Toss the Elf! Trivia Quiz

Answer: Elrond

Elrond Half-elven was a character in J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings". He was Lord of Rivendell, the elves' sanctuary and homeworld, was thousands of years old, and had the mannerisms and speech of former generations and commanded much respect among the elves and visitors from other races. A traditionalist, he wasn't fond of the idea of his daughter, Arwen, getting involved with the ranger Aragorn, who was at least part-human.

Most of how we view elves today isn't just colored by Tolkien's stories, it has his DNA all over it. Elves were originally portrayed as mischievous small people. Over time they became more powerful until they became the fearless-if-provoked warriors of modern stories. Several authors, some of whom will show up in this quiz have credited Tolkien with giving them motivation to start their writing careers.

Answer: Link

Since 1986 "The Legend of Zelda" has been a leading video game franchise. Designed for Nintendo game systems the story is about Link, of the Hylian race and Princess Zelda, a reincarnation of the goddess Hylia and their efforts to save the kingdom of Hyrule from the demon king Ganon. Zelda is often captured by Ganon and it is up to the sword-wielding Link to come to her rescue. I know he always does even though I've never been able to play one of the games to the finish.

Answer: Snap, Crackle, Pop

The Kellogg's Rice Krispies cereal elves were as much a part of American kids' TV as the Smurfs and Scooby-Doo. They started as gnomes, a single one used in Kellogg's advertising in 1933; later the other two were added and their forms changed to elf-like. Their first TV appearance was in 1955, probably on "The Howdy Doody Show".

Their names came from the sound the cereal makes when milk is poured over it, although for a short while in the mid-1950s there was a fourth elf, Pow, who was to represent the feeling you got from the rice. Their elf-form has remained constant with mostly their hats occasionally changing. In Australia and New Zealand the cereal is marketed as Rice Bubbles, with three elves drawn by a different artist. There is a surviving piece of nose art from a World War II B-17 bomber with the original gnomes portrayed on it.

Answer: Jerle Shannara

Terry Brooks, a high fantasy author who credits "The Lord of the Rings" as an inspiration, began his "Shannara" series of adventures in 1977 and finished them in 2020. The Four Lands were home to several magical beings, elves being one of the races and living removed from the others. Though wishing to remain aloof they could be persuaded to send an army to help when the other races were under attack.

Jerle Shannara was the captain of the Home Guard, tasked with protecting the royal family. Despite the guard the royal family was assassinated and Jerle became next in line for the throne. The series follows his descendants over the centuries. Over time we found out that the time period was centuries after a nuclear holocaust and the world had reverted to a pre-industrial level. Brooks lives in the U.S. state of Washington and toward the end of the series we found out that the Four Lands are in fact located in the Pacific Northwest of the U.S. and Canada.

Answer: Ian Lightfoot

Ian is the protagonist in the animated fantasy movie "Onward" (2020). He and his brother, Barley, miss their deceased father and have a chance to find an artifact which will bring their father back for one day. It's a somewhat-typical plot of a little guy being given a big challenge.

Ian (voiced by Tom Holland) is the younger brother and never saw his father before he died. He looks up to his brother who is supportive but often distracted; a dullard, perhaps. After their attempt to bring back their father fails they start on a journey for another magical artifact. It becomes a coming-of-age trip for Ian and a maturing experience for Barley (Chris Pratt) as they work their way, with the help-or hindrance-of other magical creatures, to find a gem that will fulfill their wish.

Answer: Santa Claus

Ho-ho-ho, a right jolly old elf was he! The legend of Santa Claus goes back almost two-thousand years to a monk named Saint Nicholas. Over the years he became known as a protector of children and sailors. He became the most popular saint in Europe, particularly in the Netherlands.

As the Dutch came to America they brought "Sinter Klaas" with them. Author Washington Irving named him the patron saint of New York in 1809. It seems to be Clement Moore, whose poem "Twas the Night Before Christmas" in 1823, who defined him as an elf and gave him a place in Christmas customs. Investigations about Santa revealed that he has a small army of elves to help make toys for the children.

Answer: Dobby

Reading J.K. Rowling's "Harry Potter" books (for the third or fourth time) we can learn that she did a lot of research into magic and magical beings. Her treatment of elves was opposite of much of how they were depicted in the latter half of the 20th century. Perhaps she harkened back to early depictions of them but Dobby and the other house elves in her stories were capable of powerful magical acts but were enslaved by wizard families, enough so that character Hermione Granger started a campaign to free them. Though some were freed from their masters the consequences weren't always happy.

Answer: Keebler Elves

The Keebler company makes several types of foods but their cookies are baked by elves who live and work in a hollow tree using magical ovens to turn out their products. The chief elf is Ernest J. "Ernie" Keebler who has graced the company's advertising since 1969. Whether that was to counter the Kellogg's elves hasn't been officially stated. Ernie is shown as part of Keebler's logo.

The elves have done their job advertising Keebler's cookies and other foods on kids' TV and adult shows, enough that "Keebler's Fudge Stripe cookies" frequently shows up on the weekly grocery list in this household.

Answer: Malekith the Accursed

Malekith is a dark elf character who appeared in several Marvel Comics and in the 2013 movie "Thor: The Dark World". While the Norse gods live in Asgard the dark elves live in Svartalfheim, another realm. The animosity between Thor and Malekith goes back eons, to Thor's grandfather, Bor. Fighting against Bor, Malekith and part of his army escaped and entered suspended animation.

In the movie an alignment of realms opens the barrier between the two worlds and Malekith is awakened. Stealing a superweapon and wanting to plunge the entire universe into darkness, he comes up against Thor who has an epic battle with him and Malekith is sent back to his own realm, where he perishes. A struggle among gods is always epic.

Answer: Nightshade

Terry Pratchett's "Discworld" fantasy series covered thirty-two years and forty-one novels from 1983 to 2015. The world was populated by many strange and magical creatures but not all of them lived on the world. Elves lived in Fairyland, which was attached to Discworld separated by a dimensional gateway that only opens every fifty years or so, which is good because Pratchett's elves are not high-minded beings of good character.

Elves can make themselves look beautiful, and in this case it really is only skin-deep. One of those is Nightshade, who at one time rose to be Queen of the Elves. She fell too, and ended up with her wings ripped off and thrown out of Fairyland to Discworld where a young girl took pity on her and tried to help acclimate her to her new permanent surroundings. Alas, a war ensued with Fairyland and Nightshade was killed defending her new friends.