40 Fun Facts About The Iron Trial

In The Iron Trial, what does Alastair Hunt coach his son Callum to do at the Magisterium entrance test?

Fail on purpose is the plan, because Alastair has raised Callum to believe the mages' school is evil. It backfires: Callum is picked anyway.

What name does Callum Hunt give the chaos-ridden wolf pup he smuggles into school in The Iron Trial?

Havoc turns up in the snow just after a pack of chaos-ridden wolves attacks the apprentices. Callum carries the pup inside his jacket and hides him in his bedroom.

Which apprentice in The Iron Trial stuns the Masters by sending chaos-ridden wolves into the void?

Aaron Stewart, who grew up in foster homes, saves his friends' lives with a power nobody knew he had. The mages had spent years searching for someone like him.

Holly Black wrote The Iron Trial with which author, best known for The Mortal Instruments?

Cassandra Clare and Holly Black had never written a novel together before. Their five-book series was bought by a publisher in 2012, two years before this first volume appeared.

Kirkus Reviews found The Iron Trial's echoes of which children's fantasy series distracting at first?

Harry Potter comparisons were hard to dodge for a story about a magic school and a trio of friends. The same reviewer added that a big twist then sets the book apart.

Which lasting injury has Callum Hunt of The Iron Trial lived with since he was a baby?

A damaged leg has left Callum with a limp, frequent pain and a history of surgeries. The injury dates from the cave attack that killed his mother when he was an infant.

In The Iron Trial, what does Master Rufus make his three apprentices sort by shade for weeks on end?

Sand sorting looks so pointless that Callum nicknames the cave the Room of Sand and Boredom. The drill is quietly building precision, as the trio discover in their first contest.

At the climax of The Iron Trial, Callum Hunt is told he is secretly which feared chaos mage reborn?

Constantine Madden, the Enemy of Death, was dying in an ice cave when he moved himself into the nearest infant. That baby was Callum.

What does every new Magisterium student in The Iron Trial receive that gains a new metal each year?

A wristband of leather and iron marks a first-year, and each later year lays another metal over it. Coloured stones are added for mastering an element.

In The Iron Trial, what are most Refectory meals at the Magisterium made of, whatever they taste like?

Lichen and mushrooms are on the menu daily, though somehow they taste like far more appealing dishes. After their first victory the first-years are rewarded with real pizza.

In The Iron Trial, Callum Hunt is driven from North Carolina to which US state for the entrance test?

Virginia hosts both the test and the school itself, which lies in caverns deep below ground. Callum has nightmares about getting lost in its tunnels before he ever sees them.

Where is the Magisterium entrance test held in The Iron Trial, with families watching from bleachers?

An airfield hangar, long abandoned, keeps the test out of sight. Relatives without powers are enchanted to believe whatever they want about why they are there.

Which publisher released The Iron Trial and the rest of the Magisterium series?

Scholastic bought the whole five-book series in April 2012, before any of it was in print. The first volume went on to reach third place on the New York Times middle grade list.

Which book, published four years after The Iron Trial, ends the five-volume series it began?

The Golden Tower closed the series in September 2018. Each title pairs a metal with an object, and the metals follow the five school years of an apprentice.

Which earlier children's fantasy series did The Iron Trial co-author Holly Black create with Tony DiTerlizzi?

The Spiderwick Chronicles began in 2003, topped the New York Times list a year later and became a film in 2008. Black has also won a Newbery Honor.

What title do the mages of The Iron Trial give someone who can draw chaos magic from the void?

Makar comes from 'maker', because such mages are thought to bring something out of nothing. Some mages fear the power so much that they refuse to celebrate when one is found.

In The Iron Trial's Five Principles of Magic, what is named as the counterweight of chaos?

The soul balances chaos, so a chaos mage needs another living person to act as an anchor. Every other element is simply balanced by its opposite.

In The Iron Trial's magic, air is the counterweight of which element?

Earth and air oppose each other, just as fire and water do. A mage being pulled too far into one element reaches for its opposite to avoid being consumed.

Which name, borrowed from one of his father's poker friends, does Callum Hunt give a lizard in The Iron Trial?

Warren is a little fire elemental with blue flames along its back, freed from a cage in Master Rufus's office. It repays Callum by leading him and his friends into a trap.

What do the mages of The Iron Trial call someone who has given in completely to an element?

Devoured mages have had their humanity burned away and replaced by fire, air, water or stone. Master Rufus's own mentor met that fate and haunts the caves as a creature of flame.

