Ladyhawke
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40 free Ladyhawke trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
Ladyhawke is the 1985 fantasy romance about a knight and a noblewoman bound by a cruel curse: they travel together, yet each takes human shape only when the other cannot. A fast-talking young thief stumbles into their quest for revenge against the Bishop of Aquila, and the film has kept a devoted following ever since. This quiz covers the story and its characters, the actors who played them, the casting choices that nearly happened, the castles used as locations, the horses and birds on set, and the awards and arguments the film collected along the way. It is written for anyone who grew up with the film on video as well as newer fans of eighties fantasy. Every question comes with a short explanation, so you will pick up some behind-the-scenes stories even when you miss.
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Q 01In Ladyhawke, the Bishop's curse turns the knight Navarre into which animal every night?
A wolf
A wolf is Navarre's shape from dusk until dawn, a part shared on set by four black Siberian animals named Akeela, Kollchek, Levi and Sasha.
Q 02In Ladyhawke, which rare event in the sky lets the cursed lovers face the Bishop together as humans?
A solar eclipse
A solar eclipse fulfils the monk Imperius's riddle about day and night arriving at once, a prophecy Navarre had dismissed as a drunkard's talk.
Q 03Which actor plays the fast-talking thief Phillipe Gaston, who escapes the dungeons of Aquila in Ladyhawke?
Matthew Broderick
Matthew Broderick played the thief a year before his title role in Ferris Bueller's Day Off made him a household name.
Q 04Which actress plays Isabeau, the noblewoman who spends her days as a hawk in Ladyhawke?
Michelle Pfeiffer
Michelle Pfeiffer was singled out by Variety, whose review judged her perfect as the tale's enchanting beauty.
Q 05Which actor plays Etienne of Navarre, the knight who rides with a hawk in Ladyhawke?
Rutger Hauer
Rutger Hauer got the part only after the original leading man walked out during rehearsals.
Q 06Which director of The Omen and Lethal Weapon made Ladyhawke and later married its producer, Lauren Shuler?
Richard Donner
Richard Donner spent years chasing finance for the film and came close to making it twice before two studios agreed to share the cost.
Q 07Ladyhawke's castles and mountain meadows were filmed on location in which European country?
Italy
Italy supplied the castle of Torrechiara near Parma and the high Apennine meadow of Campo Imperatore, a main outdoor location not far from the real city of L'Aquila.
Q 08Ladyhawke's studio promoted the film as based on what, a claim its writer said broke Writers Guild rules?
An old legend
An old legend was the publicity line, but writer Edward Khmara said he invented the story himself, and the Guild won him a small payment in compensation.
Q 09Which animal nickname does the young pickpocket Phillipe Gaston go by in Ladyhawke?
The Mouse
The Mouse is the thief's nickname, and he lives up to it by wriggling out of the Bishop's dungeons shortly before he is due to be executed.
Q 10Which American star was first cast as the knight Navarre in Ladyhawke but quit during rehearsals?
Kurt Russell
Kurt Russell had been cast opposite the film's leading lady, and his late exit sent the role to a Dutch actor instead.
Q 11Which element of Ladyhawke is often mocked as out of place in its medieval setting?
The soundtrack
The soundtrack blends an orchestra with synthesizers and rock rhythms, and the review site Filmtracks ranks it among the most widely mocked in film history.
Q 12Ladyhawke's director chose composer Andrew Powell after hearing which rock band while scouting locations?
The Alan Parsons Project
The Alan Parsons Project had used Powell as its arranger and conductor, and Parsons himself produced the music for the film.
Q 13The thief Phillipe Gaston's wisecracking asides throughout Ladyhawke are addressed to whom?
God
Q 21Ladyhawke was photographed by Vittorio Storaro, who won his first Oscar for shooting which Vietnam War epic?
Apocalypse Now
Apocalypse Now brought Storaro his first Academy Award, and even Time Out's lukewarm review of Ladyhawke called it always beautifully photographed.
