100 Fun Facts About Fantasy

In what year was The Hobbit published?

The Hobbit was published on 21 September 1937 by George Allen & Unwin; it was nominated for the Carnegie Medal and won a New York Herald Tribune prize for juvenile fiction.

How many dwarves accompany Bilbo and Gandalf on the quest to the Lonely Mountain?

Thirteen dwarves, Thorin Oakenshield's company, set out to reclaim their treasure from Smaug; Gandalf recruits Bilbo as a fourteenth member so the party avoids an unlucky number.

The Lord of the Rings was published in three volumes for what reason?

Economics drove the split: with post-war paper costly, Allen & Unwin issued the book in three volumes in 1954-55 to limit risk, though Tolkien meant it as one work paired with The Silmarillion.

Roughly how many copies has The Lord of the Rings sold?

The Lord of the Rings has sold over 150 million copies, making it one of the best-selling novels ever; it was written in stages between 1937 and 1949 and translated into dozens of languages.

Where was J. R. R. Tolkien born?

Tolkien was born in Bloemfontein, capital of the Orange Free State (now South Africa), on 3 January 1892; his mother brought him to England when he was three.

Tolkien and C. S. Lewis were both members of which Oxford literary group?

The Inklings were an informal Oxford literary circle of the 1930s and 1940s that met in C. S. Lewis's Magdalen College rooms and at the Eagle and Child pub; Tolkien read Lord of the Rings drafts there.

How many novels make up The Chronicles of Narnia?

Seven novels make up The Chronicles of Narnia, published between 1950 (The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe) and 1956 (The Last Battle), all illustrated by Pauline Baynes.

Roughly how many copies have the Narnia books sold?

The Narnia books have sold about 120 million copies in 47 languages, placing the series among the best-selling book series ever.

A Wizard of Earthsea, the first of Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea books, was published in which year?

A Wizard of Earthsea appeared in 1968 from Parnassus Press; The Tombs of Atuan (1971) and The Farthest Shore (1972) followed, and Tehanu came in 1990.

How many main-sequence volumes did Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time reach?

The Wheel of Time reached 14 volumes, from The Eye of the World (1990) to A Memory of Light (2013), plus the prequel New Spring.

Who finished The Wheel of Time after Robert Jordan's death?

Brandon Sanderson finished The Wheel of Time from Jordan's notes after Jordan's 2007 death, splitting the planned twelfth and final book into The Gathering Storm, Towers of Midnight and A Memory of Light.

The 2022 Kickstarter by the author of Mistborn to self-publish four novels raised roughly how much?

Brandon Sanderson's 'Surprise! Four Secret Novels' Kickstarter raised $41.7 million from 185,341 backers in March 2022, the most-funded Kickstarter campaign to that date.

Mistborn and The Stormlight Archive are set in which shared universe?

The Cosmere is Brandon Sanderson's shared universe linking Mistborn, The Stormlight Archive, Elantris and Warbreaker; the wandering Hoid turns up in all of them.

George R. R. Martin began writing A Game of Thrones in 1991; when was it published?

A Game of Thrones was published in August 1996 by Bantam Spectra, five years after Martin began it in 1991; it won the 1997 Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel.

A Song of Ice and Fire is set on which two continents?

The story unfolds on Westeros, home of the Seven Kingdoms, and Essos, the eastern continent of the Free Cities and Daenerys's journey; the world itself has no official name.

How many Discworld novels did Terry Pratchett write?

Pratchett wrote 41 Discworld novels, from The Colour of Magic (1983) to The Shepherd's Crown, published posthumously in 2015.

The Discworld rests on the backs of four elephants standing on what?

The turtle is Great A'Tuin.

Which comic novel did Pratchett co-write with Neil Gaiman in 1990?

Good Omens (1990), co-written by Pratchett and Gaiman, is a comedy about a bungled Apocalypse starring the angel Aziraphale and demon Crowley; Amazon adapted it for TV in 2019.

As of 2023, the Harry Potter books had sold more than how many copies, the most of any book series?

By 2023 the Harry Potter series had sold more than 600 million copies, the most of any book series; Bloomsbury published it in the UK and Scholastic in the US.

Philip Pullman's Northern Lights was published in North America under what title?

Northern Lights (1995), the first His Dark Materials book, was retitled The Golden Compass for its 1996 North American edition, after the alethiometer Lyra carries.

