The Black Cauldron
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45 free The Black Cauldron trivia questions with answers — entertainment quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
The Black Cauldron is Disney's 1985 animated adaptation of the first two Chronicles of Prydain books, with assistant pig-keeper Taran, Princess Eilonwy, the bard Fflewddur Fflam and the creature Gurgi racing the skeletal Horned King to a cauldron that raises the dead. It was the first Disney animated feature rated PG, the first to use computer-generated imagery, the most expensive animated film made to that point, and a flop so severe it was nicknamed the film that almost killed Disney. This quiz covers the story and the troubled production: the voice cast and the actors who auditioned and lost, the Tim Burton artwork that was thrown out, the Milt Kahl redesigns, the test screening that made Jeffrey Katzenberg cut the film himself, the twelve missing minutes, Elmer Bernstein's ondes Martenot, the Super Technirama 70 release, the Care Bears humiliation, the thirteen-year wait for a VHS, and the theme-park and video-game afterlife. Fifty questions, four options each, with a short explanation after every answer. Play on your phone or print it for a quiz night.
30 of 45 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which month-old comedy out-earned The Black Cauldron on its opening weekend?
Back to the Future
Back to the Future was a month into its run when The Black Cauldron opened in fourth place in July 1985; cuts ordered by a new studio chairman had delayed the Disney film from Christmas 1984.
Q 02The Black Cauldron is based on the first two books of which fantasy series?
The Chronicles of Prydain
The Chronicles of Prydain was optioned by Disney in 1971 and used to attract young animators, who hoped the adaptation would be their generation's Snow White.
Q 03Who wrote the novels that The Black Cauldron is based on?
Lloyd Alexander
Lloyd Alexander said there was 'no resemblance between the movie and the book', yet admitted that, taken purely as a movie, he found it very enjoyable.
Q 04What is Taran's humble job at the start of The Black Cauldron?
Assistant pig-keeper
Assistant pig-keeper Taran dreams of being a famous warrior, but his first real mission is simply to hide his master's pig, and he loses her almost at once.
Q 05In The Black Cauldron, what is the name of the oracular pig the Horned King wants to capture?
Hen Wen
Hen Wen's visions could show the villain where the cauldron lies, which is why her owner sends her into hiding at the start of the story.
Q 06In The Black Cauldron, what are the Horned King's undead warriors called?
The Cauldron-Born
The Cauldron-Born are dead soldiers revived by the cauldron's magic; much of their big scene was cut before release for being too gruesome, leaving the sequence noticeably choppy.
Q 07In The Black Cauldron, what are the Gwythaints?
Wyvern-like flying creatures
Wyvern-like flying creatures called Gwythaints hunt for the Horned King; they snatch the pig early on, which is what sends Taran to the villain's castle.
Q 08In The Black Cauldron, who frees Taran from the Horned King's dungeon?
Princess Eilonwy
Princess Eilonwy is another of the Horned King's captives; she finds her way into Taran's cell and leads him out through the catacombs beneath the castle.
Q 09In The Black Cauldron, what happens to Fflewddur Fflam's instrument whenever he tells a lie?
It snaps a string
It snaps a string each time the boastful bard stretches the truth, a trick taken straight from the novels, where his enchanted harp keeps him honest in the same way.
Q 10Who jumps into the Black Cauldron to stop the Horned King's undead army?
Gurgi
Gurgi, who had run from every earlier danger, leaps in before Taran can; the witches later bring him back to life in exchange for the cauldron.
Q 11In The Black Cauldron, where do the three witches who guard the cauldron live?
The Marshes of Morva
The Marshes of Morva are home to Orddu, Orwen and Orgoch, who wait until their bargain is struck before revealing that the cauldron can never be destroyed.
Q 12In The Black Cauldron, the witch Orwen takes a fancy to which character?
Fflewddur
Fflewddur Fflam has reason to be grateful: her sisters like turning visitors into frogs, and the smitten Orwen is the one who protects the bard.
Q 13Who voices the Horned King in The Black Cauldron?
John Hurt
John Hurt voices a villain the film-makers promoted: in the novels the Horned King is only a minor figure, but producer Joe Hale expanded him into the story's chief menace.