Which Iron Year classmate in The Iron Trial is exposed as a spy for the Enemy of Death?

Drew plays the nervous newcomer, even pretending he thought the entrance test was for a riding school. He was planted among the first-years to keep watch on Callum.

In The Iron Trial, who is behind the silver mask when the supposed Enemy of Death finally faces Callum Hunt?

Master Joseph had posed as his former pupil for twelve years, wearing the mask so the mages would go on believing their great foe was alive and well.

In what kind of abandoned building is a kidnapped apprentice held near the end of The Iron Trial?

A bowling alley called Mountain Bowling serves as the villains' temporary base. The rescue ends when the building's own sign comes crashing through the roof.

Which object, once his late wife's, does Alastair Hunt throw to his son after the test in The Iron Trial?

A knife named Semiramis was forged by Callum's mother while she was a student. A fellow apprentice snatches it out of the air before it can reach him.

What name do the mages of The Iron Trial give the ice-cave attack that killed Callum Hunt's mother?

The Cold Massacre struck the mountain hideout where the mages had sent their children and elderly for safety. Their fighters were away, facing an impostor on the battlefield.

Which winged elementals do the first-years of The Iron Trial battle in their first practical exercise?

Wyverns had preyed on Callum's mind ever since a strange question about them turned up on his written entrance exam. His group wins the bout, to everyone's surprise.

Which Magisterium hangout in The Iron Trial offers fizzy drinks, warm pools and films projected by air mages?

The Gallery is a largely unsupervised game room, complete with a lake for swimming. Skilled air mages sometimes edit themselves and fellow students into the films.

In The Iron Trial, the First Gate that ends an apprentice's Iron Year is formally the Gate of what?

Control is the lesson of the first year, and the archway only lights up for an apprentice who has learned enough to be safe. Callum hesitates before he steps through.

Which rare stone is presented to the newly revealed chaos mage at a ceremony in The Iron Trial?

Black onyx marks power over the void, while the four ordinary elements earn blue, red, green and white stones. Hardly anyone ever qualifies for the dark one.

Which real Renaissance alchemist is credited with founding the first Magisterium in The Iron Trial?

Paracelsus was a real Swiss physician and alchemist. In the book's history, early mages intrigued by the alchemists' teachings set out to explore elemental magic, and he is credited with founding their schools.

Which daughter of two Assembly members joins Callum Hunt as Master Rufus's apprentice in The Iron Trial?

Tamara Rajavi arrives under heavy pressure from her family and tops the entrance rankings. One of her older sisters is already a student at the school.

Which rival in The Iron Trial resents Callum Hunt for taking the place he wanted with Master Rufus?

Jasper deWinter comes from a once-grand mage family that lost its fortune, and he is desperate to restore its name. Losing the most prestigious Master to the lowest scorer stings.

In The Iron Trial, what was Master Rufus to Callum Hunt's parents, a link that fuels Alastair's grudge?

Their teacher at the Magisterium was Rufus himself, years before he chose their son. Alastair blames him for the advice that left his wife in the cave where she died.

What explodes in Callum Hunt's hand during the first task of The Iron Trial's entrance test?

A pen enchanted with endless ink bursts when a powerful mage shakes it too hard. Callum assumes he has flunked, but the examiner awards him full marks.

In The Iron Trial, what does Callum Hunt do to the paper he is told to levitate?

He pins it to the desk so firmly that nobody can peel the page off afterwards. It earns him a negative score, apparently a first for the test.

In The Iron Trial, what do the non-magical parents of Callum Hunt's schoolmate Kylie Myles think the test is?

Ballet tryouts are what Kylie's family believes they are attending, thanks to an enchantment on relatives without powers. No Master chooses her.

Which strict Master in The Iron Trial is dismissed after an apprentice falsely accuses him of cruelty?

Lemuel was framed by a spy who feared that a sharp-eyed mentor would notice how skilled he really was. His other apprentices were shared out among the remaining Masters.

In The Iron Trial, which fallen teenage champion of the mages has a statue in the Hall of Graduates?

Verity Torres left school at fifteen to lead the mages into the Great Battle. She was the only wielder of void magic on their side, and she did not come home.

The Enemy of Death in The Iron Trial began defying mortality after losing which relative, his counterweight?

His twin brother Jericho died after serving as a living anchor for chaos experiments. The quest to bring him back is what earned the villain his title.

In The Iron Trial, what does the magical phone in Master Rufus's office look like?

A tornado in a jar is the mages' ether phone, and the other caller can appear inside it as a tiny figure. Callum sneaks in to use it and reach his father.