Neil Gaiman's The Sandman ran for how many issues from 1989 to 1996?

The Sandman ran 75 issues from January 1989 to March 1996 at DC Comics (later under its Vertigo imprint), plus a 1991 special, The Song of Orpheus.

Michael Moorcock's albino anti-hero Elric wields which soul-drinking sword?

Stormbringer, a black runesword that devours souls to feed Elric strength, is both his greatest asset and his curse; its twin blade is Mournblade.

Robert E. Howard's Conan debuted in which year in the pages of Weird Tales?

Conan debuted in the December 1932 issue of Weird Tales with 'The Phoenix on the Sword'; Howard kept writing the Cimmerian's adventures until his death in 1936.

Who coined the term 'sword and sorcery' in a 1961 fanzine, answering a request from Michael Moorcock?

Fritz Leiber proposed 'sword and sorcery' in the fanzine Amra in 1961 after Moorcock asked for a name for Howard-style fantasy adventure; Leiber's own Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser tales define the genre.

William Goldman's The Princess Bride is framed as an abridgement of a book by which fictional author?

Goldman presents The Princess Bride (1973) as his 'good parts' abridgement of a book by the fictional Florinese author S. Morgenstern; Rob Reiner's 1987 film starred Cary Elwes and Robin Wright.

Dungeons & Dragons was first published in 1974 by which company?

TSR (Tactical Studies Rules), founded by Gary Gygax and Don Kaye in 1973, published the first Dungeons & Dragons set in 1974; Gygax and Dave Arneson created the game.

The Return of the King won how many Academy Awards, from as many nominations?

The Return of the King won all 11 of its Academy Award nominations in 2004, tying Ben-Hur and Titanic for the most wins, and was the first fantasy film to take Best Picture.

Until 2015 the World Fantasy Award trophy was a bust of which writer?

The World Fantasy Award trophy was a Gahan Wilson bust of H. P. Lovecraft from the first awards in 1975 until it was retired after 2015 amid criticism of Lovecraft's racism.

N. K. Jemisin's Broken Earth trilogy made her the first author to do what?

Jemisin won the Best Novel Hugo three years running for The Fifth Season (2016), The Obelisk Gate (2017) and The Stone Sky (2018), a first; she was also the first African-American author to win Best Novel.

Lloyd Alexander's Chronicles of Prydain, drawing on Welsh myth, consists of how many books?

The Chronicles of Prydain run five books, from The Book of Three (1964) to The High King (1968), which won the 1969 Newbery Medal.

Susanna Clarke's debut Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell is set in England during which conflict?

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell (2004) unfolds in an alternative England of 1806-1817, during the Napoleonic Wars; Strange serves as a magician under Wellington in the Peninsula and at Waterloo.

In A Court of Thorns and Roses, Feyre is first taken to which faerie court?

Feyre is taken across the wall to the Spring Court, ruled by the High Lord Tamlin, after killing a faerie wolf; she later becomes High Lady of the Night Court.

In Fourth Wing, Violet Sorrengail is forced to enter which war college to become a dragon rider?

Violet is forced into Basgiath War College's Riders Quadrant by her mother, General Sorrengail; Rebecca Yarros's Fourth Wing (2023) opens the Empyrean series.

In A Wizard of Earthsea, Ged trains at the school for wizards on which island?

Ged studies at the school for wizards on Roke, the centre of magic in Earthsea; he was born on Gont, and the Tombs of the second book lie on Atuan.

The Witcher began as a 1986 Sapkowski short story entered in which magazine's competition?

Sapkowski wrote 'The Witcher' for a 1986 short-story contest run by the Polish magazine Fantastyka, where it took third place and launched his career.

Hayao Miyazaki's Howl's Moving Castle (2004) is based on a novel by which British author?

Diana Wynne Jones published Howl's Moving Castle in 1986; Miyazaki's 2004 Studio Ghibli film of it earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Animated Feature.

Who wrote the music and lyrics for the musical Wicked?

Stephen Schwartz, also the composer of Godspell and Pippin, wrote Wicked's music and lyrics; Winnie Holzman wrote the book, based on Gregory Maguire's 1995 novel.

The pun-filled Xanth novels are by which author?

Piers Anthony began the Xanth series with A Spell for Chameleon in 1977; the magical land is shaped like Florida, where Anthony lived.

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was published in which year?

