'The Thief' by Megan Whalen Turner Quiz

Answer: All of these answers are true.

Eugenides, or Gen as he is nicknamed for most of the book, was named for all three of those reasons. He holds the hereditary position of Queen's Thief at the court of Eddis, a position which has been held by the males in his family for generations, thus Eugenides is actually a title as well as a name.

As his mother had no brothers, the previous Thief was actually his grandfather, and it was he who taught Gen the tricks of his trade.

Answer: Sounis

Gen is in prison because he made a bet that he could steal the king's seal (which he did). He then bragged about it in a wine shop, and was subsequently arrested and tossed into prison. It later emerges that the bragging and subsequent arrest were part of a plan between Gen and the Queen of Eddis to allow Gen access to information, but the extended stay in prison was not a part of the plan.

Answer: Ambiades and Sophos

Ambiades and Sophos (nicknamed Useless the Elder and Younger respectively by Gen) are both apprentices to the Magus. It emerges that Sophos is in fact the heir to the throne of Sounis, being the king's nephew. Much to his father's disgust, he is a much better scholar than a swordsman, so he was assigned Pol (his father's captain of the guard) as a bodyguard and personal trainer, and he was sent to the Magus in the hope that he would learn how to rule a country. Ambiades is the grandson of a disgraced archduke, and he resents Sophos' wealth and standing in society. Aulus and Timos are both cousins of Gen who make appearances in later books.

Answer: Hamiathes's Gift

Hamiathes's Gift is an ordinary stone that was allegedly dipped in the water of immortality by the goddess Hephestia and given to Hamiathes, who was the king of Eddis at the time. The stone confers immortality to the bearer, but at the end of his natural life, Hamiathes bequeathed the stone to his son who took it when he became ruler of Eddis and so the stone became known as Hamiathes's Gift.

The stone was passed on from father to son in this manner until bearing the stone became synonymous with the rule of Eddis.

Hearing tell of the stone, invaders attacked Eddis seeking the Gift, but the king of Eddis at the time hid it and it was never passed onto his son. So the Gift passed into legend and by the time that the Magus is looking for it in the book, it is assumed to be a myth by all but a learned few.

Answer: 10

We discover this information when Gen is arguing with the Magus about the proper telling of legends. The Magus says that Gen's mother fell from a fourth-storey window in the villa of Baron Eructhes. However, we later discover that while Gen's mother did die in a fall from a window when he was ten, she actually slipped and fell while coming down stairs.

She had been up on the roof, dancing. It is mentioned quite frequently in subsequent books that it is the fate of thieves to fall to their deaths.

Answer: Aracthus

The river Aracthus is a tidal river guarding the entrance to the temple where Hamiathes's gift is hidden, so Gen has a six-hour window for three nights in which to attempt to steal the stone. Later when Gen is in the chamber of the Gods, Eugenides (the God of Thieves) talks about the Aracthus as if it were a living spirit, saying "You [Gen] have not yet offended the Gods. Except perhaps Aracthus, who was charged to let no thief enter here." The other rivers are stolen from mythology or works of fiction: the Styx is the river in Greek Mythology which souls are ferried across to reach the Underworld.

The Anduin is a major river in the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, and the Ankh is the river on which the city of Ankh-Morpork is situated in the "Discworld" series by Terry Pratchett.

Answer: Ambiades

As was mentioned, Ambiades is the grandson of a disgraced archduke who plotted against the King of Sounis, so his family has become destitute and as the Magus puts it, Ambiades "decided he'd rather be a wealthy traitor than an impoverished apprentice." It transpires that Ambiades deliberately slowed down the party during the book by throwing away supplies, and he informs the Attolian soldiers of their planned route back across the mountains.

Answer: "You are more beautiful, Your Majesty. But she is more kind."

This insult is very daring on Gen's part, as the Queen of Attolia is famous for her ruthlessness. This is the first time we see any interaction between Gen and the queen. It seems somewhat minor, but becomes very important in subsequent books.

Answer: In his hair at the base of his skull.

When the party is attacked by Attolian soldiers on the way back, Gen uses the confusion to cut Hamiathes's Gift from where it hangs on a leather thong around the Magus' neck. The Magus assumes that it was cut off by an unlucky swipe of a sword during the mayhem, and they search the ground for it until the Magus accepts its loss. Gen subsequently braids it into his hair, but this is not revealed to the reader until he produces it in the court of Eddis at the end of the book.

Answer: She decides to destroy it in the Sacred Fire of Hephestia.

The Queen of Eddis receives a visit from Moira, the messenger of the Gods, telling her to destroy the Gift, as it is no longer meant for the world.

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