Quizmo

Quiz on J.R.R. Tolkien

20 questions · June 25, 2026

Below is the full Quizmo quiz devoted to the theme "J.R.R. Tolkien": each question, its four options, the correct answer highlighted and, where available, its source. A chance to brush up on your general knowledge and then test what you know.

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Question 1

Easy

In which fictional world are most of Tolkien's famous stories set?

Source: Middle-earth is just one continent of Tolkien's wider world, which he called Arda.

Question 2

Easy

What kind of creature is Frodo Baggins, who carries the One Ring?

Source: Tolkien based hobbits partly on the rural English countryfolk of his own childhood.

Question 3

Easy

Which novel introduced the world to Bilbo Baggins?

Source: Tolkien scribbled its famous first line on a blank exam page he was marking.

Question 4

Easy

What does Gollum call the One Ring throughout the story?

Source: Centuries with the Ring twisted the hobbit-like creature Sméagol into Gollum.

Question 5

Easy

What is the home region of the hobbits called?

Source: Tolkien modelled its rolling green landscape on the West Midlands where he grew up.

Question 6

Easy

What is the name of the powerful object Frodo must destroy?

Source: Its inscription is written in the Black Speech of Mordor, a language Tolkien invented for evil.

Question 7

Easy

Which dark lord forged the One Ring to dominate the others?

Source: He was originally a servant of an even greater evil, Morgoth, the first dark lord.

Question 8

Easy

Which fellowship member is the rightful heir to Gondor's throne?

Source: He spent years as a wandering Ranger known as Strider before claiming the crown.

Question 9

Easy

Which dragon does Bilbo confront beneath the Lonely Mountain?

Source: His single bare patch over the heart became the dragon's fatal weakness.

Question 10

Easy

What university subject did Tolkien hold a professorship in?

Source: His day job was studying Anglo-Saxon and medieval English, which fed straight into his fiction.

Question 11

Medium

Which Oxford writer was Tolkien's close friend and fellow Inkling?

Source: Their friendship helped Lewis return to Christianity and inspired the Narnia books.

Question 12

Medium

During which war did Tolkien serve and fight in the trenches?

Source: He survived the Battle of the Somme, where most of his close friends were killed.

Question 13

Medium

Which kingdom's horse-lords ride to Gondor's aid at Minas Tirith?

Source: Its culture and language were modelled closely on the Anglo-Saxons Tolkien studied.

Question 14

Medium

What was Gollum's name before the Ring corrupted him?

Source: He murdered his friend Déagol on the very day they found the Ring.

Question 15

Medium

Which posthumous book gathers Middle-earth's creation myths and ancient legends?

Source: His son Christopher spent decades editing the unfinished manuscripts into print.

Question 16

Medium

Which language did Tolkien invent primarily for his High Elves?

Source: He drew heavily on Finnish to craft this elegant, Latin-of-the-elves tongue.

Question 17

Medium

Which tree-like beings guard the forest of Fangorn?

Source: Tolkien said he created them out of disappointment with Shakespeare's marching forest in Macbeth.

Question 18

Hard

Which Tolkien tale was inspired by his wife dancing in a woodland glade?

Source: The names of these two lovers are carved on Tolkien's and his wife Edith's shared gravestone.

Question 19

Hard

Which Middle-earth menace did Tolkien link to a childhood incident in South Africa?

Source: A tarantula bit him as a toddler in South Africa, though he said he held no grudge against spiders.

Question 20

Hard

Which ancient poem did Tolkien translate and famously defend in a 1936 lecture?

Source: His lecture rescued the poem's monsters from scholars who dismissed them as childish.

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