Q 22Uncredited Ladyhawke co-writer David Peoples had earlier co-written which science-fiction film of the early 1980s?
Blade Runner
Blade Runner gave Ladyhawke a second link, because its replicant leader was played by the actor who went on to become the knight Navarre.
Q 23The actress who plays Isabeau in Ladyhawke had broken through as Elvira Hancock in which 1983 crime film?
Scarface
God hears the thief's muttered comments all through the story, and the New York Times praised how close those wisecracks came to an ageless kind of comedy.
Q 14How does Phillipe Gaston escape the dungeons of Aquila just before his execution in Ladyhawke?
Through the sewers
Through the sewers is the way out and, days later, the way back in, when Phillipe swims the drains again to unlock the cathedral doors for Navarre.
Q 15Which young actor was first offered the thief's role in Ladyhawke, before Dustin Hoffman was also approached?
Sean Penn
Sean Penn was the first choice for the pickpocket, and when a second offer also went nowhere the director settled on a younger rising star.
Q 16What is the name of the stallion ridden by the knight Navarre throughout Ladyhawke?
Goliath
Goliath was played by a circus stallion called Othello, who held his own opposite the film's human stars.
Q 17John Wood, Ladyhawke's villainous Bishop, had played Professor Falken in which 1983 thriller about a military computer?
WarGames
WarGames had already put Wood on screen with the young actor who plays Ladyhawke's thief, so the two met again as enemies.
Q 18In Ladyhawke, which signal is Imperius told to treat as proof that Navarre has failed to kill the Bishop?
Church bells
Church bells would mean failure, so Navarre asks the monk to end the hawk's suffering if they ring, and they do ring while he is still fighting.
Q 19Which actor, later a famous Spider-Man villain, plays Cezar, the hunter hired by the Bishop in Ladyhawke?
Alfred Molina
Alfred Molina, the future Doctor Octopus, had made his film debut only a few years earlier as Indiana Jones's treacherous guide.
Q 20Which actor, famous on British television as Rumpole of the Bailey, plays the monk Imperius in Ladyhawke?
Leo McKern
Leo McKern, an Australian by birth, plays the monk whose drunken slip of the tongue first told the Bishop about the lovers.
Scarface was her breakthrough, even though its director at first refused to audition her after seeing Grease 2.
Q 24Ladyhawke's director released which other 1985 adventure film, made from a story by Steven Spielberg?
The Goonies
The Goonies followed Ladyhawke into cinemas the same year, swapping cursed lovers for a gang of children hunting pirate treasure.
Q 25Ladyhawke was named Best Fantasy Film by which annual honours for science fiction, fantasy and horror?
Saturn Awards
Saturn Awards voters also honoured Nanà Cecchi's costumes, giving the film two wins from its four nominations.
Q 26Ladyhawke's two Academy Award nominations both recognised which part of the filmmaking craft?
Sound
Sound earned the film nominations for both its mixing and its effects editing, though it won neither prize.
Q 27Navarre's stallion in Ladyhawke made which horse breed, then numbering under 100 in America, suddenly popular?
Friesian
Friesian horses were barely known to Americans until the film, and the stallion who played the part is often credited with igniting interest in the breed.
Q 28Which Hugo Award-winning author of The Snow Queen wrote the novelization of Ladyhawke?
Joan D. Vinge
Joan D. Vinge read the screenplay, thought it looked like fun and put the word out that she wanted the job, and the publisher that won the rights hired her on its science fiction editor's advice.
Q 29In Ladyhawke, what wounds the hawk during an ambush, forcing Phillipe to carry her to the monk Imperius?
A crossbow bolt
A crossbow bolt strikes the bird, and when Phillipe later picks the lock on the monk's room he finds a wounded woman lying in her place.
Q 30Isabeau, the cursed noblewoman of Ladyhawke, is the daughter of the count of which French region?
Anjou
Anjou gives Isabeau her full title, just as her lover Etienne takes his name from the old Pyrenean kingdom of Navarre.