50 Fun Facts About Guardians of Ga'Hoole

Soren, the Guardians of Ga'Hoole hero hatched in the forest kingdom of Tyto, is which species of owl?

Barn owl it is: the forest kingdom of Tyto shares its name with the genus of these heart-faced birds, which is spread across more of the world than any other genus of owls.

Which live-action director made Legend of the Guardians as his first animated film?

Zack Snyder's owl epic opened second in the US behind Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, making it his first film not to debut at number one.

The studio Animal Logic made Legend of the Guardians after its success with which hit about penguins?

Happy Feet came from the same Sydney studio, which gathered more than 500 artists and technicians to design 15 species of owl for the new film.

Which author of more than a hundred books wrote the Guardians of Ga'Hoole series about warrior owls?

Kathryn Lasky has seen the owl saga pass eight million copies in print, and she also writes for adults as Kathryn Lasky Knight.

Which older brother shoves Soren out of the family nest in the first Guardians of Ga'Hoole book?

Kludd meant the fall to kill: joining the Pure Ones calls for a cold-blooded murder, and he later pushed their sister out as well.

What do the owls of St. Aggie's call the brainwashing that makes captive owlets forget their own names?

Moon-blinking is done by making owlets sleep and march under the full moon while repeating their names until the words mean nothing. Soren and Gylfie only pretend it has worked on them.

Which British actress voices Nyra, queen of the Pure Ones, in the film Legend of the Guardians?

Helen Mirren's Nyra does a deed the books give to someone else: in the film she kills the owl who teaches Soren to fly.

Gylfie, Soren's tiny best friend from the desert in Guardians of Ga'Hoole, is which species of owl?

Elf owl is right, and the real birds are about the size of a sparrow and often nest in old woodpecker holes in saguaro cacti. Gylfie herself hatched in a cactus.

Which Australian animal is the mystic who points Soren's band to the Great Tree in Legend of the Guardians?

An echidna, a character created for the film, guards the Guardians' shrine by the sea and carries a walking stick.

By which fearsome name is the masked leader of the Pure Ones known in Guardians of Ga'Hoole?

Metal Beak wears his mask for a reason: it is made of mu metal, a soft alloy that shields him from the magnetic particles used to scramble other owls' minds.

Which Australian actor voices Ezylryb, Soren's elderly mentor, in the film Legend of the Guardians?

Geoffrey Rush plays an owl Soren has idolised without knowing it: his withdrawn teacher turns out to be the legendary old soldier of the Guardians' stories.

Mrs. Plithiver, the blind snake who served Soren's family, joins a Great Tree guild named for which instrument?

Harp guild membership becomes her new calling after she flies on with Soren's band. The film gives the blind snake a pair of eyes and the voice of Miriam Margolyes.

Which great gray owl in Soren's band boasts of learning survival at the Orphan School of Tough Learning?

Twilight was orphaned moments after hatching, and his name records the only thing he remembers about it: the hour of the day.

What name do the owls of Guardians of Ga'Hoole give the magnetic iron particles hoarded by St. Aggie's?

Flecks can confuse and disable an owl, and long exposure brings on shattering, a state of delusion in which the victim loses all feeling.

Which boreal owl at St. Aggie's teaches Soren and Gylfie to fly and dies helping them escape?

Grimble was seized as an adult and only partly brainwashed, which left him enough will to help. Soren's band later meets his long-lost daughter, Bess.

Which first book of the Guardians of Ga'Hoole series opens with Soren's fall from the family nest in Tyto?

The Capture was reissued in Britain under the film's title, Legend of the Guardians, though the film itself draws on the first three books.

Which younger sister of Soren is pushed from the family hollow and later rescued, dazed and without her memory?

Eglantine recovers at the Great Tree, and when her memory returns she recalls a stone castle full of Pure Ones, the clue that leads to a missing teacher.

Under which name was Ezylryb, Soren's mentor, once a famous warrior of the Northern Kingdoms?

Lyze of Kiel fought in the War of the Ice Claws, which cost him a talon and left one eye with a squint. His youth is the story of the prequel The Rise of a Legend.

Which Hollywood studio released the film Legend of the Guardians in cinemas in 2010?

Back in 2005, when the books' author was due to write the script, the film rights were bought by Warner Bros. The studio showed a new 3D Looney Tunes short, Fur of Flying, before the film.

Which English actor voices Soren, the young hero of the film Legend of the Guardians?

Jim Sturgess said he would return as Soren, though sequel talks in 2011 produced nothing solid.

Which chaw at the Great Ga'Hoole Tree suits Digger, a burrowing owl better at digging than flying?

Tracking is taught by Sylvana, a young burrowing owl like Digger himself, and he is said to have a huge crush on her.

Which desert kingdom is the first home of both Gylfie and Digger in Guardians of Ga'Hoole?

Kuneer later hides something worse than sand: Nyra and the Pure Ones set up a secret headquarters in a network of burrows beneath it.

What do the Guardians of Ga'Hoole call owls trained to pluck burning coals out of forest fires?

Colliers get their own chaw at the Great Tree, and Soren trains in it under Ezylryb, who also takes the same pupils flying through gales.

Which great horned owl, named like his species' scientific genus, is blacksmith of the Great Ga'Hoole Tree?

Bubo is also the first word of the great horned owl's scientific name, Bubo virginianus. The real birds are among the few regular predators of skunks.

Which famous singer of the Great Ga'Hoole Tree is the sister of the Rogue Smith of Silverveil?