L. Frank Baum published The Wonderful Wizard of Oz in 1900 with illustrations by W. W. Denslow; it spawned 13 Baum sequels and the 1939 film.

Which pioneering Scottish fantasy writer, author of Phantastes, mentored Lewis Carroll?

George MacDonald, author of Phantastes (1858) and The Princess and the Goblin, urged Lewis Carroll to publish Alice after his children loved it; C. S. Lewis called him his master.

Lord Dunsany is best known for which 1924 novel?

The King of Elfland's Daughter (1924), about a mortal prince who weds the elf-king's daughter, is Dunsany's best-known novel; his first book, The Gods of Pegāna (1905), invented an entire pantheon.

Patrick Rothfuss's The Name of the Wind is subtitled The Kingkiller Chronicle: Day what?

The Name of the Wind (2007) is Day One of The Kingkiller Chronicle; The Wise Man's Fear (2011) is Day Two, and the third day carries the title The Doors of Stone.

Robin Hobb is the pen name of which writer?

Margaret Astrid Lindholm Ogden also writes as Megan Lindholm; her Farseer books begin with Assassin's Apprentice.

The magic system in Mistborn, based on ingesting metals, is called what?

Allomancy lets Mistborn's practitioners burn swallowed metals for powers, such as steel for pushing; Feruchemy, storing attributes in metal, is a separate system on the same world, Scadrial.

Neil Gaiman's American Gods was published in which year?

American Gods was published in June 2001 and won the 2002 Hugo, Nebula and Bram Stoker awards; Starz adapted it for television in 2017.

Peter Jackson, director of the Lord of the Rings films, is from which country?

Peter Jackson was born in Pukerua Bay, New Zealand, in 1961 and shot the trilogy across his home country; he co-founded the Weta effects companies in Wellington.

How many novels is The Stormlight Archive planned to run?

Sanderson plans The Stormlight Archive as ten novels in two five-book arcs; it began with The Way of Kings in 2010, and Wind and Truth (2024) closed the first arc.

T. H. White's Arthurian saga The Once and Future King is loosely based on which 1485 work?

White reworked Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur, printed by Caxton in 1485; his first part, The Sword in the Stone (1938), features Merlyn, a wizard who lives backwards through time.

In Brian Jacques's Redwall books, which mountain fortress houses the Badger Lords and Long Patrol?

Salamandastron, an extinct volcano on the western shore, is ruled by the Badger Lords and garrisoned by the hare regiment called the Long Patrol; Jacques's series ran from 1986 to 2011.

Which novel opens Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast series in 1946?

Titus Groan (1946) opens the series, followed by Gormenghast (1950) and Titus Alone (1959); Peake's illness cut short his plan to follow Titus through his whole life.

In L. Frank Baum's Oz novel, Dorothy's magic shoes are which color, changed for MGM's 1939 movie?

Silver shoes turned into ruby slippers on screen because red showed off the three-strip Technicolor process far better.

Which mythical creature is the national animal of Scotland and stands in chains on its royal arms?

Unicorn imagery suited Scotland because the beast was believed to be the natural enemy of the lion, the symbol England's royals had already adopted.

Which Nintendo hero in a green tunic rescues Princess Zelda in the series named after her?

Link got his name, creator Shigeru Miyamoto has said, because the hero connects people together.

In C. S. Lewis's first Narnia book, the White Witch tempts Edmund Pevensie with which sweet?

Turkish delight sales rose after the 2005 film adaptation sent curious viewers looking for the witch's enchanted confection.

Quadball, a real sport born at Middlebury College in 2005, is adapted from which fictional game?

Quidditch on foot kept its Harry Potter name until 2022, when the sport rebranded as quadball, a nod to its four balls that keeps the letter Q.

Which rock star played Jareth the Goblin King in Jim Henson's 1986 fantasy film Labyrinth?

David Bowie also recorded songs for the film, which underperformed at the US box office before home video won it a large cult following.

Which actor won four Emmys as the sharp-tongued Tyrion Lannister in HBO's Game of Thrones?

Peter Dinklage was the showrunners' first choice for Tyrion, and he finished as the only member of the cast to take home a Primetime Emmy.

In 1929 J. M. Barrie gave the copyright in Peter Pan to which London hospital?

Great Ormond Street never has to give Peter Pan up: when the copyright expired, a 1988 Act of Parliament granted the hospital a perpetual right to its UK royalties.

Disney's Frozen was loosely inspired by which Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale of 1844?

