Bladed Whodunit Trivia Quiz

Answer: Charlotte Corday

This death was reproduced a few months later in a 1793 painting by Jacques-Louis David. This inspired the play with a lengthy title normally shortened to "Marat/Sade" (1963) by Peter Weiss and its 1967 film adaptation, as well as many other media references. Jean-Paul Marat was a friend of the artist and a French revolutionary leader, one of the Montagnards faction. David was also a member of the same faction and on the revolutionary Committee of General Security.

A skin condition saw Marat spend much time in his bath. He was editing a proof of his newspaper "L'Ami du peuple" when Charlotte Corday assassinated him on 13 July 1793. The note he is holding in the painting was supposedly a quote from Corday but is fictional. The actual newspaper, complete with his blood, has been preserved.

Corday was a Girondin, a different political faction and the political enemy of Marat. Corday blamed Marat for the September Massacres when around 1,500 Parisienne prisoners were slaughtered over a five-day period in September 1792. This was in case they joined the approaching armies. Corday did not attempt to flee and was later executed. There is also an 1860 painting of Corday, painted by Paul Jacques Aimé Baudry.

Answer: Sweeney Todd

This was from the 2007 Gothic musical slasher film "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street". Johnny Depp took the role of Sweeney Todd in this Tim Burton-directed film. The film was based on the 1979 stage musical of the same name by Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler, which itself was based on the 1970 play "Sweeney Todd" by Christopher Bond. There are many versions of the story which first appeared in the penny dreadful serial "The String of Pearls" (1846-47).

The barber's actual name was Benjamin Barker in the film but he adopted the pseudonym to have some anonymity. His journey to becoming a serial killer followed a wrongful conviction and exile to Australia because the judge wanted Barker's wife for himself. In the film, the barber would kill customers before dropping them through the floor to his partner-in-crime in the premises below who would process them into meat pies. Her business had been failing, but got a boost as a result. The judge got his comeuppance.

Answer: Arya Stark

The death of the Night King occurred during episode 3, season 8 of the American TV fantasy drama "Game of Thrones" (2019). By killing the Night King, Arya Stark also caused the destruction of the Night King's Army of the Dead and the undead dragon Viserion.

The dagger she used was made of Valyrian steel, a fictional metal made in Valyria and of unparalleled quality. Magic played a part in its forging.

Answer: Paul Atreides

The crysknife was the most prized weapon of the Fremen warrior, described in Frank Herbert's 1965 science-fiction novel "Dune" and other books of the series. It was made from the tooth of a sandworm of the planet Arrakis and was tuned to the owner. Personal body shields had made projectile weapons less effective, resulting in slow-moving weapons like knives having more relevance.

A key element of the book is the competition between the Houses of Harkonnen and Atreides for control of the planet Arrakis, the only source of the drug melange which, amongst other things, made interstellar space travel safe. Feyd-Rautha and Paul Atreides were in these opposing houses and, following the death of Baron Harkonnen, Feyd-Rautha and Paul were involved in a ritual duel. As was his nature, Feyd-Rautha intended to win by breaking the formal rules. Paul chose to fight cleanly and won. A film depiction of the fight can be seen in "Dune: Part 2" (2024).

Answer: Buffy Summers

Faith appeared mostly in season 3 (1998-99) of the supernatural horror TV series "Buffy the Vampire Slayer". A slayer like Buffy, she was initially aligned with Buffy but gradually became estranged and mentally unbalanced. Mid-season she allied herself to the villainous Mayor of Sunnydale.

The Mayor ordered Faith to kill Angel (Faith shot him with a poisoned arrow) which lead to the fight between Buffy and Faith during which Faith was stabbed. The knife involved was one given to Faith by the Mayor. Faith survived and recovered her mental equilibrium to work with Angel (who had been saved by having some of Buffy's blood) in the spin-off series "Angel" during the first four seasons (1999-2002).

Answer: Ghostface

The character Casey Becker appeared in the 1996 slasher "Scream", the first in a series of "Scream" films satirising the genre. Portrayed by Drew Barrymore, Becker first encountered Ghostface on the other end of a phone when she was home alone. She was required to answer questions about horror films in order to save her boyfriend's life.

Inevitably she got one wrong. She tried to escape but was killed by someone wearing a 'Ghostface' mask. The weapon most strongly associated with the various 'Ghostface' mask wearers was the Buck 120 knife.

Answer: Norman Bates

This was a reference to the famous shower scene killing in the 1960 horror film "Psycho" which established Vivian Leigh (portraying Marion Crane) as a scream queen. The 1960 Alfred Hitchcock-directed film was based on the 1959 novel of the same name by Robert Bloch, although the character's name in the novel was Mary rather than Marion. Norman Bates was eventually revealed to be the killer. A kitchen knife was used to do the deed.

The sequels "Psycho II" (1983) and "Psycho III" (1986) both showed the shower scene in flashback. The 1990 sequel "Psycho IV" did not, although the 1998 "Psycho" re-make did with Anne Heche in the Marion role. Vivian Leigh was nominated for an Academy Award for her 1960 performance whereas Anne Heche's nomination was for a Golden Raspberry Award.

Answer: Macbeth

Act 2 scene 2 of the 'Scottish play' saw Lady Macbeth in the courtyard giving a night-time soliloquy while Macbeth had gone to Duncan's chamber to commit the murder. He returned to say it was done. Duncan was the King of Scotland at the opening of the play. Three witches foretold that Macbeth would become king and, encouraged to violence by Lady Macbeth, he tried to help the prophecy along.

A stage superstition was that the name of the play should not be spoken. It was therefore referred to as "the Scottish Play" or "the Bard's play". Its full name was "The Tragedy of Macbeth", usually shortened to "Macbeth", and was written by William Shakespeare ('the Bard') sometime around 1600.

Answer: Samwise Gamgee

Sting was an Elven dagger discovered and named by Bilbo Baggins. It was part of a troll hoard as described in J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Hobbit" (1937). The Elven dagger was sword-sized for a hobbit. Bilbo passed it on to Frodo when Frodo was about to undertake his own journey as part of the Fellowship of the Ring during the sequel "The Lord of the Rings" (published in three volumes in 1954).

At the time described in the question, Samwise was wielding Sting against Shelob after Frodo had been paralysed by Shelob.

Answer: Unnamed boy

The creature killed by vorpal sword is the Jabberwock. The tale is told in the nonsense poem "Jabberwocky" by Lewis Carroll which was included in his 1871 novel "Through the Looking Glass". In this sequel to the 1865 novel "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland", Alice discovered the book containing the poem when she first encountered the White King and White Queen. Realising it was in reverse writing, she managed to read the poem by reading the verses in a mirror.

An early version of the poem was printed in 1855 with an expanded version appearing in the 1871 novel. The poem is the source of such words as 'galumphing' and 'chortle' to the English language.