Q 21Whose character artwork for The Black Cauldron did producer Joe Hale throw out?
Tim Burton's
Tim Burton's sketches, among them a flock of flying hands with eyeballs between the knuckles, were too odd for a producer who wanted the film in the classic Disney house style.
Q 22Which retired member of Disney's Nine Old Men returned to design the main characters of The Black Cauldron?
Milt Kahl
Milt Kahl came out of retirement to draw the young heroes, and is said to have complained afterwards that the studio no longer had animators able to do his designs justice.
Q 23In The Black Cauldron, what glowing object floats along beside the princess?
A magic bauble
Q 14Which legendary film director narrates the prologue of The Black Cauldron?
John Huston
John Huston's prologue tells of a king so evil that he was thrown alive into molten iron, where his spirit was trapped in the shape of a great black cauldron.
Q 15Which bad-tempered fairy does John Byner voice in The Black Cauldron?
Doli
Doli is the fairy king's grumbling right-hand man, given the job of guiding Taran's party to the witches who hold the cauldron.
Q 16Which former Disney child star was lined up in 1981 to voice Eilonwy in The Black Cauldron?
Hayley Mills
Hayley Mills announced on a 1981 Disney television special that she would play the princess, but the part went to British voice actress Susan Sheridan.
Q 17In The Black Cauldron, what is the name of the Horned King's cringing goblin sidekick?
Creeper
Creeper lives in such fear of his master that even his boasts get corrected mid-sentence: 'We're celebrating our success! I mean, your success!'
Q 18The Black Cauldron was the first Disney animated feature to receive what?
A PG rating
A PG rating was no accident: producer Joe Hale said Disney's films were not reaching teenagers, so the studio set out to make a darker picture for an older audience.
Q 19Which newly appointed studio chairman ordered scenes cut from The Black Cauldron before its release?
Jeffrey Katzenberg
Jeffrey Katzenberg, used to live-action films, asked for the outtakes; told that animation has none, he went into the editing room and began cutting the film himself.
Q 20John Musker, pushed off The Black Cauldron, later co-directed which Disney hit?
The Little Mermaid
The Little Mermaid was made with Ron Clements, the partner Musker found when their ideas for The Black Cauldron were rejected and the two were exiled together.
A magic bauble, a glowing ball that floats beside her under its own power, was a Disney touch: in the novels the princess has to carry her golden light by hand.
Q 24The Black Cauldron was the first Disney animated feature to use what?
Computer-generated imagery
Computer-generated imagery moved solid objects such as a boat and the cauldron itself, but only as outlines that were printed out and finished by hand like any other drawing.
Q 25Banished from The Black Cauldron, Clements and Musker made which Disney film instead?
The Great Mouse Detective
The Great Mouse Detective became the refuge for animators who disliked where the bigger film was heading, and it gave the two exiles their first directing credit.
Q 26What did Disney's David Spencer win for the photo-transfer process first used to make cels on The Black Cauldron?
A technical Academy Award
A technical Academy Award went to Spencer in 1986 for the process, which copied drawings onto cels photographically, though digital ink and paint soon made it obsolete.
Q 27What did effects animator Don Paul film to create the Black Cauldron's steam and smoke?
Dry ice mists
Dry ice mists were shot in live action and placed straight into the picture for dramatic impact, mixing real vapour with the hand-drawn effects around it.
Q 28Who composed the score for The Black Cauldron?
Elmer Bernstein
Elmer Bernstein saw much of his music cut in the last-minute re-edit, so he re-recorded the score with the Utah Symphony Orchestra for the soundtrack album.
Q 29Which unusual electronic instrument gives The Black Cauldron's score its eerie mood?
The ondes Martenot
The ondes Martenot, a French keyboard that makes wavering, theremin-like tones, was a favourite of the film's composer, who had used it in Ghostbusters the year before.
Q 30What sets The Black Cauldron's soundtrack apart from other Disney animated films of its era?
It has no musical numbers
It has no musical numbers because Disney wanted a darker fantasy that would draw older audiences, so nobody sings and the music is orchestral score throughout.