Fantasy Quizzes

Do you enjoy quizzes that test your knowlege of fantasy? I do! Here are two for your pleasure. The first is relatively easy, but the second is rather hard. If you do well on the first quiz, you might want to go on to the more challenging second.

Fantasy Quiz 1
Answers to Fantasy Quiz 1

Fantasy Quiz 2
Answers to Fantasy Quiz 2

 

Fantasy Quiz 1

1. In J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, what was the creature known as Gollum's original name:

a) Smeagol
b) Deagol
c) Grima
d) Smaug

2. Tolkien's friend and fellow Oxfordian, C. S. Lewis was the author of:

a) East of the Sun and West of the Moon
b) The Book of Three
c) The Last Battle
d) The Book of Dragons

3. In Robin Hobb's Assassin's Apprentice, young Fitz learns the arts of assassination from this expert:

a) Verity
b) Prince Chivalry
c) Chade
d) King Shrewd

4. In Susan Cooper's The Dark Is Rising books, what legendary wizard appears thinly disguised by another name:

a) Prospero
b) Roger Bacon
c) Albertus Magnus
d) Merlin

5. And speaking of Prospero and Roger Bacon, wizards by these names appear together in which of these books:

a) The Face in the Frost, by John Bellairs
b) Ring of Allaire, by Susan Dexter
c) Land of Unreason, by Fletcher Pratt and L. Sprague de Camp

6. In A Wizard of Earthsea, by Ursula K. LeGuin, the wizard known as Sparrowhawk is also called:

a) Roke
b) Vetch
c) Jasper
d) Ged
e) Tenar

7. In the cycle of legends associated with King Arthur, Arthur's son is named:

a) Bedivere
b) Mordred
c)Gawain
d) Owain

8. In Jack Vance's sequel to The Dying Earth and The Eyes of the Overworld, the eponymous hero's name is:

a) Iucounu the Laughing Magician
b) Ludborg the Fanciful
c) Cugel the Clever
d) Yasbane the Obviator

9. Patricia McKillip's The Forgotten Beasts of Eld is about a very young sorceress who adopts and raises an infant of disputed parentage. That child is named:

a) Coren
b) Morgon
c) Periwinkle
d) Tamlorn

10. Along with Tolkien and Lewis, which of these fantasy authors was a member of the "Inklings":

a) James Branch Cabell
b) Charles Williams
c) Peter S. Beagle
d) George MacDonald

11. Lord Dunsany was the author of such works as The King of Elfland's Daughter and The Charwoman's Shadow. What was his name before he came into the title?

a) Edward Eager
b) Edgar Burroughs
c) Edward Plunkett
e) Eric Eddison

12. The same year that The Fellowship of the Ring was published in England, a new book by a young American writer named Poul Anderson also featured the interaction of elves, trolls, and men. The name of that book was:

a) Sword of Rhiannon
b) The Broken Sword
c) The Blue Sword
d) The Sword in the Stone

13. In the Deverry books by Katharine Kerr, which of the following is a continuing theme?

a) alchemy
b) mathematics
c) reincarnation
d) lycanthropy

14. In Andre Norton's Witch World novels, Jaelithe, a witch of Estcarp, expects to lose her magical powers when she:

a) marries Simon Tregarth
b) gives birth to triplets
c) travels outside of Estcarp
d) celebrates her thirtieth birthday

15. George MacDonald wrote which of these satirical fairy tales:

a) "The Light Princess"
b) "The Magic Fishbone"
c) "The King of the Golden River"

16. The Golden Key was written by which trio of authors:

a) Andre Norton, Marian Zimmer Bradley, Julian May
b) Mercedes Lackey, Anne McCaffrey, C. J. Cherryh
c) Melanie Rawn, Jennifer Roberson, Kate Elliott

17. In Lud-in-the-Mist by Hope Mirrlees, the free state of Dorimare is divided from the Elfin Marches, or Fairyland, by:

a) the Mountains of Shadow
b) the Debatable Hills
c) the Land of Heart's Desire
d) the Forest of Arden

18. Clark Ashton Smith and H. P. Lovecraft were best known for writing:

a) light, whimsical fantasy
b) morality tales for young children
c) dark tales involving ancient gods and primeval sorceries
d) romantic stories of chivalric heroes and fantasy quests

19. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, inexplicably promoted as "Harry Potter for grown-ups," largely takes place during what major conflict?

a) the Hundred Years War
b) the Napoleonic Wars
c) the American Civil War
d) the Thirty Years War

20. Fill in the blank: "Whosoever pulleth this sword from out this stone and anvil is rightwise born King of all __________. "

a) Scotland
b) Ireland
c) England
d) France

 

Answers to Quiz 1

 

Fantasy Quiz 2: Classic Fantasy (fiendishly difficult)

1. Alan Garner's fantasy The Owl Service is based on which Welsh legend:

a) Rhiannon, Pryderi, Pwyll
b) Gwydion, Lleu, Blodeuedd
c) Arthur, Guinevere, Lancelot
d) Tristan & Iseult

2. In T. H. White's The Once and Future King, Mordred is the son of Arthur's half-sister:

a) Morgause
b) Morgan le Fay
c) Elaine

3. Tanith Lee's retelling of the Romeo and Juliet story is titled:

a) Faery in Shadow
b) Shadow Castle
c) Sung in Shadow
d) In Winter's Shadow

4. Frank Stockton, probably best known for writing the short story "The Lady, or the Tiger," also wrote:

a) "The Wondersmith"
b) "The King of Nodland and His Dwarf"
c) "The Dragon-Fang Possessed by the Conjurer Piou-Lu
d) "The Griffin and the Minor Canon"

5. Which of these books was NOT written by E. R. Eddison?

a) A Fishdinner in Memison
b) Mistress of Mistresses
c) Gormenghast
d) The Mentzian Gate

6. In J.R.R. Tolkien's Silmarillion, the Dark Lord before Sauron rose to power was called:

a) Morgoth
b) Gorgoroth
c) Feanor
d) Glaurung

7. In The Blue Star by Fletcher Pratt, the blue star of the title is:

a) a very beautiful, dusky-skinned woman
b) an oddly shaped birthmark
c) a gift from a witch to her lover
d) a symbol on the High-King's banner

8. The main conflict in Eddison's The Worm Ouroboros is between:

a) Elves and Dwarfs
b) Dwarfs and Gnomes
c) Trolls and Goblins
d) Demons and Witches

9. In Patricia McKillip's Riddlemaster trilogy, which of these land-rulers transforms himself into a wolf:

a) Har of Osterland
b) Danan Isig
c) Mathom of An
d) Heureu of Ymris

10. The Fates of the Princes of Dyfed, Book of the Three Dragons, and The Secret Mountain, were all written by:

a) William Morris
b) Kenneth Morris
c) Gwyn Jones and Thomas Jones
d) Robert Graves

11. The Dark Angel, by Meredith Ann Pierce takes place:

a) on an alternate Earth
b) in the far distant past, on Mars
c) on the Moon
d) on a planet circling another star

12. Match the author to the book:

a. Margot Benary-Isbert
b. Thomas Burnett Swan
c. Nicholas Stuart Grey
d. John Masefield

A. The Midnight Folk
B. The Wicked Enchantment
C. The Seventh Swan
D. The Tournament of Thorns

 

Answers to Quiz 2