King Sorrow Quiz – Test Your Knowledge of the Novel

This quiz spans Joe Hill’s King Sorrow, drawing on plot, character motivations, themes, symbols, and synthesis questions. Each question is multiple-choice or short-answer. The answer key follows.

For more context, visit the book overview, the questions and answers page, or the ending explained.

Plot and Sequence Questions

1. What Latin epigraph appears at the start of King Sorrow?
   A. Cogito ergo sum
   B. HC SVNT DRACONES
   C. Veni vidi vici
   D. Draco dormiens nunquam titillandus

2. Why is Tana Nighswander denied entry to visit the prison in Chapter 2?
   A. She was carrying a metal spoon
   B. She was wearing a Guns N’ Roses shirt with crossed pistols
   C. She was not on the approved visitor list
   D. She refused to show identification

3. What rare object does the Nighswander family eventually demand Arthur steal from the Brooks Library?
   (Short answer)

4. How does Arthur first accidentally hurt Mama Nighswander during the prison visit?
   A. He trips and falls on her
   B. He breaks her nose when shoved
   C. He throws coffee at her face
   D. He grabs her arm too tightly

5. What object do the characters use as the focal point for summoning King Sorrow?
   A. A cracked hand mirror
   B. An Aztec conch shell
   C. Wolf Messing’s helmet filled with water
   D. Enoch Crane’s human‑skin journal

6. What ultimately happens to the Crane journal?
   (Short answer)

7. How does King Sorrow kill Jayne Nighswander?
   A. He crushes her with a car
   B. He burns her alive inside her Ranchero
   C. He drowns her in a lake
   D. He freezes her in a snowdrift

8. What is the flight number of the 747 Allie boards to intercept Horation Matthews?
   (Short answer)

Character Motivation Questions

1. Why does Arthur initially agree to steal books for Jayne?
   A. He wants to earn money for Oxford
   B. She threatens to harm his mother in prison
   C. He owes her a drug debt
   D. She promises to leave town forever

2. What drives Gwen to confront King Sorrow alone at the climax?
   (Short answer)

3. Why does Colin Wren betray and kill Arthur in the caverns?
   A. Arthur refused to share the Sword of Strange Hangings
   B. Colin serves King Sorrow and believes Arthur is the true obstacle
   C. Colin was possessed by the troll Svangur
   D. Arthur threatened to expose Colin’s drug use

4. Why does Donna bite off Joe Valentine’s ear during interrogation?
   (Short answer)

5. What motivates Allie to board BA 238 despite knowing King Sorrow is closing in?
   A. She hopes to convince Van to reconcile
   B. King Sorrow promised the flight would be safe if she killed Horation herself before midnight
   C. She wanted to escape her guilt over Donna
   D. The FBI ordered her to confront Horation

Theme and Symbol Questions

1. What does the epigraph HC SVNT DRACONES symbolise in the novel?
   A. The literal presence of dragons in the story
   B. Unexplored danger and the unknown perils that lie ahead
   C. A secret code used by the characters
   D. The name of a medieval mapmaker

2. What does the image of the ouroboros (the dragon swallowing its own tail) represent?
   (Short answer)

3. What is the function of the “martyr’s robe” that Allie steals from the Cabinet of Curiosities?
   (Short answer)

4. What idea does the repeated use of “dragonedy o’clock” reinforce?
   A. The characters’ addiction to fantasy
   B. The distortion of time and reality under supernatural influence
   C. The importance of punctuality in rituals
   D. King Sorrow’s love of wordplay

Synthesis Questions

1. How does Arthur’s journey from compassionate student to morally compromised thief reflect the novel’s critique of systemic injustice?
   (Short answer)

2. Compare King Sorrow and Elwood Hondo. How do they represent different types of evil in the story?
   (Short answer)

3. In what ways does the novel suggest that collective belief can shape reality?
   (Short answer)

Answer Key

1. B – HC SVNT DRACONES. The epigraph functions as a thematic warning about unexplored danger, drawn from historical map inscriptions.
2. B – She was wearing a Guns N’ Roses shirt with crossed pistols. The shirt was deemed inappropriate by the security guard, leading Arthur to offer his hoodie.
3. The Crane journal, a book bound in human skin. Jayne demands this specific anthropodermic volume after rejecting other books.
4. B – He breaks her nose when shoved. During the altercation, Arthur accidentally strikes Mama Nighswander while trying to help Tana.
5. C – Wolf Messing’s helmet filled with water. The group uses the inverted helmet for lecanomancy to summon King Sorrow.
6. Colin Wren burns the Crane journal after the summoning to destroy the dragon’s true name, as revealed in the final chapters.
7. B – He burns her alive inside her Ranchero. King Sorrow exhales flame into the car, and Jayne dies in the fire.
8. BA 238. This is the British Airways flight to London that Allie boards.
9. B – She threatens to harm his mother in prison. Jayne shows Arthur a Polaroid of his mother with a spoon shiv and demands he steal.
10. Guilt and a desire to sacrifice herself to protect her friends. Gwen feels responsible for the deaths King Sorrow caused and chooses to face him alone.
11. B – Colin serves King Sorrow and believes Arthur is the true obstacle. Colin stabs Arthur with the Sword of Strange Hangings, declaring himself the hero.
12. To resist interrogation and assert defiance. Donna bites off Valentine’s ear as an act of rebellion, showing she will not cooperate.
13. B – King Sorrow promised the flight would be safe if she killed Horation herself before midnight. The dragon manipulates her into accepting the riddle.
14. B – Unexplored danger and the unknown perils that lie ahead. The phrase sets a tone of caution and mystery for the story.
15. Self‑consumption, cyclical destruction, or King Sorrow’s ultimate fate. The dragon swallows itself to vanish, symbolising its own nature.
16. It protects the wearer from the dragon’s fire. Gwen intends to use it as a shield during the final confrontation.
17. B – The distortion of time and reality under supernatural influence. Characters cannot agree on the day or hour, highlighting the Long Dark’s effect.
18. Arthur is forced into crime by class and prison corruption. The novel shows how systemic failures push an innocent person into moral compromise.
19. King Sorrow is an ancient, supernatural entity; Elwood Hondo is a manufactured egregore created by collective belief. One represents primal evil, the other human‑made horror.
20. The Philip/Elwood Hondo experiment, the group’s summoning rituals, and Gwen’s crossword prophecy all show that shared belief can manifest and change reality.