Madame Plonk can hit a note so high and loud, known as mysticus, that it floors enemies with sensitive hearing in the middle of a battle.

Which gift, discovered after the siege of the Great Tree, lets Soren glimpse the future in his dreams?

Starsight sets Soren apart from the kings Hoole and Coryn, whose visions came from staring into flames instead.

Coryn, who becomes king of the Great Ga'Hoole Tree, is what relation to Soren?

His nephew, in fact: Coryn is the chick of Soren's brother and Nyra, raised among the Pure Ones under another name and taught to hate his uncle.

Which magical coal does Coryn pull from a volcano to prove himself the rightful king of the Great Tree?

The Ember of Hoole was first lifted from the volcanoes a thousand years earlier, and its power was so strong that it left its finder in a trance.

Which monstrous birds, part owl and part crow in looks, wield dark magic in the legends of Hoole?

Hagsfiends have one great weakness: with no oil in their feathers to protect them, they cannot stand salt water.

Which spotted owl, a direct descendant of King Hoole, narrates the two Guardians of Ga'Hoole guide books?

Otulissa loses an eye in battle and wears a bandana over it afterwards, and she rises to become chief teacher at the Great Tree.

Boron and Barran, king and queen of the Great Ga'Hoole Tree when Soren arrives, are which species of owl?

Snowy owl is right: the real birds are among the largest owls and the only ones with mainly white plumage. In the books both monarchs die as Coryn reaches the Great Tree.

Which animal attacks Soren and his brother on the forest floor early in the film Legend of the Guardians?

A Tasmanian devil goes for the two owlets after they tumble from a branch, and the patrol that saves them turns out to be a pair of kidnappers.

Which actor voices both Soren's father, Noctus, and his flying teacher in the film Legend of the Guardians?

Hugo Weaving was among the first names announced, alongside Hugh Jackman, who later left the cast and was replaced by Sam Neill.

Which great grey owl, a character invented for the film version, betrays the Guardians to the Pure Ones?

Allomere comes back from a scouting trip with two dazed owlets, then leads the Guardians' whole army into a trap. Sam Neill voices him.

Which great horned owl is the general in command of St. Aggie's when Soren is held there?

Skench kills the owl who teaches Soren to fly, catching the pair on the very night of their escape. She is left out of the film altogether.

Which spotted owl at St. Aggie's secretly smuggles stolen eggs back to their parents?

Hortense is thrown from a cliff when she is caught, but she survives and reappears as Mist, an owl who is nearly invisible.

Which publisher brought out all sixteen Guardians of Ga'Hoole books, late prequel included?

Scholastic printed the three legends of King Hoole as books nine to eleven, though they had been planned as a separate spin-off series.

Which spin-off series by the Guardians of Ga'Hoole author follows Faolan, abandoned at birth for a deformed paw?

Wolves of the Beyond gives its outcast hero an unlikely foster mother: a grizzly bear called Thunderheart, who had just lost a cub of her own.

Which owl, saved by Soren from a forest fire, becomes his mate and the mother of his three daughters?

Pellimore and Soren bond over a shared love of reading, and when he is proclaimed king at the end of the series she becomes queen of the Great Tree.

What do the owls call the high-altitude air currents that carry them across the ocean to the Middle Kingdom?

The River of Wind had been flown a thousand years earlier by Theo, the first blacksmith, who left the Great Tree and spent the rest of his life at its far end.

What do the Guardians of Ga'Hoole call the finding of hundreds of dazed owlets abandoned in a forest?

The Great Downing brings Soren's lost sister back to him, but in its aftermath his teacher Ezylryb vanishes without a trace.

Which navigation teacher at the Great Ga'Hoole Tree is killed by Nyra during the siege of the island?

Strix Struma goes on guiding owls after her death: her spirit steers both her old pupil and the outcast Coryn toward the land of the volcanoes.

Which Ga'Hoolology teacher betrays the Great Tree by leaking information to the Pure Ones during the siege?

Dewlap is no willing villain: the Pure Ones play on her fierce devotion to the tree's health, and she ends up exiled to a retreat in the north.

Which spotted owl, the first to master live coals, is entrusted with the egg of the future King Hoole?

Grank is handed the egg by Queen Siv, his friend since childhood, who then draws her enemies away so that he can escape with it.

Which blue owl from the Middle Kingdom wins King Coryn's trust and then burns the Great Tree's books?

The Striga was hatched Orlando, a pampered dragon owl who pulled out his own long feathers to escape his palace. He ends up allied with Nyra.

What do the Pure Ones call the first egg laid by Nyra, which is smashed during a forest fire?

The Sacred Orb is stolen from Nyra's nest by two young owls she has been holding, and one of them drops it while fleeing through the flames.

Which young owl, raised at the Great Tree, is the hero of the Legend of the Guardians video game?

Shard is named for the bit of eggshell left on his feathers, and he grows up under a cloud: his father was branded a coward after attackers overran the monastery he was guarding.

What forms in the sky above the volcanoes after King Coryn dies at the end of the Guardians of Ga'Hoole series?

A new constellation resembling Coryn rises over the volcanoes, and beneath it the Guardians proclaim Soren the next king of the Great Tree.

Which winged creatures guard the magnetic trap set for the Guardians in the film Legend of the Guardians?

Bats also deal with the traitor who led the Guardians into the trap: his master rewards him by having them carry him off.

Which Australian actor voices Digger, the burrowing owl of Soren's band, in the film Legend of the Guardians?

David Wenham came back as Digger to co-host True Guardians of the Earth, a documentary about real owls made for the home release.