Terry Pratchett's "Sourcery" Trivia Quiz

Answer: A staff

Ipslore the Red was the eighth son of an eighth son, making him a wizard, but he didn't get along well at the Unseen University and left to start a family. Wizards are specifically forbidden from doing so to prevent them from having an eighth son, which would be a sourcerer.

After his eighth son was born, Ipslore created a staff for him made of metal, claiming that, "I put a lot of myself into it" which turned out to be very true. When Death came for Ipslore, he told Death that he was setting his son's destiny to wear the Archchancellor's hat and rule over the world. Death informed him that he couldn't set the destiny without leaving a loophole, so Ipslore said that the loophole was that the destiny would be removed if Coin threw away his staff.

Although Death stated that a wizard would never throw away his staff, he conceded that it was a possibility. Thus when Ipslore merged with the staff, Death couldn't take the staff from Coin without upsetting destiny. Death pointed out, "YOU'RE ONLY PUTTING OFF THE INEVITABLE", to which Ipslore replied, "That's what being alive is all about".

Answer: The hat

Rincewind had told the bursar that the university was sinking after he saw the rats leaving the university in droves. The bursar dismissed it, telling Rincewind that it was probably just a grain ship in the harbor. But when Rincewind left the bursar's office, he saw mice, an army of ants and even mattresses leaving the property.

Then he saw the gargoyles crawling down from the building, and one of them told him, "A Ourcerer is umming!" So Rincewind went to his room, got the Luggage and took off, inviting the Librarian to come with him "for a drink". Meanwhile, Conina, clad in black, was quietly entering the property.

She headed to the Archchancellor's room where she took the lid off a round leather box, and a voice inside said, "At last. What kept you?" We later found out that not only had the hat asked Conina to steal it, but it also gave her instructions on what to do with it, which turned out to be to find a wizard "with a keen sense of tradition who would not mind taking risks for high reward". Conina had picked Rincewind because he was wearing a hat that said "Wizzard", and he was the only wizard she could find.

The hat further ordered them to take it to Klatch, "where there is someone fit to wear me". The hat knew the sourcerer was coming and was determined that it would not be worn by a sourcerer.

Answer: A hairdresser

After noticing that Rincewind seemed a bit intimidated with her ability to dispatch several ruffians, Conina admitted to him that she couldn't help it because she took after her father. Rincewind joked, "Who was he, then? Cohen the Barbarian?" only to find out that indeed she was Cohen's daughter. Conina said that she inherited muscles and a desire to steal and kill things, but what she really wanted to be was a hairdresser. Rincewind pointed out that there wasn't really much of a call for a "shampoo and be-heading", but he knew how she felt because he really wanted to be a proper wizard.

Answer: A lizard

When Vetinari demanded to know why he had been transported to the university, Carding didn't like his condescending tone and ordered him to be taken to the dungeons. Spelter the bursar reminded Carding that they didn't have dungeons, to which Carding replied, "Then take him to the wine cellars, and while you're down there, build some dungeons".

But Vetinari continued to antagonize Carding, and Carding finally zapped him into a small yellow lizard (not that being a lizard is a bad thing). Luckily, the Librarian gathered him up and kept him safe in a glass jar in the library, while the library still stood.

Answer: Ottoman

There were several indicators in the story that led us to believe that Al Khali was similar to the Ottoman Empire, although it could be argued that it was like the Middle East in general. The city of Al Khali was on the coast of the Seriphate of Klatch, a country on the continent of Klatch, and Rincewind described Al Khali as "like Ankh, only with sand instead of mud".

It was also described as having vast deserts with blowing wind, and as Conina stated, it had a grand bazaar called The Soak where people haggle over the prices of various goods.

When the ship that they were sailing on was attacked by pirates, Rincewind warned Conina that they would throw her into a seraglio if she were captured, although he had a seraglio confused with an iron maiden. Conina pointed out that Rincewind might end up there too since he was wearing a robe.

In the end, Conina deliberately allowed them to be captured and taken to the harem to find the Archchancellor's hat which had been stolen by the pirates. It was there that they met Abrim, the Grand Vizier. Abrim had the hat, and when he took Conina and Rincewind to see it, the hat once again said, "At last. What kept you?"

Answer: A barbarian hero

The archchancellor's hat had decided to be worn by the Grand Vizier Abrim, so the hat told Abrim to get rid of Rincewind. Abrim told his guards to throw Rincewind in the spider tank but was told that they had run out of spiders. When he ordered Rincewind to be locked in the tiger cage, a guard informed Abrim that the tiger was ill. So they ended up putting Rincewind in the snake pit which turned out to be a fifteen-foot-deep pit containing only one snake and an extremely emaciated young man dressed in barbarian garb and woolly underwear (because he promised his mother he'd wear it).

