Why Won't You Die? Trivia Quiz

Answer: ring

Like all other hobbits, Bilbo Baggins preferred a quiet and unexciting life, and lived that way until the wizard Gandalf requested his presence on a quest wherein thirteen dwarves sought to retake their historical homeland from the dragon, Smaug. At one point, Bilbo stumbled into a deep, underground lake, and only made it out alive because of ring he found that made its wearer invisible.

The ring was originally just a plot device to help Bilbo out of a bind, but in the "Lord of the Rings" sequels, it turned out to be the One Ring, a powerful ring forged by the dark lord Sauron to control and bind the lands of Middle Earth. It slowly corrupted and unnaturally extended the life of its wearers, including Bilbo, until he was rid of its influence. Nonetheless, he lived to the age of 131, becoming the longest-lived hobbit of all time.

Answer: drowning

The exact nature of Jason's existence has been retconned repeatedly. In the first "Friday the 13th", he had originally drowned, and his mother Pamela was the murderer, seeking revenge for head dead son. In "Friday the 13th Part 2", Jason was revealed to be alive, though the reason for his being alive has alternated between surviving the drowning and various supernatural causes.

Jason survived repeated attempts to kill him, until he 'officially' died at the end of the fourth movie. This was merely a temporary setback though, as a bolt of lightning brought him back to life in the sixth movie. He survived further attempts to kill him, including a second 'official' death in "Jason Goes to Hell", and was often resurrected without any explanation. In "Jason X", he was frozen cryogenically until being revived in the year 2455, where he gets incinerated after falling through Earth Two's atmosphere. The end?

Answer: dream demons

Wes Craven conceived the iconic Freddy Kreuger in the 1980s, as a child murder/molester who was burned alive by the parents of his victims. Craven named him for a bully from his childhood, and Freddy was featured in a series of increasingly campy films during the 1980s and beyond. He wore a glove with knife-like fingers, stalking and murdering children in their dreams, but was supernaturally confined to the borders of Springwood, Ohio.

As explained in "The Final Nightmare", Freddy's daughter, Maggie, was taken away from him. Before he died, three dream demons offered Freddy supernatural powers to exact revenge on those who had wronged him; he 'took away' children in their dreams. Freddy is killed for good when his daughter pulls him into the real world and dynamites him to pieces. The dream demons fled when they were unable to reconstruct his body in the real world.

Answer: eternal youth

J. M. Barrie based Peter Pan on his older brother, who died in an accident at the age of fourteen and would thus remain 'forever young' to his mother. As a character, Peter Pan first appeared in "The Little White Bird" (1902). He got a stage play in 1904, and a full book, "Peter and Wendy", in 1911. Barrie never described Peter Pan in great detail, mainly saying that he was a young, beautiful boy clad in leaves.

Peter Pan lives in Neverland, an island that Barrie vaguely suggested lies in the minds of children, or somewhat offshore of Britain. Disney's "Peter Pan" movie put Neverland far out among the stars, and suggests that it is Neverland that gives Peter Pan his eternal youth. However, Barrie wrote that forgetfulness is what keeps Peter Pan young, and that all others, even the Lost Boys, eventually grow up.

Answer: beheading

"Highlander" follows the life of Connor MacLeod, one of the long-lived Immortals, who can only be permanently killed if they are decapitated. The Immortals possess a sort of perception known as Quickening, allowing them to sense other nearby Immortals, and are destined to fight and kill each other until only one remains. Connor ends up in New York City in 1985, where he meets Brenda Wyatt, who is investigating several recent beheadings in the city.

New York City happens to be the location for the Gathering, the final confrontation between all Immortals who managed to live until 1985. The Immortals dwindle down to Connor and Kurgan, who uses Brenda to force the final confrontation. Connor wins, and in doing so attains a sentience with all living beings -- as well as becoming mortal himself. He returns to his native Scotland with Brenda, able to have a family with her, like an ordinary mortal.

