Magic Kingdom For Sale - Sold! Quiz

Answer: Jay Leno

When the main character, Ben "Doc" Holiday, and his law partner, Miles, are arguing about the possibility of Landover existing, Ben says that it must be real because the company advertising it was too prestigious to advertise something that it couldn't produce. Next comes Miles' argument:
"'Then it must be staged. The dragons must be overgrown lizards or something. The magic must be sleight of hand.' Miles laughed. 'Knights and damsels courtesy of Central Casting, dragons courtesy of the San Diego Zoo! Johnny Carson will have the whole menagerie on sometime next week!'"
Miles couldn't have been more wrong.

Answer: Forty

During the interview Meeks asks Ben how old he is. Ben replies that he will be forty in January. Meeks then says:
"A good age. ... A man's still got his strength at forty. He knows most of what he's going to learn, and he's got the strength to put it to good use."
Even though Meeks is lying through his teeth (and setting Ben up for failure) he turns out to be right!

Answer: A tunnel through a tree

When Ben is hiking into Landover, he finally gets to the point where the trail crosses over into the fairy mists - but only for the holder of the medallion. The entrance is described like this:
"A wall of towering, rugged oak rose before him, shrouded in layers of shadow. A tunnel had been cut through the center, hollowed out as if by giant's hands. The tunnel was dark and empty, a black hole without end, a burrow that ran on into trailers of mist, stirred by invisible hands. Sounds drifted from out of the black, distant and unidentifiable."
Creepy, huh?

Answer: Commander of the magic

After Questor ascertains that Ben is who he says he is, the wizard introduces himself:
"...'And now for my own introduction.' He bowed deeply from the waist. 'Questor Thews, wizard of the court, chief advisor to the throne of Landover, your obedient servant."
Questor is a pretty odd character. He is described as looking like "...a bizarre caricature of some pop artist's gypsy." And if he had used the title "commander of the magic" he would have been lying. Let's just put it this way: when trying to conjure lunch for himself and Ben (consisting of ham, eggs, fresh bread and ale), after three trys he manages to get a dozen scatter pillows, a crate of eggs and a whole roast pig, and a trestle table loaded with enough food for an army. He then gives up and vanishes the lot.

Answer: Because the magic is failing

The magic of the land is failing because there has been no real king for twenty years. Questor calls the discoloration, gloom and disrepair that has affected the castle "the Tarnish" and describes its beginning:
"When the last true King of Landover died twenty years ago and no heir ascended to the throne, the discoloration began. It was gradual at first, but quickened as time passed and no King ruled. The life goes out of Sterling Silver and the Tarnish marks her failing. No amount of cleaning or scrubbing or polishing of stone, wood, and metal can restore her. ...She dies, High Lord. She follows her Lord to the grave."
Sad, isn't it?

Answer: Lord Kallendbor

Questor explains why no one important is coming to his coronation by saying:
"They came at first, of course.... They came because they believed. Even after they quit believing, they came for a time because they were curious. But eventually they were no longer even curious. We have had too many Kings, High Lord, who were not real."
Right before his coronation begins, the Iron Mark, lord of the demons, and his army show up. Needless to say, the rest of the spectators scatter.

Answer: Midwinter

It turns out that Meeks has goaded the Iron Mark to challenge the King to a duel to the death every Midwinter, so that Meeks would be assured of being able to resell the throne of Landover. No one has so far accepted the challenge. (Who in their right mind would?)

Answer: Lord Kallendbor

According to Questor, Kallendbor has the largest estate, and is the most powerful of the lords of the greensward. (He also turns out to be an okay boxer.)

Answer: A Sylph

She is a sylph, "...the child of a sprite become human and a wood nymph stayed wild."

Answer: Ben must stop the pollution.

The River Master tells Ben that once he "Extract[s] a promise from the others who inhabit this valley that they will work with us to preserve the land" then he will give his pledge.

The Lords of the Greensward were the ones that said that they will pledge to the throne if he rids them of the dragon, Strabo. Their first demand was that he marry one of Lord Kallendbor's daughters, but he refused in that he hadn't gotten over the death of his wife yet (it had only been two years after all).

No one demanded that anyone die, I just threw that in.

Answer: She turns into a tree.

Every month or so, Willow must turn into the tree that is her namesake. If she doesn't, she will die.

Answer: Furry tree sloths

The Crag Trolls like to give furry tree sloths to their children as pets. The G'home Gnomes prefer them for their taste rather then their fuzzy cuteness (They like dogs too. You can imagine Abernathy's opinion of them because of this.).

By the way, Soft-coated Wheaten Terrier is the breed of dog that Abernathy is, due to a rather ill-fated attempt by Questor to disguise him.

