FREE! Click here to Join FunTrivia. Thousands of games, quizzes, and lots more!
Quiz about The Golden Compass
Quiz about The Golden Compass

10 The Golden Compass Questions | Authors Trivia Quiz


Here's a quiz about "The Golden Compass" from the "His Dark Materials" trilogy by Pullman. It should be easy if you know a bit about the "His Dark Materials" universe. I strongly recommend only playing after reading the entire trilogy (spoilers) Have fun

A multiple-choice quiz by larskeu. Estimated time: 4 mins.
  1. Home
  2. »
  3. Quizzes
  4. »
  5. Literature Trivia
  6. »
  7. Authors L-P
  8. »
  9. Philip Pullman

Author
larskeu
Time
4 mins
Type
Multiple Choice
Quiz #
186,575
Updated
Dec 03 21
# Qns
10
Difficulty
Easy
Avg Score
8 / 10
Plays
1708
- -
Question 1 of 10
1. "The Golden Compass" is the first book of a trilogy called "His Dark Materials". From which well known classic book by John Milton comes the name "His Dark Materials"? Hint


Question 2 of 10
2. "The Golden Compass" consists of three major parts. All three parts have the name of a city or place where most of that part of the book takes place. What's the first part of the book called ? It's also an existing British city and the hometown of the author, Philip Pullman.

Answer: (One Word (Think university))
Question 3 of 10
3. The "His Dark Materials" books takes place in many different universes who exist parallel to each other. In "The Golden Compass" Lyra, the main character, travels between different universes during the course of the book.


Question 4 of 10
4. When "The Golden Compass" was first released in the United Kingdom , it was released under a different name , that was later changed to "The Golden Compass". What was the original name of the first book ? It was only released under this name in Great Britain in 1995. Hint


Question 5 of 10
5. Many things make "His Dark Materials" very special. One of those things is that the inhabitants of Lyra's world all have a "dæmon". It's a part of their conscience that can be seen and lives separately, although is highly depended and cannot stray very far away. It's your visible soul and takes the shape of an animal. Children's dæmons can shift into any creature they please but settle in a fixed shape once the child becomes an adult. Lyra's dæmon can still shift shapes during "The Golden Compass". What's his name ? Hint


Question 6 of 10
6. At the beginning of "The Golden Compass" , Lyra meets both her parents but doesn't know that they are her mother and father. She's also been told her father is her uncle.


Question 7 of 10
7. Lyra's been living in the university of Oxford for as long as she can remember. She spends her days playing with her best friend, who works in the kitchen of the University until he, together with many other kids, gets kidnapped by the "Gobblers". What's his name ? Hint


Question 8 of 10
8. At Bolvangar Lyra convinces a talking Bear to help them in their search for the lost children. He turns out to be the rightful king of the Armored Bears and eventually takes his place by killing the present king. What's the name of this great white bear who plays a very important part in the trilogy ? Hint


Question 9 of 10
9. At the end of the first book Roger is killed by Lyra's father; Lord Asriel. He needed the power generated through Roger's sacrifice to open up a gateway into another world ; a parallel universe. Lyra sees her father go trough the portal and eventually decides to follow him trough the portal. This portal leads to which universe? Hint


Question 10 of 10
10. Final question. To what is "His Dark Materials" a referral in the book? It's what the entire trilogy is about. It's what everybody's looking for and trying to figure out. Hint



(Optional) Create a Free FunTrivia ID to save the points you are about to earn:

arrow Select a User ID:
arrow Choose a Password:
arrow Your Email:




Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. "The Golden Compass" is the first book of a trilogy called "His Dark Materials". From which well known classic book by John Milton comes the name "His Dark Materials"?

Answer: Paradise Lost

Taken from the following passage in Milton's "Paradise Lost" book II
"Into this wild abyss,
The womb of nature and perhaps her grave,
Of neither sea, nor shore, nor air, nor fire,
But all these in their pregnant causes mixed
Confusedly, and which thus must ever fight,
Unless the almighty maker them ordain
His dark materials to create mroe worlds,
Into this wild abyss the wary fiend
Stood on the brink of hell and looked a while,
Pondering his voyage..."
2. "The Golden Compass" consists of three major parts. All three parts have the name of a city or place where most of that part of the book takes place. What's the first part of the book called ? It's also an existing British city and the hometown of the author, Philip Pullman.