Answer: portrait painting

"The Picture of Dorian Gray" was Oscar Wilde's only novel. It started as a short story commissioned by JM Stoddart after a dinner with Wilde and Arthur Conan Doyle, and was expanded upon immensely to create a full novel. The hedonistic and homoerotic tones of the book gave it a rocky reception. His work has been adapted to film and television numerous times since its inception.

Dorian Gray is a young man whose picture is painted by an artist, Basil Hallward. He wishes that the painting would age in his place, and eventually finds that his wish has become true. Over eighteen years, he experiments with all sorts of vices, and causes the deaths of several people around him. His body does not age or ache at all, and his portrait steadily becomes more grotesque. He eventually stabs his own painting, assuming all its sins and killing himself in the process.

Answer: horcrux

Tom Marvolo Riddle grew up a destitute and orphaned but brilliant child. He was the last descendant of the wizard Salazar Slytherin, and he had inherited many rare gifts as a result. It was these abilities that drew Albus Dumbledore to him, and he was accepted to the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. While at Hogwarts, he learned about horcruxes, and split his soul into seven pieces in order to attain immortality.

Tom eventually became the dark lord Voldemort, the most terrifying wizard in centuries. He unleashed a wave of terror and bloodshed on the wizarding world, only to be stopped cold by a baby -- Harry Potter. His horcruxes allowed him to cheat his way through death, and he eventually regained his body, unleashing a new reign of terror on the wizarding world. A grown Harry Potter and his friends eventually discovered the secret behind his immortality, destroy the horcruxes, and kill Voldemort, permanently.

Answer: healing factor

Wolverine was originally envisioned as wearing clawed gloves, but the claws were eventually revealed to be a part of his skeleton. When the adamantium was forcibly torn from his body, he was shown to have bone claws underneath the adamantium ones. Wolverine gained his adamantium skeleton when he enrolled with Weapon X, a project undertaken during World War II.

Wolverine was born in Canada in the 1880s, but his healing factor allows him to remain strong and relatively young far longer than the average person. In World War I, he fought and beat Azrael, the angel of death. He fought side by side with Captain America during World War II. He has also literally been to Hell and back. Wolverine was eventually recruited by Professor Xavier, and became one of the most prominent members of the X-Men.

Answer: Aztec gold

Geoffrey Rush has played the role of the villainous Hector Barbossa in the "Pirates of the Caribbean" franchise. The first name of his character (Hector) was not revealed until the third movie in the series. In scenes with multiple actors, Rush requested that his character be on the left side as much as possible, particularly when with 'more attractive' cast members (namely Kiera Knightly). He requested this believing that westerners view scenes starting from the left and settle on the right side of a screen.

As Hector Barbossa, he lead a mutiny that led to him becoming the captain of the ship, the Black Pearl. He and his crew became cursed after stealing Aztec gold, becoming undead and ageless, and unable to feel any sort of sensation. In their quest to recover and return the gold and break the curse, they fight against Jack Sparrow, the previous captain of the Black Pearl. Hector dies when he is shot and the last coin is returned, lifting the curse. Nonetheless, he is revived at the end of the second movie, for reasons detailed in the third.

Answer: Matrix of Leadership

Optimus Prime's original design came from Takara's "Diaclone" line of toys, and was one of many transforming robot designs that Hasbro bought from companies around the world in order to create the Transformers line of toys. Though he has seen numerous incarnations over the years, nearly all of them involve the same basic design of a red truck with some sort of trailer. He was created when the wise autobot Alpha Trion rebuilt the remains of a young autobot, Orion Pax, into a robot who could stand up to Megatron's tyranny.

As the leader of the autobots, Optimus Prime carries the Matrix of Leadership, which holds the wisdom of all previous autobot leaders, including himself when he dies. In the original series, the Matrix only houses his memories and some semblance of his consciousness. In the "Armada" series, the Matrix is used to resurrect him after he lost his life saving Earth from the Hydra Cannon. In the movie, "Revenge of the Fallen", the Matrix is able to restore any transformer to life, and is used accordingly after Megatron kills Optimus Prime in an ambush.