child
-[X] [Farthest:] Fullbeard
-[X] [Most:] Elder
