Q 01/05

Which birthday does Bilbo celebrate before leaving the Shire at the start of the book?

A) 99th

B) 100th

C) 121st

D) 111th

Answer · why

D) 111th

Hobbits call it 'eleventy-first'. Bilbo hands the Ring to Frodo, his cousin and heir, and vanishes mid-speech.

Q 02/05

Frodo's cover story for leaving is a move to a little house in which village?

A) Bywater

B) Crickhollow

C) Michel Delving

D) Hobbiton

Answer · why

B) Crickhollow

It lies in Buckland, across the Brandywine. Merry has the house ready, and it is there the conspiracy of friends is unmasked.

Q 03/05

Which Elf leads the travelling company whose singing wards off the Black Riders?

A) Haldir of Lórien

B) Elrond Half-elven

C) Gildor Inglorion

D) Legolas Greenleaf

Answer · why

C) Gildor Inglorion

His people are singing to Elbereth. The hobbits spend the night with them, the first of the book's many rescues by hospitality.

Q 04/05

Which farmer takes the hobbits to Bucklebury Ferry?

A) Cotton

B) Proudfoot

C) Bracegirdle

D) Maggot

Answer · why

D) Maggot

Frodo had stolen his mushrooms as a boy and still fears his dogs, but the farmer turns out to be a staunch ally.

Q 05/05

Which ancient tree-spirit traps Merry and Pippin in the Old Forest?

A) Old Man Willow

B) The Huorn King

C) Fimbrethil

D) Quickbeam

Answer · why

A) Old Man Willow

Tolkien had invented him years earlier for the 1934 poem 'The Adventures of Tom Bombadil' and reused the character here.