Supernatural Supersymmetry Trivia Quiz

Answer: Oz

"The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" (1900) was the first book in the Oz series of L. Frank Baum (1856-1919) who wrote thirteen more books before his death. After his death, the series continued with additional volumes by other authors. In the book, Dorothy, who has been transported from her home in Kansas along with her dog Toto to Oz attempts to find her way home. She travels along the Yellow Brick Road helping and being helped by the friends she makes along her journey--the Scarecrow, Nick Chopper (the Tin Woodman), and the Cowardly Lion. Her main opponent is the Wicked Witch of the West, who blames Dorothy for the death of her sister and covets the silver (not ruby) slippers which Dorothy wears after taking them off the corpse of the Wicked Witch of the East. More than one version of the Oz story has appeared on film.

The land of Oz is fairly symmetrical with Gillikin Country to the North, Munchkin Country to the East, Quadling Country to the South, and Winkie Country to the West.

The green structure represents the Emerald City, home of the Wizard of Oz, the yellow represents the Yellow Brick Road which Dorothy and her friends use to travel to the Emerald City. The figure is the Wicked Witch of the West (named Elphaba in the book and musical "Wicked") with a black dress and hat and greenish skin.

Answer: Narnia

"The Chronicles of Narnia" was a series of seven fantasy books by C. S. Lewis (1898-1963) that were published between 1950 and 1956. Aslan sings the world of Narnia into being in "The Magician's Nephew" (1955), originally published as the sixth book, but often now sold as the first book in the series. The best known book of the series is probably "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" (1950), where the four Pevensie children assist Aslan in defeating the evil White Witch who has brought one hundred years of winter to Narnia. Narnia has appeared in televised, filmed, and radio productions.

Narnia was both the name given to a World and a specific land within the world that also included at least Archenland and Calormen. Narnia is a flat world as described by Caspian. There is a certain symmetry as most of the known area west of Cair Paravel, the castle, is land and most of the area to the east is ocean. It could be possible, however, that there are other continents and/or other oceans.


The image is a lion who is supposed to represent Aslan, Son of the Emperor-over-the-sea. Lewis described Aslan as how Jesus might choose to present himself in another world.

Answer: Eternia

Eternia is the home of the "Masters of the Universe Franchise" featuring He-Man (secretly Prince Adam) and his friends battling evil Skeletor and his minions. The franchise includes several animated series, including "He-Man and the Masters of the Universe" (1983-1985), and 1987 live action movie, a series of comic books, video games, and toys galore. In most versions, Prince Adam would transform into He-Man by holding aloft his sword of power and declaring "By the Power of Greyskull!"

The world of Eternia is described in some detail in different media but is not obviously symmetrical or asymmetrical.

The image in the picture is supposed to represent Castle Greyskull, the most mysterious location in all of Eternia.

Answer: Xanth

Piers Anthony (born 1934) is the author of "The Magic of Xanth" series. Originally intended as a trilogy of books, as more novels were added this expanded to first a "trilogy" of nine books (3X3) and then a "magic trilogy" of twenty-seven books (3X3X3 or 3 to the 3rd power). Using this standard, the first book of the first trilogy, "A Spell for Chameleon" appeared in 1977 and the first book of the second trilogy (number 28), "Currant Events" appeared in 2004. In the land of Xanth, there are many magical creatures such as centaurs, goblins, harpies, and elves. In addition, every human being who is born there has a magical talent--including profound talents such as being able to communicate with inanimate objects or transforming oneself into any living creature to minor talents such as being able to make a spot appear on a wall.

The world of Xanth is not particularly symmetrical with a connection to the mainland/outside world only at one end. In several books of the series, however, the Gap Chasm is described as running roughly across the middle of Xanth.

In many editions of the "Xanth" books, the map of Xanth shown makes it look like an outline of Florida (Piers Anthony's state of residence) which I have tried to suggest in the picture including the Gap Chasm (the jagged line), an arrow pointing to Mundania (our world), and the islands lying to the south of Xanth.

