The Tripods: When the Tripods Came Quiz

Answer: On an orienteering expedition

The two were sleeping without permission in some unnamed farmer's barn. They were spending the night there during an orienteering expedition for which Andy had volunteered the two. Laurie tells us that one of the rules of the expedition was that the participants could not ask for help.

The description of the Tripod will sound familiar to those who have read other books in the series: a large metal hemisphere on three legs with tentacles that can grasp and manipulate objects (or people). At least one person on the farm is captured by the Tripod and pulled inside the hemisphere. The farmhouse itself is then destroyed by the Tripod.

Three Tripods have initially landed on Earth: one in England (home of Laurie and Andy), one in the Soviet Union, and one in the United States. They are not invincible, since the Soviets are able to destroy the Tripod within their country.

Answer: She is Laurie's stepmother.

Ilse is the second wife of Laurie's father, Martin. Laurie says that his mother left Laurie and his father some time earlier, and his mother and father seemed to have a difficult relationship before then. Laurie doesn't seem to like Ilse much either, perhaps unfairly. She makes some effort to reach out to him, but he feels that she and his father have more time for his half-sister Angela than him.

Laurie's family lives with his grandmother Martha, who is a rather brusque woman in her seventies, who Laurie thinks likes antiques more than people. An aunt is mentioned, though she plays little role in the story.

Answer: Angela

Angela, Laurie's seven-year-old sister, seems to become increasingly addicted to the show. At one point, she attacks Laurie when she finds out he has not taped an episode for her. The behavior only escalates from there. Most frighteningly, she is far from being the only person affected this way. Within Laurie's family, Martha has no interest in the show, nor Ilse. It is not indicated that Miranda (Andy's mother) has any interest in the show.

"The Trippy Show" features the Tripods. At first, the Tripods are objects of ridicule. Over time, however, they are shown in an increasingly positive light. In one episode, a Tripod helps to rescue a knight and a maiden from a dragon. We find out later that the Masters (who control the Tripods) are using the program to send hypnotic messages to bring humans under their control The Masters, concerned that human military technology is too close to their own, have decided to try a different strategy and use their superior knowledge of psychology and mind control.

Answer: A Cap

Uncle Ian's family is much wealthier than Laurie's and normally they don't interact that much. In addition, Laurie is surprised to see them since their homes are about 100 miles apart. Ian and Nathaniel are there on a mission, however. They have brought Caps (described by Laurie as a webbing of rubber and metal).

Nathaniel had previously been hypnotized by "The Trippy Show" and joined a group that hung around one of the Tripods in Britain. Presumably when Ian attempted to retrieve him, he also fell under the control of the Masters. Ian attempts to place the Cap on Laurie's head. Fortunately for him, the rest of the family returns home by then and he is able to avoid that fate.

Answer: A Tripod is approaching the area.

The chapter, in fact, opens with the Headmaster warning the students not to accept a Cap from anyone. Nonetheless, more people have fallen under the control of the Masters. The school is evacuated when word has come that a Tripod is approaching the area. It is thought that the students will be safer in their homes. Andy convinces a leery Laurie to ride their bikes closer to the Tripod to try to observe it.

What scares Laurie the most is that there were numerous Trippies who were holding onto the legs of the Tripod. Though the various nations destroy the Tripods that were currently on the Earth, Laurie realizes that many of those people were also unavoidably killed.

Answer: Guernsey

Guernsey is one of the Channel Islands. Laurie's grandmother Martha has a home there. Earlier in the book, Laurie described a used boat that his father owned. While it had been used more frequently at first, Ilse's bouts of seasickness led to it being used less in more recent times. The family decides to use the boat for an escape, since the family does not own a private plane and the public ports and airports have been closed by the government.

On the ride to the boat's mooring, Laurie's father and grandmother have to speak to policemen, but are allowed to proceed. The weather is stormy and several members of the family are seasick, but the family is able to safely make it to Guernsey.

Answer: Laurie

Laurie's father reasons that it would be best for a smaller family member to wear the Cap, reasoning if the wearer "Tripped", the others would be more easily able to control that person. Laurie is the smallest member of the family, save Angela. Laurie's father takes the precaution of loosening some of the connections, hoping that will make the device not fully operative.

Though Laurie fears that he will "trip", he finds that he is unaffected because his father has broken the right connections on the Cap. The family can then use this information to deactivate the Caps that Uncle Ian had left them. Wearing them, they will be able to travel more freely and reach their ultimate goal: Switzerland.

Answer: They hijack a plane.

The family is able to accumulate enough money to purchase tickets on a flight from Guernsey to Heathrow Airport, near London. Once the plane is in the air, Laurie's father is able to use a gun to convince the pilot to divert to Switzerland instead. The pilot is, oddly, not too resistant. As he flies the family, he mentions that he has begun to think humanity should rid itself of some unnecessary modern technology such as planes and cars. This will later come to fruition in the main trilogy when we see a world of pre-modern technology.

During the flight, Laurie also considers that, if the Capped people are under mind control, they also seem far more peaceful than people normally are.

Answer: Buying presents for Laurie's stepmother

Laurie's stepmother, Ilse, has been back in Switzerland during much of the story tending to her ill father. Remembering that it will be soon be Ilse's birthday, Laurie and the others ask Martha for a few francs to buy her presents. They are at a shop looking at a selection of small dolls and chocolates when a group begins to accost them and call them dirty English. After Andy threatens to hit the next one who says that, the group attacks.

Though the three children are able to get away safely, neither they nor the adults are able to get much help form the local police. It seems that the Swiss have been able to keep the Tripods and Caps (mostly) out of Switzerland so far at the cost of being extremely xenophobic towards foreigners. The idea seems to be that it is better to drive one hundred Uncapped people out than let in one Capped person.

Answer: Andy

Andy, who is somewhat taller than Laurie, looks older than his age of 13. In Switzerland, as in much of the rest of the world, the age of Capping is 14. In later books we learn this is due to the brain and skull reaching certain maturity levels. Laurie has to decide whether to go to the home of the jailer to help Andy escape.

Initially Laurie looked to his father for help. Martin felt that attempting to free Andy would draw unwanted attention to the family and would lead to them all being Capped. Though this makes Laurie mad at first, later he better understands his father's point of view.

The family will end this story to escape further into the White Mountains to become part of what in the main trilogy will become the resistance fighting against the Tripods and the Masters.