The Snow Queen of the film, Elsa, turned sympathetic when the song Let It Go reimagined her, and the writers redid the whole first act to match.

Which DreamWorks film is based on a 1990 picture book by New Yorker cartoonist William Steig?

Shrek takes his name from a Yiddish word meaning fear or fright, which suits the repugnant monster of Steig's book.

Which action star had his breakthrough as the lead of the 1982 fantasy film Conan the Barbarian?

Arnold Schwarzenegger performed most of his own stunts in the film, swinging swords that cost $10,000 each to forge.

Stephenie Meyer set her vampire romance Twilight in which rainy real-life town in Washington state?

Forks got the job after the author searched Google for rainy settings, and fans of the saga have made the small town a tourist destination.

Which cave-dwelling creature loses a riddle game to Bilbo Baggins in J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit?

Gollum at first lost with good grace and showed Bilbo the way out; Tolkien revised later editions so that the creature plots to kill and eat him.

In Studio Ghibli's Spirited Away, the witch Yubaba turns Chihiro's parents into which animals?

Pigs fill the pen Chihiro is shown at the end, and she wins her freedom by seeing that none of the animals in front of her are her parents.

George R. R. Martin wrote the backstory for which open-world game from Japan's FromSoftware?

Elden Ring gave Martin freedom to design its backstory, because director Hidetaka Miyazaki hoped his help would make the tale more accessible than the studio's earlier games.

Which English actor played the wizard Gandalf in all six of Peter Jackson's Middle-earth films?

Ian McKellen was cast after Sean Connery and Patrick Stewart turned the role down, and he based his performance on Tolkien himself.

In Rick Riordan's novels, the demigod Percy Jackson is the son of which Greek god?

Poseidon's son began as a bedtime story for the author's own child, who like Percy had been diagnosed with ADHD and dyslexia.

In DreamWorks' How to Train Your Dragon, which Night Fury does the young Viking Hiccup befriend?

Toothless is named for his retractable teeth, and Hiccup builds him a prosthetic tail fin so that the injured dragon can fly again with a rider.

Which card game created by Richard Garfield casts its players as dueling wizards called Planeswalkers?

Magic: The Gathering was novel enough to earn its publisher a patent, which covers ideas such as turning a card sideways to show that it has been used.

Which Elder Scrolls game casts the player as the Last Dragonborn, foretold to defeat Alduin?

Skyrim lets its hero absorb the souls of slain dragons to learn their shouts, a gift the people of the province believed had died out.

Which hobbit gardener did J. R. R. Tolkien himself call the chief hero of The Lord of the Rings?

Samwise Gamgee was modelled on the English soldiers Tolkien knew in the 1914 war, the privates and batmen he thought far superior to himself.

In the Harry Potter novels, which bird is the mascot of Ravenclaw house, a detail the films changed?

Eagle on the page became a raven on screen, a swap that at least matches the name of the house, whose colours are blue and bronze.

In Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, which animal fades away until only its grin is left behind?

Cheshire Cat grins were already proverbial: the saying about grinning like one predates Lewis Carroll's 1865 book.

Which actor played the monster hunter Geralt of Rivia in the first three seasons of Netflix's The Witcher?

Henry Cavill sought out the part because he had played the Witcher video games, then handed Geralt over to Liam Hemsworth from season four.

Which American fantasy author began her debut novel Throne of Glass at the age of sixteen?

Sarah J. Maas built the tale on a twist, asking what would happen if Cinderella went to the ball not to meet the prince but to kill him.

Which Neil Gaiman children's novella features an Other Mother who wants to sew buttons over the heroine's eyes?

Coraline took Gaiman more than a decade to finish: he began the story in 1990, and it was not published until 2002.

Which horror novelist wrote The Dark Tower, a fantasy epic about the gunslinger Roland Deschain?

Stephen King drew on a Robert Browning poem for the saga and modelled Roland on Clint Eastwood's Man with No Name.

Angelina Jolie's Maleficent retells which 1959 Disney animated film from the point of view of its villain?

Sleeping Beauty gets a narrator in the retelling: the storyteller turns out to be an elderly Aurora, the princess Maleficent once cursed.

In The Princess Bride, which swordsman hunts the six-fingered man who killed his father?

Inigo Montoya was played by Mandy Patinkin, who learned to fence with both hands and fought the film's sword duels himself.