Answer: Wonderland

Wonderland is the main setting of "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" (1865), a book written by Lewis Carroll (born Charles Lutwidge Dodgson) (1832-1898). The Alice of the story is a real girl--Alice Liddell, with whose family Lewis Carroll was friends. In the book, Alice follows the White Rabbit down a hole to Wonderland where she meets many characters such as the Mad Hatter, the Cheshire Cat, and the Queen of Hearts. The story of Alice was continued in "Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There (1871). Alice's story has appeared in more than one filmed version.

Wonderland is not clearly symmetrical or asymmetrical. Many of the characters are connected to a playing card which provides a certain balance as the deck has four suits each with 13 cards. The world of the Looking-glass has more symmetry since Alice's journey seems to make it resemble a chess board which has a grid of eight squares by eight squares.


This picture was meant to suggest the White Rabbit, a character in the story who on several occasions consults his pocket watch for the time.

Answer: Riverworld

The "Riverworld" series was the product of Philip Jose Farmer (1918-2009) and began with the titular book, published in 1971. In this world people from throughout Earths history are seemingly resurrected along this world-spanning river. Several books, written by Farmer and others, followed.

The books describe a river in a valley that is thousands of miles long. It is unclear whether it provides symmetry to this planet or not.

The picture shows the blue line of the river winding its way across the planet.

Answer: Middle Earth

J. R. R. Tolkien (1892-1973) described Middle Earth in several of the books of his "Lord of the Rings" series including "The Fellowship of the Ring" (1954), "The Two Towers" (1954), "The Return of the King" (1955), and "The Hobbit" (1937). The chief villain in several if the books was the malevolent spirit, Sauron, represented by the lidless eye. The heroes in these books are attempting to destroy the ring that contains much of Sauron's power. In addition to the books, there have been animated and live-action movie versions of this story as well as radio drama adaptations.

Middle-Earth does not appear to be fairly symmetrical although the map that usually accompanies the books usually only shows the northwestern part of the planet. It is possible that if we saw a nap of the whole planet it might be more evenly balanced.

The picture shows Sauron's eye and his ring of power.

Answer: Mid-World

Stephen King (born 1947) created "The Dark Tower" series that begins with "The Gunslinger (1982)--itself based on a set of previously published stories. Gunslinger Roland leads a group of people from our world on a quest to find the titular Dark Tower. There are a set of paths one can follow from the edge of Mid-World to the center and the tower. Many of Stephen Kong's other works have been connected to the mythology of the Dark Tower saga. In later books, Stephen King himself becomes a secondary character in the story.

The 12 paths of the beam (leading to the Dark Tower) provide a certain symmetry to Mid-World.

The picture includes an outline of the 12 paths as well as a symbolic representation of the Dark Tower.

Answer: Lilliput

"Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. In Four Parts. By Lemuel Gulliver, First a Surgeon, and then a Captain of Several Ships" (1726) was written by Jonathan Swift (1667-1745). Gulliver participates in four voyages over the course of Several decades before returning finally to his native England. Gulliver's story (at least) in part has been seen on both the small screen and the large screen.

If the lands are not entirely symmetrical, the story itself is. Gulliver first journeys to Lilliput where everything is one-twelfth the size it would be in England and then to Brobdingnag where everything is twelve times the size it would be in England. Laputa is overly scientific and impractical where as the Land of the Hoyhnhnms is natural and rational.

The image shows one stick person representing Gulliver surrounded by several smaller stick people representing the Lilliputians.

Answer: Terry Goodkind

Terry Goodkind (born 1948) is the author of the "Sword of Truth" series that begins with "Wizard's First Rule" (1994). In the series, protagonists Richard and Kahlan lead a fight of the New World against the evil wizard Darken Rahl and then invading horde of the Imperial Order from the New World. Richard holds the title "Seeker of Truth" and as such has possession of a sword with the word "Truth" written on the hilt in fine wire.

The book includes a simplified map of the New World. There is a certain symmetry on this planet in that there is both a New World and an Old World, but the Old World is described as much larger than the New World by more than one character.

The picture includes an image of the Sword of Truth.