He went by the name of Nijel the Destroyer, son of Harebut the Provision Merchant, and he had studied to be a barbarian by reading a book supposedly written by Cohen the Barbarian called "Inne Juste 7 Days I wille make You a Barbearian Hero!" He was in the pit because he had an asthma attack while he was trying to steal the Seriph's treasure. Nijel's limited skills became apparent when Rincewind and he escaped from the pit and went to rescue Conina from the harem.

As the guards approached Nijel, he pulled out his sword and gave the battle cry: "Erm, excuse me".

Answer: The Librarian

The Librarian had gone with Rincewind and the Luggage to the tavern before Coin arrived, but while Rincewind left with Conina for Al Khali, the Librarian returned to the university and was very troubled by the changes. He read up on sourcerers, and it was enough to make him crawl under his desk and hide under his blanket.

He was curled up under his desk both when Spelter the bursar arrived to warn him that Coin wanted to shut down the university and when Spelter returned to tell him to leave because Coin was going to burn down the library.

However, when Sconner led a group of wizards to set it afire, the Librarian was up in the rafters, and dropped on Sconner and tried to screw off his head. The other wizards tried to escape but the magical books in the library blocked their way.

The Librarian tossed the wizards out the door. Sconner wasn't pleased and when he stood up, he said, "That monkey has eaten its last banana", to which one of the wizards pointed out that the orangutan Librarian was actually an ape. Sconner then ordered the wizards to get him oil and kindling because "That ape's gonna fry", but the Librarian was already escaping through the ceiling of the library, taking the books with him.

When Rincewind returned to the university, he found the Librarian and the books in the Tower of Art. Apparently, books can fly, and most of them escaped before the library was attacked.

Answer: Flying carpet

With Abrim the Grand Vizier wreaking havoc with his new found wizard skills, Rincewind, Conina, and Nijel decided to get away (well, Rincewind and Conina did - they had to drag Nijel away as he was determined to take on Abrim). They ran into Creosote the Seriph, and he offered them the use of his magic carpet. Rincewind refused initially, asserting that he was afraid of grounds ("It's the grounds that kill you"), but he eventually realized that they had to get away from the Battle of Al Khali so he went along with them to the Seriph's treasury.

While most the treasure was gone, the magic carpet was hidden away, and after they located it, they sailed off after Rincewind said the magic word of "Down!" He was the only one who noticed that the carpet was upside down.

They landed on a beach where they spent the night, but Rincewind got tired of the others bashing wizards, so he took off on the carpet alone and headed back to Ankh-Morpork.

Answer: Ice Giants

After the wizards had conquered the Disc under Coin's guidance, Coin decided that they needed to conquer the gods also. He created a huge bubble that contained all of the gods: "The gods, imprisoned in a thought. Perhaps they were never more than a dream".

This created a problem. The Ice Giants had been imprisoned at the Hub many years ago following a battle with the gods. According to the legend, the Ice Giants would break free at the end of time and cover the Disc with their glaciers. So with the gods removed, the Ice Giants started riding their glaciers across the Disc. Nijel and Conina tried reasoning with one of the giants, only to be told that it was the "inevitability of history and the triumph of thermodynamics".

Answer: Half a brick in a sock

After his conversation with the Librarian in the Tower of Art, Rincewind decided to do something about the sourcerer. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that the Librarian had threatened to cut up his "Wizzard" hat. Anyhow, the Librarian explained to Rincewind that it was Coin's staff that was causing all the problems and that those who had tried to take the staff away from him had met grizzly ends.

At least, that was how Rincewind interpreted the Librarian's "Oook"s and "Eeek". So Rincewind took off one of his socks and stuffed half a brick in it that he had found in the rubble.

Then he got on the magic carpet and again commanded the carpet: "Down!" He arrived at the tower where Coin was showing the rest of the wizards the bubble with the trapped gods. Rincewind started swinging the sock around and said, "I have come to challenge the sourcerer". "With a sock?" said Coin.

His staff told Coin to kill Rincewind, but Coin was amused by Rincewind: "He looks so funny. He's got a sock".

When Coin refused to kill Rincewind, a battle ensued between Coin and the staff. The wizards ran away, realizing that it wasn't going to end well, but Rincewind tried to help Coin, and the three of them (Rincewind, Coin and the staff) vanished with the tower. Death was there, and he finally got Ipslore the Red. Rincewind and Coin ended up on a beach in what Rincewind believed was the Dungeon Dimensions. Rincewind was able to send Coin back to Ankh-Morpork through some sort of wormhole, while he fought off some monstrous creatures with a sock full of sand.