The Year of the Dragon Trivia Quiz

Answer: Puff

"Puff, the Magic Dragon" was written by Leonard Lipton and Peter Yarrow (later to be a member of Peter, Paul and Mary). Lipton wrote the lyrics in 1958, as a poem inspired by the Ogden Nash poem "The Tale of Custard the Dragon" using the typewriter of a friend's housemate, Yarrow. Years later, Yarrow set them to music, and a legend was born.

The original poem had an extra verse, in which Puff gains another child for a friend, but it was left out of the song. The song ends with the image of Puff mourning the loss of his life-long friend, an image which has caused many a sympathetic tear to well in listeners' eyes over the years.

Answer: H.R. Pufnstuf

On Living Island, every part of the set could come alive as needed to fit the plot. Houses, castles, boats, grandfather clocks, candles, books, trees, mushrooms, as well as the local fauna, all sing, dance and involve themselves in the day's events. The only non-puppet characters were Jimmy and Wilhelmina W. Witchiepoo, who was constantly trying to steal Freddy, Jimmy's talking flute. Witchiepoo's henchmen Orson Vulture, Seymour Spider, and Stupid Bat were often sent to attempt the flutenapping, always unsuccessfully. Pufnstuf's cave was the only place on the island where her magic didn't work, so it was a useful refuge. Jimmy was played by Jack Wild, the star of the film "Oliver!".

Answer: Elliot

"Pete's Dragon" tells the story of Pete, a young orphan who comes to live in the small Maine fishing town of Passamaquody. He is accompanied by Elliot, a clumsy green and purple dragon with the power of invisibility. Elliot's clumsiness while invisible is a running cause of trouble and hilarity in the movie. Pete and Elliot meet when Pete is trying to escape from an abusive adoptive family, and is rescued by an invisible force that is revealed to be Elliot. By the end of the film, Pete has found a new family where he will be safe and happy, and Elliot flies off to help other children.

In the episode "No Meals on Wheels" of the cartoon series "Family Guy", there is a parody of "Pete's Dragon", featuring Ben Stiller (with oversized ears as wings, a la Dumbo) as the dragon.

Answer: Fafner

Wagner based his Ring cycle on a series of Norse legends and on "Nibelungenlied", an epic poem in Middle High German. There are many variants on the story, with conflicting details. According to Wagner, Siegfried is a fearless young man who is told by his adoptive father (Mime) that he needs to slay the dragon Fafner (elsewhere spelled Fafnir) in order to learn the meaning of fear, which is presented as an essential skill for warriors. Fafner had originally been a giant (elsewhere a dwarf), who turned into a dragon in order to guard his gold. Alberich warns Fafner, who pays no attention. Siegfried slays Fafner, accidentally licks some dragon blood from his hands and acquires the ability to detect the fact that Mime plans to poison him. He kills Mime and leaves his body in the dragon's cave.

In Act 3, Siegfried meets the warrior Brunhilde, the first woman he has ever seen. Experiencing fear for the first time, he kisses her in a panic, waking her from her magical sleep.

Answer: Dungeons and Dragons

The granddaddy of them all, "Dungeons and Dragons" assigns each player a specific character to play as they embark on imaginary adventures within a fantasy setting. The game's Dungeon Master maintains the setting of the story, as well as acting as a referee. Working together, characters solve problems, engage in battles, and gather treasure and knowledge, gaining power as they go.

The only items required to play the game are the rulebooks, a character sheet for each player and a number of polyhedral dice.

The current editions also assume, but do not require, the use of miniature figures or markers on a gridded surface. If, like me, you haven't played it, you've certainly heard of it! Many of its features are found in later online role-playing games such as "World of Warcraft".

Answer: Pern

In the series of novels and stories collectively referred to as "The Dragonriders of Pern", written by Anne McCaffrey and (later) her son Todd McCaffrey, Pern is presented as a pre-industrial society reminiscent of Medieval times in our world, complete with dragons. One of the main threats to their civilization is Thread, a spore that periodically rains down when the so-called 'Red Star' (actually a 'Sedna-class inner Oort cloud object') approaches Pern in its orbit. The only defense is provided by intelligent fire-breathing dragons who have formed a telepathic bond with their future riders from birth.

Gethen is the setting of Ursula le Guin's "The Left Hand of Darnkess"; Trantor is the centre of the Galactic Empire in Isaac Asimov's "Foundation and Empire" series; the most famous citizen of Vulcan, a part of the Star Trek Universe, is probably Spock.

Answer: Smaug

"The Hobbit", written in the 1930s, is mostly thought of as a children's story, and as the precursor to Tolkien's famed trilogy "The Lord of the Rings". In it, the world of Middle-earth is established, with its many links to Norse mythology.

Bilbo is the company's 'burglar', entrusted with the task of scouting Smaug's lair, after entering through a secret door, to help discover a way to retrieve the treasure. While there, he learns of the weakness in Smaug's armor, which makes it possible for the Bard the Bowman to slay the dragon in battle. Despite only taking a small part of his share of the treasure, Bilbo returns home a wealthy hobbit.

Bilbo meets Gollum while lost in a mountain cave, and takes Gollum's ring after engaging in a riddle competition. Elrond is the part-elven host of Rivendell, where the company took shelter on their way to the Lonely Mountain. Beorn, a man who can assume the form of a bear, whose appearance in bear form is a decisive factor in the victory of the alliance of men, elves, dwarves and eagles over the goblins.

Answer: The NeverEnding Story

Michael Ende wrote the original German novel, in which Bastian escapes from bullies to read a book about a parallel world called Fantastica (changed to Fantasia in the movie) that is being destroyed by The Nothing, which represents people's lack of imagination in the real world.

In Fantasia a young boy named Atreyu is set on a quest to stop The Nothing. It eventually becomes clear that the purpose of the book is to bring a 'real' boy with imagination to the assistance of Fantasia, by giving the empress a new name and starting a new cycle of life. Falkor rescues Atreyu after a nearly-fatal encounter with the monster Gmork and flies him to the empress's castle for the climactic scene.

At the end of the film, we see the bullies being chased by Bastian and Falkor, who then soar triumphantly off on their way to more adventures.

Answer: Norbert

Norbert was hatched by Hagrid in "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone", the first book of the series, despite the fact that dragon breeding had been outlawed by the Warlock's Convention of 1709. When Norbert became too difficult to handle, Hagrid gave him to Charlie Weasley to look after in Romania, where he was tending dragons. Charlie discovered that Norbert was a female, and renamed her Norberta.

Fluffy was Hagrid's three-headed dog who helped to protect the Philosopher's Stone. Aragog was a talking acromantula (giant spider) hatched from an egg by Hagrid when he was a student at Hogwarts. Harry met Aragog when he and Ron followed the spiders into the Forbidden Forest in "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets". Buckbeak was a hippogriff, a mythical creature with the front legs, wings and head of an eagle, along with the body, hind legs and tail of a horse. Harry first met Buckbeak during one of Hagrid's Care of Magical Creatures classes in "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban".

Answer: How to Train Your Dragon

Hiccup is the son of a village chief, Stoick the Vast, on the island of Berk where dragons raid the sheep, and dragon slayers are heroes. When Hiccup shoots down a Night Fury dragon with a weapon he has devised, nobody believes him, so he sets off to find and kill the dragon in order to prove himself.

He discovers, however, that dragons are not the completely vicious animals that they had been made out to be, and befriends this one, whom he names Toothless. Eventually, after much battling and excitement, the townsfolk are convinced that humans and dragons can coexist in peace, and Hiccup is a hero.