Ramses Emerson Trivia Quiz

Answer: Walter Peabody Emerson

Ramses was named after his father's brother Walter and also bears his mother's maiden name. His father dubbed him "Ramses" as a child because, according to Emerson, he is "swarthy as an Egyptian and arrogant as a pharaoh". The nickname has stuck, and I doubt if anyone within the Emerson family has called him "Walter" since!

Answer: verbosity

Amelia has mentioned that once Ramses began to talk, he didn't stop for fifteen years! She also notes in "The Falcon at the Portal" that "Ramses was capable of continuing the sentence until subject and verb were buried under an avalanche of subordinate clauses". Ouch! As he grew older, his circumlocution abated somewhat, but it still resurfaces every now and then (much to my amusement, but probably not his mother's!).

Answer: Bastet

Bastet is the progenitor of almost the entire feline population of the Emerson household. Ramses was devastated when she died and for a long time, refused any other feline companion until the Great Cat of Re was adopted as a kitten during "The Golden One". Horus, a rather ill-tempered feline (as Amelia would say) impartially hates virtually all humans with the exception of Nefret (to whom he initially attached himself) and Sennia, his current fascination. Sekhmet used to live in the Emerson household, but now makes her home with Amelia's good friends Cyrus and Katherine Vandergelt.

Answer: I knew you'd come.

Ramses was always quietly confident that his mother or his father (or both) would come to his rescue; something they invariably did, so obviously his confidence wasn't misplaced! Amelia experiences a distinct sense of déjà vu during "The Golden One", when Sennia is kidnapped; on her rescue by Amelia and Emerson she utters exactly the same phrase.

Answer: languages

Ramses speaks several languages, including Arabic and German; while he is a skilled excavator, helping his father on archaeological digs, his passion is the translation of hieroglyphics. According to his mother, he has published several volumes of hieroglyphic translations and is fast making a name for himself in this field. Amelia is the amateur psychologist of the family, possessing a number of books on the subject and always eager to put her reading to practical use (much to Emerson's chagrin).

Answer: Brother of Demons

Ramses is affectionately known as "Brother of Demons" to Egyptians, who believe, among other things, that he can see in the dark. The nickname is probably also a reference to Ramses' talent at disguise. Emerson is known as "Father of Curses" (for obvious reasons!), Amelia as "Sitt Hakim" ("Lady Doctor") and Nefret as "Nur Misur" ("Light of Egypt").

Answer: Ali the rat

Ramses was inspired by his uncle Sethos (a.k.a. "The Master Criminal" - whom Ramses didn't know at the time was his uncle) to explore the art of disguise after he found one of Sethos' disguise kits. He seems to have come close to perfecting this art over the years, as his father didn't recognise him disguised as "Ali the Rat" during "The Ape Who Guards the Balance"! Most of his disguises involve covering himself with dirt to varying degrees (he once lamented the loss of a robe because it had taken him quite a while to get the garment "suitably disgusting"!). Nefret, coming across Ramses disguised as an old fakir, asked him why all of his disguises were so repulsive, to which he replied, "Filth keeps fastidious persons at a distance". Can't argue with that!

Answer: Yes

Because of his dark colouring and fluent Arabic, Ramses has no trouble in passing as an Egyptian. During "He Shall Thunder in the Sky", which is set during World War I, Ramses was working undercover for the British military. One of his assignments was to disguise himself as Wardani, leader of an Egyptian nationalist group, in order to prevent a shipment of weapons from reaching the group.

In order to impress Wardani's followers, at one meeting Ramses actually appears "disguised" as himself and pulls it off admirably - all of Wardani's men are in awe of "Wardani" being able to look so much like the "Brother of Demons"!

Answer: Nefret Forth

Nefret joins the Emerson family at the age of thirteen when she is rescued from a secret oasis (where, incidentally, she was worshipped as a goddess!) by Amelia and Emerson. She is the daughter of an Englishman who had died some time before, leaving her an orphan.

The Emersons welcome her into their family as their ward and she and Ramses are raised as brother and sister. For Ramses, who is a couple of years younger, it is a case of love at first sight. However, Nefret takes a bit longer to return the feeling and poor Ramses manfully plays the "younger brother" role until, after much heartache and misunderstanding, the two finally marry in "He Shall Thunder in the Sky".

Answer: David John and Charlotte

David John (Davy) and Charlotte (Charla) were born in 1917; we learn of Nefret's pregnancy at the end of "The Golden One". Davy (as he is known until the very last page of "Children of the Storm" - there's an incentive for you to read the book if you haven't done so already!) was named after Ramses' best friend David Todros and his cousin John Emerson, who was killed during World War I. Charla was named after Amelia's mother. Thanks for playing this quiz; I hope you enjoyed it.