Answer: Oxford

Oxford plays part in more of Pullman's work, who lives and works in Oxford himself. A short tale about Lyra, the main character of "His Dark Materials" is called "Lyra's Oxford". It's also the place where she eventually returns to and where the trilogy finally comes to an end.

the other parts are called "Bolvangar", and "Svalbard"
3. The "His Dark Materials" books takes place in many different universes who exist parallel to each other. In "The Golden Compass" Lyra, the main character, travels between different universes during the course of the book.

Answer: False

This is not true. The entire book takes place in Lyra's world, the universe the book starts in. At the end of "The Golden Compass" Lyra steps trough a portal that leads to another world, however this is where the first book ends.
4. When "The Golden Compass" was first released in the United Kingdom , it was released under a different name , that was later changed to "The Golden Compass". What was the original name of the first book ? It was only released under this name in Great Britain in 1995.

Answer: Northern Lights

The Northern lights or "Aurora" play an important part in the first book, just as the golden compass or "Alethiometer" does. Book II and III are called after important objects ("The Subtle Knife" and "The Amber Spyglass") so "The Golden Compass" turned out to be more suitable as the trilogy was completed.
5. Many things make "His Dark Materials" very special. One of those things is that the inhabitants of Lyra's world all have a "dæmon". It's a part of their conscience that can be seen and lives separately, although is highly depended and cannot stray very far away. It's your visible soul and takes the shape of an animal. Children's dæmons can shift into any creature they please but settle in a fixed shape once the child becomes an adult. Lyra's dæmon can still shift shapes during "The Golden Compass". What's his name ?

Answer: Pantalaimon

This should be easy as Pan is just as much the main character as Lyra is. By the end of the third and last book he takes on his fixed shape after being touched lovingly by Will.
6. At the beginning of "The Golden Compass" , Lyra meets both her parents but doesn't know that they are her mother and father. She's also been told her father is her uncle.

Answer: True

This is true. Lord Asriel is her actual father, though she's lead to believe he's her uncle. Early on she also meets Mrs. Coulter, her actual mother, but only finds this out much later. Both Lyra's parents play a very crucial role in "His Dark Materials".
7. Lyra's been living in the university of Oxford for as long as she can remember. She spends her days playing with her best friend, who works in the kitchen of the University until he, together with many other kids, gets kidnapped by the "Gobblers". What's his name ?

Answer: Roger

Roger is kidnapped by The Gobblers , led by Mrs. Coulter, and taken to Bolvangar and later to Svalbard. Lyra follows Roger in an attempt to rescue him.
8. At Bolvangar Lyra convinces a talking Bear to help them in their search for the lost children. He turns out to be the rightful king of the Armored Bears and eventually takes his place by killing the present king. What's the name of this great white bear who plays a very important part in the trilogy ?

Answer: Iorek Byrnison

Iorek renames "Lyra Belacqua" into "Lyra Silvertongue" after she tricked Iofur, who was the king before Iorek, into believing she was a daemon and convincing him to fight with Iorek. Later on in the trilogy he mends the broken subtle knife, amongst other things.
9. At the end of the first book Roger is killed by Lyra's father; Lord Asriel. He needed the power generated through Roger's sacrifice to open up a gateway into another world ; a parallel universe. Lyra sees her father go trough the portal and eventually decides to follow him trough the portal. This portal leads to which universe?

Answer: The otherworld of Cittàgazze

It leads to the beautiful and haunted otherworld of Cittàgazze, where Lyra encounters Will, who stumbled in from our world, and finds the Subtle Knife. It's inhabited by soul-eating Specters who eat the soul/daemons of adults. Children roam free in this world as the Specters leave them alone.
10. Final question. To what is "His Dark Materials" a referral in the book? It's what the entire trilogy is about. It's what everybody's looking for and trying to figure out.

Answer: All of these

In Lyra's world is it known as "Dust", in Will world's it is known as "Dark Matter" and also "Shadows". It has many names. To find out what Dust realy is, please read "His Dark Materials" if you haven't already done so. Thanks for playing and rating my quiz ! Hope you liked it and watch out for my quizzess on the other two books "The Subtle Knife" and "The Amber Spyglass"
Source: Author larskeu

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor Bruyere before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.
3/28/2024, Copyright 2024 FunTrivia, Inc. - Report an Error / Contact Us