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50 free The Sword in the Stone trivia questions with answers — entertainment quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
The Sword in the Stone was the last animated feature Walt Disney saw released in his lifetime, and it almost lost out to a film about a rooster. Bill Peet adapted T. H. White's 1938 novel single-handedly, the Sherman Brothers wrote their first songs for a Disney cartoon, and Wolfgang Reitherman became the first solo director of a Disney animated feature, a job complicated when his young Arthur's voice broke mid-production. These 50 questions cover the film from Wart's fish, squirrel and sparrow lessons to Madam Mim's duel, the voice cast behind Merlin and Sir Ector, the Chanticleer rivalry, the Xerox animation method, the 1983 re-release and the remaster controversy, plus a handful on White's original novel and its later revisions. Every answer is sourced from the film's and the book's Wikipedia coverage, so you can check anything that surprises you. Play in sets of 10 and see how much Merlin actually taught you.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01In which year was Disney's The Sword in the Stone released?
1963
It was the last animated feature released in Walt Disney's lifetime; he died in December 1966.
Q 02The Sword in the Stone is based on a 1938 novel by which author?
T. H. White
White's book later became the first part of his Arthurian tetralogy The Once and Future King.
Q 03Who directed The Sword in the Stone?
Wolfgang Reitherman
It made Reitherman the first person to be sole director of a Disney animated feature.
Q 04What nickname is young Arthur known by in The Sword in the Stone?
Wart
The 12-year-old orphan is serving as a squire in Sir Ector's castle when he meets Merlin.
Q 05What is the name of Merlin's talking owl?
Archimedes
The crotchety owl ends up teaching Wart to fly when Merlin turns the boy into a sparrow.
Q 06Who is Wart's foster father in The Sword in the Stone?
Sir Ector
Sebastian Cabot voiced Ector and also narrated the film.
Q 07What is the name of Wart's older foster brother?
Kay
Kay is knighted on Christmas Eve, and Wart is reinstated as his squire when Hobbs gets the mumps.
Q 08Into which creature does Merlin first transform Wart for a lesson?
A fish
They swim the castle moat to learn about physics until an angry pike attacks them.
Q 09What lesson are the squirrel transformations meant to teach Wart?
Gravity
The outing also lands Merlin a persistent elderly admirer, the Granny Squirrel.
Q 10Which bird does Merlin turn Wart into for his flying lesson?
A sparrow
The flying lesson ends with Wart landing in the cottage of Madam Mim.
Q 11Who is Merlin's nemesis in The Sword in the Stone?
Madam Mim
Mim's magic relies on trickery, while Merlin's is framed as scientific skill.
Q 12How does Merlin finally defeat Madam Mim in their wizards' duel?
He becomes a germ that infects her
The duel illustrates the film's recurring theme of knowledge over brute strength.
Q 13Where does Merlin angrily transport himself after arguing with Wart?
20th-century Bermuda
He comes back at the end, in sunglasses and Bermuda shorts, ready to help the new king.
Q 21Why was Arthur voiced by three different actors in the film?
The original actor hit puberty
Rickie Sorensen's voice broke mid-production, so director Reitherman drafted in his sons Richard and Robert.
Q 22Which two replacement voices of Arthur were related to the director?
Richard and Robert Reitherman
Reitherman left all three voices in some scenes, so Arthur's voice shifts noticeably.
Q 23Roughly how many actors did Reitherman say auditioned for Merlin?
70
None had the eccentricity he wanted until Karl Swenson, who had read for Archimedes, was tried in the part.
Q 14Why does Wart run back toward the inn during the tournament?
He forgot Kay's weapon there
The inn is locked for the tournament, so Archimedes points him to the sword in the churchyard anvil.
Q 15What is the sword embedded in, atop the stone?
An anvil
An inscription declares that whoever removes it will be the future king of England.
Q 16Which king's death leaves England without an heir at the start of the film?
Uther Pendragon
The sword appears after his death and is soon forgotten, leaving England in the Dark Ages.
Q 17On what day is the tournament to decide the new king held?
New Year's Day
Sir Pelinore brings news of the tournament to Ector's castle.
Q 18Which actor voiced Merlin in The Sword in the Stone?
Karl Swenson
Swenson originally read for Archimedes; he was later known as Lars Hanson on Little House on the Prairie.
Q 19Who voiced Sir Ector and narrated The Sword in the Stone?
Sebastian Cabot
Cabot went on to voice Bagheera in The Jungle Book and the narrator of the Winnie the Pooh films.
Q 20Who voiced Madam Mim?
Martha Wentworth
Wentworth also voiced the Granny Squirrel who falls for Merlin.
Q 24Who wrote both the story and screenplay for The Sword in the Stone?
Bill Peet
Peet developed it alone while Anderson and Davis pushed the rival project Chanticleer; he later quit Disney over The Jungle Book.
Q 25Which rival project lost out to The Sword in the Stone for Walt Disney's approval?
Chanticleer
Walt's verdict on a rooster hero: you don't feel like picking a rooster up and petting it.
Q 26Seeing which 1960 Broadway musical prompted Walt Disney to greenlight the film?
Camelot
Lerner and Loewe's Camelot was drawn from a different part of T. H. White's Arthurian cycle.
Q 27In which year did Walt Disney first buy the film rights to The Sword in the Stone?
1939
World War II pushed it aside, and the project was announced as in development for two decades.
Q 28Who wrote the songs for The Sword in the Stone?
The Sherman Brothers
It was the first Disney animated feature to use their songs; Mary Poppins and The Jungle Book followed.
Q 29Who composed the score for The Sword in the Stone?
George Bruns
Bruns had scored Sleeping Beauty and 101 Dalmatians, and went on to The Jungle Book, The Aristocats and Robin Hood.
Q 30The Sword in the Stone's only Oscar nomination was in which category?
Scoring of Music, Adaptation or Treatment
It lost to Irma la Douce.