Which creature befriends Lucy Pevensie beside a lamp post on her first visit to Narnia?

Mr. Tumnus is where Narnia began: Lewis said the whole first story grew from a picture in his head of a faun carrying an umbrella and parcels through a snowy wood.

World of Warcraft is set mainly on which fictional planet, home to the rival Alliance and Horde?

Azeroth was shaped by godlike Titans in the games' lore, and an ancient catastrophe called the Sundering shattered its single continent into several.

Which Dungeons & Dragons video game swept every major Game of the Year award for 2023?

Baldur's Gate 3 borrows its rules and its Forgotten Realms setting from the tabletop game's fifth edition, right down to the owlbears and mind flayers.

In Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials, what is the animal companion that embodies a person's inner self called?

Dæmon forms change freely while a child is young, then settle for good in adolescence into the one animal that best fits the person's character.

Which white luckdragon becomes the steed of the young warrior Atreyu in The NeverEnding Story?

Falkor is Fuchur in Michael Ende's German original, and the 1984 film made him dog-like, with white fur and a fondness for a scratch behind the ear.

Which game designer co-created Dungeons & Dragons with Dave Arneson and founded the Gen Con convention?

Gary Gygax is honoured every March in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, where a gaming convention grew out of an impromptu session held by mourners after his funeral.

In Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels, Death rides a milky-white horse with which unexpectedly gentle name?

Binky is no phantom: the horse is mortal, though while in Death's service he does not age and can simply ignore walls and long distances.

J. R. R. Tolkien drew chiefly on which European language when he invented the High-elven tongue Quenya?

Finnish enchanted Tolkien after he met it through the Kalevala epic, while Welsh became the main model for Sindarin, his other major Elvish language.

Which Wicked character did novelist Gregory Maguire name after the initials of Oz creator L. Frank Baum?

Elphaba needed a name because Baum's novel never gives its witch one, and Maguire modelled her looks on the green-skinned villain of the 1939 film.

Which dragon-rider novel did Christopher Paolini begin at fifteen, first published by his parents' own company?

Eragon was hand-sold at first: Paolini toured more than 135 schools and libraries to promote it, giving his talks in medieval costume.

Which Robin Williams adventure about a magical board game is based on a Chris Van Allsburg picture book?

Jumanji won Van Allsburg a Caldecott Medal, a prize he took again for The Polar Express, another of his picture books turned into a film.

In Anne McCaffrey's novels, dragons and their riders defend which planet from the deadly spores called Thread?

Pern was settled by colonists from Earth, who over the centuries lost their technology and forgot where they had come from.

Which author's The Sword of Shannara became the first fantasy novel on the New York Times trade paperback list?

Terry Brooks wrote the book over several years, partly as a way to stay sane while he studied at law school.

Jim Butcher's wizard detective Harry Dresden takes his supernatural cases in which American city?

Chicago's police keep him on call: Dresden is the only wizard in the country who advertises, and he consults for the force's Special Investigations division.

R. A. Salvatore's novels follow which renegade dark elf, who abandoned the drow city of Menzoberranzan?

Drizzt Do'Urden was invented on a whim, when Salvatore's publisher needed a replacement for a character in an early version of The Crystal Shard.

Dungeons & Dragons took its memorize-then-forget spellcasting from which author's Dying Earth stories?

Jack Vance gave game designers a word as well: any system in which wizards must memorize each spell before casting it is called Vancian magic.

Which 1985 Disney animated film, a costly box-office bomb, was loosely based on Lloyd Alexander's Prydain novels?

The Black Cauldron was dark enough to become the first Disney animated film rated PG, and its losses put the studio's animation department in jeopardy.

Which composer won three Oscars for the music of Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy?

Howard Shore shared one of the three with singer Annie Lennox and writer Fran Walsh, for the song Into the West.

Which Susanna Clarke novel, set in a House of infinite statue-lined halls, won the 2021 Women's Prize?

Piranesi is told as the journal of a man who meticulously tracks the tides of an ocean that surges through the lower levels of his vast home.

In Jim Henson's puppet fantasy The Dark Crystal, the questing heroes Jen and Kira belong to which race?

Gelfling puppets were so intricate that each needed as many as four puppeteers to achieve full movement and expression.

Which Warsaw-based studio adapted Andrzej Sapkowski's Witcher stories into a trilogy of role-playing video games?

CD Projekt Red grew out of a company that started by translating major foreign video games into Polish.