Answer: A magical image of Strabo

He finally succeds in getting the magic to give him almost what he wants. I say "almost" because there are some rather interesting errors in the image of Strabo. When Ben looks closely, he descovers that "Strabo" only has one leg, his wings aren't centered properly, there are clumps of feathers on his neck. Also, "Strabo" is breathing fire, but nothing is burning.

Questor summoned a feast when he first met Ben (see question 4), and the shower of flowers when trying to prove to the Crag Trolls that Ben had magic backing him. He never conjured armor, but offered to before Ben's duel with the Iron Mark at the end of the book.

Answer: Questor

Questor uses a large crystal on a chain to keep in touch with Meeks. Questor believes so strongly that Ben is the true king of Landover that he gives the crystal to Ben, who tells him to contact Meeks, tells Meeks that he will no longer be hearing from Questor and that he won't be selling Landover again, and then smashes the crystal into very tiny pieces.

Answer: Drink from a spring

Ben was about to drink from a spring when the G'home Gnomes, Fillip and Sot, who had been missing scince the escape from the Crag Trolls, showed up. They had followed him down from the Melchor so they could be sure he had escaped the trolls.

When Ben warns them that he is going next to the Deep Fell to bargain with the witch Nightshade, they offer to be his guides, seeing as they have been in the Deep Fell many times without Nightshade noticing.

Answer: A crow

She took the shape of a large crow and followed Ben, Willow and the G'home Gnomes through the Deep Fell. What tipped Ben off was that he never saw the crow flying, but it was always one step ahead of them.
"A crow sat on a branch of deadwood halfway across, a large, ugly bird with a streak of white cresting its head."

Answer: Miles, Anne, Beth, Questor

His first vision is of his best friend and law partner, Miles, at their old offices. His practice is falling apart, as is Miles, who claimed that ten years had gone by since Ben left. Ben had been declaired leagally dead. Everything Ben had valued was gone.

Next is a vision of Anne, his dead wife. She accuses him of abandoning her. After a short but agonizing conversation, they are joined by Beth, the child that Anne was pregnant with when she died.

Last is a vision of Questor Thews and a dying Landover. The land and its people are both riddled with sickness and death, enslaved and left to die by the Iron Mark and his demons.

Finally, he is able to control his emotions and fears enough to control his surroundings and is able to get the Io Dust he was sent to retrieve by Nightshade.

Answer: The Fire Springs

Ben uses the Io Dust to bring Nightshade under his control. While questioning her he finds out that Nightshade has captured Willow, Questor, Abernathy, and the kobolds Bunion and Parsnip. When pressed, Nightshade reveals that she had sent them to the demons in Abaddon and that Ben's only hope for getting them back was Strabo the Dragon.

Answer: His ability to talk

"'I know you from somewhere, don't I?' the dragon asked.
Ben was floored. He had expected a good many things from the dragon, but talking wasn't one of them. The fact that the dragon talked changed everything."

Answer: rock and fire

"The world of Abaddon streched on below, unchanging in its look, a world of rock and fire. White light danced frantically on the horizons all about, and lava flared within the craters of the mountain peaks, but in the valleys and gorges below all remained impenetrably black."

Answer: "Strength to you, play-King."

"'Strength to you, play-King,' Kallendbor muttered, and then he wheeled away as well. The other Lords trailed wordlessly after, armor clanking."

Ben is about to face the Iron Mark, lord of the demons, in a duel to the death. At the last minute before the Mark is due to show, he gathers the Lords of the Greensward and the River Master together at the dais in the center of the Heart and asks them to stand with him aginst the Mark. They all refuse.

Answer: A mace

All of these weapons are used by the Paladin/Ben in the course of the duel, along with a battle axe, but the death-blow was actually struck with the Mark's own mace. Ironic, isn't it?

Answer: Questor

Questor Thews comes to Ben and tells him that a small dog belonging to one of the Lords of the Greensward has gone missing and that Fillip and Sot are nowhere to be found. As G'home Gnomes have a tendancy to eat dogs, Abernathy has not been told about this. The book ends with Ben and Questor setting off to the kitchens, to see if Fillip and Sot are planning a midnight snack.

Answer: Illinois, 1944

Terry Brooks was born in Illinois in 1944, where he spent his childhood making up stories in and around Sinnissippi Park, the park that would eventually become the setting for his bestselling "Word & Void" trilogy.

Answer: The Sword of Shannara

"The Sword of Shannara" was published in 1977. "Magic Kingdom for Sale - Sold!" was published in 1986, and its sequal, "The Black Unicorn", was published in 1987. "Ilse Witch", the first book in the "The Voyage of the Jerle Shannara" series was published in 2000.